Bill Text: MS SC634 | 2012 | Regular Session | Engrossed
Bill Title: Commemorate the 150th Anniversary of the Battle of Shiloh and recognize its reenactment.
Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Republican 7-2)
Status: (Passed) 2012-04-10 - Enrolled Bill Signed [SC634 Detail]
Download: Mississippi-2012-SC634-Engrossed.html
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2012 Regular Session
To: Rules
By: Senator(s) Parks, Chassaniol, Wilemon, Jolly, Browning, Polk, Massey
Senate Concurrent Resolution 634
(As Adopted by Senate)
A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION TO COMMEMORATE THE 150TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BATTLE OF SHILOH AND TO RECOGNIZE THE GRAND REENACTMENT OF THIS CRITICAL APRIL 6-7, 1862, ENGAGEMENT.
WHEREAS, the State of Mississippi witnessed critically important American Civil War military engagements on its soil, including the Siege of Vicksburg, the Battle of Champion Hill, the Battle of Iuka and the Battle of Corinth, and hosts historic sites related to these strategic engagements which are nationally recognized centers of expertise in the study of the American Civil War. The Battle of Shiloh on April 6-7, 1862, with its terrible toll of 23,746 men killed, wounded or missing, was a critical contest to control the vital railroad junction in Corinth, Mississippi; and
WHEREAS, the records show that the State of Mississippi contributed 49 regular Infantry Regiments, 25 regular Cavalry and Artillery Regiments, 78,000 men in service of which 60,000 were lost in action or by disease, the Commander-in-Chief of the Confederate Armies (President Jefferson F. Davis) and 33 Generals of the Confederate Army whose remains lie in Mississippi soil. Mississippi units which participated in the Battle of Shiloh include the following: 1st Mississippi Cavalry, Chalmers Brigade, 5th Mississippi, 6th Mississippi, 7th Mississippi, 9th Mississippi, 15th Mississippi, 22nd Mississippi and Wirt Adams Mississippi Cavalry; and
WHEREAS, the 150th Shiloh Anniversary event will include a week-long commemoration March 30 - April 7, 2012, of Tennessee's and Mississippi's role in the Civil War. Activities begin with two reenactments featuring over 100 cannons and 6,000-plus soldiers coordinated by the Army of Tennessee and the Blue-Gray Alliance. An official Sesquicentennial signature event will be held on April 4 and 5, 2012, at Pickwick Landing State Park and will include living history demonstrations, musical performances and scholarly presentations. The National Park Service will host special extended tours, and a red carpet premier of the new Shiloh movie, filmed on the actual battlefield. The observance will culminate with a grand illumination of the battlefield with 23,746 luminaries, one for each American solider killed, wounded or missing at Shiloh; and
WHEREAS, the first day April 6, 1862: with the loss of Forts Henry and Donelson in February, General Johnston withdrew his disheartened Confederate forces into West Tennessee, Northern Mississippi and Alabama to reorganize. In early March, General Halleck responded by ordering General Grant to advance his Union Army of West Tennessee on an invasion up the Tennessee River. Occupying Pittsburg Landing, Grant entertained no thought of a Confederate attack. Halleck's instructions were that following the arrival of General Buell's Army of the Ohio from Nashville, Grant would advance south in a joint offensive to seize the Memphis and Charleston Railroad at Corinth, the Confederacy's only east-west all-weather supply route that linked the lower Mississippi Valley to cities on the Confederacy's east coast. Assisted by his second-in-command, General Beauregard, Johnston shifted his scattered forces and concentrated almost 55,000 men around Corinth. Strategically located where the Memphis and Charleston crossed the Mobile and Ohio Railroad, Corinth was the western Confederacy's most important rail junction. On April 3, realizing Buell would soon reinforce Grant, Johnston launched an offensive with his newly christened Army of the Mississippi. Advancing upon Pittsburg Landing with 43,938 men, Johnston planned to surprise Grant, cut his army off from retreat to the Tennessee River, and drive the Federals west into the swamps of Owl Creek. In the gray light of dawn, April 6, Johnston's Army deployed for battle astride the Corinth road, just a mile beyond the forward Federal camps. Storming forward, the Confederates found the Federal position unfortified. Johnston had achieved total surprise. By midmorning, the Confederates seemed within easy reach of victory, overrunning one frontline Union Division and capturing its camp. However, stiff resistance on the Federal right entangled Johnston's brigades in a savage fight around Shiloh Church. Throughout the day, Johnston's Army hammered the Federal right, which gave ground but did not break. Casualties upon this brutal killing ground were immense. Meanwhile, Johnston's flanking attack stalled in front of the "Peach Orchard" and the dense oak thicket labeled the "hornet's nest" by the Confederates. Grant's left flank withstood Confederate assaults for seven crucial hours before being forced to yield ground in the late afternoon. Despite inflicting heavy casualties and seizing ground, the Confederates drove Grant toward the river, instead of away from it. The Federal survivors established a solid front before Pittsburg Landing and repulsed the last Confederate charge as dusk ended the first day of fighting; and
WHEREAS, the second day April 7, 1862: Shiloh's first day of slaughter witnessed the death of the Confederate leader, General Johnston, who fell at midafternoon, struck down by a stray bullet while directing the action on the Confederate right. At dusk, the advance division of General Buell's Federal Army of the Ohio reached Pittsburg Landing, and crossed the river to file into line on the Union left during the night. Buell's arrival, plus the timely appearance of a reserve division from Grant's Army, led by Major General Lewis Wallace, added over 22,500 reinforcements into the Union lines. On April 7, Grant renewed the fighting with an aggressive counterattack. Taken by surprise, General Beauregard managed to rally 30,000 of his badly disorganized Confederates, and mounted a tenacious defense. Inflicting heavy casualties on the Federals, Beauregard's troops temporarily halted the determined Union advance. However, strength in numbers provided Grant with a decisive advantage. By midafternoon, as waves of fresh Federal troops swept forward, pressing the exhausted Confederates back to Shiloh Church, Beauregard realized his armies' peril and ordered a retreat. During the night, the Confederates withdrew, greatly disorganized, to their fortified stronghold at Corinth. Possession of the grisly battlefield passed to the victorious Federal's, who were satisfied to simply reclaim Grant's camps and make an exhausted bivouac among the dead. General Johnston's massive and rapid concentration at Corinth, and surprise attack on Grant at Pittsburg Landing, had presented the Confederacy with an opportunity to reverse the course of the war. The aftermath, however, left the invading Union forces poised to carry out the capture of the Corinth rail junction. Shiloh's awesome toll of 23,746 men killed, wounded or missing brought a shocking realization to both sides that the war would not end quickly; and
WHEREAS, the Battle of Shiloh reenactment has the potential to not only honor North Mississippi's rich Civil War heritage, but draw many heritage tourists that are taking advantage of the Mississippi Sesquicentennial of the American Civil War:
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI, THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES CONCURRING THEREIN, That we do hereby commemorate the 150th Anniversary of the Battle of Shiloh, Tennessee, which occurred on April 6-7, 1862, and recognize and commend the organization and participation of thousands of volunteers at the Grand Reenactment of the Battle of Shiloh to be held on March 30 - April 7, 2012, on the actual battlefield site.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That this resolution be transmitted to the Governor, the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, the Mississippi Commission on the Sesquicentennial of the American Civil War, the Mississippi Battlefield Commission and the City of Corinth to encourage the education and participation of the citizens of the State of Mississippi in this important event, and be made available to the Capitol Press Corps.
