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Regtl. Staff Shiloh 2020
Asst. Regtl. QM Stones River / Franklin 2022
- Joined
- Dec 9, 2017
- Location
- North Mississippi
Shiloh's 161st Anniversary
Shiloh was the defining point of the American Civil War when both sides of this horrendous conflict realized that each faction was deadly serious to prevail. Many of the participants of this battle went on to fame, infamy and sources of Civil War trivia. Grant, Sherman, Albert Sidney Johnston, Cleburne, Bragg and Appler to mention a few. As I am not a veteran I do my best not to criticize men who were simply overcome by the circumstances and the confusion of battle as compared to those were simply poltroons such as Gideon Pillow and John Floyd.
This thread is not another recap of the battle but for each viewer to post their favorite or most poignant thoughts or reaction to this clash of over 100,000 soldiers on a small plateau along the Tennessee River. Over 24,000 were killed, wounded or missing after 2 vicious days of fighting. Unfortunately, this bloody conflict was soon surpassed by Antietam and Gettysburg. Yet the lists of casualties in the small local papers---North and South---took all of the pomp and glory of war. Shiloh determined which side controlled the Western Theater as Vicksburg would fall a little over a year later when Grant gained control of the rivers. Grant was hit by a musket ball which deflected off of his sword scabbard and Sherman was wounded. Imagine the effect their deaths might have had on the outcome of this Brother vs Brother bloodshed?
For me, Shiloh is the most interesting Civil War Battle for many reasons but one that reaches me deeply is the way and manner the dead soldiers were interred in burial trenches both known and unknown. It has been said---quite accurately I believe---that one can not be in any location on the battlefield and not be 100 yard away from where a soldier was buried or still remains buried. The terrain at Shiloh is very unique to all Civil War Battlefields and is riven with small creeks and ravines coupled with wooded areas that were allowed to grow back. The soldiers would not have been buried in the small 10 to 30 acre fields as farmers would plowed the up quickly. After 2 exhausting days of fighting in the warm spring, bodies 2 and 3 days old along with hundred of dead horse would have overwhelmed these battered victors.
The final desposition of the dead is better described in this National Park Service document:
"Although the Federal dead were removed from the battlefield in 1866 and re-interred in the Shiloh National Cemetery, the Confederate dead were left on the battlefield. As Confederates were technically not United States personnel, they have traditionally been buried elsewhere. As a result, the Confederates who died at Shiloh remain on the field in several large mass graves and many smaller individual plots. As many as eleven or twelve mass graves exist, but the park commission that created the park could -only locate five. Those five are now marked at Shiloh National Military Park. Of course, all the Confederates -buried in the trenches are unknown, having been buried as a mass by the enemy who did not know their identity."*
The most stirring aspect of this bloody contest was the burial of the dead of both sides. The haste to bury the dead was driven by smells, pestilance and to improve the overall health of the Union soldiers.
I have listed a most an account that caused me to fully rea;ize how dredful this battle really was!
This account is from a member of the 45th Illinois:
"On Tuesday I was detailed with others two hundred yards in advance. I had charge of- digging the grave, if a trench over sixty feet long and four feet deep, can be called a grave. The weather was hot, and most of the dead had been killed early Sunday morning, and dissolution had already commenced. The soldiers gathered up the bodies and placed them in wagons, hauling them near to the trench, and piling them up like cord wood. We were furnished with plenty of whiskey, and the boys believed it would have been impossible to have performed the job without it. When the grave was ready, we placed the bodies therein, two- deep; the father, brother, husband and lover, all to lie till Gabriel's trumpet shall sound. All the monument reared to those brave men was a board, nailed to a tree at the head of the trench, upon which I cut with my pocket knife, the words: '125 rebels.' We buried our Union boys in a separate trench, and on another board were these words: '35 Union.' " Wilbur F. Crummer 45th Illinois
I look forward reading postings from others who are interested in the Battle of Shiloh.
Regards
David
Shiloh was the defining point of the American Civil War when both sides of this horrendous conflict realized that each faction was deadly serious to prevail. Many of the participants of this battle went on to fame, infamy and sources of Civil War trivia. Grant, Sherman, Albert Sidney Johnston, Cleburne, Bragg and Appler to mention a few. As I am not a veteran I do my best not to criticize men who were simply overcome by the circumstances and the confusion of battle as compared to those were simply poltroons such as Gideon Pillow and John Floyd.
This thread is not another recap of the battle but for each viewer to post their favorite or most poignant thoughts or reaction to this clash of over 100,000 soldiers on a small plateau along the Tennessee River. Over 24,000 were killed, wounded or missing after 2 vicious days of fighting. Unfortunately, this bloody conflict was soon surpassed by Antietam and Gettysburg. Yet the lists of casualties in the small local papers---North and South---took all of the pomp and glory of war. Shiloh determined which side controlled the Western Theater as Vicksburg would fall a little over a year later when Grant gained control of the rivers. Grant was hit by a musket ball which deflected off of his sword scabbard and Sherman was wounded. Imagine the effect their deaths might have had on the outcome of this Brother vs Brother bloodshed?
For me, Shiloh is the most interesting Civil War Battle for many reasons but one that reaches me deeply is the way and manner the dead soldiers were interred in burial trenches both known and unknown. It has been said---quite accurately I believe---that one can not be in any location on the battlefield and not be 100 yard away from where a soldier was buried or still remains buried. The terrain at Shiloh is very unique to all Civil War Battlefields and is riven with small creeks and ravines coupled with wooded areas that were allowed to grow back. The soldiers would not have been buried in the small 10 to 30 acre fields as farmers would plowed the up quickly. After 2 exhausting days of fighting in the warm spring, bodies 2 and 3 days old along with hundred of dead horse would have overwhelmed these battered victors.
The final desposition of the dead is better described in this National Park Service document:
"Although the Federal dead were removed from the battlefield in 1866 and re-interred in the Shiloh National Cemetery, the Confederate dead were left on the battlefield. As Confederates were technically not United States personnel, they have traditionally been buried elsewhere. As a result, the Confederates who died at Shiloh remain on the field in several large mass graves and many smaller individual plots. As many as eleven or twelve mass graves exist, but the park commission that created the park could -only locate five. Those five are now marked at Shiloh National Military Park. Of course, all the Confederates -buried in the trenches are unknown, having been buried as a mass by the enemy who did not know their identity."*
The most stirring aspect of this bloody contest was the burial of the dead of both sides. The haste to bury the dead was driven by smells, pestilance and to improve the overall health of the Union soldiers.
I have listed a most an account that caused me to fully rea;ize how dredful this battle really was!
This account is from a member of the 45th Illinois:
"On Tuesday I was detailed with others two hundred yards in advance. I had charge of- digging the grave, if a trench over sixty feet long and four feet deep, can be called a grave. The weather was hot, and most of the dead had been killed early Sunday morning, and dissolution had already commenced. The soldiers gathered up the bodies and placed them in wagons, hauling them near to the trench, and piling them up like cord wood. We were furnished with plenty of whiskey, and the boys believed it would have been impossible to have performed the job without it. When the grave was ready, we placed the bodies therein, two- deep; the father, brother, husband and lover, all to lie till Gabriel's trumpet shall sound. All the monument reared to those brave men was a board, nailed to a tree at the head of the trench, upon which I cut with my pocket knife, the words: '125 rebels.' We buried our Union boys in a separate trench, and on another board were these words: '35 Union.' " Wilbur F. Crummer 45th Illinois
Eyewitnesses at the Battle of Shiloh by David Logsdon
Page 101**I look forward reading postings from others who are interested in the Battle of Shiloh.
Regards
David
Bringing the