The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?, 1915-11-12
ION sHIL0H's DARK AND
BLOODY GROUND

| The supreme tragedy Of the frs
phase of the war between the States
was the battle of Shiloh. No pre-
vious struggle had exceeded it in the
number Of men engaged. No pre-
vious fight was SO desperate. MOI
in all the other battles of the wal
except Franklin was there a prodi-
lgality of reckless bravery such as
that displayed at Shiloh.
| The enlisted men on either side
knew little of the, science of fighting
but they knew that victories were
won by swounding and by killing
and they applied this rudimentary
art of warfare to its limit.
AT Franklin the Federals were
behind defenses and were little ex-
posed. The tides of Confederate
valor broke on these trenches. At
Gettysburg the Federals received the
last desperate attack Of the Confed-
crates from behind breastworks. At
Shiloh 1t was charge and counter
charge in the open; it was rush and
counter-rush.
In those days the unframed soldier
thought it was not a mark of SUI
preme bravery to seek cover. Shiloh,
Murfreesboro, Chickamauga and
Antietam were fights wherein Con-
federate and Federals stood in the
open, eye to eye and toe to toe, and
shot it out.
Shiloh was turning point in the
first phase of the war. Grant, who
finally hammered the Confederacy to
death, had not found himself. He
had fought Belmont and gained no
laurels from his own people. The
trained Confederate officers saw in
him, however, quality of persist
ance that other Federals had not dis
played. In February of '62 he had
advanced up the Tennessee and Cum
berland Rivers and captured FIT.
Henry and Ft. Donelson. Thus the
Confederate line that was marked
across Southern Kentucky was drawn
back. Buell. moved into Nashville
and Grant, after being deposed from
command and restored, swung over
towards Shiloh.
Things were not going we'll with
the Confederate armies in the West.
Johnston determined that he would
move the line back, and he made his
first effort along the Tennessee
River. Shiloh was fought by Western
Federal troops, and by the Southern
ers from the middle gulf States and
from the Southwestern States. There
was something of the pioneer about
the soldiers on both sides. The men
we're full of the traditions of Tippe-
canoe and New Orleans, where in
dividual craftsmanship counted for
much.
1t is a dispute to-day as to who |
won Shiloh 1t does not matter now.
The philosophic student of history
IAN see the viewpoint of either Con-
'ederate or Federal when he makes
lis claims. One thing is sure, the
stopped the Federals at
Shiloh, and if the Federals finally
'emained in possession of the field
hey did it at cost in blood which
Imazed and appalled, the people of
he North. 1t was notice to the
that they were in a
truggle against men who would not
'ield until the last hope of success
lad fled, and who were willing to
oss away their lives in behalf of
heir cause with an abandon char
cteristic of chivalric and knightly
ouls. Johnston lost his life at Shi-
Oh. Beauregard, a skilled engineer
nd the highly trained technician,
vithdrew the army leisurely to Cor
18th, and maintained it in such al
'ay that the Federals did not dare '
} follow. And if Beauregard did a
LII back to Corinth he took with v
i'm, as an eminent historian says, |
The substantial fruits Of victory.
e had prisoners, thirty flags, great "
ores and much captured artillery" C
There were no grand tactics after s.
lie first onset. Every man attempt C
to put man on the other side "
1T of action 1t was bloody bat n
g; it demanded an exhibition of tt
le highest qualities of bravery by
,ose who participated in it,, let it t7
said, the men engaged in it r.
owed equal to these demands. Had l.
liloh been lost to the Confederates, IN
e entire Southern Mississippi val ty
y would have been entirely over fe
n in the summer of 1862 CT
There is beautiful park at Shi-
b. The federal government has tn
ade of this hallowed spot an open ga
nple which, in the years to come, NJ