Friday, September 29 - Shiloh Battlefield

Woke up this morning and took a bike ride around the beautiful Pickwick State Park.  The picture on the left is of the hotel and restaurant where we had dinner last night (once again, Tennessee parks have it all!).  The picture on the right is of the swimming beach overlooking Pickwick Dam.

We biked to the edge of the park and realized just how far south we really are!!!

After our bike ride, we met Larry DeBerry, Shiloh Historian, who has lived next door, all his life, to the great Shiloh Battlefield from the Civil War.  Larry's ancestors have been in Shiloh for 180 years!  He had four families that lived there during the Battle and he has twenty-three grandmothers and grandfathers buried in the Shiloh Log Church Cemetery.  If you are ever in Tennessee, you need to check this park out; the Battlefield today, is just the way it was in April, 1862, little has changed.  Here are just a few highlights of this great piece of history!

We start the tour at the Shiloh Log Church.

Right next to the Log Church is the new Shiloh Church.  Construction stopped from 1929-1939, because of the Great Depression.  Once construction restarted, what was most available was brick, hence the difference in the exterior look.

Next to Shiloh Church is the cemetery.  

The following are just a few of the sites of the many battles that took place at Shiloh is just TWO days (April 6 & 7, 1862).

Ruggles Artillery (62 cannons!)

There are many monuments all over the battlefield to remember the volunteers who gave their life to this battle.   Iowa had many little monuments and then one very large one!

If someone of importance, like General Johnston (the Confederate Commander), passed away on the battlefield, a large monument like this one would be built with the person's name on it.

Here is the Wisconsin monument.

And a very interesting story about this young Wisconsin man that died during battle.  WV stands for Wisconsin Volunteer.  Notice the three hack marks above Mr. Putnam's name.  This is a cement replica of the tree trunk that was saved by the farmer whose land it was found on.

 Confederate Monument

One of the sixty-two cannons used at just one of the sites of the battlefield.  It took six horses to pull one cannon.

 Dave is holding "case shots"; a type of projectile artillery used at Shiloh.

Location was everything in this battle!

Pittsburgh Landing (we saw this from the river before we got to Pickwick Dam).

 National Cemetery at Shiloh Park

  Milo is seen a few places around Shiloh; Larry thinks it is/was used to feed livestock.

We learned so very much during this most interesting three-hour tour.  Larry's depth of knowledge is hard to explain; it's beyond belief!!!  We even got a certificate!!!😁

Larry, our guide, then asked if we'd like to stop at the historical Catfish Hotel for lunch!  We actually had seen this restaurant from the river right before the Pickwick Dam (now we are looking at the river)!

 Our river view with a towboat!

Hushpuppies; a southern staple.  The story is that when fishermen were cleaning catfish after fishing, the dogs would stand around barking at them.  So, the fishermen would fry up some extra cornmeal and say, "Hush, puppies!"😉

After a wonderful day being a local tourist, we came back to relax at the boat.  A little later a boat pulls up and the gentleman has a striking resemblance to Kenny Chesney.  He and a woman got into a black Corvette that Dave had seen delivered to the marina earlier that day.  I really wanted to know if we had a celebrity in the marina, so I decided to make a trash run.  When passing, I saw that the woman was holding a dog.  I told her that the dog was really cute, to which she said thank you.  I then asked her if they had a great day on the water and she said yes . . . nothing else!  All the while, "Kenny" was busy buttoning up the boat.  I'm going with either Kenny has a twin or it was him!!!😂