Shiloh National Military Park - March 2014

If you have followed along here at The Adventures of Steve for a while, you probably know that one place we like to visit is Shiloh National Military Park in Tennessee. If you aren’t aware, Shiloh was the location of one of the bloodiest Civil War battles, and the battlefields are preserved at the park.

Last month, we took a quick side visit to Shiloh as part of our church’s Couples Retreat at Pickwick Landing State Park. As part of the retreat, some time was set aside for the individual couples to discuss different issues facing them, and one of the suggestions was to go someplace peaceful. And since Shiloh was only a 20 minute drive away and we had four hours until our next gathering time, we jumped in the car and headed over to Shiloh.

We spent some time on the banks of the Tennessee River at Pittsburg Landing, seen in the two photos above, enjoying the rather warm spring air and the views along the river. If you look closely at the photo above, you can see a barge way down at the bend in the river. I always like seeing those, and I wished we had gotten there soon enough to float past where we were, but we had missed it.

This spot at Pittsburg Landing, where the Union forces began their march to Corinth, Mississippi, after the battle, is always a good photo location for me. And I usually end up with a few photos of Laura from there, too. I really like how this one turned out.

Because we didn’t have all day to spend at Shiloh as we usually do, we decided to spend most of our time walking along the Sunken Road, which was a major defensive point of the Union army during the battle. Of course, in these days the Sunken Road is nice and peaceful. Most park visitors don’t take the time to walk the entire road, meaning you are often off by yourself as you walk.

In addition to being a nice place to walk, I always think that the fence along the Sunken Road makes for some good photos, and I have countless photos of it. I will try not to share all of them with you, but I do have lots of favorites.

Along the Sunken Road are monuments of different sorts, such as this one to some of the troops that fought there. We aren’t the history-dedicated type of park visitors who can tell you exactly who camped where and who fought where, but it is still sometimes interesting to stop and read the monuments.

This cannon isn’t specifically aimed at the monument in the background, but it always looks like it to me. That poor guy at the top of the monument wouldn’t stand much of a chance if the cannons were firing.

Another of the monuments along the way, with some life-sized cannons on either side of a small-sized cannon monument. I would imagine that cannons weren’t entirely accurate back in those days in terms of their aim. But if you were hit by a projectile from one, the consequences could be deadly. And I would imagine that lack of precise aim probably added to their fearsomeness just a bit.

I have always liked the design of this monument, for whatever reason. And it is right in the middle of the Sunken Road, far from the main automobile tour roads, which probably means that a lot of people don’t ever see it. Which is a shame.

One more photo of Laura on the Sunken Road to finish out this look at our visit to Shiloh. Even though it was early spring, there were still lots of fall colors out, thanks to all of the leaves on the ground. I didn’t mind that at all.

There is more from our visit to Shiloh coming soon, including a look at the cabin and the Bloody Pond. Check back later on for that.

About the photos:
Processed with various combinations of Photomatix, Adobe Lightroom, and Photoshop. Read more about the photo software and gear I use at the camera gear page.
Camera: Canon EOS 60D
Lens: Canon EF 28-105mm