The Albert Sidney Johnston death tree

[Tom Hughes]

I just found this picture I took at Shiloh back in 1974 and wanted to share with the group.
This is the original tree that Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston was laid upon and died under on
April 6, 1863 during the battle at the Peach Orchard. He was struck in the leg artery and basically bled to death before the surgeon could arrive.
This original tree is long gone but even in 1974, it was having to be stablized and showed severe rot.
A true "witness tree" to the the battle and the death of one of the South's great leaders.

 

[DixieRifles]

This original tree is long gone but even in 1974, it was having to be stablized and showed severe rot.
A true "witness tree" to the the battle and the death of one of the South's great leaders.

My last summer before I graduated from college in December 1973, I took off from my summer job working on a survey team with the Highway Department and drove to visit Shiloh National Battlefield Park. I remember seeing that witness tree. I recall it looked old and very fragile and wondered how much longer the park planned to keep it standing.

After graduating, I reported to my Air Force assignment in Massachusetts. When the anniversary of Shiloh came around, I decorated one of our office's chalk boards to remember Shiloh. I had some newspaper images and drew names of the famous places.
I got some weird looks.

 

[Miker91]

Very cool. Thanks for the picture.

 

[Ole Miss]

Thank you for the trip down memory lane!
Regards
David

 

[bdtex]

A fine Throwback Thursday offering. How old were you in 1974 when you took that?

 

[Tom Hughes]

A fine Throwback Thursday offering. How old were you in 1974 when you took that?

I was 10 years old. This was my first trip ever to a National Military Park.

 

[donna]

Wonderful you have this photo. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Coonewah Creek]

We visited that old tree every year I can remember from about 1958 onward as a kid growing up about 30 miles away. Thanks for the photo!

 

[bdtex]

I was 10 years old. This was my first trip ever to a National Military Park.

Way cool. I was 16 in 1974. As a child, my family visited the Texas Revolution sites but I didn't visit a Civil War battlefield until 2015. I was probably 13 when I got my first camera. I still remember what it looked like. I don't have many pictures from back then. Most of them didn't turn out too good.

 

[UCVRelics]

We have a pen from that red oak.

 

[Frank Watson]

I believe there was part of the tree in the National Museum of American History (DC) about 20 years ago. We had just been to Shiloh a couple of months before we, by coincidence, saw the tree part exhibit.