The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1888-01-14
sHILoH's BATTLE FIELD.
visit to the Scenes OF the Civil Wars
Most sanguinary Conflict.

Most sanguinary Conflict.
The battlefield Of Shiloh, in Tennes-
see, lies twenty miles northeast OF
Corinth, Miss The Tennessee river,
flowing north, is on the east Of the
ground over which the battle was fought;
Snake creek, with Its continent, Owl
creek. forms the northern, and Lick
creek the southern, limit Of the battle
field proper. The ground on the west
is broken into high ridges and deep
valleys. 1t was covered for the most
part, at the date of the battle, with q
heavy growth of forest trees. Towards
the river the surface is more level, but
cut. in some places into deep gorges. 1t
was up one of these-called Dill's
Branch-that tho gunboats fred dur.
ing the battle.
The road to Pittsburgh Landing is
little changed since the day we marched
out from Corinth. 1t is hard to repeo-
pie this country highway, so quiet and
pastoral now, with moving army; to
realize that it was once crowded from
one end to the other with soldiery; that
artillery, wagon-trains and ambulances
blocked the way. 1t seems an age since,
"burning with high hope" we went
out to that fatal field "made rankly
fertile with the blood of men," Every
mile of the way is marked by some
remembered incident. Beneath the
spreading branches Of wild-cherry
tree, which still stands near the edge
of an old field, we bivouacked with q
comrade the first night out. At Monte
rey we saw General Albert Sidney
Johnston ride along the lines; and a
little further on, staff ,officer rodc
back and showed us the battle-fag of
our corps. At Lick creek, we met the
first prisoner; he had been captured in
little affair with the cavalry. Bold
and defiant he sat his horse, and gave
back to the boys ''as good as they
sent in the way of "chaff." Further
on, the last bivouac for many brave
men, where we lay within rifle shot Of
the enemy's lines, silent and waiting
for the dawn of that "woful Sabbath
morning." which came at last, and
with it the call to arms. Down through
the woods, en- echeion, moved the gray
lines. Then came tho struggling fire
from the pickets, the whiz and sharp
spat of bullets, and then the roar of
musketry, the thunder of artillery, the
shrek of hurtling shells, the whir of
grape and canister, the hiss of Mimic
balls, the cry of the wounded, the wild
shouts of charging lines. and above all
rose an ever-thickening cloud of blue
and sulphurous smoke, out of which
rushed riderless horses, and men man
gled and bleeding were borne, and the
earth beneath it was thickly strewn
with the dying and the dead.
To-day, after twenty-five years have
rolled away, we looked down into this
Valley of the Shadow of Death-where
sleep for all time "the unreturning
brave" Beloved with the foliage of
waving forests, golden and bloody red
with the dyes of autumn, and glorified
by the sunlight of a perfect autumn day,
it stretched far away, and seemingly
swept on to where, bathed in purple
haze, distant hills lifted their heads be-
yond the shining river, quiet and
peaceful now, as if that dreadful and
deadly drama had never been enacted
there. Yet before us lay Shiloh,
Spring and Church; the Duncan
Field; the old Peach Orchard; the
Sunken Road and Hornets Nest
and the 'dreadful hollow" on Till
mans Branch-each with its separate
story of frightful carnage, fierce assault
and heroic resistance.
Many changes have taken place since
the battle. Every piece of the old
church has been carried away by relic-
hunters, and a new one has been built
where it stood. The pastor of the
original church was one Wolf, by mama.
History is silent as to whether he was
the kind of Wolf one would wish to
keep from his door; but evidently this
particular Wolf was kept from his own
door-if he was the least bit afraid Of
"villainous saltpetre" while, al
least.
The Spring where thousands who arc
now gone beyond the All-quiet Rive
once quenched their thirst is as dry q:
powder-keg; the Duncan Field is IL
bandoned; the Peach Orchard is thing
of the past; the old Sunken Road is en-
tirely disused. and he"red brush" tina
grew so thickly at the Hornets Nest
and was moved down by the deadly
shower of missiles from each side, has
again overgrown the ground. Th'
wood where General johnson wa
wounded has been cut bare of timber
and the spot where he died is nov
marked by small cedar-tree, GROWN!
in the midst of cotton field. The tire
which stood where gallant Wallac
fell has been made into rails, and onl
the uprooted stump remains. The limit
of the battlefield can be made out b.
scars of shot and she'll. which still shoy
on the trees. The bullets have bee
mostly cut out, thousands of them hav
ing been gathered and sold, and thou
sands collected by relic-hunters.
The National Cemetery is beautiful
situated on high bluff overlooking
the river. At the front gate-occupy
ing the place of honor-is the grave q
Henry Burke. 1.-THE Drummer Boy q
Shiloh" celebrated in song and story
and all around him lie his comrade
who fell ON that dark and blood
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