The scenes on this field would have cured anybody of war. Mangled bodies, dead, dying, in every conceivable shape, without heads, legs, and horses! I think we have buried 2000 since the fight our own & the Enemy, and the wounded fill horses, tents, steamboats and Every conceivable place. . . . I still feel the horrid nature of this war, and the piles of dead Gentlemen & wounded & maimed makes me more anxious than ever for some hope of an End but I know such a thing cannot be for a long long time. Indeed I never expect it or to survive it.
- In a letter from Brigadier General William T. Sherman to his wife after the Battle of Shiloh
Thanks to the Reader's Almanac for the sesquicentennial reminder of the Battle of Shiloh.
Update:
Mental Floss had an article yesterday on the Angel's Glow that some soldiers experienced after the battle:
Some of the Shiloh soldiers sat in the mud for two rainy days and nights waiting for the medics to get around to them. As dusk fell the first night, some of them noticed something very strange: their wounds were glowing, casting a faint light into the darkness of the battlefield. Even stranger, when the troops were eventually moved to field hospitals, those whose wounds glowed had a better survival rate and had their wounds heal more quickly and cleanly than their unilluminated brothers-in-arms. The seemingly protective effect of the mysterious light earned it the nickname “Angel’s Glow.”
(I also wanted to note that I will traveling the next 10 days and wifi availability will be spotty. While I have posts scheduled, I will not be monitoring the site.)
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