This past week marked the anniversary of the Battle of Shiloh. Fought on 6-7 April 1862 AD, the battle shocked the world. The shock of the battle lay in the massive amount of casualties that occurred. Prior to Shiloh, many still held to the idea that the war will go away with some pressure put on the South. The battle showed the world that the Southern States meant business. They believed in liberty. They believed that the Constitution meant what it said. They believed that altering the Constitution was something worth fighting about. They had been ignored by the Supreme Court, the Congress and the President with their concerns. Many of the issues unresolved in the Congress of 1850 smoldered over the years and finally exploded in armed conflict.
With Shiloh occurring so near holy days this year, it behooves us to repair to the family altar and give thanksgiving to the Almighty for the sacrifices of those men at Shiloh. It would do us well to recall what they fought for. They wanted the Yankee invaders out of their land. They believed the invasion of the South was against the Constitution, that the Yankees did not have the right to alter the Constitution as they wanted to. They believed that the laws applied to them as well as the Southern States. One can not demand compliance on some items and ignore the others. The Republic died when the Southern States walked out of Congress and was buried on the banks of the Tennessee River at the Battle of Shiloh.
As Texians we can take added pride in the actions taken by our forfathers at the Battle fo Fallen Timbers on 8 April 1862. In that action, the Texians in Terry’s Texas Rangers along with Tenneseans under Forrest and Kentuckians under John Hunt Morgan launched a counter attack against persuing Yankee invaders. In that battle, Southrons broke through two lines of defending Yankees. These men did not just talk action, they took stands, even when faced with overwhelming odds and discouragement, they fought on.
Liberty for Texas!
J Murrah
Battle of Shiloh, Culture, FOrrest, Kentucky, Tennessee
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
0 Responses to “Remembering Shiloh”