Tuesday morning, 03DEC, we hit the road to Savannah, TN, to explore Shiloh National Military Park. We are still worried about the ice storm heading from the west, but we should be ok if we head south to Houma, LA, by Thursday? After setting up camp (including satellite TV) we headed into Savannah for a walk about.
First stop was the visitor center to watch the excellent award winning 45 minute film about the two day battle at Shiloh on 6/7 April 1862. Note, the film clearly shows the horror of war, & the death & casualties involved. The area of Shiloh, TN, was not significant to either side. Each side wanted to control the major railroad junction in Corinth, MS, eighteen miles south. The east/west rail line in Corinth was the south’s only railroad connection between its Atlantic coast ports & the Mississippi River. After viewing the exhibits in the Visitor Center we then walked thru the National Cemetery located on the grounds of the National Military Park.
National Cemeteries were first created during the Civil War (the first was Gettysburg in 1863 where President Lincoln delivered his famous address). The Shiloh National Cemetery was created in 1866. After the two day battle the bodies were buried in several mass graves; & Confederate sites were separate from Union. Most National Cemeteries are administered by the Veterans Administration, however Shiloh is part of the National Park Service.
The cemetery holds 3,584 Union dead, 2,359 of them unknown. In the fall of 1866, workers disinterred the dead from 156 locations on the battlefield, & 565 different locations along the Tennessee River. Headboards of wood first marked each grave, but were replaced in 1876 & 1877 by granite stones. Tall stones marked the known dead & square, short stones denoted unknown soldiers.
The overwhelming casualties at Shiloh led Union doctors to the “development” of the forerunner for the field hospital. In addition, the battle at Shiloh shocked both the north & the south with almost 24,000 men killed, wounded or missing (75% of the combatants had never been in combat prior to Shiloh). Up to this date the bloodiest battle had been at Manassas in June of 1861, with 4,500 killed. Shiloh changed the tone & future conduct of the war. The South now realized independence would come at a high cost of human lives & resources. The North grew convinced the war could be won only by complete
conquest. As strategies shifted, the conflict became an increasingly bloodier affair.
Famous people that survived Shiloh: future Presidents Grant & Garfield; Lee Wallace who wrote “Ben Hur”; Theodore O’Hara who wrote the poem “Bivouac of the Dead”; Henry Stanley who found Livingston in Africa; John Powell who lost an arm at Shiloh but became first man to raft the Grand Canyon; William Jenney father of the skyscraper; & John Clem a ten year old drummer boy who retired as a Major
General.
After a car tour of the rest of the park we drove to the new(?) Corinth Civil War Interpretive Center in Corinth, MS. This is an excellent facility that many people pass over after only visiting Shiloh. But first we walked thru the town of Corinth looking for a lunch spot. Luckily Dan spotted Borroum’s Drug Store the oldest drug store in Mississippi (1865). We last ate here 20JUL04 on our first long RV trip after Dan’s Coast Guard retirement.
Then it was back to the interpretive center to view their three films & view their many exhibits. If you visit the Shiloh National Military Park leave time to drive to Corinth & visit the interpretive center. The two facilities also encompass the Shiloh National Cemetery, Shiloh Indian Mounds National Historic Landmark, Corinth Contraband Camp, Siege & Battle of Corinth National Historic Landmark, & part of the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail.
One of the things we learned at the Interpretive Center was that Lincoln was elected President with less than 40% of the popular vote. In fact, his name was not even on the ballot in ten southern states! We also learned that the freed slaves (called contraband by the Union) around Corinth had a camp with their own schools & hospital, that made a monthly profit of $4000 to $5000 per month.
http://borroumsdrugstore.net/
Tomorrow we hit the road south to beat the ice storm threat.
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