Fallen Timbers

The final brand new spot for us to visit at Shiloh was Fallen Timbers.  After two days of comabt William T. Sherman followed the retreating Confederates with a small brigade.  Mostly this was done to make sure they were not preparing to begin a third day of battle than with thier own plans of bringing on a third day.  Nathan Bedford Forrest led a cavalry charge with only a few hundred men and it stopped the Union pursuit.  Really both sides were content to have the battle over, the Union was in the best shape to pursue as Buell's Army of the Ohio had seen the least combat but Shiloh was unlike anything anyone had ever expereinced so all involved were fine to just have the battle over with.

I had been in this area before back when there was zero signage so its impossible a decade later to know if I was in this spot or something a quarter mile away.  There is now a Civil War Trails marker.  The area was called Fallen Timbers because the trees here had all been cut and were still laying on the ground.  It would appear that the trees are all grown up again so it is difficult to see much of the lay of the ground.  But its a nice spot to wrap up the story of Shiloh so I'm sure it will be a spot I visit again on future visits.

72nd Ohio

72nd Ohio Infantry
Commanded by Lt. Col. Herman Canfield (Killed)

On back of monument:
This regiment was engaged here from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m., April 6, 1862. It had present for duty, officers and men 647. Its loss was 2 officers and 13 men killed; 3 officers and 70 men wounded; 45 men missing; total, 133.

70th Ohio

70th Ohio Infantry
Commanded by Col. Joseph R. Cockerill

On back of monument:
This regiment was engaged here from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m., April 6, 1862. It had present for duty, officers and men, 854. Its loss was 9 men killed; 2 officers and 55 men wounded; 11 men missing; total, 77.

57th Ohio

57th Ohio Infantry
Commanded by Lt. Col. Americus V. Rice

On back of monument:
This regiment was engaged here from 7 a.m. to 9.30 a.m., April, 6, 1862. It had present for duty, officers and men, 542. Its loss was 2 officers and 8 men killed; 4 officers a 68 men wounded; 12 men missing; total, 94.

77th Ohio

77th Ohio Infantry
Commanded by Lt. Col. Wills De Hass
Maj. Benjamin D. Fearing


On back of monument:
This regiment was engaged here from 7 a.m. to 9.30 a.m., April 6, 1862. On the 8th it joined in pursuit of the enemy and was engaged in fight near Mickey's. Its loss on 6th, 7th, and 8th was 1 officer and 50 men killed; 7 officers and 109 men wounded; 3 officers and 48 men missing; total, 218.


A few years ago I purchased two swords that were carried by a member of the 77th Ohio. The only problem is that I am not positive of the member of the unit. All I'm sure of is that they were carried by a Burris. In the 77th Ohio there were two Burris' that were officers, William W. Burris who was a First Lieutenant and Marion N. Burris (also in records as Marion M. Burris) who served as Adjutant and was a Second Lieutenant.

48th Ohio

48th Ohio Infantry

Commanded by Col. Peter J. Sullivan (Wounded)

Lt. Col. Job R. Parker

On back of monument:

This regiment was engaged here from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m., April 6, 1862. Its loss was 1 officer and 11 men killed; 3 officers and 70 men wounded; 2 officers and 16 men missing; total, 103.

This is another great example of the individuality of the Ohio monuments at Shiloh.

54th Ohio

54th Ohio Infantry (Zouaves)

Commanded by Col. T. Kilby Smith

Lt. Col. Jas. A. Farden

On back of monument:

This regiment, with six of its companies at this place and four companies 300 yards to the left, defended the position, on extreme left of Union army, from 11.30 a.m. to 2 p.m., April 6, 1862. Its loss was 2 officers and 23 men killed; 5 officers and 128 men wounded; 32 men missing; total, 190. Killed

Co. A. Ezra J. Latham, Nahum Chesley, William Holcomb ,Louis Stirtz

Co. B. Franklin B. Adams, James M. Castleman, Francis V. Hale, Henry King, Allen H. Lowe

Co. C. 2d Lt. George DeCharm, Thomas N. Dowden, Fergus Mitchell, John Caplin, Jason Randall Co. D. William H.H. Shockey, John E. Lusk, Joseph McTaggart, William Northup

Co. E. James Potter

Co. F. Capt. Peter Bertram, Edward Moon, Samuel Carl, Frank Oberinger

Co. G. Albert Black, John Ferguson

This is one of my favorite regimental monuments because it depicts a Zouave soldier. Of the four states (Indiana, Illinois, Iowa and Ohio) that have monuments for every regiment they had at the battle Ohio is the only one that did a different style for each monument. Some are similar but they are not nearly as identical as the other three states did.

71st Ohio

71st Ohio Infantry
Commanded by Col. Rodney Mason

On back of monument:
This regiment formed line of battle here at 11 a.m., April 6, 1862, but was soon driven back to the ravine in the rear. Lt. Col. Barton S. Kyle was killed while attempting to rally the regiment. Its loss was 1 officer and 13 men killed; 44 men wounded; 1 officer and 50 men missing; total, 109.

55th Illinois

On back of monument:
55th Infantry,
Commanded by Lieut. Col. Malmborg.
This position was assumed and defended from 11.30 a.m., until about 2.00 p.m., April 6, 1862, when the regiment was withdrawn across the ravine, thence back to the last line at the Landing. The regiment lost in the battle 51 men killed; 7 officers and 190 men wounded; 27 men missing; total, 275.

53rd Ohio

53rd Ohio Infantry

Commanded by Col. J. J. Appler

Lt. Col. Robt. A. Fulton

On back of monument:

This regiment formed here at 8 a.m., April 6, 1862, but soon fell back across the ravine in the rear. Its loss was 9 men killed; 1 officer and 32 men wounded; 2 men missing; total, 44.

This is the regiment that had such a disgraceful showing at Shiloh. Basically the colonel ordered the regiment to save itself a few times, eventually they did and only portions of the regiment fought. Appler would exit the army soon after his sad showing here.

6th Iowa

On back of monument:
Iowa 6th Regiment Infantry Volunteers,
Commanded by Capt. J. W. Williams, (Wounded),
Capt. Madison M. Walden.
This regiment held a position near its camp on the Purdy road, the extreme right of the army, until 10 o'clock a.m., April 6, 1862. Then it moved to the left and rear, and was engaged in this vicinity against a strong force of the enemy's infantry and artillery, for four hours; its last position being in Jones field, from which it was ordered to retire about 2.30 p.m. It then fell back to the support of General Webster's Artillery, where it was engaged when the battle closed, at sundown. In detachments, commanded by company officers, the regiment participated in the movements of the army throughout the 7th. Present for duty; officers 27; men 605; total, 632. Its loss was, killed 52; wounded 100; captured 37; total, 189.

40th Illinois

On back of monument:
40th Illinois,
Commanded by 1. Col. S. G. Hicks, Wounded.
2. Lieut. Col. J. M. Boothe.
Occupied this, their third position, about 12.00 m., April 6, 1862, and held it until 1.30 p.m., sustaining their heaviest loss. The regiment then fell back to the landing. Its loss in the battle was 1 officer and 46 men killed; 11 officers and 149 men wounded; 9 men missing; total, 216.

46th Ohio

46th Ohio Infantry

Commanded by Col. Thomas Worthington

On back of monument:

This regiment fell back from its camp and defended this position, where it did its most severe fighting, from about noon until 2 p.m., April 6, 1862. It had present for duty, officers and men, 701. Its loss was 2 officers and 35 men killed; 4 officers and 181 men wounded; 24 men missing; total, 246.

Worthington is one of the characters of Shiloh. Worthington was a 1827 graduate of West Point and believed he was just as smart as Sherman and Grant. He was arrogant and this led to his downfall. If he had kept his mouth shut he may have had a long history with the army, instead he quickly got in trouble. Four months after the battle he was on his way out of the army and he would use the rest of his life and fortune attempting to prove that he was right. And he actually was right. He thought that the army should prepare more for a Confederate attack, even going so far as to make repeated requests for picks and axes to make a defensive position. Each time his division commander, Sherman, rebuffed him. After the battle Worthington made sure he told everyone how right he was and how Sherman's actions had cost the lives of many men. Eventually Sherman had him court martialed. If Sherman had not become a great hero of the war Worthington might have been able to reclaim some measure of vindication. He tried vainly to do so though as he wrote a few books to give a "correct view" of Shiloh. His fight for vindication is also the subject of a recent (2001) book by James D. Brewer, Tom Worthington's Civil War: Shiloh, Sherman, and the Search for Vindication.