Iowa and Indiana monuments Shiloh National Military Park

SHILOH BATTLEFIELD TOUR STOP #1

While Grant’s Last Line is the first stop on the tour of Shiloh National Military Park, it’s actually where Grant’s army formed a defensive line towards the end of the first day’s fighting on April 6, 1862, in a last ditch effort to halt the seemingly unstoppable Confederate Army. The line, which consisted of around 80 cannon and 20,000 infantrymen, was near Pittsburg Landing (spelled correctly, not as the city) where the Union army had originally landed. Most Union soldiers manning the line felt the end was near, and the retreating, bloodied comrades who were fleeing from the front lines of fighting back towards them only furthered their sense of dread. However, Union troops held the position until dark, at which time Confederate General Pierre Beauregard called off the attack, confident that Grant would be defeated the next day. Later that night Union General Don Carlos Buell’s reinforcements arrived, as did the men of General Lew Wallace who were camped six miles north at Crumps Landing. The Union Army now had nearly 50,000 men, most of them fresh, to begin the fighting on Sunday, April 7th.

Cannon are set up along Grant’s line of defense and are pointing in the direction from which the Confederate forces would have been attacking.

Artillery exhibits mark Grant’s line of defense at Shiloh National Military Park

One of the Shiloh National Military Park’s larger monuments, the Iowa Memorial, is located at this stop. Iowa had eleven regiments at Shiloh, and its 2,400 casualties were the greatest loss for Iowa among all of its Civil War battles. The monument was dedicated in November 1906. It is made of granite and stands 75 feet tall. On the back side of the monument, the lady Fame writes, “Brave of the brave, the twice five thousand men /  Who all that day stood in the battle’s shock / Fame holds them dear, and with immortal pen / Inscribes their names on the enduring rock.” Monuments honoring soldiers from Indiana are also located here.

Iowa Memorial at Shiloh National Military Park

Fame immortalizes those who fought at Shiloh

This was also the headquarters of Union General William Hervey Lamme Wallace (aka W. H. L. Wallace). Headquarters of generals who fought in the battle are marked with a monument topped by a pyramid of cannon balls. Wallace was shot on April 6th. He was found alive on the battlefield and transported back to Grant’s headquarters in Savannah, Tennessee. He died four days later, on April 10th, in the arms of his wife.

Monument marks General William Wallace’s headquarters on the Shiloh battlefield

On the drive to the next stop you will encounter the Michigan Memorial. If this is your first battlefield tour, you will be tempted to stop at every monument and artillery exhibit. Eventually you will suffer from “monument burn out,” as there can be hundreds of monuments on a battlefield. However, a few of the more ornate sculptures may be worth your time. By Shiloh standards, the Michigan Memorial is one of the larger monuments. This battlefield does not have as many or as large of monuments as some of the other Civil War battlefields.

The Michigan State Memorial was dedicated in 1918 in memory of the state’s three regiments that fought at Shiloh.

Michigan State Memorial at Shiloh National Military Park

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