Shiloh, Tennessee, Dec. 29 — It was the bloodiest day of the Civil War until surpassed by Antietam, and a bunch of farm boys from Iowa were caught right in the middle of it.
The Iowa monument at Shiloh is the largest at the site. It is right by the visitors center.
This battle map shows the individual divisions on the first day. The 2nd, 7th, 12th, 14th, and 8th Iowa were all positioned along the Sunken Road. As some Union forces retreated to build a defensive perimeter, Gen. Ulysses S. Grant sent out a message: Hold the line at all costs.
The “Wolf Creek Rangers” of Tama County were in the 14th Iowa, Company G. They were among those captured by the Confederates the evening of the first day. (More images after the jump.) (To read the text, you may have to open the image in a new tab.)
The monument for the 14th Iowa is the closest one to this marker.
More Iowa regimental monuments, all the same style, are all in a row on the Sunken Road.
Because of the snow the previous day, we only had an hour and a half at the battlefield. On a normal vacation, this would not necessarily be an issue, since the grounds would close at dusk. However, a week after the winter solstice, 5 PM and dusk are the same thing. The overcast sky didn’t help. (Why yes, my only complete picture of the big Iowa monument is out of focus. Why do you ask?)
Monument for the 13th Iowa near the Sunken Road. All the state’s markers are like this, with the state seal at the top and a description of the regiment’s action on the back.
We only saw half the movie at the visitors center because the Park Service had debuted a new 45-minute version the previous April, instead of the 25-minute one listed in the AAA TourBook. Unfortunately, the DVD in the gift shop was $25, which is a bit excessive. I know the Park Service has to get money from somewhere, but more $15 sales would make up for families like us who turn it down at $25.
The sun set and we wound our way southwest into Mississippi.