Day 117 – at Grand Harbor Marina in Counce, TN - October 31, 2011

We spent a second day here at Grand Harbor Marina so that we could visit the Shiloh National Military Park which is about 20 miles away.  Back on September 21 we passed by this park as we approached the Pickwick Lock and Dam.  As I mentioned in that post, the 4000 acre park contains 151 monuments, 217 cannons and more than 450 historic tablets that detail the Civil War’s first major battle in the western theater which took place on April 6 and 7, 1862. What was amazing to see today is just how many monuments, tablets and cannons this actually is.  The tablets give historical information about the armies and units engaged and they mark troop position on each day of the battle.  As you read the tablets, you are facing the same direction as the troops mentioned at that point in the battle.

We drove through the entire park and walked to a number of locations where you can’t drive.  We walked along the “Sunken Road” where the Union troops held their position for seven hours before finally giving ground.  They retook this area in the counterattack the next day.  We also walked to one of the five known mass graves where many of the 1728 Confederate dead were buried.

We very much enjoyed this day off the water to explore a place with so much history.  However, we are looking forward to heading down the Tenn-Tom (the Tennessee Tombigbee Waterway) tomorrow.

            Miles: 0           Bridges: 0        Locks: 0

one of the five known mass graves where
Confederate soldiers are buried

the "Sunken Road"

fall colors we encountered on our walk in Shiloh National Military Park

more fall colors