This Great Battlefield of Shiloh: History, Memory, and the Establishment of a Civil War National Military Park

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Summary: Shiloh Battlefield
Review: General Ulysses Grant once noted that "the Battle of Shiloh has been perhaps less understood, or, to state the case more accurately, more persistently misunderstood, than any other engagement". With Grant commanding the Army of the Tennessee, the Battle of Shiloh began on April 6, 1862 with a daring attack by the Confederate's Army of the Mississippi commanded by General Albert Sidney Johnston. Johnston lost his life during the battle. On April 7, 1862, following reinforcement of Grant by the Army of the Cumberland, the Confederate forces were driven back.

The Battle of Shiloh occurred in a remote area of Southwest Tennessee near Savannah, Tennessee and about 22 miles north of Corinth, Mississippi. Congress provided for the establishment of a National Military Park at Shiloh in 1893. (The National Cemetery was established just after the Civil War.) I visited the park four years ago. It remains pristine and isolated and undeveloped. The park is arranged with quiet dignity. I was moved by my visit.

In his book "This Great Battlefield of Shiloh" Dr. Timothy Smith discusses the establisment and history of the Shiloh National Battlefield. Dr Smith holds a PhD in history from Mississippi State and is a park ranger at Shiloh. He is deeply familiar with the Battle, with the history of the Park, and with recent scholarly approaches discussing the relationship between memory and history in studying the Civil War.

Dr. Smith begins his book with a brief overview of the Battle. He then discusses how an organization composed of veterans and political leaders worked successfully for the establishment of the Park. He explores in detail the work involved in establishing the Park, in the matters of clearing title, acquiring land, building roads, planning monuments and living quarters, determining the history of the Battle and much else. His stresses the reomote location of Shiloh and the lack of roads early in the 20th Century. Most material needed to be shipped on the Tennessee River to the site of Pittsburgh Landing, a key feature of the Battlefield. Many people devoted their lives to the establishment of the Shiloh Park. Dr. Smith pays most attention to Cornelius Cadle, the first chairman of the commission which managed the park, Atwell Thompson, the park's chief engineer, and David Reed. Reed was a historian whose account of the Battle of Shiloh set the stage for subsequent interpretations over the next 70 years.

There is a great deal more to Dr. Smith's account than factual information. His book explores well the purposes for which the Park was established -- to promote American patriotism, reconciliation after the Civil War, and American nationalism. In accordance with much recent scholarship, Dr. Smith is aware that these values were purchased at high cost -- the origins of the Civil War in slavery and in sucession were marginalized in an attempt to celebrate Union and the valor of Americans both North and South. I found Dr. Smith's account measured and careful, both in the importance he attaches to the values for which the Park was established and in his realization of the tragedy of forgetting the origins of the War.

Dr Smith also has interesting things to say about the Battle of Shiloh itself and of the history that David Reed and the Park perpetuated. Reed saw the Sunken Road and Hornet's Nest in the middle of the Battlefield as the key to the fighting. Many subsequent historians have followed that view. But, according to Dr Smith, more detailed research has shown that the Sunken Road saw only limited action with most of the fighting taking place to its East or West. This is a point that needs developing and analysis in subsequent studies of the battle.

Among the more romantic elements of the Battle of Shiloh is the death of General Albert Sidney Johnston, the highest-ranked American officer to be killed in Battle. Dr. Parks gives an excellent account of how the Park determined the spot where Johnston fell and how it was marked on the Battlefield. Johnston's actual location at his death too remains a subject of dispute.

This is a fine book particulary in the way Dr. Smith discusses the meaning of the Battle and the War and encourages reflection on these matters by his readers. I wanted to visit Shiloh again after reading the book. The book will interest readers interested in Shiloh and in Civil War historiography.

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Summary: A Great Guide
Review: This book is simply amazing. For all of you out there who have ever been to a battlefield and asked yourself, 'How did this stuff get here?' This book is for you. I have been to Shiloh many times over the years and have always felt that something was missing from my battlefield experience. That is until read this fine book. Timothy Smith does not mull over the battle or the tactics of the Generals as much as he reviews how the battlefield was forever shaped and marked fifty years later by the men who brought this battlefield into exsistence.

Simply put this book answers all the 'who, what, where, when, why and even the how' of the establishment of Shiloh National Park. If your curious about Shiloh after the battle than this is your book! Thanks Tim.