A Southern Adventure: Corinth Civil War Center and Shiloh Battlefield

We spent so much time rambling down the Natchez Trace; I had to rearrange my schedule to visit Corinth Civil War Interpretive Center and Shiloh National Battlefield on our second day adventuring.

The Corinth Center was only a couple blocks from our B&B. It is very nicely put together, with some fantastic touches.

As we came up the walkway from the parking lot, we noticed items were embedded in the concrete and scattered in the grass nearby. 

Items that looked like personal belongs that could have been left as soldiers scattered during a battle.

Perhaps a cannon had sat here, its gunner no longer near.

Or maybe there had been a camp which had been overrun… no time to retrieve that priceless letter…

…or a coat left sitting next to a tent.

As we came to the entrance, this incredible bronze piece with its life-size soldiers who seemed to be also ‘moving’ towards the door.

Once inside displays explained the reason Corinth was an important asset to both armies. 

And mock-ups showed exactly how everyday activities and life was during the time.

There was a large section highlighting the history of the slaves who became free. 

  

This exhibit is beautiful.  A freeman soldier giving a child her first school book. 

After spending a good amount of time at the Corinth Center, we made the 30 mile drive north to Shiloh battlefield.  The park interpretive center wasn’t as flashy as the one in Corinth (the movie was made in 1958!)…

… but whoever put it together had a great sense of humor.

And a sense of the amazing…

Driving thru the park we saw some of the mass grave sites where hundreds of Confederate soldiers were buried after the battle.

Sculptures that spoke without words of the pain of body and soul felt by both sides.

Cannon placements that made us shudder as we thought of the people who lived in that home.

Monuments to units and generals and soldiers; some who made it home and many who did not. 

“Who all that day stood in the battle's shock, Fame holds them dear, and with immortal pen, Inscribes their names on the enduring rock.”