We kept Anton out of school to give ourselves a local history lesson. Traveling east for about an hour from home we came to Shiloh National Military Park, also known as Pittsburg Landing. Producing over 23,000 casualties in two days – more casualties than America had suffered in all previous wars – it was the largest battle of the Mississippi Valley campaign. Several key figures whose names lived on after the Civil War fought in the battle, including General Ulysses S. Grant for the Union and the highest ranking officer to die in the war, General Albert S. Johnston for the Confederacy. Grant would become the 18th president and another Union fighter, James Garfield would become the 20th.
Even though I have no family history attached to the Civil War, it was still affecting to watch the short documentary and view artifacts at the visitor centre. Armed with a junior rangers workbook for Anton we toured through the cemetery which of course features far too many headstones, most without an identifying name – all but two Confederate soldiers are unknown and two-thirds of Union soldiers are unknown. There are also some graves of veterans of Korea and Vietnam, some with their wives on the other side of the headstones.
Following the driving tour trail markings we stopped by monuments, key sites of the battle, a fraction of the over 200 authentic cannons, locations of surrender and Bloody Pond, so called due to it running red with the blood of men and horses who tried to find refreshment there during the short and vicious battle. Something that struck me was the seemingly small fields across which the armies faced. I was reminded of the opposing trenches at Anzac Cove in Gallipoli and how close they came, the fields look like they could have hardly contained the several thousands of men who presented with arms to fight.
Shiloh Church which stood on the site before the war – and survives today – was the reason for the name of the battle. Since shiloh means ‘peace’ or ‘tranquil’, one would hope there could hardly have been any other way such a sweet name could be claimed by such a hideous slice of history.