History repeats itself at Shiloh

GoMemphis.com ^ | April 7, 2002 | C. Richard Cotton

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Lt. Will George commanded his men to fire as the assault on the Hornet's Nest began. And fire they did, for more than an hour, aiming the reproduction Breech-body Whitworth cannon at Union forces taking cover in the distant woods.

Confederate forces routed Union forces from the Hornet's Nest. In spite of thousands of rounds of rifle, pistol and cannon fire, not one death occurred.

Exactly 140 years to the day after the original battle of Shiloh, more than 4,000 Civil War re-enactors re-created the battle Saturday in a field eight miles south of the actual battle site, now Shiloh National Military Park.

Six times that many Yankee and Rebel soldiers died in the 1862 battle that pitted 42,000 Union troops under the command of Gen. U.S. Grant against the attacking Confederates, 44,000 strong, led by Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston.

On Saturday, Tom Doss, a Lawrenceburg resident and commander of the Army of Tennessee, estimated there were as many as 20,000 spectators present for the battle and to tour the camps and exhibits of the three-day event.

Re-enactors and their wives, all in period dress, lent a realistic atmosphere.

"It was pretty much like it must have been back then. I was impressed with the uniforms and the women's garments," said Rita Smith, from Linden.

As they waited for the battle to begin, Sgt. Jonathan Steadman of Sheffield, Ala., showed off his unit's 12-pound field howitzer.

"This is one of four original Civil War cannon being shot here today," said Steadman, a member of Freeman's Battery of the Forrest Artillery.

"This was actually fired during the Battle of Shiloh by Confederate gunners."

Narrator Rick Revel explained the proceedings over a public address system.

Cannon roared and thick clouds of smoke soon enveloped the battlefield. Row upon row of soldiers fired volley after volley.

The battle lines moved back and forth across the field; eventually, overwhelming numbers of Confederates captured the Union soldiers in the Hornet's Nest behind Sunken Road.

Union cavalryman Michael Cheaves of Jefferson City said the re-enactment was one of the best he'd ever attended; he took Saturday's defeat in stride. "We'll get 'em tomorrow," he promised.

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News from Shiloh!

[stainlessbanner]

Bump for Reenactors

[rebelyell]

Just as I suspected....we kicked their asses, again! heh heh

[4CJ]

I like re-enactments - another method of preserving our history.

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Newbie

Titus Fikus

align="right">member since April 5th, 2002

[aomagrat]

Southern Heritage Bump!

[JSMosby]

Thanks stainless banner for a great post. My wife and I wanted to be there so much but had to go to a friends wedding. I never fail to mark the dates and times of events, like the Hornet's Nest. Family was with Cheatham at Shiloh. Sic Semper Tyrannis!

[JSMosby]

Who exactly were the traitors? Those who were excercising their rights to remove from the loose association of states that was the government? We could do with a little more of this anti-Federalism today. The South was right, and slavery would have disappeared anyway with the coming industrial revolution making us all slaves to the machine. "Theres a man in the White House with blood on his mouth, if there's knaves in the North there are braves in the South. We are six thousand horses and not one afraid we are six thousand sabers and not a dull blade"-from Follow the Feather of Stuart

[Non-Sequitur]

...we kicked their asses, again!

Whaddya mean? Shiloh was a confederat defeat by every measure one wants to apply to it. You lost Albert Sydney Johnston, you lost Corinth, you lost western Tennessee and any chance you ever had of taking Kentucky, and you lost a good part of your army to boot.

[stainlessbanner]

I like this one - thanks for sharing:

"Theres a man in the White House with blood on his mouth, if there's knaves in the North there are braves in the South.
We are six thousand horses and not one afraid we are six thousand sabers and not a dull blade"

-from Follow the Feather of Stuart

[Shooter 2.5]

Shiloh was a reb defeat. You should do a little research.

[BluH2o]

You're right it was a Rebel defeat, although they did have some success in the early part of the battle. A large detachment of Union reserves arrived and turned the tide of battle in their favor. The Rebs finally pulled up stakes and retreated towards Corinth, MS about 20 miles away.

[Skooz]

"flesh monger driven cretins" ?? That's original. Mind if I use that flame sometime? I'm not sure when or against whom, but a flame that virolent has to come in handy sometimes.

[Non-Sequitur]

The ignorant and illiterate flesh monger driven cretins who took up arms against their own union.

Did you get bitten by a southerner when you were a child or something?

[Shooter 2.5]

Welcome to Free Republic. I can see you're going to fit in nicely here. By the way, I was at the 125th re-enactment. First Illinois, Chicago Light Artillery.

[FirstFlaBn]

This new guy frequently drops his old screenname - either because he destroys his own credibility or he gets banned for misbehavior - and creates a new one to repeat the pattern. He's not swift enough to create several today so he'll have them ready for use in a couple of months.

A couple of his previous ones are 'The Cruiser' and 'Who is George Salt.' You can tell by his inability to correctly apply 'it's' and 'its.' That and his irrelevant rants. Just ignore him.

[Twodees]

Click the back button on your browser. You've wandered away from your DU home.