29 January 2019
It was rather cool when I waked this morning – 26F. By the time I made coffee, it had dropped to 23F. When I packed the tent, there was ice on the outside.
I went to bed around 6:15 pm (it was dark, after all) and- around 9 pm it started to sprinkle. By midnight, it was a downpour. Then the front passed through and it got very, very windy. However, I was dry and warm. The two sleeping bag tricked worked so well that I was actually too warm for most of the night. By the time I got up, the wind had dried up all the rain on the tent except for a few places.
I had a hot shower, a change of clothes, and a shave and headed out. I decided I needed to go see Shiloh National Battlefield.
Of all the years I’ve lived in Mississippi, of all the years so close to the battlefield during my masters thesis, I have never been to Shiloh, one of the pivotal battles of the Civil War. General Sherman said it was a great learning experience for both sides – albeit at a terrible cost in life.
I was particularly interested in seeing three parts of the battlefield – unfortunately all very bloody: the Peach Orchard, the Hornet’s Nest and Shiloh Church.
The Peach Orchard is a broad field once planted in peach trees. Supposedly, the peach trees were in bloom and the bullets from soldiers denuded the trees and peach blossoms fell on the dead and dying.
The Hornet’s Nest took place along a supposedly sunken road (it’s not really too sunken) and some of the fiercest fighting took place there. So many bullets were whizzing by it reminded the soldiers of a hornets nest.
Shiloh Church was where Sherman engaged the rebel forces and was also very bloody. After the first day of fighting, Sherman said something to Grant about the nature of the day (the Union army was forced to retreat) and Grant allegedly said “Whip them tomorrow.” It proved prophetic.
After leaving Shiloh, I headed south to Tupelo to tie up with Reid and Ann. I taught with Reid at Itawamba Junior College for 5 years. He was math/science and I was biology. He retired in 1985 and since our teaching days, we’ve been best of friends.
Ann prepared an outstanding Boston butt from an Ina Garten recipe. It was delicious. It cooked for 6 hours and was perfectly done and tender. Ann’s a great cook and I don’t know how Reid keeps a constant weight.
Tomorrow, Reid and I plan to visit some old friends from Itawamba days.
As I sit here I note that Dark Sky says it is 22° where you are now. We seem to be having a heat wave at 61° here. I hope you get to see snow at some point, if you are freezing to death.
One historical wag chided Lee Wallace because his division missed the first day of the battle and nearly was lost on the second day. He proffered that Wallace was researching his novel “Prince of India”, during the battle. The Shiloh vignette in “How the West was Won” was credible. Numerous characters there were notable. For example, Albert Sidney Johnson, who died there, was considered the South’s best general. I also recall that the head of the first contingent of Buell’s army that arrived to support Grant was Bull Nelson, a colorful chap who was killed in a duel later in the war. His biography would be a hoot to read.
Lou Wallace was probably a better writer than fighter. No snow as of yet.