On Fame's eternal camping ground
Their silent tents are spread
And Glory guards with solemn round
The bivouac of the dead
Took a field trip to the Shiloh Battlefield in Tennessee last month. In many cultures, the border between October and November is a time to remember the dead, making when I went a very interesting time to visit for me. The day coincidentally coincided with my departed grandmother's birthday.
Shiloh is most remembered as the site of the battle that decided the fate of the Civil War and saw over 20,000 dead. However, it is also home to a National Cemetery and is the site of several Indian Mounds built by a lost American Indian culture. They disappeared for unknown reasons before the white settlers came.
The area around Shiloh is nothing if not a monument to lost causes and death.
The Visitor's Center houses a small indoor museum where they show a very well made movie about the battle of Shiloh. However, the real field trip begins when you step outdoors and follow the trail.
Driving from stop to stop, I was first impressed with the statues and monuments. There are so many, all of very good quality, and many impressive just in sheer size.
The first monument to the honored dead of Shiloh was built in 1917, fully funded by independent groups of Southerners, especially by the United Daughters of the Confederacy. There are a lot of details to be observed in the Confederate Monument. You can read more here. Or even better, you can read the detailed plaque near the statue at Shiloh.
On the left stands the defeated South, while on the right a defiant Southern holds the flag.
In the middle stands a lady of the South, flanked by Death and Night. She silently hands the laural of victory to Death.
Shiloh is named after the Shiloh Meeting House, a log church in the middle of the fighting. It stood and watched the Confederates overtake the Union, and then the Union retake the area, while soldiers on both sides fell. The church still stands.
I came here many years ago as a small child. I have few memories; one of them is of Bloody Pond. If I were to make a soundtrack of the place, it would be Cocorosie's "Gallows" on repeat. The place remains creepy to me even as an adult.Many soliders bled and drank here. I remember when I was small my mother telling me when you bled to death, you get thirsty. Men crawled here to drink, bloodying the waters.
A young American writer, Ambrose Bierce, was witness here during the battle:
Knapsacks, canteens, haversacks distended with soaken and swollen biscuits, gaping to disgorge, blankets beaten into the soil by the rain, rifles with bent barrels or splintered stocks, waist-belts, hats and the omnipresent sardine-box--all the wretched debris of the battle still littered the spongy earth as far as one could see, in every direction. Dead horses were everywhere; a few disabled caissons, or limbers, reclining on one elbow, as it were; ammunition wagons standing disconsolate behind four or six sprawling mules. Men? There were men enough; all dead...
A plaque nearby records this recollection of his. Considering Bierce is famous for short stories such as "An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge", I don't think the pond ever left him.
Despite the horrors this place has witnessed, there are also some surprisingly pretty places, such as Water Oaks Pond. Sunshiny and green, the place was very scenic and will be absolutely gorgeous when the water lilies bloom.
I saw some dragonflies creating life in the decaying stems of the water lilies.
Life from death symbols can be found in the land, all over Shiloh. Along the trail, there are many mass graves where the Union soldiers buried the Confederates in heaps. The location of a few have been discovered and marked, like the one pictured. The ground is mossy, full of mushrooms, and smells of growth and decay. The blood enriches the earth here.
While I would not fancy being left to die far from my home, I do envy the way they were buried.
These soldiers were not embalmed, not encased in metal, but allowed to crumble into the earth. As I gaze at this fertile ground, I am reminded that this rarely happens anymore as our soils become more and more depleted, in part because of the nutrients locked in our corpses and not allowed to rejoin the cycle.
When I die I want my body to rot.
Bordering the main battlefield, overlooking the Tennessee River are several Indian mounds. These have largely been neglected until recently and so very little is known about the people who built them.
Where did these people go and why? Another civilization of
American Indians had moved into the area by the time white settlers
came, and when questioned they, too, were clueless as to the disappearance of the people
that had built the mounds. A few artifacts have been found, but none seem to have remained on site.
The main mound (the "Chief's Mound") has a stunning view of the Tennessee River. The area mostly remains woods and wilderness, except for a few farms, making it easy to remain under the spell of the place.
Repairs have began on the mounds, as the large one is starting to crumble from people climbing it, and hopefully reconstruction will continue.
Some nice walking trails through the woods and mound area have been put in place. A nice little hike in the woods!
At the end of the driving tour, back at the Visitor's Center, is the Shiloh National Cemetery. Rows and rows of men are buried here, many unknown, as war usually has it.
A small grass snake crossed my path in the cemetery. A beautiful jewel that eyed me on the cobblestones before preceding on his way.
Rest on embalmed and sainted dead
Dear as the blood ye gave
No impious footsteps here shall tread
The herbage of your grave
One of the monuments is inscribed praising the men who died here "for the honor and glory of the United States". Honor and glory?
Thanks for joining me on my journey through Shiloh. As always, click any photo to see it larger.
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