Shiloh National Military Park
Shiloh National Military Park is a National Park in western Tennessee. It was established in 1894 to preserve the scene of the first major battle in the Western theater of the Civil War, the Battle of Shiloh. The two-day battle, April 6 and April 7, 1862, involved about 65,000 Union and 44,000 Confederate troops. This battle resulted in nearly 24,000 killed, wounded, and missing. The two days of fighting did not end in a decisive victory for either side – the Union held the battlefield but failed to pursue the withdrawing Confederate forces. Ultimately, though, it resulted in a decisive victory for the federal forces when they later advanced and realized their goal of control of the Confederate railway system at Corinth, Mississippi. The battlefield contains about 4,000 acres (16 km²) and has within its boundaries the Shiloh National Cemetery along with the well preserved prehistoric Shiloh Indian Mounds National Historic Landmark. The park is located in Hardin County, Tennessee on the west bank of the Tennessee River, and about nine miles (14 km) south of Savannah, Tennessee.
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About the Park
Shiloh National Military Park [Tennessee/ Mississippi] was established by an Act of Congress on December 27, 1894. Shiloh Battlefield, the park’s initial and largest unit, is located on the western bank of the Tennessee River in Hardin County, Tennessee. The park’s enabling legislation describes an authorized boundary encompassing “Shiloh Hill,” the rolling 6,000-acre plateau surrounded on three sides by Tennessee River bottomlands where General Grant’s army camped before the battle.
Initially developed by and for the veterans of this major Civil War battle, and administered by the U.S. War Department, today the 4000 acre site preserves the core battlefield area in perpetuity, making this valuable part of America’s heritage available to over 350,000 visitors each year for their experience, enjoyment, understanding, and appreciation.
Long protected by its relative isolation and the area’s low population density, the Shiloh Battlefield landscape has maintained much of its Civil War-era character, even outside the current park boundary. However, non-National Park Service land within the authorized boundary has no formal protection mechanisms in place, and within recent years, land at the battlefield’s edge is beginning to loose its pastoral character.
Legislation in 1996 and 2000 expanded the scope of the park to include resources relating to the 1862 Siege, Battle, and Occupation of Corinth, Mississippi; and authorized construction of a major Civil War interpretive center in Corinth. The 13,000 square foot, $9.5M facility opened in July 2004.
A Special Resource Study/ Boundary Adjustment proposal listing several alternatives for the park’s new “Corinth Unit” was submitted to Congress in November 2004. Additional legislation is needed to provide direction on the park’s ultimate size.
The park also includes a major Mississippian-era archeological site overlooking the Tennessee River in the heart of Shiloh Battlefield, designated the Shiloh Indian Mounds National Historical Landmark in 1989. Beginning in the 1940s, riverbank erosion has threatened this pristine prehistoric resource.
Mission of the National Park Service at Shiloh National Military Park
The mission of the National Park Service at Shiloh NMP is rooted in and grows from the park’s legislated mandate found in its 1894 enabling legislation and supplemented by the Corinth Battlefield Preservation Act of 2000: To foster preservation, commemoration, and interpretation of nationally significant Civil War resources in southwest Tennessee and northern Mississippi. This mission statement is a synthesis of the park’s mandated purpose, plus the park’s primary significance as itemized below.
Legislative Intent
In 1933, Executive Order 6166 transferred the administration of Shiloh National Military Park (including the Shiloh National Cemetery) to the National Park Service. Since then the NPS has been charged with the original mandate of the 1894 legislation:
Preserve the history of the “Battle of Shiloh” on the ground it occurred.
Ascertain and mark all lines of battle of the troops engaged, as well as other historical points of interest within the park or its vicinity.
Protect historical, natural, and commemorative resources within the park.
This legislative mandate was expanded in 2000:
Manage, protect, and interpret the resources associated with the Civil War Siege and Battle of Corinth.
Language in the conference committee report of the FY2000 Department of the Interior Appropriations bill called on the NPS to broaden its interpretation at all its battlefield sites: Document and describe the historical social, economic, legal, cultural and political forces and events leading to the Civil War to place battle events in the proper historical context. Specifically, include in all public displays and multimedia educational presentations the unique role the institution of slavery played in causing the Civil War and its role, if any, at individual battle sites.
The Park Service has described the purpose of Shiloh National Military Park as follows:
To protect and interpret historic resources and sites relating to the 1862 Civil War “Battle of Shiloh/ Pittsburg Landing,” and subsequent military action for control of the Corinth, Mississippi, railroad junction.
To maintain and make accessible historical reference material necessary to both document these events, and convey their significance in the continuum of history.
To commemorate the participants in this struggle, and inspire a commitment to preserve their legacy for future generations.
To maintain the burial sites of Shiloh’s military dead, providing a setting for peaceful contemplation.
To protect, preserve, and interpret the landscape, artifacts, and objects of the Shiloh Indian Mounds National Historic Landmark.
Park Significance The primary significance of Shiloh National Military Park can be summarized as follows: Shiloh was the Civil War’s first major battle in the western theater, a lost opportunity for a decisive Southern victory.
With 23,746 casualties, Shiloh’s awful carnage demonstrated to Southerners and Northerners alike the realization their divided nation faced a long, desperate, and costly war.
Encompassing 4,000+ acres, Shiloh today is one of the nation’s best preserved battlefield sites. The 1862 historic landscape and the 1894 – 1933 commemorative landscape both maintain a high level of integrity: the battlefield and vicinity are notable for the lack of modern intrusions.
In addition, Shiloh has a potentially high concentration of archeological resources due to the extended Union encampment on “Shiloh Hill” in the spring of 1862.
Besides numerous unmarked graves, Shiloh battlefield contains a large national cemetery and five marked mass Confederate burial trenches.
The Battle of Shiloh was the first act of a six-month drama for control of the crucial railroad junction at Corinth, Mississippi. This resulting campaign reflects a continuum of war - the ebb and flow of a nation at war with itself – and the changing nature of the human experience (both civilian and military).
The battles of Shiloh and Corinth also offer important insights into the minds and methods of numerous military leaders.
The surviving resources, battlefields and earthworks, fill an important commemorative role in society, where citizens, through acts no more complex than watching and walking, can express reverence and respect for those people who through incredible courage and sacrifice, helped forge the society we know today.
The Shiloh Indian Mounds National Historic Landmark, a Woodland/ Mississippian prehistoric site long protected within the borders of the Civil War park, is the best preserved archeological site in the lower Tennessee Valley. That the site was never disturbed by the plow is especially significant.