CHAPTER VII.
Before leaving my story of the battle of Shiloh, it will interest the reader to peruse the following account of a visit of some of the participants in the battle, just 47 years after.
The National Association of the Survivors of the Battle of Shiloh held their annual reunion on the battle field of Shiloh, April 6 and 7, 1909. Sixty-six veterans, with their wives and sons and daughters, boarded the steamer “Santillo” at St. Louis, Mo., April 2, 1909, and started for Pittsburg Landing, Tenn. On the morning of April 6, 1909, we landed at Pittsburg Landing, Tenn. Upon the bluff is the National Cemetery, where 4,000 Union soldiers lie buried, most of the head stones bearing the name “Unknown.” It is a beautiful cemetery, overlooking the Tennessee River. The farmers from the surrounding country were there with their hacks and carryalls ready to be engaged for areasonable sum to take the Northern visitors all over the battle field. Our party secured a rancher with a big wagon drawn by a pair of lazy mules (our objective point being the camp of the regiment of which we were members), over fine made, drained roads, and although it had rained heavily the night before, the roads were dry and clear of mud. We found a National Park of nearly 4,000 acres, laid out with roads in every direction; we found monuments everywhere, as well as markers and tablets, denoting the camp of every regiment and different positions held by each regiment and battery in the great battle of April 6 and 7, 1862. Great credit is due the Park Commissioners and Major D. W. Reed (of the 12th Iowa Regiment), Secretary and Historian, for their magnificent work in making this beauty spot in Tennessee. Monuments have been erected by the different states in honor of their troops taking part in the battle. The South have also erected monumentsto the memory of the Confederate troops. The Alabama state monument was dedicated on April 7, 1909, both northern and southern men and women participating. The Daughters of the Confederacy of Alabama had sent flowers and a request that the ladies from the North would place them upon the monument, which the Chicago, Iowa and South Dakota ladies did. A prayer was offered and Capt. Irwin, an ex-Confederate, made an address, and he was followed by a Union veteran, eulogizing “Old Glory.” Then a young man from the South spoke, saying among other things that he was glad he lived today instead of forty-seven years ago, for now, if the United States were called to a war, the North and South would go side by side, defending their common country. And then the company sang “Nearer, My God, to Thee.”
The two days at Shiloh battle field were filled with intense interest to all who were present,especially the veterans who took part in the battle; and where it happened that two or more members of the same regiment were present they would hunt up their camp ground and then find the different positions they held in the battle line of those days, and standing on the same ground as then, live in memory again the terrible scenes of the long ago. The battle line of April 6 and 7, 1862, is about three miles in length and we visited most every part of the field, including the most noted places, viz.: the “Hornet’s Nest” and the “Bloody Pond.”
To those of our party who wended their way to Shiloh church, where the battle began, a unique experience awaited us. On April 6 (there being about twenty-five from the boat present), upon coming in sight of the church, we beheld the citizens of the surrounding country, with their wives and children, gathered from miles around. The Albert Sidney Johnston Camp of Confederate Veterans were holdingtheir semi-annual meeting in the church, there being present probably twenty-five veterans. We were met by the veterans of the Confederate army with a glad shake and a cordial invitation to remain to dinner with them, which was accepted, and we did enjoy their fried chicken and all the other good things. The dinner was eaten with the sauce of reminiscences and repartee between the blue and the gray. We will give you one little incident in which the Union veteran seemed to get the worst of it. Noticing the leanness of the ex-Confederates, the Union veteran said: “Johnnie, how is it all you fellows look so lean, as though you hadn’t enough to eat?” The ex-Confederate, on a wooden leg, made quick reply: “Well, Yank, you see it’s this way. You-uns shot us onto crutches and we-uns shot you-uns on the pension roll.” After many a joke and story of the battle, the people adjourned to the church for services, the church being filled. Gen. BasilDuke, one of the Shiloh Park Commissioners, gave a fine address, giving his experience in the battle of Shiloh, where he was wounded. He was in Morgan’s command of the Confederate army. Among other things he said:
“We fought in the Civil War for the cause we thought was right. We believed the rights guaranteed to us under the constitution were being taken away from us, and you must admit that our love for our homes and property is as dear to us of the South as it is to you of the North. The people of the North believed that to divide the United States would destroy this Nation. Time has proved under the providence of God that the judgment of the North was correct, for had we succeeded in establishing the Confederate States of America, no doubt later on other states would have felt aggrieved on some question and would have seceded, and in time, had our cause won, this nation would have been divided into a great many small principalitiesgoverning themselves. Now the issues for the weal of this great Nation are as dear to us of the South as you of the North.”
Gen. Duke closed his address by saying that: “We all rejoice at the fraternal feelings now existing between the North and the South, and hope that ever these bonds of love and good will between us may grow and cement us together, stronger and stronger, and we shall continue to prosper and enjoy the rights and privileges of this great Nation.”
W. F. Crummer, of Chicago, Ill., on behalf of the boys in blue and their friends, responded, contrasting the scenes of 47 years ago with those of today. He said in part: “It was a beautiful Sabbath morning, April 6, 1862. The birds were singing among the trees and nature was putting forth her verdure of green, when suddenly the booming of cannon, the shrieking of shells and the rattle of musketry heralded the beginning of one of the most terrible battles ofthe Civil War. I will not take the time to relate all my experiences of that battle, but simply say this, that when, on Monday evening, we had regained our camp, we found a few Sibley tents all riddled with shot and shell, and while you, ex-Confederates here, had possession of our camp you took my knapsack, blanket, the testament my mother gave me, which I hope you read and profited thereby. You are welcome to that, but one thing you took made me feel badly, and that was the picture of the girl I left behind me, and I am here today to ask you to return that picture. The scene of that awful field of carnage and bloodshed changes. Today, after 47 years have rolled by, the birds are singing in the trees and nature is putting forth its green as then, and all is peaceful, and instead of cannon and bullets greeting us you meet us with open hands and extend to us a cordial greeting and your bountiful hospitality. Our hearts are moved and we thank you mostheartily. We rejoice with you that today we know no North, no South, no East, no West, but a reunited country, with one flag and one nation, the grandest Nation on the earth. We trust that we shall always remain a happy and prosperous people, both North and South, working together for the good of the entire country. The feeling of good fellowship shown us today indicates that we are one in spirit and love for our Nation. May we all so live that when the roll is called up yonder we may answer ‘Here,’ and enter into the heavenly land our God has prepared for us. Again thanking you for your most kindly greeting and hospitality, I bid you Godspeed until we meet again.”
The meeting was dismissed in a novel manner. All rose and, shaking hands, sang as they marched around the church, to a Southern melody: “It’s All Over Now; It’s All Over Now,” and with many a “Come and see usagain,” the veterans and their friends from the North bade their Tennessee friends a hearty good bye.