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Guest column: Shiloh: A full measure of devotion
by Timothy Walch, Director Emeritus of the · Op-Ed · April 06, 2012
“Shiloh” – It was a word whispered across Iowa 150 years ago this month.
On April 6 and 7, 1862, near Pittsburg Landing in western Tennessee, nearly 6,700 Iowans were among the tens of thousands of young men engaged in mortal combat; by the time it was over, more than 2,400 Iowa farm boys and store clerks had been killed, were wounded, or were missing in action.
With both pride and sorrow, “Shiloh” captured the meaning of national sacrifice.
It was Iowa’s first full measure of devotion to the Union. There would be many other campaigns over the next three years, but none would be as shocking and heart-breaking as Shiloh. “The very earth trembles with fearful explosions,” wrote Ottumwa native C. F. Boyd after the first day. “Everyman seemed nerved beyond human strength to do his utmost and he did. … Acres of dead and wounded told the fearful tale of sacrifice.” One of every four Union soldiers killed at Shiloh was an Iowan. Never before or since, has our state given up so many of its sons in so short a time.
It was not supposed to be that way. When war was declared in 1861, Iowans like Boyd expected that the conflict would be a great adventure destined to last only a few months. But Shiloh changed all that. The slaughter at Pittsburg Landing was dramatic evidence that Johnny Reb wasn’t going to cut and run. Shiloh made it clear that this would be a war of attrition.
Not surprisingly, this one battle had a big impact on enlistments. Over the course of the next three years, virtually all the states were forced to use bounties and conscription to meet the quotas set by the war department. That was not the case in Iowa, however, which met all but one of the quotas with volunteers; conscription was needed only once in Iowa – and only at the very end of the war. It was an impressive show of patriotism for such a new state.
And Iowa was proud of its contribution to the cause. “Among the first to rally in vindication of our insulted flag,” said Governor William Stone at the end of the war, “your soldiers have been constantly in the front, performing the longest marches, participating in the severest battles, and bearing themselves on all occasions with the most conspicuous gallantry. Secure in the admiration of a grateful country, our state has won a high place in the pages of history.”
For generations thereafter, Iowans would proudly brag of having shouldered more than their share of the burden. Some went so far as to claim that, per capita, Iowa had sent more soldiers to the war than any other state in the Union. Unfortunately, that boast was not true. In his award-winning book, Bright Radical Star, historian Robert R. Dykstra gives credit to Iowa for sending nearly half of its prewar white military-age population off to war. He also adds, however, that four northern states had higher percentages of service per capita than Iowa.
There is no shame in that statistic and there is no disputing that Iowans paid a terrible price for their patriotism. Dykstra records that “thirteen thousand Iowans – 19 percent of those who went off to war — never came home or returned only to die.” It was a price beyond comprehension. “However computed,” Dykstra concludes, “a larger proportion of Iowans in uniform met death than did the fighting men from most loyal states.”
And bombast aside, Stone made an important point that day in 1865. National service often requires substantial personal sacrifice and we should always cherish and commemorate those who gave so much. To paraphrase what Abraham Lincoln said at Gettysburg, we must never forget those Iowans who gave their last full measure of devotion 150 years ago this week. Let “Shiloh” forever remain on our lips and in our hearts.
Timothy Walch is the director emeritus of the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and a regular contributor to Iowa Heritage Illustrated. He can be reached at Twalch47@gmail.com.
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