'Boys, we're driving them': For Memorial Day, the Picket asked for individual stories of the Civil War fallen. Here are eight compelling accounts

Flags in the cemetery at Antietam battlefield in Maryland (NPS photo)

The roots of Memorial Day go back to immediately after the Civil War, when it was known as “Decoration Day.” Families and veterans would lay flowers at graves of those who died while serving the U.S. armed forces. Maj. Gen. John A. Logan and the Grand Army of the Republic were major proponents.

The Civil War Picket asked several people we’ve interviewed or communicated with over the years to name one person killed in action or while on duty during the Civil War, and why their memory is personally meaningful. We start each of the following entries with the name of those who died and end with the name of the contributor. Some responses have been edited.

We began this feature last year, and I really appreciate those who have responded. They help ensure their soldier or sailor is remembered.

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Capt. William W. Hutchinson, 103^rd Ohio Infantry

In mid-May 1864, The 2nd Brigade (Mahlon Manson, XXIII Corps) of which the 103rd Ohio Infantry belonged, overran the first line of Confederate works at Resaca and drove them to their main line. The attack was deadly from the start. Capt. Hutchinson, who commanded the 103rd that day, along with Capt. John T. Philpot we're killed in the advance. Also, all of the color guard we're shot down: two killed, seven wounded.

I believe their sense of duty pushed them to do the extraordinary. You read these accounts of these men (on both sides) who had a seemingly impossible task before them and would just drive forward. I never stop being amazed by reading their first-hand accounts. It was reported his last words were "Boys, we’re driving them," after he received his mortal wound.

TONY PATTON, board member with the Friends of Resaca Battlefield and an employee at Resaca Battlefield Historic Site in north Georgia.

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Lt. Col. Henry Pearson, 6th New Hampshire

One of the highlights of my Civil War adventurizing came on a sweltering day in 2016 at the grave of Henry Pearson in the beautiful Fredericksburg (Va.) National Cemetery on Marye’s Heights. I had with me a tintype of Pearson in his officer’s uniform, clutching a sword. He was a remarkable young man, 24, a lieutenant colonel well-liked by his soldiers. (Photo in John Banks' collection)

A sharpshooter’s bullet crashed into Pearson’s head, killing him, at North Anna River on May 26, 1864. Comrades placed his body in a large, wooden box and hastily buried him on the eastern bank of the North Anna. They carved his name on a crude, wooden marker and “left him alone in his glory."

Pearson’s comrades left quickly because the Army of the Potomac was on the move. After the war, the U.S. Army recovered Pearson’s body for reburial in the national cemetery. Before I part with the image of Pearson, I’d like to visit the spot where he suffered his mortal wound. I’m told it is (on) private property and remote.

JOHN BANKS, Civil War blogger, podcast co-host and author of “A Civil War Road Trip of a Lifetime: Antietam, Gettysburg and Beyond”

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Tom Parson with the artillery piece he describes below (NPS photo)

Pvt. Daniel Murray, Company C, 1^st U.S. Infantry

Daniel, an immigrant from Ireland enlisted in the regular army in 1859. On the morning of October 4, 1862, in Corinth, Ms., he and three other men from his company captured a 3.8" James rifle from the Confederates, a piece that had been captured from the Union at the Battle of Shiloh. Pvt. Murray was killed in action a few hours later during the Confederate attacks on Battery Robinett. The cannon is on permanent display at the Corinth Civil War Interpretive Center, a unit of Shiloh National Military Park

TOM PARSON, ranger at Shiloh National Military Park

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Col. Willard G. Eaton, 13^th Michigan

As a student of Sherman’s 1865 Carolinas campaign, the bravery of the men willing to give the ultimate sacrifice so late in the war has always amazed me. One example that comes to mind is Col. Willard Eaton of the 13^th Michigan. He enlisted as a first lieutenant in October 1861. He distinguished himself as a capable leader, loved by the men with whom he served. At the time of his death, he was the acting colonel of the regiment though a major in rank.

On March 19, 1865 -- the first day of the battle of Bentonville in North Carolina --  U.S. Army forces encountered heavy resistance as they advanced within 25 miles the vital rail hub of Goldsboro. 

An ammunition box lid reportedly was used as marker for Eaton

Unaware that C.S. commander Joseph E. Johnston’s whole army was in front of them, 1^st Division, XIV Corps commander William P. Carlin ordered a probing attack in hopes to find and turn the Confederate right flank. Eaton’s 13^th Michigan was in the middle of three regiments selected for this movement. They advanced across an open field to within approximately 50 yards of the Army of Tennessee contingent, which was reinforcing its concealed position in a pine wood. Pvt. John Daniels of the 13^th Michigan recalled, “Our regiment charged…within about 5 rods of the enemy when our Major was killed and our color bearer wounded.”

After the battle, Eaton’s men returned to find his body. They found him stripped of everything but his undergarments and lying in a mass grave. They fashioned a headstone for him out of the lid of an ammunition box and buried him near where he fell. Though seemingly inconsequential to the outcome of the battle, his leadership in the probing attack proved vital both in determining the presence of a large Confederate force and in foiling the original Confederate plan of attack. This caused a delay which allowed vital U.S. reinforcements to rush into position, preventing the left wing from being routed.

CHAD JEFFERDS, assistant site manager at North Carolina’s Fort Fisher State Historic Site and former historic interpreter/programs coordinator at Bentonville Battlefield State Historic Site.

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John Clark Ely

I want to remember Lt. John Clark Ely, who was with the 115th Ohio Infantry. He was captured near Nashville in early December 1864.  He had a wife and for young children back in Ohio. He kept a diary and often wrote about missing his family and how he longed to be with them again. On Christmas day of 1864, as he is being led toward Andersonville, he wrote: "I wonder if next Christmas will again find me among friends and family." He survived Andersonville and was taken to the parole camp outside of Vicksburg. On April 24, 1865, he boarded the Sultana that he described as a "large but not very nice boat."  On April 26, the entry in his diary read, "Still going up the river."  This was his last entry. In the aftermath of the explosion and burning of the Sultana, the body of John Clark Ely was identified by his diary. Lt. Ely never made it back to his family and friends. His final resting place is the Memphis National Cemetery. 

JERRY POTTER, Sultana expert and author of “The Sultana Tragedy: America’s Greatest Maritime Disaster”

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Sgt. William Anderson, Company I, 46^th U.S. Colored Troops

On May 18, 1864, a white Vicksburg citizen named John Bobb threw a "brick or stone" at Sgt. Anderson while the soldier was marching a picket detail back to camp through Bobb’s property. The citizen was shot and killed by Sgt. Anderson. The U.S. Army charged Anderson with murder but the July 1 court-martial proceedings resulted in a verdict of not guilty. The thrown object caused Anderson to suffer from a skull fracture. He received treatment at Vicksburg and returned to "light duty." He died on Aug. 26, 1864, at the Milliken's Bend hospital, with a military saying he died of apoplexy.

Affidavit written by Anderson's commander (click to enlarge)

But his commanding officer wrote an affidavit, in 1868, declaring the skull fracture as the cause of his death. Sgt. Anderson was 20 years old and left behind a widow, Sally, and a newborn daughter, Anna. The widow and child received pension benefits. The incident was and still is used to create a false narrative of unruly USCT soldiers (some accounts said the soldiers were inebriated or picking flowers at the home). Anderson’s death on the home front during Vicksburg's military occupation represents the daily racial violence USCT soldiers faced fighting for their freedom and equality. 

BETH KRUSE, Ph.D., Mellon Fellows scholar at Vicksburg National Military Park

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Cpl. Peter Gottlieb Nicholas Kuhn, Company K, 151^st New York

What strikes me about Peter Kuhn is two things; he was born in Hamburg, Germany, in 1826 and immigrated to the United States in 1855. He married later that year and had three children before the Civil War. He was an immigrant, older and had a family, yet he chose to enlist in September 1862. 

Peter was apparently a good soldier and was promoted to corporal in November 1862. He was noted for taking up the national flag when the color bearer of the 151^st New York was cut down at the Battle of Locust Grove on November 26, 1863, bearing the colors through the rest of the battle. He continued to serve until the regiment's costliest battle at Monocacy in Maryland. 

Killed in action at Monocacy, Peter Kuhn was first listed in wounded and missing. His wife Maria put in for a survivor's pension, which was granted on September 15, 1865.

MATT BORDERS, park ranger at Monocacy National Battlefield

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John Pelham, artillery and cavalry soldier

Every March 17, while Irish-Americans are celebrating St. Patrick's Day, I reread a bit on why General Lee remarked, while watching him serve his guns at Fredericksburg, that it was marvelous to see courage in one so young.

I once made a pilgrimage to east-central Alabama to visit his grave and pay my respects. (The Confederate soldier was killed March 17, 1863, in the Battle of Kelly’s Ford in Virginia)

STEVE DAVIS, Civil War historian and author

Shiloh's visitor center is closed for months during a museum overhaul that will focus on stories rather than objects

The museum is being largely gutted during the work (NPS photo)

Shiloh National Military Park has gutted its visitor center museum, with plans to transform the space from an object-based presentation to one that highlights compelling stories from the April 1862 battle, officials say.

The federal park in southern Tennessee recently announced the closing of the visitor center for several months. The film “Shiloh: Fiery Trial” is still being shown in the auditorium. Restrooms are available nearby.

The museum is long overdue for the overhaul: The exhibits are about 35 years old.

Park ranger Chris Mekow tells the Civil War Picket in an email that among new items to be displayed is the frock coat of Col. Francis Eugene Whitfield, commander of the 9^th Mississippi Infantry.

Park officials remove artifacts, exhibits from the walls, floor (NPS photo)

“He was wearing this coat in the Battle of Shiloh when he was seriously wounded. The bullet hole and blood are still there. We are very excited to get this on display for the first anywhere,” Mekow said.

The coat came from a private collection with help from grants and donations through the Friends of Shiloh National Battlefield Park. It was donated to the park several years ago.

F.E. Whitfield

Whitfield was wearing the coat on April 7, 1862, during fighting at the Hornets Nest. He accepted the surrender of Lt. Col. William Shaw of the 14th Iowa.

Whitfield, wounded in 1864 at Resaca in Georgia, survived the war and died in 1885.

The Civil War in North Mississippi Facebook page says the double-breasted coat appears to be made of imported gray wool and was finely tailored, with French blue facings, a gold sleeve braid and a three-button cuff.

In September 2017, noted Civil War collector Rafael Eledge donated uniform trousers Whitfield wore after the battle to the park (photo below).

The Picket has asked Mekow for more details on the nature of story-based items and interpretation that will greet visitors after the museum overhaul.

“As for other new exhibits, you will just have to wait,” he wrote previously.

Col. Whitfield's pants before conservation (NPS)

During the work, a temporary station will be set up outside of the 87-year-old building and manned by rangers to assist visitors. Battlefield grounds and park’s bookstore remain open during the project.

Officials say updates will be provided on the park's website and Facebook page.

Visitor center exterior and dismantled exhibits (NPS)

Sword belonging to Shiloh veteran donated

A Portage County (Wisc.) sheriff came home from the Civil War and became a lawman. When he was killed trying to intervene in a feud between neighbors, his wife gave his Civil War sword to a chapter of the Freemasons. It has been more than 143 years since the widow of Sheriff Joseph H. Baker gave the sword. On Wednesday, the organization in a special ceremony handed it to the Portage County Sheriff's Department. • Article

At Shiloh on April 7, the sound of 10 cannon during event will stir Hornet's Nest to life; cavalry, infantry re-enactors also will be there

Ruggles' Battery replica guns at Shiloh (NPS)

[Updated April 4 to indicate one cannon crew has canceled]

Visitors to Shiloh National Military Park next weekend will experience the largest artillery firing demonstration on Duncan Field, where in 1862 more than 50 Confederate guns pounded Union troops in the epic fight at the Hornet’s Nest.

Supervisory park ranger Joe Davis told the Picket that 10 cannon will be fired at a living history event on Saturday, April 7, during a four-day commemoration of the 156th battle anniversary.

Brig. Gen. Ruggles

At present, the artillery will be divided into one battery of six cannon and the other with four, all simulating the Rebel bombardment by what came to be called Ruggles’ Battery on April 6, 1862, during the first day of fighting. The artillery was a crucial factor in allowing infantry to encircle and capture Union Brig. Gen. Benjamin Prentiss and nearly 2,100 soldiers who formed a desperate defensive line after being pushed back.

The line of 53 Confederate guns (some historians put the number at 62) was the largest concentration of artillery up to that point in the Civil War.

"You want to give the sound of a battle as close as we can,” said park ranger Chris Mekow, indicating visitors to the federal park in Tennessee should get a taste of “the chaos involved in a live battlefield."

Fierce fighting at Shiloh (Library of Congress)

1st Minnesota Light Artillery fired back (Picket photo)

Event includes combined demonstration

The artillery crews will be joined by about 80 infantry and 15 cavalry re-enactors. The group will provide tactical field maneuvers and firing demonstrations throughout the day, Davis said.

Artillery crews from National Park Service Civil War sites at Kennesaw Mountain (Ga.), Stones River (Tenn.), and Chickamauga (Ga.) will be among those taking part.

One might have expected the largest artillery demonstration to have occurred during the 150^th anniversary in 2012, but the park did not do such a program because there was a re-enactment on a private site. Mekow said there will be no depiction of casualties. Rather, visitors will get an idea of Rebel tactics and strategy.

Confederate Brig. Gen. Daniel Ruggles assembled the batteries on the western part of Duncan Field to fire on the Union center on the Sunken Road after it became apparent some extra punch was needed to dislodge their foes. The cotton field belonged to the J.R. Duncan family.

Capt. Hickenlooper

Firing back were a few stubborn Federal artillery units, including the 1^st Minnesota Light Artillery and Capt. Andrew Hickenlooper’s 5^th Ohio Light Artillery.

Eventually, the massive Confederate firepower – which included batteries from Arkansas, Tennessee, New Orleans and Mississippi -- wore down the Federal flanks and infantry took the Hornet’s Nest and many prisoners after about eight separate attacks. (Confederates named the area for what they described as enemy bullets sounding like angry hornets).

In his To the Sound of the Guns blog, Craig Swan said Ruggles’ Battery played a major part in taking the Hornet’s Nest, but not solely because of its firepower.

“I think more than anything what caused the collapse of the Hornet’s Nest was the Confederate flanking and encirclement.  That in consideration, perhaps the most important contribution of Ruggles’ guns was to hold the Federal’s attention,” Swain writes. “So perhaps in retrospect the impact of Ruggles’ batteries was more in word than deed.”

(Interestingly, the National Park Service says more recent research tends to show that the Hornet’s Nest, while seeing fierce fighting, may not have been as important as lesser-known areas of the battlefield.)

Iowa monument at the Sunken Road/Hornet's Next

'Lick 'em tomorrow'

By nightfall of April 6, things looked pretty bleak for the boys in blue across the entire battlefield. But the stubborn Federal resistance at the Hornet's Next and elsewhere bought time to organize a counterattack the next day.

Brig. Gen. William T. Sherman visited the camp of commanding Maj. Gen. Ulysses Grant.

Catton wrote: “He came on Grant, at last, at midnight or later, standing under the tree in the heavy rain, hat slouched down over his face, coat-collar up around his ears, a dimly-glowing lantern in his hand, cigar clenched between his teeth. Sherman looked at him; then, "moved," as he put it later, "by some wise and sudden instinct" not to talk about retreat, he said: "Well, Grant, we've had the devil's own day, haven't we?"

Grant said "Yes," and his cigar glowed in the darkness as he gave a quick, hard puff at it, "Yes. Lick 'em tomorrow, though."

Aided by reinforcements, the Union army regrouped on April 7 and turned near-certain defeat into victory, retaking ground lost the day before.

Gun at Duncan Field in 2012 (Picket photo)

Current schedule for the April 7 living history (check the park website here for other events during the anniversary):

10 a.m.: Artillery firing demonstration

11 a.m.: Infantry tactical and firing demonstration

12 p.m.:  Cavalry tactical and firing demonstration

12:30 p.m.: Civil War music

1 p.m.: Artillery firing demonstration

2 p.m.: Program on Dr. Mary Safford (Civil War nurse; that presentation will be at the visitor center)

3 p.m.: Combined arms tactical and firing demonstration. (The infantry, cavalry, and artillery will be in the demonstration field at the same time.)

Each program will last 30 minutes. There will be narration to describe to the public information throughout each of the scheduled programs, said Davis.

“There will be period camps set up for the public to view and they can visit with the living historians to view the life of a soldier in a camp setting and they can interact with the re-enactors with questions they may have.”

Shiloh's hallowed ground: Deteriorated brick wall in part of cemetery is being replaced

Portion of the brick cemetery wall is torn down. (NPS photos)

A contractor is replacing a deteriorated brick wall at Shiloh National Military Park’s national cemetery, the resting place of thousands of Civil War soldiers.

“There are large cracks, chunks are falling off, bricks have broken and fallen out,” park ranger Chris Mekow said of the section’s condition going into the project.

The wall, constructed in 1940, is on the cemetery’s western boundary and faces a parking lot. Extreme weather wore down the mortar, and there were no expansion joints or drainage weep holes. “Because the wall shifted… we could not shut the gate anymore. It actually moved part of the gate.”

The view before the project began last week

The 1911 gates will remain and the new wall will retain the design of the old brick structure, which was demolished late last week. Work is expected to be finished by the end of the year.

The remainder of the cemetery at the federal site in Tennessee is protected by a utilitarian wall made of concrete and stone.

Shiloh’s cemetery, established in 1866, holds about 3,600 Civil War dead, two-thirds of them unknown.

In 1867, workers built a stone wall around the cemetery. A brick wall and ornamental iron gates were added at the entrance in 1911. While the stone wall and iron gates remain, the original brick wall eventually deteriorated, and in the early 1940s was replaced with the current wall. 

A conservation team determined the best of several scenarios was to replace the brick, Mekow said. Officials thought the interior of the wall might be hollow, but that turned out not to be the case: It was solid.

Mekow said between 1,000 and 1,500 visitors annually attend a Memorial Day service within the cemetery. The plot holds about 300 veterans of other conflicts.

The two-day battle in April 1862 was the largest at that time in the western theater; the Confederate offensive, while it had successes, was finally stopped by a fierce Federal resistance. The Southerners had to leave the field, resulting in a Union victory. Casualties were staggering: 13,000 Federal troops, 10,700 Confederates.

Demolition of the wall unveiled no new artifacts, Mekow said. “We were hoping for some kind of time capsule but were disappointed,” he chuckled.

Corinth's Grand Illumination will feature candles, camels and holiday open house

(National Park Service)

After a four-year absence, the Grand Illumination returns this weekend to Corinth, Ms., an event that will combine a Civil War memorial and merchants holding their first holiday open house of the season.

Events Saturday and Sunday include period music by Bobby Horton, living histories, tours of Civil War-era homes and infantry firing demonstrations. See the schedule here.

(NPS photo)

The signature moment will be the lighting Saturday evening of 12,000 luminaries representing casualties during the 1862 siege and battle of Corinth. About half of the luminaries will be placed at the Corinth Civil War Interpretive Center, a unit of Shiloh National Military Park. The others will be placed along streets leading to and in downtown Corinth.

“You think about 12,000 casualties. It is hard to comprehend,” said Ashley Berry, Shiloh supervisory park ranger. “When you stand on the hill, looking downtown … it is breathtaking and puts it into perspective.”

One sight sure to turn heads will feature two camels and the 16^th Alabama Infantry re-enactor group. The 16th will be portraying the 43^rd Mississippi Infantry, which fought at Corinth and Iuka and was trapped in the Union siege of Vicksburg. A camel dubbed Old Douglas carried baggage and musical instruments for the regiment.

Doug Baum of the Texas Camel Corps will provide the beasts, which will have their own “hotel” and veterinarian, Berry told the Picket. The interpretive center will "ring in" old Douglas with artifacts from the U.S. Camel Corps experiment, including the bell shown below.

(NPS photo)

An article in an old issue of Confederate Veteran magazine recalled the “faithful” service of Old Douglas with the 43^rd: “When the regiment was ready to start Douglas would be led up to the pile of things he was to carry, and his leader would say, ‘Pushay, Douglas;’ and he would gracefully drop to his knees and haunches and remain so till his load was adjusted and he was told to get up. His long, swinging gait was soon familiar with the entire command, and ours was called the ‘Camel Regiment.’”

In a recent Facebook post, Shiloh Superintendent Dale Wilkerson wrote about Old Douglas' refusal to be tethered. "The loose ranging camel scared horses on several occasions, causing stampedes."

Alas, Old Douglas was killed by a Federal sharpshooter at Vicksburg, and legend has it that his famished human companions consumed his remains.

The timing of the Grand Illumination, the last National Park Service centennial event for Shiloh, was coordinated with the Corinth Area Convention & Visitors Bureau. (The Battle of Corinth occurred in early October 1862).

Corinth Area Convention & Visitors Bureau)

Christy Burns, the bureau’s executive director, has worked with Shiloh on getting about 120 volunteers needed to place and light the luminaries. The Grand Illumination, which also depends on donations, is returning largely because of an NPS grant, officials said.

“It fills all of my tourism hats,” Burns said of the event. “All the boutique businesses are having their first holiday open house that weekend.” She cited a list of new or signature downtown businesses, including Blazing Noodlez and Borroum’s, the “oldest drug store in the state (and) with great milkshakes.”

A view of Fillmore Street (CACVB)

Besides events at the Corinth Civil War Interpretive Center, people can see Civil War-related items at the Crossroads Museum at the old depot and visit the antebellum Verandah and Duncan houses.

“Christmas decorations are going up as we speak,” said Burns. “Our downtown is another jewel we are trying to sell as one unit.”

The bureau touts industry and businesses that employ many of the northeastern Mississippi city’s 15,000 residents. “History is only half our story,” Burns said. Major employers include the hospital, Caterpillar and Kimberly-Clark.

(NPS photo)

The NPS interpretive center in Corinth is 12 years old. It’s about a half hour drive from the Shiloh battlefield in Tennessee. It’s designed to be the starting point for those wanting to learn about the action at both Corinth and Shiloh. It also tells the broad story of the war’s causes, impact and significance today, said Berry.

She said a large number of slaves flocked to Corinth after President Abraham Lincoln issued a preliminary Emancipation Proclamation in September 1862.

A contraband camp was established in Corinth and its hospitals, churches and schools served about 6,000 African-Americans until January 1864, when the Union army moved its headquarters to Memphis, Tenn.

Berry said the Friends of the Siege and Battle of Corinth works to preserve Civil War sites “scattered around town.” The city was a strategic railroad hub for the Confederacy, and the Federal army meant to control the crossroads.

The siege and battle were two separate events. Federal troops laid siege to the town in late April 1862 (a few weeks after the clash at Shiloh), eventually forcing the outnumbered Confederate Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard to withdraw. Rebel units marched on Corinth in early October, only to be defeated.

Photos: 'Wall of Honor' exhibit at Shiloh remembers U.S. war dead

(NPS photos)

The Picket wrote recently about a new memorial exhibit at Shiloh National Military Park. The staff asked local residents to submit photos of loved ones and ancestors who died in American wars.

The park’s kind staff recently sent us a few photos of the panels that went on display in the visitor center beginning with Memorial Day weekend.

“It is a way people can put a piece of their history into our exhibit,” park ranger Heath Henson said.

Press releases seeking the images went out to media in Hardin and McNairy counties in Tennessee and Alcorn County, Ms. 

All is hushed at Shiloh: For Memorial Day weekend, park to display images of the fallen

Sgt. John P. Wright was killed, buried at Shiloh (NPS)

For Memorial Day, Shiloh National Military Park asked residents of counties surrounding the battlefield to send photos of soldiers and sailors who have died in America’s conflicts.

About 30 images will be displayed on a “Wall of Honor” beginning Friday at the visitor center, said park ranger Heather Henson. Ten served in the Civil War, while others fought in World War II, Korea, Vietnam and elsewhere. A few were laid to rest after their military service.

“It is a way people can put a piece of their history into our exhibit,” Henson said.

Press releases went out to media in Hardin and McNairy counties in Tennessee and Alcorn County, Ms. A man living in Georgia found out from a newspaper in Tishomingo County, Ms. Some submissions came from elsewhere via social media.

The April 6-7, 1862, battle brought a staggering 23,746 casualties. A Memorial Day service at 11 a.m. Monday in the park’s national cemetery will remember those who died.

Among the Civil War soldiers whose images will be displayed are Capt. Humphrey Bate, 2^nd Tennessee, who died at Shiloh, and Ole H. Gorehamer (or Gohamer), 12^th Iowa Volunteer Infantry, who fought at Shiloh but died the next year of dysentery at Jefferson Barracks in St. Louis.

Henson said relatives of two World War II soldiers provided significant details of their service.

Also this weekend, at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, park patrons will enjoy the first of the park’s summer concert series. The free program features Bobby Horton and Olde Town Brass.

On Shiloh's 154th anniversary, an ode to a Union fifer who was there, and a note about social media

Veteran W.Y. Jenkins plays his fife (Courtesy of R. Serroels)

Shiloh National Military Park this week is marking the 154^th anniversary of the epic contest in the Civil War’s Western Theater. Visitors are tromping through fields and woods for hikes and tours that are bringing the battle to life.

Many more people are following activities through the federal site’s “aggressive” social media, which provide real-time updates for certain programming, such as today (April 6).

That outreach can elicit responses that add richness and context to the story of the two-day clash in southern Tennessee on April 6-7, 1862. Such was the case last weekend after the park posted photos of a whiteboard filled on both sides with the names of soldiers and their units.

Rangers had asked visitors to list ancestors who fought in the Civil War. They, like the men who fought here, tend to be from the Midwest or Deep South.

Richard Serroels, who has not been to Shiloh in about 30 years, was among those responding to a park Facebook post showing the whiteboard.

“My maternal great-grandfather, Warren Young Jenkins, was a fife player at Shiloh,” the Marietta, Ga., resident wrote. “The family donated his fife to the museum and it was put on display along with other battlefield instruments from the war. He was with the 9^th Illinois Infantry.”

Jenkins' fife is on display at Shiloh (Courtesy NPS)

The Picket spoke to Shiloh ranger Chris Mekow and Serroels on Tuesday, curious about the impact of social media and the story of Jenkins, who survived the war, was married for more than six decades and ended his days in Canon City, Colo.

In later years, Jenkins wrote a riveting account of the carnage at Shiloh, which saw more than 23,000 casualties and, eventually, a Union victory.

The 9^th Illinois, part of Hurlbut’s division, suffered enormous losses as it bore the brunt of Confederate assaults throughout April 6. Some 103 men were killed and 263 wounded, one of the highest rates for a unit at the battle. (Interestingly, the 9^th Illinois was positioned not far from where Confederate commander Gen. Albert Sydney Johnston was mortally wounded.)

Like other musicians, Jenkins, a private, served as a medical orderly when bullets and artillery rounds started flying. After one Rebel shell landed, the Company H fifer carried two wounded soldiers to the rear and went back for a third and found him sitting behind a large stump.

Jenkins, then age 23, wrote later:

“I said, ‘Come, now, and I will take you to the field hospital to have your wound dressed.’ He said, ‘Oh, no, I am mortally wounded; see here!’ and he opened his clothing, uncovering his wound. The shell had torn out three or four ribs on his left side and I could see his heart throbbing. He took out his watch and handed it to me, telling me to send it to his girl (I suppose his intended wife, a German name that I cannot remember). I wrote his name on a small bit of paper and closed it up in the back of the watch and later gave it to his captain with the written instructions to send it to the lady at Belleville, Illinois.” (Jenkins was from Hillsboro, Ill., about 50 miles south of Springfield.)

Jenkins came across the soldier’s remains three days later while on burial detail.

Whiteboard filled with soldiers' names at Shiloh (NPS)

He provided other details of the fighting, including his attempt to fire a weapon belonging to a killed comrade. He asked another soldier for a cap to prime the gun.

“He looked down to get a cap and a ball from the enemy passed through his cartridge box and blowed the cartridge box all to splitherines with 30 or 40 rounds of cartridges right up into both of his eyes and my left eye,” recounted the musician. “The injury to Arthur's eyes turned out serious in after years. He went totally blind. My left eye was injured for life.”

Later in the evening, Jenkins cared for more wounded at a steamboat landing and helped build a makeshift coffin and bury an orderly sergeant who had suffered intensely.

Today, Jenkins’ fife, which he was known to proudly play throughout his life, is on display at Shiloh’s museum. The family donated it in the early 1990s, Mekow told the Picket.

The ranger said the whiteboard, which was labeled “Find Your Park” as part of the National Park Service’s centennial celebration, is part of an effort to get more interaction with visitors, whether in person or via social media. Many interested in the battle – such as Serroels -- cannot get to the remote location. “You have got to make a trip to get here,” said Mekow.

The park is active on five platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Flickr. 

“Shiloh has the most active and so far most engaging Facebook page of any Civil War park in the Southeast,” said Mekow. “We have been very aggressive. We are a daily poster. We follow live events in real time.”

“(This) actually gets our programs to people who will never be able to step foot on this battlefield.”

Two comrades in arms, music (R. Serroels)

Posts and video’s aren’t just about the military action, though there is plenty of that. Some look at the park’s natural features, or music. Readers really like the behind-the-scenes stuff, Mekow said, such as remodeling or work on a park feature.

An example was then-and-now photos of a monument dedicated in 1913. “That one went off the charts.”

Shiloh National Military Park has several activities planned to mark the NPS’s 100^th birthday, including a summer concert series. In November, memorial luminaries will be placed in the park’s Corinth, Ms., unit and around that city.

Shiloh and other NPS sites regularly tell the stories of men such as Jenkins, who served a couple stints before mustering out in August 1864. (Jenkins tells a sweet story of visiting home a few months before he got out, playing “Home, Sweet Home” on the fife to his mother.)

Jenkins described the scene as he and other boys returned home.

“Nearly every one of the 29 men that arrived at Hillsboro August 29, 1864, had been absent since April 17, 186(1), 3 years, 4 months and 12 days. When we left there were 110 of us marched to the depot. Where were the 81 missing boys? Why most of them were sleeping the sleep that knows no waking. Some of them in unknown graves.”

9th Illinois monument (background) at Shiloh cemetery (NPS)

The 9^th Illinois went on to take part in the Atlanta Campaign and March to the Sea, and seeing further action in the Carolinas before mustering out after war’s end. It listed 417 men having died from wounds or disease.

A few months before the farmer mustered out, Jenkins had married Susan – a union that produced numerous children and lasted 62 years until her death in 1926. They lived in Illinois and Kansas before moving to Colorado in 1899. Jenkins was active in the Grand Army of the Republic and assisted a fellow veteran in receiving benefits. He would occasionally play his fife, a wooden flute that produces shrill notes. He passed away in 1929 at 90.

A member of a GAR lodge in Colorado a decade before adapted a seven-stanza ode to honor Jenkins’ “historical fife,” which he continued to play on Memorial Day. The verse concludes:

Now worn and gray like the comrades brave,
Who faced the bullet and screaming shell,
It sounds no more in the camps or field
The old commands in a thrilling swell.

When Jenkins answers the last roll call,
And departs from this mortal sphere,
I am sure he would rest more peaceful all
If he knew his old fife was near.