1862 Civil War Battlefield, 23,746 Combined Casualties
1055 Pittsburg Landing Road, Shiloh, TN 38376
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Free admission to the park and visitor center.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Paved tour road; mixed gravel and grass at key sites
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1862 · Civil War Battlefield · First Four National Military Parks · Shiloh National Cemetery
Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston launched a surprise dawn attack on Major General Ulysses S. Grant's encamped Union army near Pittsburg Landing on the Tennessee River on April 6, 1862. The Union army was driven back nearly two miles by nightfall, with one division forced to surrender at the position later known as the Hornet's Nest. Johnston himself was killed during the first day of fighting, struck by a stray rifle ball behind his right knee that severed the popliteal artery.
Grant, reinforced overnight by Major General Don Carlos Buell's Army of the Ohio, counterattacked on April 7 and recovered the lost ground. Combined casualties — killed, wounded, missing, and captured — totaled 23,746, more than the total American casualties in the Revolution, the War of 1812, and the Mexican-American War combined. The figure shocked the country and ended early Confederate hopes for a quick western victory.
Congress designated Shiloh National Military Park on December 27, 1894, making it one of the first four national military parks (Chickamauga and Chattanooga, Antietam, and Gettysburg were the others). The War Department administered the park until it was transferred to the National Park Service in 1933.
The park preserves nearly 4,000 acres of the battlefield, including the Sunken Road and Hornet's Nest, the Peach Orchard, the Bloody Pond, and the Shiloh National Cemetery. Approximately 4,000 Union and Confederate dead are buried at the cemetery, including a small section of unknown soldiers. The Indian Mounds Trail at the southern end of the park preserves a Mississippian-period site predating the battle by centuries.
The park's visitor center houses a museum, an orientation film, and a bookstore. Junior Ranger and ranger-led programs operate seasonally.
Sources
Civil War battlefield folklore at Shiloh dates back at least to 1883, when an Union veteran published an account of a return visit describing "spectres and ghosts" encountered on the field. The earliest reports cluster on the Hornet's Nest sector, the Bloody Pond, and the Peach Orchard, where some of the heaviest casualties occurred.
The most consistently reported phenomenon is the sound of a distant drum sounding the "Long Roll," the rolling cadence used to assemble troops for battle. Visitors have described hearing it on still afternoons when no reenactment is scheduled and no musician is present in the park. The drumbeat is sometimes associated by visitors with the burial of young Harry Burke of Ohio, the "Drummer Boy of Shiloh," whose grave is the first in the national cemetery. Johnny Clem, the more famous "Drummer Boy of Shiloh" of popular Civil War memory, survived the battle, remained in the army until 1915, and is buried at Arlington.
The second persistent account describes a small boy in grey and white clothing climbing down a cabin ladder near the Peach Orchard and running into the woods. One report attributes the name "Jack" and the age nine to the figure. Multiple witnesses across decades have described variations of the same encounter at the same location.
Apparitions of soldiers in uniform have been reported along the Sunken Road, in the Hornet's Nest, and at the Bloody Pond, where wounded men of both armies crawled to drink during the battle and where many died on the bank. National Park Service rangers do not promote paranormal interpretation but acknowledge that visitor reports recur.
Notable Entities
Drive the 12.7-mile self-guided auto tour with 22 numbered stops, including the Sunken Road and Hornet's Nest where Union forces held a critical defensive line on April 6, 1862, the Bloody Pond, the Peach Orchard, and the Shiloh National Cemetery. The visitor center screens an introductory film and houses artillery and small-arms exhibits.
Walk the trails through the Peach Orchard, the Bloody Pond clearing, and the Hornet's Nest. Several short interpretive trails connect the auto-tour stops.
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