Shiloh National Military Park

Shiloh National Military Park, established on December 27, 1894, commemorates and preserves the site of the April 1862 Battle of Shiloh, one of the first major engagements of the Civil War. With 23,746 casualties, Shiloh served not only as a wake-up call for the North and South but also provided important strategic gains for the North. Prior to the park's establishment, a small national cemetery had been the only preservation and commemoration at the site for decades, but the arrival of the commission to build the park changed the isolated area to a memorial visited by hundreds of thousands annually. Originally governed by the War Department, Shiloh is now under the auspices of the National Park Service, which continues to preserve, commemorate, interpret, and educate the public about the Battle of Shiloh and the Civil War.

Around the turn of the last century, feelings of patriotism, nationalism, and sectional reconciliation swept the United States and led to a nationwide memorialization of American military history in general and the Civil War in particular. The 1894 establishment of the Shiloh National Military Park, for example, grew out of an effort by veterans themselves to preserve and protect the site of one of the Civil War's most important engagements. Returning to the Pittsburg Landing battlefield, Shiloh veterans organized themselves to push the Federal government into establishing a park to honor both the living participants in the battle and those who died there. In a larger sense, these veterans also contributed to the contemporaneous reconciliation of the North and the South by focusing on the honor, courage, and bravery of Civil War soldiers instead of continuing divisive debates on slavery and race. This Great Battlefield of Shiloh tells the story of their efforts from the end of the battle to the park's incorporation within the National Park Service in 1933. The War Department appointed a park commission made up of veterans of the battle. This commission surveyed and mapped the field, purchased land, opened roads, marked troop positions, and established the historical interpretation of the early April 1862 battle. Many aged veterans literally gave the remainder of their lives in the effort to plan, build, and maintain Shiloh National Military Park for all veterans. By studying the establishment and administration of parks such as the one at Shiloh, the modern scholar can learn much about the mindsets of both veterans and their civilian contemporaries regarding the Civil War. This book represents an important addition to the growing body of work on the history of national remembrance.

At the mention of Shiloh, most tend to think of two particularly bloody and crucial days in April 1862. The complete story, however, encompasses much more history than that of the battle itself. While several accounts have taken a comprehensive approach to Shiloh, significant gaps still remain in the collective understanding of the battle and battlefield. In The Untold Story of Shiloh, Timothy B. Smith fills in those gaps, looking beyond two days of battle and offering unique insight into the history of unexplored periods and topics concerning the Battle of Shiloh and the Shiloh National Military Park. This collection of essays, some previously unpublished, tackles a diverse range of subjects, including Shiloh's historiography, the myths about the battle that were created, and the mindsets that were established after the battle. The book reveals neglected military aspects of the battle, such as the naval contribution, the climax of the Shiloh campaign at Corinth, and the soldiers' views of the battle. The essays also focus on the Shiloh National Military Park's establishment and continuation with particular emphasis on those who played key roles in its creation. Taken together, the essays tell the overall story of Shiloh in greater detail than ever before. General readers and historians alike will discover that The Untold Story of Shiloh is an important contribution to their understanding of this crucial episode in the Civil War. Timothy B. Smith is on staff at the Shiloh National Military Park. He is author of Champion Hill: Decisive Battle for Vicksburg and This Great Battlefield of Shiloh: History, Memory, and the Establishment of a Civil War National Military Park.

Shiloh National Military Park preserves the scene of the first great battle in the West of the War Between the States. In this 2-day battle, April 6 and 7, 1862 both the Union and Confederate Armies suffered heavy casualties, bringing home the horrors of war to the North and South alike nearly 24,000 were killed, wounded or reported missing - a number equal to one-fifth of the combined Union and Confederate Armies engaged in the battle. This guide covers the first great battle in the west. A must read if you need a brief background on this historic site. If you are planning on visiting the battlefield this guide will provide you with a background of the events that took place on those April days This Guide Book for Shiloh National Military Park, Tennessee is a reprint of the National Park Service Handbook Series No. 10.