I'm on a Journey to Shiloh

[SiliconMagician]

A trip I have been wanting to make for two years has finally come to fruition. I will be heading down to Pittsburgh Landing the first week of April to tour the battlefield. Unfortunately due to the vagaries of my work schedule I will not be able to be there for the anniversary of the battle April 5th-6th. I will have to settle for being there the 2nd-3rd.

[SiliconMagician]

Okay. So as the trip grows closer I have been cramming in the history of the battle. Luckily there was a veteran of the battle who took it upon himself to become the worlds foremost expert on the battle at Shiloh. It was he who designed the placement of most of the monuments and wrote the inscriptions for almost all the plaques. Whenever there is a detailed question to which the rangers and guides have no direct answer, they can go into the archives and find the answer in the writings of this man. His name was Private David Reed.

Anyway, apparently Mr. Reed designed the monuments specifically to chart the movement of troops at various times throughout the battle, and to provide a detailed account of unit positions and timings through out the entire park. This was a daunting task. We are talking about a huge tangled wilderness battlefield of 5000 acres! This place is massive. I'm a at a loss of how to approach it. I will take the auto tour, but I disdain such touristy stuff. There are already several backwater sites I have chosen to visit.

From the perspective of Grant looking south, there was a 3 regiment brigade under Brig. Gen. Stuart on the far left anchored on the riverbank. It consisted of the 71st and 54th Ohio Regiments and the 55th Illinois. I always visit the monmuments of all Ohio and Mississippi regiments whenever I visit a park. I spent one half of my life in Mississippi and the other half in Ohio.

Grant had specifically ordered the men to be drilled daily, to be trained for the coming task of invading the heart of the confederacy where johnny reb would sell his life for every yard. The men of Stuarts brigade had just finished breakfast and from the battle report, the men
"heard scattered rifle fire to the right" and figured that it was just target practice. Then a cannon boomed somewhere, and that caught the attention of one of the colonels. He informed Gen. Stuart who came out of his tent, listened for a moment and screamed "That's a fight over there! Get the men out!"

The men were ordered out to the breastworks they had prepared in front of their camp, still thinking it was a drill. The regiments sent out skirmishers to scout into the woods ahead several hundred yards. One of those skirmishers described the scene:

"We came out of the woods and there, standing before us in a huge open field, was the Rebel host."

The "Rebel Host"? TEN Regiments, two brigades, under Chalmers and Jackson, lounging around in the field waiting for the order to move forward. The skirmishers engaged, took a few casualties and split back to the union lines, screaming about a mess of rebs coming hot on their heels. Turns out old General A.S. Johnston had the idea to drive a wedge between the river and the union army. Unfortunately it didn't quite work out that way, but it turns out he was riding with Chalmers and Jackson's brigades when when he was hit, so that spot is on the path.

At this point, the massive lines of rebels broke the woodline and began firing on the Green union men. A messenger came to Stuart informing him the action was general, and that the entire right wing was collapsing under the massive assault. He was overheard to say something along the lines of "Right, well maybe we should get out of here then."

Supposedly this rumor spread swiftly and within a few moments, the entire brigade broke and ran after firing at most two shots. Although in fairness what were three regiments going to do against ten? I'd run too!

So I will be visiting this unknown part of the field, and probably spend the first day picking my way along the riverbank up to the Union rally point at the Hamburg Puroy road. I think that by following the path of certain brigades specifically, through thick and thin, through the forest, swamps, etc is the only way to get a true appreciation for the battle. I remember at Antietam getting lost on the same path the two union divisions that ended up swinging south and throwing themselves against bloody lane did. I however went another half mile or so farther and came out near the Park maintenance barn and a friendly ranger pointed us in the right direction over the path that the Iron Brigade used to flank the rebs at the Bloody Lane. It was very cool.

The 2nd day will probably have me somewhere in teh center starting at the bottom of the park and working my way via GPS all the way through the woods, swamps and come what may and end somehwere near the hornets nest, peach orchard and bloody pond area.

Antietam was tight, compact, maybe a mile wide and 3 miles long at the most.. despite the size of the armies.. they died in a tight box at Antietam in a very easy to understand, phased fashion throughout a single day. At shiloh the carnage was spread out over a 3 mile line but stretches from the bottom of the park, 4 miles back to Pittsburg Landing. the land is far more rugged, and deeply forested. I have compared maps with Google earth and let me tell you. This park looks almost exactly as it did in 1862. I will take two full days to explore this place and enjoy it.

Also, with a park this large and heavily wooded. Even the most dogged search teams will miss artifacts. I could very well come across places no one has bothered to walk in a hundred years.. what if I find artifacts? Is anyone aware of the law? I mean, ethics I guess would say turn it in to the visitors center.. but I'd be awful tempted to drop that minie ball in my pocket! This is not well trodden Gettysburg, this place is basically the land that time forgot but the federal government did not. So who knows what I will find in the deep wilderness at Shiloh?

[Little Powell]

Sounds like a great trip, hope you enjoy. Shiloh is definitely on my battlefield bucket list.

And we expect pictures when you get back..

[SiliconMagician]

Hey, check this out. I guess this is the handbook they hand out to US Army Officers as part of their training on the battle of Shiloh when they tour the field. It is pretty detailed, with suggested routes and descriptions of the action.

http://usacac.army.mil/cac2/cgsc/carl/d ... udmens.pdf

[conjotter]

Thanks. An excellent read indeed.

Enjoy your trip to Shiloh. I had the chance to visit years ago but passed it up.

Sure wish Norb had published a game on this important battle. Maybe some day.

[captain_george]

Im going on a buisiness trip this summer to Reston Virginia and im leaving a week early just to go to battlefields!!!

[Little Powell]

Im going on a buisiness trip this summer to Reston Virginia and im leaving a week early just to go to battlefields!!!

Awesome, a week in Civil War Virginia.. I'd be a kid in a candy store. :laugh:

If you have the chance and want to go to a more secluded battlefield, where I'd be surprised if you saw another tourist, is Brandy Station. Most of the area has been practically untouched since the battle. You can check out some photos with descriptions I posted here:

http://www.norbsoftdev.net/forum/the-am ... eld-photos

The best part is before you explore the real battlefield, you can explore the virtual battlefield in SOW: Brandy Station..