Silent Confederates
by American Landscapes
Title
Silent Confederates
Artist
American Landscapes
Medium
Photograph - Photograph
Description
On April 8, 1862, the day after the Battle of Shiloh was over, Union General Ulysses S Grant ordered the burial of both Union and Confederate dead. Since there was less concern about identifying the bodies of the Confederates, they were buried hastily in trenched mass graves with officers and enlisted alike, regardless of regiment, state, or type of service ( cavalry, infantry, artillery ). The Union soldiers were buried in similarly trenched graves with as much identification that could be done at the time, typically, by regiment or state.
On April 9, 1862, two days after the battle, Confederate General Bragg sent a flag of truce to General Grant asking permission to send a detail to bury the Confederate dead, but General Grant refused stating that the dead were buried the day before on account of the warm weather. The bodies of the Union soldiers were moved to the National Cemetery at Pittsburg Landing in 1867 while the Confederate dead were left in the battlefield burial trenches.
There are only 5 confirmed and marked Confederate burial trenches on the battlefield with rumors that the locations of at least two more are believed to be known, but remain officially unmarked. The Shiloh National Military Commission reported on September 1, 1903, that they located nine Confederate burial trenches ranging from 20-60 feet in length. Three were just outside the battlefield park grounds along the main road that will only be marked with an iron tablet while the six within the main battlefield grounds will be adorned with a concrete wall with cannon balls. Then, on June 30, 1904, an official report was issued that 5 were marked without mention of the remaining 4 trenches leaving them lost to time. I can only speculate that since not all of the Confederate burial trenches were completed as outlined, that they ran short of material and in a cost saving measure, opted not to mark the remaining 4 Confederate locations.
Being in the presence of these mass graves disturbs many people and I was uncomfortable at first, but realized that modern day military veterans and civil war re-enactors of both sides frequently pay their respects. Although unknown to the world, they were and still are known to God.
Uploaded
January 6th, 2022
Statistics
Viewed 497 Times - Last Visitor from New York, NY on 04/11/2024 at 3:49 PM
Embed
Share
Sales Sheet
Comments
There are no comments for Silent Confederates. Click here to post the first comment.