Shiloh and Corinth Battlefields

Shiloh Battlefield

Since high school, I have been interested in Civil War history, partly because my great grandfather and great-great grandfather enlisted in the Union Army at the beginning of the war.  While Andrew Waldrip developed "rheumatism" and was discharged within a year, Henry Lingle Waldrip, his son, served with the 24th Indiana Volunteers from 1861 to 1864.  For most of that time, he was with the Army of the Tennessee commanded by Ulysses S. Grant.  

I knew that the Visitor Center at Shiloh could give me a map showing where his unit was during the battle if I gave them the unit information.  A lovely young woman named Grace O'Malley something (her father named her for the famous Irish pirate queen) pulled out a huge map of the park, located the unit, and gave me directions. The 24th Indiana was stationed at the far right flank of the combined Union armies.

I spent about three hours just driving around in the park, reading the markers and the memorials.  Below is a monument to the Confederate Army (who lost, technically, at Shiloh).  Both armies were so savaged and weakened that the CSA retreat to Corinth was only weakly followed by the Union Army.  The Confederate commander at Shiloh was General Albert Sydney Johnston, who bled to death from a bullet wound to the leg.  General P. T. Beauregard replaced him and ordered the retreat.  

Memorial to the Confederate Army troops.

Reproduction of the Shiloh Methodist Meeting House.  The original was destroyed during the battle.

Corinth Battlefield

The next day, I drove the 30 miles or so to the Corinth Battlefield.  It is mostly just the Visitor Center and some land surrounding it.  There are sites in the town which are marked.  

From Savannah, TN, I traveled to Cedar Grove, TN, to visit friends from two years ago at Port Townsend and Hidden Valley Ranch.  Scott and Debbie bought a house in the country and retired from full-time RVing.

Debbie spends a lot of time working on rescuing setters, as well as having five of her own.

Scott and Debbie's house.

Scott 

Setter Heaven

Next stop:  Pineville, MO, to visit old friends.

Now turning back west.

Wytheville, VA

I chose to stop in this town because Andrew Waldrip, father of Henry Lingle Waldrip, who was the father of our grandmother Clara Waldrip, came from this county.  The photo below was taken at the back of the RV park.  

You can't really see it in this photo but the sheep had recently been sheared.  There are two VERY LARGE Great White Pyrenees dogs (Great White Pyrenees) who are out with the sheep to protect them.  They were very interested in Muppet and Lola but we stayed away from the fence.

While filling up the Jeep, I saw a very old cemetery across the road so I drove over to see if I could get lucky and find Waldrip graves.  No luck but I did find the cemetery interesting.  There are CSA Civil War casualties buried here.  

These old cemeteries remind me how painful life in those times could be.  This family buried at least five of their children here.

From Wytheville, I moved on to stay overnight at Crossville.  The park manager kindly gave me a site that must have been out of level side to side by 6 inches.  Took me 30 minutes to get the rig level.  A kind guy saw me struggling and came over but by that time, I had it.  

Bean Pot Campground

The next day I drove on to visit friends Debbie and Scott Buskirk at their place in the country outside a tiny town called Cedar Grove.  Debbie and Scott were parked next to Mike and me in Port Townsend WA two years ago and they recommended Hidden Valley Ranch.  When we got to the ranch, we found they were parked two spaces down from us so we visited back and forth all winter. 

Debbie

Dogs everywhere.

Scott

Buskirks' House

After a fun couple of days, the dogs and I moved on to our next objective, Savannah TN, to visit the Shiloh National Battlefield and Corinth National Battlefields.  More on this in the next post.

Update on the Shrum Home in Salem, IN

Two nights ago, I got a text message from Tina Lee who, with her husband Ray, own the old Shrum home in Salem which I wrote about in an earlier post.  I had left my name, email address, and phone number with a lady who was sitting in the driveway waiting for them for some reason.  

Tina said they bought the house from the estate of Carol Jean Shrum, (Mom's cousin, Guy and Lillian Shrum's daughter).  Since the house was built in 1888, they are only the third owners.  Tina said she grew up wanting to live in this house and they finally got the chance to own it.  The unfinished third floor is now two additional bedrooms and a bath and they added a three-car garage to it.  

Interestingly, Tina said when they bought the house, in the contract it stipulated that the brick outhouse was not considered part of the sale.  There was a plan to donate it to a local museum but the cost of re-locating it has been prohibitive.  So it stands in the back yard in all its former glory.  

Tina said that the second courthouse had construction faults and was scheduled for demolition.  The Shrum family bought it, demolished it, salvaged the materials and built the house with them.  And she said her understanding is that the Shrum construction company built the third courthouse, the one still standing in the square.

I told her about old Alfred firing a shot through the living room ceiling to prove the rifle he was holding wasn't loaded.  

The best news is that her husband Ray is establishing a protective covenant which will prevent the house from being demolished in the future.  Old Alfred and Mary Jane's house will outlive all of us and all of our grandchildren.

Harper's Ferry, Shenandoah National Park, Skyline Drive, Appomattox Courthouse

Harper's Ferry

Drove up to Harper's Ferry to see where noted Kansas lunatic John Brown tried to start a slave revolt.  It's a very pretty little town set on the hills by the Potomac River.  Here are some photos I took on one of the hiking paths.

My last day in Winchester, I drove on Skyline Drive through Shenandoah National Park.  Beautiful scenery.  The drive itself is 105 miles but I turned off at the 60 mile mark so I could get back with plenty of time to get the RPOD ready to go the next day.

Shenandoah National Park

This tunnel is quite old, low ceiling, and not illuminated.  I was glad to get through it.

Appomattox

I left Winchester and headed south on I-81, letting Garmin do the navigating.  Well, I was fine until Garmin started sending me down what appeared to be county roads.  Narrow, twisting, but probably the shortest way to get to Appomattox.  After a couple of hours of this, I was glad to see a sign that said "Appomattox 5 miles".

Found the park, got settled, and had a vodka tonic to reduce the stress of the drive!  First thing the next morning, the dogs and I piled into the Jeep and drove the two miles to the entrance to the Appomattox Courthouse Historical Park.

Appomattox Courthouse

The park has wide gravel paths and dogs are welcome so Lola and Muppet got a history lesson.  Several people stopped me to ask about them:  what breed, how old, etc.  I gave my usual answer, "They are rescues so I know nothing about them."  

Appomattox Courthouse

McLean House where surrender was signed.

Lots of interesting stories about the surrender:

Union troops lined both sides of the road the CSA troops marched to turn in their weapons and battle flags.  The Union commanding officer ordered his troops to salute the Confederate troops as they passed.  In return the Confederate commanding officer ordered his troops to return the salute.

As I was driving back to the RV park, I saw a cemetery and pulled into the parking lot.  Story below.

If you ever find yourself within 100 miles of this park, please detour and visit.  It is a touching memorial to the 600,000 casualties;  every village, town, county, city in the United States at the time lost men, sometimes all the young men they had.  

Antietam National Battlefield

Antietam

I spent several hours today walking around the Antietam battlefield.  It was smaller than the others I've seen:  Vicksburg, Gettysburg, and Pea Ridge.

View from the observation tower.

Irish Brigade

There are a lot of monuments to individual fighting units but they are all Union;  there are no Confederate unit monuments.  I found this odd; Vicksburg has about an equal number of monuments dedicated to Union and Confederate fighting units.

Rising Sun and Salem, Indiana

Rising Sun, IN

I wandered into the local historical society today to see if someone could locate the cemetery at Downey’s Corner for me.  The volunteer on duty took a look at the map in the book I had and then pulled out some more books.  The reason I couldn’t  find it is it is behind a house and ¼ mile back from the road.  It’s private property and I couldn’t trespass no matter what my excuse.  At least I know why I couldn’t find it.

The volunteer explained he is also the county coroner and got a call this morning.  In a county of this size, he knows practically everybody so he is dealing with people he knows.  He said it happens quite a bit. 

He did show me a portrait of Alexander C. Downey who was the brother of our ancestor.  Old A.C. was a very prosperous man, a judge, and pillar of the community.  Our ancestor fell out of a pear tree and died.  Hhhhmmm,

I spent most of the morning yesterday at the Jeep dealership getting the headlights fixed.  Wyatt had texted me a message to have them look at the exhaust system.  When I was in ABQ, he heard a “ticking” that sounded to him like an exhaust problem.  So they did and there is one.  They said it will take a day  to fix it (and many $$$$) so I might want to continue and find another dealership at a place where I am going to stay for a while.  It presents no danger so the Jeep is safe.

Salem, IN

Today is my last day in the park at Rising Sun so I decided to go to Salem (180 miles RT) to see if I could locate the old Shrum house and photograph the courthouse which Alfred Shrum built.  It was foggy this morning so I did laundry and started to prep the RPOD to move while I waited for better visibility.  Finally started for Salem about 10:30.  Of course the main highway into Salem is closed for construction work so I had detours all over the county but I got there.  I had the street address of the Shrum house plugged into the Garmin.  Had a terrible time because the streets leading to it were also closed!  If I didn’t drive a Jeep, I probably couldn’t have made it. 

To my complete amazement, the house is owned by someone who absolutely loves it.  See photos. 

The brick outhouse still stands.

Now to the courthouse:

Washington County Courthouse