Alone on the Union Left: Colonel David Stuart's Stubborn Defense
Written by Dan Graff
Saturday, 11 April 2009
This is Dan's second hike report, though I believe it was written first, hence the first line.
This was the third hike of the first day and my second.. I will write about the earlier hike later..
In my study of the Battle of Shiloh I never totally understood the
importance of the fighting of the extreme Union left involving the 54th
Ohio, 55th Illinois and 71st Ohio. In fact, I always treated the
fighting involving those three regiments and their confederate
attackers as a sidebar fight overshadowed by fighting at the Peach
Orchard, Crossroads and Hornets Nest. During this years hikes the
light bulb finally came on and I realized the importance of this part
of the fighting.
Our hike started in a rather cold wind and a little rain near David
Stuart's Headquarters in Larkin Bell Field. Here our guide Chris Mekow
explained that Stuart's Brigade was camped in this field.. Their
mission was to guard the Lick Creek Fjord located about a mile from the
camp.
Battle of the Ravines: General Chalmers Confederate Assault
Written by Dan Graff
Saturday, 11 April 2009
The following is Dan Graf's report on a battlefield hike he took the week after the 2009 Shiloh Anniversary Living History. There were a number if hikes, and this is the first in a series of reports on those hikes. The content was taken from the Shiloh Discussion Group with Dan's permission. There is a link to the group in our Links section, but you can also click here to check it out. If you are interested in learning about the battle and battlefield, this is an excellent resource.
We met Dr Gentsch in Fraley Field at 0800 sharp. As we have learned to
expect from his other hikes we immediately jumped into the subject at
hand. Specifically, Gladden and Chalmers attack on the Union left and
how terrain affected the outcome.
Dr Gentsch opened the discussion by stating that the Confederate
objective was to destroy the Union Army. This would be accomplished by
driving the Union left away from the river and landing into Owl Creek
and it's associated swamps. Without the river and the landing to
provide supplies and reinforcements the union would be forced to
surrender.
This is a short history of Dr. John Parker; his family and Parkers Crossroads.
The settlement of HendersonCounty began almost
immediately after the Chickasaw Treaty of October 19, 1818. The majority of early settlers were from
Middle Tennessee, East Tennessee and North
Carolina. Not
a few were from Alabama, some were from Virginia and a few from Kentucky.
The first Federal census of the county in 1830 showed a population of
8,741, of which 1442 were slave and five were freedmen.
Earlier, we said, “Forget your tent.” That might be the point when some folks turn the page, as they can’t imagine camping without it. They’ve seen those “shelter half tents” and they aren’t going to try sleeping in that! Well, to tell you the truth, my system doesn’t even use shelter tents! They’re too wasteful of space! But, you can still be comfy.
At the LBL tactical, we used ponchos and/or ground cloths, plus sticks and twine, and built a very respectable lean-to that housed 6 men and still left 2 ponchos free for guard duty, closing off a side or whatever. (EDITOR, Again, John is too modest. They built a PALACE that was the envy of everyone who saw it!). Lean-tos or “sheebangs” of one kind or another have been built ever since primitive man laid one stick across another and said, “Condo?”. An old boy scout manual is also a wealth of ideas on construction technique.
At the big Grand Tactical, held a few years ago at Land Between the Lakes, a great may men, perhaps the vast majority (including all the webfoots I saw!) carried entirely too much gear. They also made some inappropriate choices, and, between the two, paid the price for it. Don’t just take my word for it – ask “Cookie” the next time you see him. His generous nature had him carrying flour for bread making, rice (uses too much water and too much fire), enough food to feed the whole platoon, and even a full 5th of Jamison’s Irish Whiskey (it was St. Patrick’s Day weekend). He really shouldn’t have done any of that (tho if he’d have told me about the Jamison’s sooner. I’ve have volunteered to carry that for him!)
From the Ranks
