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.

AUTO TOUR ROUTE and TROOP STRENGTHS

The National Park Service has an auto tour route covering the battlefield park.  The auto route mixes both days of the battle together – though focusing on Day 1.  Here, having focused on Day One, we focus on Day Two.  The route covers much the same ground as Day One. This because much of the battle focused on Federal forces pushing back the Confederates over the same ground. They were almost as surprised as their Union counterparts at the start of actions the previous day.

Casualties, disorganization after the long battle of the day before, and straggling cut away at Confederate numbers. Beauregard only had about 20,000 of the 40,000 men who began the battle on Sunday.  Grant, on the other hand, gained about 17,000 more men from the arrival of Don Carlos Buell and the Army of the Ohio. Plus, another 5,800 men of Lew Wallace’s division were now on hand.  They spent the day before marching and countermarching out of the picture of the battle scene. The Federals now had a force again bumped up to 45,000, his losses from the day before made good.

DAY TWO – Beginnings

As for Day One, we start from the Visitor Center. 

The center sits where the Federal line ended on Day One and began on Day Two.  The Federal line went straight west from Pittsburg Landing. It then crooked to the northwest from the intersection of Pittsburg Landing Road and Tennessee Highway 22.

The Confederates started in the former Union encampments further to the south.  Beauregard withdrew his tired men after failing to make any dents in the Federal ‘Final Line’ set above Dill Branch.  He and his corps commanders all thought Grant would retire with his beaten army across the Tennessee River to recuperate.  Their intelligence placed Buell’s force a long way to the east moving toward Decatur, Alabama.  That bit of news was wrong.

Many histories gloss over the events of Day Two.  The Park’s auto tour provides stops for Day Two events at only two of twenty-two stops.  Here, we give more.

DAY TWO – Stop One – Cloud Field

Begin at the Visitor Center. Drive west on Pittsburg Landing Road to the first intersection – Confederate Road – and turn left.  At the next intersection, veer again to the left – the Michigan State Monument stands at the intersection. Now on Hamburg-Savannah Road.  Cloud Field is to your left.  A cannonball pyramid notes here was the headquarters of Brigadier General Stephen Hurlbut. He was a prewar law and political friend of Abraham Lincoln. Hurlbut commanded one of the six divisions of the Army of the Tennessee.  It was from here at Cloud Field, Hurlbut started his long first day at Shiloh.  His forces were heavily engaged at the Peach Orchard, Sunken Road with one brigade fighting further west near Woolf Field.  The survivors of his division fought on Day Two further to the west.

JOSEPH WHEELER AND ALABAMA

At the south end of the Field is the Alabama State Monument.  Two Alabama brigades – John Jackson’s and Adley Gladden’s – fought long and hard around here on Day One.  Having retired for the night, they came forward around 0900 to engage the advance of the brigades of Don Carlos Buell.  Colonel Joseph Wheeler took up the colors of the 19^th Alabama leading his regiment forward on foot.  The monument erected in honor of Wheeler sits next to the State memorial.

Confederate defense here consisted mostly of skirmishers. They came out to try and delay the oncoming brigades of William “Bull” Nelson’s division.  They bought time while a more substantial line was cobbled together behind. The brigade of James Chalmers set up just to the south of Wicker Field.  Chalmers also wanted to buy time as the main Army of Mississippi gathered itself for another day of battle.

LATE START FOR BEAUREGARD

At the end of Day One, Beauregard let his troops withdraw to camp in the former Union camps.  He planned on finishing off Grant’s forces if they were still on the west side of the river.  The information he received the day before stated Buell’s forces were not on the scene here at Shiloh. He thought they were off marching in northern Alabama. 

He was badly misinformed, however. Buell’s forces already began appearing on the scene at the end of Day One.  They continued to pour into the Federal side throughout the night and the next morning.  They got an early jump on Day Two marching across the steep and boggy Dill Branch. This could have been a formidable obstacle if Beauregard had not withdrawn the night before.  Here, in and around Cloud Field, actions began on the eastern end of the battlefield.

DAY TWO – Stop Two – Bloody Pond-Wicker Field

About a quarter mile farther on lies Wicker Field to the right. The Bloody Pond separates that field from the Peach Orchard to the south.  Wicker Field is where Federals of William “Bull” Nelson’s division came into action on Day Two.  Chalmer’s men delayed Nelson’s advance long enough for division commander Brigadier General Jones Withers to gather his other two brigades. The brigades of Jackson and Gladden (now commanded by Colonel Zach Deas) formed into a more formidable line along the Hamburg-Purdy Road on the south side of the Bell Cotton Field.  Chalmer’s men shifted to the right – east – side of Hamburg-Savannah Road. Here they contested the advance of the brigade of Colonel Jacob Ammen.

WICKER FIELD

Notice on the north side of Wicker Field a monument of the 2^nd Illinois Light Artillery commanded by Captain John Wesley Powell. He went on to postwar Grand Canyon fame.  They fought from here helping to defend the Federal positions on Day One.

On the south side of the field are two monuments. These are to regiments of Colonel William Hazen, the 9^th Indiana and 41^st Ohio.  They marched across Wicker Field taking positions in the Peach Orchard.  Here they would be halted by the now, more substantial Confederate line on the south side of the Bell Cotton Field.  The fight in this area would go back and forth until around 1400 in the afternoon. At that time, the Confederate line began its general retreat. Overwhelming Federal numbers overlapped the Confederates on their far left.

You can find the monuments to Ammen’s brigade east off Hamburg-Savannah Road on a trail opposite the Bloody Pond.  6^th Ohio, 24^th Ohio and the 36^th Indiana are all arrayed. Here Ammen’s men faced off with Chalmer’s Mississippians who used the various ravines for their defense. This replicated the actions of the men of McArthur from the previous afternoon.

BLOODY POND

The Bloody Pond supposedly stained red due to the number of wounded from both sides trying to wash their wounds.  In fact, there are questions as to whether there was a pond there at the time of battle or not.  It is a very small pond after all.  No mention of the pond comes from battle records.  The name comes from a passerby account which claims the pond was red from the blood of those who fought.  Over the years, the name – like the Sunken Road (not sunken at all) – caught on. It is a popular stopping point for visitors.

FEDERAL ARTILLERY

One advantage Southern defenders had on Day Two was even though Buell brought most of his army onto the field, most of Nelson’s artillery was still stuck in Savannah.  There simply was not enough room on the steamboats for men and cannons.  In response to a request for artillery support, Buell sent two of the three army artillery batteries present on the field over – Batteries H and M of the 4^th US Artillery (attached to Crittenden’s division) commanded by Captain John Mendenhall and Battery H of the 5^th US Artillery (attached to McCook’s division) commanded by Captain William Terrill.

Mendenhall gathered his guns into Wicker Field at about 1000 to support Hazen’s force.  His guns continued to work this area and the Cotton Field to the south over the next several hours.  Terrill moved his guns about the same time astride the Hamburg-Purdy Road. This gave effective support to Nelson’s men with support given by the 6^th Ohio.  Nelson wrote after the battle, “Wherever Captain Terrill turned his battery silence followed on the part of the enemy.”

DAY TWO – Stop Three – Texas Monument-Cotton Field

Continue south on Hamburg-Savannah Road. Turn right at the intersection with Hamburg-Purdy. A short distance ahead is one of the pink limestone Texas monuments found all over Civil War battlefields.  This is where General Jones Withers set up the main Confederate left.  With William Hardee’s help – remember, Withers’ division was supposed to be part of Braxton Bragg’s Second Corps, but the Army of the Mississippi was thoroughly mixed up after the actions of Day One – an imposing line was set up along the Haburg-Purdy Road.  For Federals to attack, they had to traverse the open Bell Cotton Field, a problem much like the Confederates faced on Day One.

texans hold the line

Texans fighting here were the 2^nd Texas Regiment commanded by Colonel John Moore.  Aligned aside Wheeler’s 19^th Alabama, the 2^nd Texas went on a counterattack around noon.  Ordered to advance but not to fire – Confederates of Breckinridge’s division could be in front – they marched right up in front of the guns of Nelson’s troops who delivered a pointblank volley which stunned the Texans.  They also thought they were supposedly the second line of Confederates advancing.  Finding out they were on the front line instead of in support, the regiment came apart.

Making matters worse was Hardee’s actions as he came across the fleeing Texans.  He called them to reform declaring them a “pack of cowards”.  This had political ramifications for Hardee after the battle.  Moore was held under arrest after the battle even though he was commanding Jackson’s brigade – part of which was the 2^nd Texas – since Jackson had been tabbed to command other regrouped troops on another part of the battlefield.

DAY TWO – Stop Four – Crescent Regiment-Wheat Field

One of the very few Confederate regimental monuments is just a little farther down Hamburg-Purdy Road on the left opposite the Davis’s Wheat Field – the Crescent Regiment.  This regiment hailed from New Orleans, a State militia unit on a 90-day enlistment in Confederate service for the purposes of the Shiloh campaign. They brought 945 men onto the battlefield as a part of Preston Pond’s brigade.  On Day One they started on the far left of the Confederate line.  As the day progressed, they were part of the attacks on the Federal positions in the Hornet’s Nest.  For Day Two, they supported the 5^th Company of the Washington Artillery – also raised from New Orleans.

The Washington Artillery was also a prewar militia group comprised of four companies.  Those companies marched off to Virginia in 1861 as a new fifth company was raised.  This company joined Johnston and Beauregard for the Shiloh campaign.  They were led by Captain W. Irving Hodgson.  Hodgson’s performance at Shiloh has been called into question by historians.  He did go on leave later in 1862 for ill health, but his men would not allow his return.

CRESCENT REGIMENT

Commanding the Crescent Regiment was Colonel Marshall Smith.  Smith was born in Virginia.  After graduating from St Mary’s College in Baltimore he served in the US Navy as a midshipman.  He served on several ship until the Mexican war where Smith served on several ships as well as commanded a small four-gun vessel at Veracruz. 

Following that war, he attended and graduated from the Naval Academy in Annapolis. 

In 1851, Smith resigned because of his wife’s ill health and became a businessman in Mobile, Alabama before moving to New Orleans in 1854.

He helped to organize the Crescent Regiment at the start of the war becoming the colonel of the regiment.  Bad health caused Smith to resign shortly after Shiloh though he would resurface as an artillery officer at Port Hudson.  After being exchanged – he spent fourteen months in captivity – Smith finished the war serving in Richmond.

The regiment helped support their artillery brethren in the Davis’s Wheat Field saving three of the batteries guns from attacking forces from Hazen’s brigade.

DAY TWO – Stop Five – Wisconsin 14^th Stump

Continue onto the next intersection and turn right – Eastern Corinth Road.  As you drive up this road, you are replicating the path taken by Breckinridge’s corps as they attempted a counterattack on the Federal center around noon on Day Two.  The attack covered ground the Confederates had fought and died over in Day One against the Hornet’s Nest.  You come up onto one of the most unique monuments found here at Shiloh, the memorial to J. D. Putnam of the 14^th Wisconsin.

The 14^th Wisconsin arrived at Pittsburg Landing on the morning of 7 April.  Not yet assigned to a parent organization, they were made part of William Sooy Smith’s brigade.  That brigade, part of Thomas Crittenden’s division, formed on the right of Nelson’s division melding with Bruce’s brigade.  

The 14^th Wisconsin placed a unique monument along the Eastern Corinth Road where J.D. Putnam fell in the afternoon fighting.  His comrades buried him beneath a tree inscribing his name on the base of the trunk.  When the time came in the post-war years to remember where the different units had fought on the battlefield, the tree was found.  It had been chopped down, but the stump still stood with the inscription still legible.  The men of the regiment then placed this more permanent reminder.

After Shiloh, the 14^th went on to fight many other battles as part of the Federal Army of the Tennessee.  Four of their members won Medals of Honor at the Second Battle of Corinth 3-4 October 1862.  The 14^th also has a true regimental monument at Vicksburg.

DAY TWO – Stop Six – Hornet’s Nest Chapter Two

Continue along Eastern Corinth Road and stop at the Auto Tour Stop #10 Hornet’s Nest.  The tour stop focuses on the events of 6 April, but 7 April was busy here too.

To the right of Nelson’s division marched the two brigades of Crittenden’s division, William Sooy Smith and Jeremiah Boyle.  They came forward diagonally oriented to Hazen, marching through the forests leading to the Sunken Road positions of the previous day.

John Breckinridge’s “Reserve Corps” – more of a division – came forward across Duncan Field to counter.  Beauregard hoped Breckinridge would plow through the Federal center to cut them in half.  They successfully stopped the Federal advance but then attacked them ensconced back in their Sunken Road positions with results like the day before – repulse.  The two sides stalemated each other until the Confederate left became overlapped by Lew Wallace’s division just after noon.  Slowly, the Confederates began to give way to Federal numbers.

monuments

Find the monument of the 13^th Ohio – Smith’s brigade – in the woods on a trail leading east from the Wisconsin State Monument.  Smith’s other regiments were from Kentucky, and they are remembered on the Kentucky State Monument on the south side of Cloud Field.  The 14^th Wisconsin gets official remembrance on the Wisconsin State Monument along with the 16^th and 18^th Wisconsin both part of Benjamin Prentiss’s division with both of those regiments heavily involved in the fight for the Hornet’s Nest on Day One.

There is also the Arkansas State Monument nearby commemorating the efforts of Arkansas units at the Hornet’s Nest during Day One.

Walk a short way north of the auto tour stop to find monuments to Boyle’s men – Bartlett’s Battery (1^st Ohio Light Artillery), 59^th and 19^th Ohio regiments.

DAY TWO – Stop Seven – North Duncan Field

Drive to the north end of the Sunken Road with Iowa regimental monuments stretching to the south – Tuttle’s brigade Day One – and walk into the northern part of Duncan Field.  Find the monument to the 6^th Indiana and walk straight north to two other regimental monuments from the brigade of Lovell Rosseau (there was a third regiment from Kentucky).   Part of the division of Alexander McCook, they marched on the right flank of Crittenden’s division.  Their experiences were similar in being initially repelled in the Duncan Field and then stopping the Confederate attacks made by Breckinridge.

DAY TWO – Stop Eight – Jones Field

From Duncan Field and the Hornet’s Nest, now drive north to the intersection with Confederate Road and turn right.  You soon pass the large Daughters of the Confederacy Memorial which we will see later.  At the next intersection with Hamburg-Savannah Road – at the State of Michigan Monument – veer left onto the Jones Field Road.  A ninety degree turn to the west brings you past one of the five Confederate burial trenches found at Shiloh.  Continue to the auto stop #12 for Jones Field.  This was the site of heavy fighting on Day One when Federal counterattacks by the men of McClernand’s division and those of Sherman’s who remained temporarily stymied the Confederate advance on the Union right.

For Day Two, those two Federal divisions – now a little smaller – faced off against the men of Leonidas Polk’s corps.  The difference this day was the fresh division of Lew Wallace who had not played a role in the fight on Day One.  Placed at the extreme right of the Federal line, Wallace’s brigades – Morgan Smith, John Thayer and Charles Whittlesey, east to west – pushed through the boggy ground of Tilghman Branch pushing aside the lone brigade of Preston Pond.  Just like at the beginning of Day One, they started on the extreme Confederate left as Day Two began.

LEW WALLACE SEALS THE DEAL ON DAY TWO

Pond’s force was the only Confederate force on the left end of their line as the battle began just after dawn.  They did slow up the Federals long enough for Beauregard to get men up to try and establish a defense on the west side of Jones Field.  Wallace’s line went farther to the west, however.  He had enough men to extend to Sowell Field – there is a picnic area turnout there on the west side of Tennessee highway 22 – with detachments reaching as far as Owl Creek.  Overlapping the Confederate line forced Bragg – now in charge of the Confederate left – to slowly give ground, withdrawing first towards Crescent and Woolf Fields.

The monuments of Wallace’s regiments lie ahead at stop eleven.  Federal monuments here all relate to Day One, but it is important to see where the renewed numbers on the Union side finally came to bear sealing the fate of Beauregard on Day Two.

DAY TWO – Stop Nine – Crossroads

From Jones Field, back in the car and proceed to the Tennessee State Monument next to Water Oaks Pond.

As Day Two dragged on into the afternoon, Confederate forces managed to hold on their left and in the center.  The flanking moves by Wallace’s division brought about a withdrawal however to the Rebel right and center.  Ammunition resupply became an issue for Beauregard’s men.  Another feature of Day Two saw the Federals continually bringing more men onto the scene, massing them in their attacks against a Confederate line slowly thinning.

WATER OAKS POND

Alexander McCook’s men – brigades of Lovell Rosseau, Edward Kirk and William Gibson – headed straight west along the Corinth Road after the Confederates pulled west out of Duncan Field.  They came out onto Woolf Field.  Rosseau’s men had been leading the way, but now Kirk’s men took over giving the others a chance to resupply with more ammunition.  On their left was Gibson’s lead regiment, the 32^nd Indiana led by Colonel August Willich – late of the Prussian army. 

Initial attacks were stopped by the new Confederate line – here commanded by Breckinridge.  The 34^th Illinois literally charged across through Water Oaks Pond.  They and the neighboring 30^th Indiana both took heavy casualties crossing the open ground of Woolf Field.  Both commanders of the Federal regiments went down in the actions – Sion Bass of the 30^th Indiana suffered two wounds – dying a couple days later – while Charles Levanway of the 34^th Illinois died outright from a shell burst.  That regiment had been commanded by Kirk up until the battle when the normal brigade commander fell ill.  He went forward steadying his old regiment in its time of need.

counterattack

Further actions on the Confederate far right with Wallace’s division still punching in from an overlapped flank forced Beauregard to fall back to a third line below the Hamburg-Purdy Road level with the Shiloh Church.  From a smaller, more compact line, Bragg had S.A.M. Wood launch a counterattack from carrying them across the waters of the Water Oaks Pond.  But the attack made by about 650 men – Arkansas and Tennesseans – went forward without support. Their flanks wide open as they charged, they were soon back to where they started from. Especially now that Wallace was making a third flanking movement on the Confederate left.

You can find the monuments of Kirk’s 29^th and 30^th Indiana regiments across the Sherman Road along a small one-way side road.  Gibson’s regimental monuments are slightly southeast with Willich’s 32^nd Indiana standing on the south shore of the pond.  The other three regimental monuments are farther south between the Corinth and Hamburg-Purdy Roads – 15^th Ohio, 39^th Indiana and the 49^th Ohio.  In counterpoint is the Tennessee Monument sitting where Wood’s men launched their gallant attack from.

DAY TWO – Stop Ten – Review Field

Turn left at the intersection with Hamburg-Purdy Road and drive down a short distance to a row of one Pennsylvanian and three Indiana regimental monuments on the side of the road on the southern edge of Review Field – the name Review Field comes from the field use by Federal units practicing their movements before the battle.

The first monument belonged to Kirk’s brigade – the 77^th – on the left-hand side of the road.  This regiment had been detached from the rest of Kirk’s regiments to serve as a reserve unit for division commander McCook to use as he needed.  Charging across the Review Field, the men repulsed two Confederate cavalry charges before capturing the wounded colonel of the 20^th Tennessee, Joel Battle.  Battle lost one son at the Peach Orchard on Day One and another earlier in actions in Duncan Field.  Hearing some of his captors, who had been students with his son Joel Jr, had earlier buried their former colleague, the colonel “sat down and wept like a child”.

The other three monuments belong to Indiana regiments of George Wagner.  They came across Review Field just as the Confederates were withdrawing for the day.  Wagner’s men got in a few shots before the Confederates disappeared into the woods.  Their monuments are on the south side of the road – 57^th, 40^th and 15^th Indiana regiments.

DAY TWO – Stop Eleven – Crescent Field

The monuments of Lew Wallace’s regiments lie spread out from the south end of Crescent Field across Tennessee highway 22.  Best access comes from highway 22 by directly parking off the highway – past the west end of Crescent Field – next to the monument of the 23^rd Indiana on the east side of the highway. 

Whittlesey’s brigade monuments lie split into two sections.  The brigade began on the left of Wallace’s line but as they swept forward Wallace became worried about his right flank.  He sent both the 78^th and 20^th Ohio regiments over to the far right with the 76^th proceeding straight ahead.  This is why you find the regimental monuments somewhat spread out with other memorials to both Smith’s brigade and that of the 23^rd Indiana (Thayer’s brigade) in between.

The 78^th and 20^th Ohio monuments are off Tennessee highway 22 to the west of the Indiana 23^rd.  Walk directly east past the 58^th Ohio (Thayer) and the 24^th and 11^th Indiana (Smith) to see the monument of the 76^th Ohio just off the southeast edge of Crescent Field.

DAY TWO – Stop Twelve and more – The other monuments (UDC, Michigan, Cavalry, 66^th Illinois)

A little after 1400, Beauregard realized he needed to withdraw from the battlefield in order to preserve what he had left of his army in the face of the reinforced Federal numbers.  One of his aides, Thomas Jordan came up and said to his commander, “General, do you not think our troops are very much in the condition of a lump of sugar thoroughly soaked with water, but yet preserving its original shape, though ready to be dissolved.”  General Beauregard replied “I intend to withdraw in a few moments.”

One last Confederate attack went out at 1600 with some 400 men under Colonel Robert Looney.  That failing, they fell in behind Breckinridge’s corps serving as rear guard as the rest of Beauregard’s army withdrew to the south to Corinth.  The Federals were happy to let them go and the two-day battle, the bloodiest battle, fought until that time in the Americas was over.

The cost of the battle on the Federal side was 13,047 casualties – 1,754 killed, 8,408 wounded and 2,885 missing (most taken prisoner at the Hornet’s Nest on Day One) or slightly under 20%.  The Confederates lost 10,699 casualties – 1,728 killed, 8,012 wounded and 959 missing or just under 24% of their force.  Those figures for the Confederates have been upgraded in recent years by about a third meaning the Confederate losses actually came to about 14,265 or almost 32%.

Pittsburg Landing Road Intersection

From exploring Crescent Field, drive north on Tennessee 22, parking next to the intersection with Pittsburg Landing Road.  On the right-hand side – Perry Field – you can find two artillery battery monuments.  Closest to the road is that of the 9^th Indiana Battery commanded by First Lieutenant George Brown.  Brown’s battery supported the early morning attack made by Wallace’s division as it marched out to find the left flank of the Confederate line.

Just behind the Indiana monument is one for the 1^st Illinois Light Artillery Battery I commanded by Edward Bouton.  Bouton’s men were unassigned to any brigade on Day One having only just arrived at the Landing two days before the battle.  They joined a couple other unassigned units – 15^th and 16^th Iowa – facing down panicking stragglers from the early hours of battle on Day One.  The Iowans went off to help McClernand’s division while Battery I was among the guns amassed to hold the Federals “Final Line” being established on the northern edge of Dill Branch.  Battery I was then sent to hold the Snake Creek bridge until Wallace’s division showed up.  Without horses yet assigned to the battery, the guns had to be man-hauled.

On Day Two, the battery supported McClernand’s division.  During the fighting, they lost two guns to a Confederate counterattack.  The guns were later reclaimed in the subsequent Union advance.

Another regimental monument stands across the road from the Brown’s Indiana Battery.  This regiment was known as the 14th Missouri Volunteers here at Shiloh. A multistate specialized regiment of sharpshooters originally the unit raised as Birgie’s Western Sharpshooters.  A similar group serving with the Army of the Potomac, Berdan’s Sharpshooters were their better-known reflection.

Pittsburg Landing – INFANTRY

Along the Pittsburg Landing Road near the Visitor Center are a congregation of monuments, both State and regimental.  Many of these units remembered are cavalry units which due to the nature of the battle, saw little action.  In the group farthest west stand monuments dedicated to John Garfield’s brigade of the Army of the Ohio.  Garfield’s men came next to last in line of march arriving too late for much action other than receiving a few artillery shells as they marched to the sounds of the guns.  Garfield arrived with the 56^th and 65^th Ohio whose monuments stand close to each other.  His other regiment, the 51^st Indiana, arrived much later.  Their only Civil War monument stands further east near the Iowa State Monument.

Next to the monument of the 51^st are the monuments of the 58^th and 17^th Indiana regiments, part of the last of Buell’s army – brigade of Milo Hascall – to arrive.  They reached the battlefield only on 8 April, the day after the battle.

Pittsburg Landing – ARTILLERY

There are several monuments to artillery batteries here too – Goodspeed’s Battery 1^st Ohio Light Artillery, Madison’s Siege Gun Battery (B) 2^nd Illinois Artillery, Silversparre’s Battery H 1^st Illinois Light Artillery.  There are many other position markers of various Federal artillery units with cannons marking their places in Grant’s Final Line, as well – Welker’s, Schwartz’s (the only battery here to throw up rudimentary earthworks to provide protection for the guns), Richardson’s, Mann’s, and Stone’s Batteries (all of these units were from Missouri except for Schwartz’s Illinoisans). Several of the battery commanders, even though leading their units admirably through the battle, ended up having charges drawn up against them after the fight.

Pittsburg Landing – CAVALRY

Two monuments from Ohio regiments stand with Garfield’s – 68^th (Thayer’s brigade) and 56^th Ohio (Whittlesey’s brigade).  These two regiments stood guard over brigade stores at Crump’s Landing, to the north of Pittsburg Landing where Wallace’s division started out on Day One.  The 5^th Ohio Cavalry placed a monument in with those of Garfield, too.  Men from two of its battalions served as messengers for Stephen Hurlbut on Day One while another battalion served with other cavalry units to keep the Hamburg-Savannah Road open for Wallace’s approach.

Next to the large Iowa State Monument are two other cavalry monuments.  One is for the 2^nd Indiana Cavalry which did not cross over the river until the afternoon of Day Two.  The other is for Illinois cavalry units on the battlefield.  Grant’s line, “The nature of this battle was such that cavalry could not be used in front. I therefore formed ours into line in rear.” is inscribed on the monument along with the names of the various units present.

Pittsburg Landing – iLLINOIS 9TH

At the south edge of the National Cemetery is a monument to the 9^th Illinois Infantry.  They are the only unit to have two monuments here on the battlefield – there other is near where they went into action with McArthur’s brigade on Day One close to where the mortuary monument to Albert Sidney Johnston stands.  The monument at the cemetery stands next to the burial ground of their lost soldiers.

Pittsburg Landing – Iowa State Monument

The Iowa State Monument stands as the grandest at Shiloh.  Some 6,664 Iowans served here with 2,409 casualties recorded from their ranks.  The eleven Iowan regiments all noted on the monument.  On the east side of the monument is a female statue, “Fame” who is inscribing on the:

                                “Brave of the brave, the twice five thousand men

                                Who all that day stood in the battle’s shock,

                                Fame holds them dear, and with immortal pen

                                Inscribes their names on the enduring rock.”

The monument, erected in 1906, stands some 75 feet high with an eagle topping the column arising from the base.  Only a couple years elapsed after the monument stood finished before a cyclone knocked it down in 1909.  The monument is just to the west of the Visitor Center.

OTHER MONUMENTS ON THE BATTLEFIELD

As you travel around the battlefield of Shiloh, several monuments stand erected by different State’s in honor of their soldiers.  Unlike Iowa’s, standing centrally near the Visitor Center, the others are located, for the most part, in areas where their men fought some of their main actions at.

Illinois

“The World will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.” – Lincoln.  Words inscribed on the Illinois State monument located just south of the Water Oaks Pond on the south side of the Corinth Road.  Those words were written for Gettysburg, but they ring true here, too.  The figure watches to the South – Corinth – holding a sheathed sword.  It was in this vicinity that many Illinois regiments fought and died on both days of the battle.  Most Illinois regiments fought with the Army of the Tennessee.  The monument sits amidst a plethora of Illinois monuments from various regiments and batteries fighting near the Crossroads on both days of battle.

Tennessee

Nearby, across the road is the newer Tennessee State Monument.  The Battle of Shiloh occurred in Tennessee and many of the men fighting in A.S.Johnston’s Army of Mississippi were from the Volunteer State.  Until recently, little reminded the visitor of their valiant efforts.  This recent – 2005 – State monument stands on the east side of Sherman Road next to the Water Oaks Pond.  Some 80 years elapsed since a monument of this size had gone up here at Shiloh.

Depicted is a soldier taking the Confederate flag from the hands of a dying color bearer while another stands guard.  The unveiling ceremony attracted a crowd of over 2,000 people.  Tennessee regiments accounted for about a third of the Confederate force at Shiloh.  The regiments scattered throughout the various brigades making up the bulk of Leonidas Polk’s 1^st Army Corps – the divisions of Brigadier General Charles Clark and Major General Benjamin Cheatham.

Michigan

Over near Cloud Field, four State monuments stand.  From north to south along the Hamburg-Savannah Road, first is the Michigan State Monument – at the intersection with Corinth Road.  Three infantry regiments and one artillery battery hailed from Michigan here at Shiloh:  the 12^th Michigan was in Peabody’s brigade seeing action early and hard; the 15^th Michigan showed up to the fight with Prentiss’ division – Miller’s brigade – but with no ammunition, they had to withdraw to the Landing; resupplied, they filled in on the north side of Tuttle’s brigade along the Sunken Road by the Duncan Field and fought as a part of that brigade thereafter. 

The battery – Ross’ Battery B – fought in the Peach Orchard supporting Hurlbut’s division until forced to retire towards the Landing – not quick enough; they lost four of six guns in the process.  The other brigade – 13^th Michigan – was with Buell’s army and they did not reach Shiloh until the end of the fight.  The monument stands at the intersection of Corinth and Hamburg-Savannah Roads near Cloud Field.

Alabama

The State monument of Alabama sits on the southwestern corner of Cloud Field.  Alabamians concentrated on the brigades Adley Gladden and John K. Jackson with a couple of other regiments serving in other brigades.  There are two monuments next to each other on the west side of the Hamburg-Savannah Road across from the Cloud Field.  The Alabama State monument dates to 1907 and lists the various regiments and other units which came from Alabama.

Kentucky

Lying on the east edge of Cloud Field is the Kentucky State Monument.  Kentucky, like Missouri, was a Border State and sent men to both sides of the conflict.  This monument is another relatively recent addition to the Park and Kentucky Girl Scouts were the founding force here.  Set between two granite pillars – Georgian – an extensive tablet on both sides describes with maps and text the actions of the various Kentuckians – some 6,500 for the Federals and 2,000 for the Confederacy – with one day’s action recorded on each side.  The monument dates to 1974.

Missouri

A little further south on the east side of Hamburg-Savannah Road on the northeast edge of Wicker Field is the Missouri State Monument.  The two monuments erected to the soldiers hailing from Missouri and Kentucky are both relatively recent additions to the granite forest of Shiloh.  Missourians fought on both sides here at Shiloh.  The Federal side stands represented by the 8^th, 13^th, 14^th, 21^st, 23^rd and 25^th Infantry and four batteries of artillery while on the Confederate side there was the 1^st Missouri.  The monument in the shape of the State is found on the east side of the Hamburg-Savannah Road at the north end of Wicker Field.  Dedicated in 1971, a Boy Scout troop proved the impetus behind the monument’s development.

Arkansas

Two State monuments stand near each other in what was the Hornet’s Nest – Arkansas and Wisconsin.  The Arkansas Division of the United Daughters of the Confederacy erected this monument in 1910 dedicated to the efforts of some nine regiments and one battalion – three regimental and one brigade leaders died in the fighting – here at Shiloh.  The soldier at the top of the column is looking towards Pittsburgh Landing.

Wisconsin

The State of Wisconsin erected its monument in 1905.  The monument commemorates efforts of three Wisconsin regiments who saw action here.  The 16^th (Peabody’s brigade) and the 18^th (Miller’s brigade) both clobbered on the first day in the initial destruction of Prentiss’ division. Meanwhile, the 14^th – unattached on the first day – helped Sooy Smith’s brigade on the second day. Altogether, they pushed back down through the woods along the Eastern Corinth Road past the Sunken Road. 

On the monument, Victory lifts a mortally stricken color sergeant raising his flag to show his death will not be in vain.  At the base, each regiment has a bronze tablet commemorating a special moment in the battle.  The 14^th captures a Confederate battery. The 16^th shows the death of Captain Saxe at the beginning of the battle. He was the first officer to fall at Shiloh. The 18^th shows their defense at the Hornet’s Nest close to where this monument stands. 

A short way south on Eastern Corinth Road, you also find the unique J.D. Putnam Stump, a separate monument memorializing the 14^th Wisconsin.

Texas

We already passed the Texas State Monument at Stop Three.  Texas has placed some 19 monuments on various Civil War battlefields with each one being like the other – the exception is at Vicksburg.  A raised tablet of pink granite provides a description of the Texas units and their commanders who fought here.  The monument erected here in 1964, remembers the 2^nd and 9^th Texas Infantry along with the 8^th Texas Cavalry (Rangers) and the army commander, himself, Albert Sidney Johnston, who also was from Texas.

CONFEDERATE MONUMENT

The Lost Cause lives on at the field of Shiloh.  This grand monument dates to 1917 and erected by the United Daughters of the Confederacy.  It extends the mythology that developed after the war:  if only A.S. Johnston had not died, all would have been well; reinforcements from Buell are what really lost the battle for the South; if a final attack had been launched on 6 April, Grant would have been swept away.

The symbolism: at the center stands Albert Sidney Johnston, Confederate commander who died the afternoon of the first day of battle.   Of the side figures, figure of the cavalryman represents the Rebel officers; his head bowed in submission to the order to cease fire on the first day when victory is so close.  In the center, the front figure is the Confederacy surrendering Victory to Death, on the left – A.S. Johnston’s death – and Night, on the right – Buell’s army has come.  The panel of heads on the right represents the excited spirit of the army on the first day – eleven heads – while on the left, the heads – now only ten – now bowed.  Victory so near unexpectedly slipped away.  A very nice story and a gorgeous monument, but all based on Southern myth.

The site of the monument is placed where General Prentiss surrendered his defenders of the Hornet’s Nest towards the end of the long afternoon of the first day.