Went to Shiloh Battlefield

[OcdChaos]

This is not about relic hunting, as I'd be under the prison if I did that at Shiloh, TN....ha. But I just wanted to pass along a thought or two after visiting there for the day. I went once back in the 80's with the Boy Scouts, but being that young, you can't understand or comprehend the magnitude of what you are seeing. I got to go back a couple of days ago, this time as a grown man. The first thing that hit me was the sheer size of this place. You can drive and drive, and continue to see plaques and canons, and monuments where incidents happened. And they seem to go on forever. They are everywhere, in every woods and field for miles. We are talking about a 2-day battle of 100,000 men, in which 23,000 were killed, wounded or missing. As I was standing out in the Hornets Nest field, I pictured thousands of men coming out of the trees, bullets whizzing past my head so often it sounded like buzzing hornets. Cannonballs exploding around me, and men falling at my side. Children that are my daughters age out there, fighting, probably shaking with fear. It was disturbing to say the least when you try to put yourself in that situation. Thinking about their nightfall of the first night, trying to sleep in the rain with thousands of men crying out in pain and wounded, dying, their moans and crying filling the air all night. Sorry to sound morbid, but I wanted to pass along some feelings I had while I was there, and that continued in my head as I laid in bed the night I got home, as I was trying to go to sleep. It was a terrible time back then, I feel for the men, women and children that had to live through that. And even for the folks that survived, I'm sure the mental scars were tough to live with in the aftermath. I'm glad that there are people to preserve the history, and document it all, so that we can pay tribute to them and learn from all of it.

 

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[relic nut]

Great post! I get the same feeling many times when I am uncovering CW relics and I think that's why I love to find them. It's up to us to respect the history from BOTH sides so that we can share and pass it on to others​. " Least we forget".
I have found many personal items such as carved lead, I hold them in my hand and wonder what was going through their minds way back then. Thanks for sharing.

HH, RN

 

[RustyGold]

Beautiful post. Your words reminds us what we need to remember. I often think about the real live experience of being there during that incredibly stressful situation. What people must of gone through..

 

[Escape]

Sometimes the door cracks open and you can see the suffering and misery that has taken place. I had a similar experience at a native american museum as I looked at the displays.

 

[Davers]

Thanks for a wonderful post.

I hope to visit There before , my "Gig in the Sky".
Davers

 

[Xraywolf]

I have been to a few US battlefields including Bull Run, Antietam and Gettysburg multiple times.
Quite a feeling standing in the footsteps of history, ordinary ground made famous and sacred for all of time by being consecrated with the blood of 1,000's of men.

These places were true meat grinders, often men were ordered to make frontal assaults against entrenched positions with predictable results.
The war featured many modern innovations including the 1st use of air power [balloons], 1st use of submersible ships, 1st use of rapid fire weapons, 1st use of railroads to mobilize and deploy a countries resources and manpower for battle - And all contributed to making the US civil war almost unique in the scale, frequency and violence of the battles. From hindsight, almost a war of attrition where men were all too often used by the union as cannon fodder.

Always pays to read and absorb as much as possible before visiting one of these sites. When you know the general flow of the battle and the key battle points makes the visit that much more memorable.