Shiloh National Battlefield in Tennesee

Shiloh Military Cemetery

Another excellent movie on the Shiloh Battle. They had an app that provided details on the battle, but we never figured out a connection between the auto tour and the app. It may be because we didn’t complete the download of the map in the application. This battle was fought in 1862 again with huge casualties on each side (at the time, more Americans died in this battle, than in any of America’s previous wars combined). The background here is that Grant after taking two Forts in Northern Tennessee from the Confederates used twelve riverboats to quickly move his men down the Tennessee River to Pittsburg Landing with the intention of capturing the railroads in Corinth, Alabama just south of here. Unknown to him the Confederate Army was marching North to attack him, and force him Northwest from the river into the swamps and thus destroy his army before his reinforcements arrived. On the first day, the Confederates took the day, General Johnson almost succeeded with his plan. But his new troops stopped to plunder the first Union camp they encountered, after one Union brigade managed to hold them off for several hours. Two other Union brigades were hidden in what was called the Hornet’s nest. They were just behind a ridge (which protected them from sight and from bullets) with a valley below. We walked the terrain while a ranger explained what happened. The first Confederate brigade had no idea that the Union army was there as they crossed an open field, the artillery (18 guns) and rifles cut them down. The Confederates than tried four separate charges through the woods, but were repulsed each time. Finally at 3:30 the confederates brought their own artillery to attack the hornet’s nest. Eventually, the Confederate Army surrounded the 2200 Union soldiers and captured them. But this action ruined General Johnson’s plan, they spent too much time surrounding these troops, allowing the rest of the Union army to form new ranks near the river. The day ended with almost a total Union defeat, and the Confederate General thought they just had to mop up next day. But during the night, the second Union army arrived on the scene, and day two was almost a total reversal where the Union army defeated the Confederates, and they left in retreat to defend Corinth. This was the key turning point of the war in the West.

The Hornet's Nest

That night, our campground was the 370 Lakeside RV Park just outside St. Louis. We’ve used this RV Park before because it has good sites, typical Wifi, and is far enough off I-70 to avoid the interstate noise. (It also has lots of recreation equipment for rent for use on the reservoir.)

The next two days will be driving days to get home. The summary of this trip: Well, we were both unlucky and lucky, three incidents with our trailer that required repairs, but each time, the trailer was repaired within half a day, only disrupting our activities for that day. I was expecting the Houston Space Center to be a highlight of the trip and it was. The surprise highlights were in Florida: the Naval Air Museum and the Tiffany Glass Museum. Mary had been worried whether she had the stamina for six days at Disney World, but she did great and we had a fun time. We found the historic homes and streets of Savannah and Charleston to be interesting. We had prepared for the Civil War battlefields by watching Ken Burn’s series on the Civil War, but found that the Park movies and the tours of the terrain provided a much better understanding of these battles.  A 20 minute narrated video of this trip is available on youtube. 

Chickagmauga National Battlefield

Brotherton House - Confederates charged through a hole in the Union Line

On our way home, we visited two Civil War Battlefields. The Park Service has really made improvements in how to visit these Battlefields over the last few years. Both had excellent movies that provided the background on why these battles were fought and how they effected the war. Besides talking about the generals who commanded the fields of battle (Grant and Sherman in both battles), they also had several stories about individual soldiers based on the letters they had written to their loved ones. Besides the movie, the major stops on the battlefield auto tour had an audio tour that you accessed via cell phone, which filled in a lot more details than the plaques at the stops. Chickamauga was fought in September of 1863. The Union army controlled a key railroad town – Chattanooga and the Confederate Army was trying to regain control. Over the course of 3 days, over 40,000 casualties occurred between the two armies, second only to Gettysburg. The Confederates ‘won’ the battle, but the Union army retreated back to Chattanooga, where they were under siege for over a month, but relief troops under General Grant broke the siege and opened up the South to Sherman’s Atlanta Campaign in 1864. Our campground that night was Green Valley RV outside Savannah, TN (near the Shiloh Battlefield). This was a great campground, large sites, pool, great Wifi. I doubt we’ll ever be back in the region, but I’d recommend this campground.

Wilder Light Brigade Memorial