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Civil War Interactive Discussion Board > Civil War Talk > Battles and Campaigns > The Battle of Shiloh > General Prentiss a Hero? |
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Civil War Interactive Discussion Board > Civil War Talk > Battles and Campaigns > The Battle of Shiloh > General Prentiss a Hero? |
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| General Prentiss a Hero? | Rate Topic |
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| Posted: Sun Aug 31st, 2008 08:04 pm |
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21st Post |
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ole Member 
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It has been said that many of the bodies were hauled up to a burial pit north of where Prentiss surrendered. (Can't find my map just now, but it is in an area with little to no traffic.) It makes sense: a lot of those bodies had been lying on the field since Sunday morning, and the Federal soldiers (being soldiers) simply found a suitable gully or ravine, rolled the bodies in and pulled down the sides to cover them. The ravine behind the sunken road was not suitable -- too many trees and too much underbrush to easily pull down the sides. ole
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| Posted: Sun Aug 31st, 2008 10:05 pm |
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22nd Post |
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calcav1 Member
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Perry, I have been very impressed with your answers on this thread. You have obviously done your homework. Kudos. Ole, The burial trenchs on the west side of the field, including those near the Duncan Field/Hornets Nest area, are near ravines but were actual pit graves and not a geographical feature that was used as a grave. Why were the majority of the bodies moved and buried to the west and east sides of the battlefield? The area was a campground at the time of the battle and would remain a heavily congested area until early May. No one wanted 1700 enemy bodies buried in the camps. Tom Shiloh NMP Last edited on Sun Aug 31st, 2008 10:43 pm by calcav1 |
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| Posted: Sun Aug 31st, 2008 10:11 pm |
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23rd Post |
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browner nitap
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I think calcav needs to watch his spelling. 
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| Posted: Sun Aug 31st, 2008 10:43 pm |
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24th Post |
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calcav1 Member
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Thanks Browner, I have edited my spelling errers.
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| Posted: Mon Sep 1st, 2008 03:02 am |
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25th Post |
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Wrap10 Member 
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Tom - thank you. All I really do is plagiarize what I pick up from others, but I do appreciate the kind words.  Are you a ranger at the park?5fish - I suspect that Tom can answer this much better than I can, but I think they have done some ground penetrating radar studies on some or all of the five known mass grave sites around the park. As I think I read in one of Tim Smith's books, the commission that created the park in the 1890's identified nine of these mass graves, and I think park officials believe there are as many as twelve. But for some reason only five were ever marked, and the location of the remaining sites is currently unknown. I suspect they will be found someday, but the park is so vast, and so much of it is covered with trees and undergrowth, that locating them just seems like an incredibly difficult job. As I think I said in a different thread on this subject (as Ed alluded to), if the five existing sites were not already marked, I wouldn't know they were there. They would just blend into the surroundings. I'm afraid that will be the case with the remaining sites, although again, I do think some day they will be discovered. Or maybe "rediscovered" would be a better way to put it. Perry
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| Posted: Mon Sep 1st, 2008 05:06 pm |
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26th Post |
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calcav1 Member
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Perry, I've been with the park for 9 years, the last 4 at the Corinth Civil War Interpretive Center. 5fish wrote:
It is time to recheck the historical record on the burials at Shiloh to see if it supports this line of thought and then call the Anthropologist with those machines that scan under the ground to see if any grave sites have been missed. 5fish, Veterans visiting the park in the 1880-90's learned that local farmers had been discovering graves while plowing their fields. There is no indication that the farmers were plowing over grave markers in an effort to work their fields, but in the process of farming graves were uncovered and bodies disturbed. This is one of the drving factors that led to the establishment of the Shiloh National Military Park. As for "rechecking the historical record", well that is easier said than done. On October 13, 1909 a tornado struck the park and severely damaged the cemetery lodge which served as the park headquarters. Debris from the park was found 45 miles away in Alabama. Lost in the storm was the location of the "missing" Confederate burial trenchs, locations which were known at the time but not yet marked. We know there are several burial sites on the east side of the park but without knowledge of the exact location it is impossible to mark them. During a survey conducted several years ago by NPS archeologists an attempt was made to locate one of the sites using ground penetrating radar. The site is on broken ground with many large trees and we were unable to confirm the location. We knew we were in the vicinity but could not say with any certainty just where the trench is. As for "marking and honoring" the graves, known and unknown, I think a visit to the park would confirm to you that this has been accomplished. Concerning the fighting along the Hornets Nest/Sunken road line I would highly reccomend you read "Shiloh: Bloody April" by Wiley Sword. Wiley does an excellent job of interpreting the charges against the Union center. Wrap10 listed Tim Smith's two books which will also go a long way in explaining the establishment of the Park as well as many of the myths that surround the battle. Lastly, do not be too critical of D. W. Reed if he seems to concentrate on the action at the Hornet's Nest. Along with the rest of the 12th Iowa, Major Reed fought on the edge of the Hornets Nest at Duncan Field. He was wounded in the right leg twice and captured and then abandoned by the Confederates. More than any one person he is responsible for the establishment of the park and it was not lightly that he became known as "The Father of Shiloh Park." Tom
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| Posted: Mon Sep 1st, 2008 10:38 pm |
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27th Post |
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Wrap10 Member
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Tom, I haven't made it down yet to the new interpretive center in Corinth since they opened it, but if I can make it to Shiloh again next April I'm going to try and visit Corinth and see that new center. I've heard a lot of good things about it. On Wiley Sword, his book is my favorite one on the battle. Even with all the detail, he does such a marvelous job of adding a human touch to everything. I imagine it's a balancing act of sorts to do that, but he pulls it off with no visible effort at all. He takes what could easily be a dispassionate story of troop movements and battle lines, and makes it far more human, and very poignant. Whenever I recommend the book to others, I usually say that instead of being filled with facts and figures, it's filled with facts, figures, and faces. I know that there has been a lot of buzz surrounding the release of Cunningham's book, and rightfully so. His writing style is very similar to Sword's, at least to me, in that you can tell the story for him wasn't just about "armies," but about people. It's a great book. Ditto for Larry Daniel's book. But for me personally, Sword was the one who first opened my eyes to the fact that there was far more to Shiloh than just the Hornet's Nest. His book was also where my image of Benjamin Prentiss started to get a bit tarnished, and where I first learned about what Everett Peabody had done. He turned out to be quite a "teacher" for me in that regard. Perry
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| Posted: Tue Sep 2nd, 2008 01:16 am |
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28th Post |
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susansweet Member 
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Tom thanks for the history lesson. As usual you have taught me more about Shiloh. Wrap Cunningham's book is my favorite book on Shiloh. I could not put it down once I started to read it. Susan
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