They Met at Shiloh

In 1987 I began researching for a novel I wanted to write about the civil war battle of Shiloh. I'd always been interested in this battle. It was like two different battles on two consecutive days. So went the dramatic turn of events that allowed Grant to salvage a defeat and turn it into a victory thanks to the arrival of Buell's Army of the Ohio and the death of the Army of Mississippi's commander, Albert Sidney Johnston early the first day. It had controversy, legend, sublime and poignant scenes and a casualty list that shocked the country.

I began formulating the story and amassing research but by my graduation from college in 1992 I'd only finished half of it. Too many characters and not enough experience in writing this sort of thing had me drift away from the work to other pursuits of finding a job and getting married. I kept the project in the back of my mind, however. By 1995 I found a local civil war unit and became a federal reenactor, adding to my knowledge of the civil war research on such mundane things as camp life, organization, battlefield tactics, and how a soldier carried himself while on campaign. I soon joined one of the early hardcore battalions, the Army of the Pacific and enjoyed many a time with these dedicated reenactors who taught me how to dig deep and portray a man of war in the Union army. Reenacting most of all helped prepare me for renewing my vision for finishing the novel, adding another dimension that I never would have been able to include had I not first been a reenactor.

Though the research allowed me to envision what it was that the ordinary soldier reported seeing and how he dealt with the horrors of combat, the living historian angle allowed me to catch glimpses I never would have found had my knowledge only been two dimensional. Armed then with experience in the field and more research I picked up my novel once again in 2000 and re-wrote it from the beginning, trimming down the characters, developing the story, and honing my vision for the final product.

I wanted to write something that did not attempt to compete with the histories that have already been written about the battle by historians more talented than I. I wanted to write something from the common soldier's perspective to reveal the rich nature of camp life and interaction between ones pards.

With this as a start, I'd like to over the next week delve into the debate about what happened with Lew Wallace's division encamped at Crump's Landing, a mere five miles away as the crow flies from Pittsburg Landing and why this has, to this day even, puzzled historians and enthusiasts alike.