Category Archives: History

SHILOH – DAY TWO VICTORY SNATCHED OUT FROM JAWS OF DEFEAT

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Bloody Pond transformed this shallow pond into a scene of hellish horrors.
Bloody Pond transformed this shallow pond into a scene of hellish horrors.

After a long hard Sunday on 6 April 1862 for the Federal Army of the Tennessee, Sherman met with Grant that night. Sherman thought the general would order a retreat across the river to help his wounded army recuperate. He said, “Well, Grant, we’ve had the devil’s own day, haven’t we?”  Grant replied, “Yes, lick ‘em tomorrow, though.”  Game on.  Monday 7 April 1862 – Day Two at Shiloh – was the opposite of the day. Then, the Confederates spent the day attacking Federal positions over a period of twelve hours of constant fighting.  Today, a reinforced Federal side wiped out all of the Rebel gains. They sent Beauregard’s force back to Corinth in defeat – though they did not see it as such.

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SIDESHOWS FLARE IN THE EAST TENNESSEE UNIONIST COUNTRY

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The hanging of two bridge burners left in a tree next to the rail line for people to jeer.

One of the driving forces for Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War, from start to finish, was to reassert Federal control over east Tennessee with its vocal Unionist stalwarts. Lincoln continually pressed his generals and the War Department to push forces into the region, but the Federals would have to wait until the end of 1863 before they were finally able to reclaim control.

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SHILOH – ARMY OF THE TENNESSEE AND “THE DEVIL’S OWN DAY”

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General U.S. Grant commanding movements in the woods of Shiloh on Day One.
General U.S. Grant commanding movements in the woods of Shiloh on Day One.

Like the other major Granite Forests – Gettysburg, Chickamauga, Chattanooga, Vicksburg -of the American Civil War, the story on the battlefield told through the monuments consists mostly of one told from the side of the Union. Here, the stories unfold about the main Federal force at Shiloh, the men of the Army of the Tennessee commanded by Ulysses S. Grant.

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MAGIC OF WALKING ON THE GRAND RONDONEE 52

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Looking north from the top of Mangiabo on GR 52.
Looking north from the top of Mangiabo on GR 52.

Grand Randonnée 5 represents France’s premier alpine adventure running from Thonon-les-Bains on the south shore of Lake Geneva to Nice on the Mediterranean. Many choose another alternative for the final third of the route, switching GR 52 for 5 just south of the Col de Larche. This route – known as the Balcon du Mercantour – stays much higher than GR 5 and offers much more drama as it marches southeast and then south to finish on the Mediterranean at the boat harbor of Menton-Garavan.

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SHILOH – CONFEDERATE VICTORY ON DAY ONE

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Mortuary upturned cannon denotes the death of Confederate commander General Albert Sidney Johnston in the afternoon of the first day at Shiloh.
Mortuary upturned cannon denotes the death of Confederate commander General Albert Sidney Johnston in the afternoon of the first day at Shiloh.

Shiloh remains one of the best preserved of American Civil War battlefields. It is also one of the most important, too, for it was here that America – North and South – got a true look at what the human cost of war would actually entail. The two-day battle here – 6-7 April 1862 – proved the costliest in terms of casualties in American history to that date – almost 27,000 casualties for both sides including the life of the Confederate commander General Albert Sidney Johnston – the highest-ranking soldier killed during the entire war.

The carnage from this battle shocked both sides and demonstrated that the war would probably not be decided by one thunder stroke on the battlefield but would persist with much more bloodshed. In fact, eight battles – and innumerable smaller ones – that were larger and bloodier in scope during the three long years lay ahead.

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FISH HATCHERY – TRYING TO MAKE UP FOR LOST GROUND

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Chinook salmon circling about in a lower holding pond at the Bonneville Fish Hatchery.
Chinook salmon circling about in a lower holding pond at the Bonneville Fish Hatchery.

In the western United States, when something good gets discovered, it seems nothing better to do than to rush to deplete the good – gold, trees, … salmon. Gold is mined many times at the cost of whatever lived in the area before. Trees, centuries of age, swept away, sometimes replanted, sometimes not, always with ecological cost. In the case of salmon, former runs of billions of salmon first suffered from overfishing, taken to extremes. To finish off the magnificent earlier runs, primeval rivers dammed ending the prehistoric runs. Fish hatchery to the rescue

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BUILD UP TO SHILOH – “WATER OUR HORSES IN THE TENNESSEE”

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Federal steamboats gather at Pittsburg Landing as Grant and Buell build up their forces along the Tennessee River.
Federal steamboats gather at Pittsburg Landing as Grant and Buell build up their forces along the Tennessee River.

Shiloh National Military Park sits just north of the border of southwestern Tennessee and northeastern Mississippi. Of the major battlefields of the American Civil War, Shiloh lies farther out of reach to the average tourist than the others. By car, the fields lie two hours by car from Memphis and three from Nashville. As a result, you will not find as many visitors on the spread-out grounds as some of the other Battle parks. It is important to understand the buildup to Shiloh to better figure out why there was even a battle here.

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ARTISTIC ESPIONAGE IN THE NORTHWEST – HENRY JAMES WARRE

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Falls of the Peloos River Henry J. Warre - note the Natives dressed in Plains Indian garb.
Falls of the Peloos River Henry J. Warre – note the Natives dressed in Plains Indian garb.

The Royal Army in 1845 sent out Lieutenants Henry James Ware and Mervin Vavasour to evaluate American presence in the Pacific Northwest and British ability to militarily respond. The political crisis brewing since the late 1830s responsible for Warre’s mission across the North American continent, however, dissipated by the time Warre returned to Britain. 

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SMOKE ON THE BAY – A QUICK GLANCE AT REYKJAVÍK

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Alþingi sits on the south side of the Austurvöllur park.
Alþingi sits on the south side of the Austurvöllur park. Heart of Iceland’s democracy.

Two full days on an Icelandair stopover, what to do? Sunny but cold for the first day and clouds move in for the second. Get out of town for the first day – Golden Circle and Northern Lights. Sleep late and enjoy cosmopolitan Iceland in its capital city of Reykjavík.

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CALDERA DE TABURIENTE – MAGIC IN THE CANARIES

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Northern and eastern rims of the Caldera de Taburiente.
Northern and eastern rims of the Caldera de Taburiente.

A recent trip took me to the Caldera de Taburiente on the island of La Palma on the western edge of the Canary Islands. The Canaries – not named for the birds but for dogs the pre-Spanish people kept and ate – are hugely popular destinations for sunseekers from northern Europe. The interesting geology of the islands is not what brings in the plane loads of tourists, though what they seek for a large part, results from geological processes.  Beaches, sun and alcohol, not necessarily in that order. Fuerteventura, Tenerife, Gran Canaria and Lanzarote all promise kilometers of beaches for the sun-deprived northerners to escape the long winters with.

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