Johnston's Red Oak Comes Down At Shiloh
By Ed Ballam October '01 issue

SHILOH, Tenn. - The National Park Service's removal of a red oak that marked the spot where Confederate Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston was mortally wounded at the Shiloh National Military Park has upset some visitors. Park officials say, however, the tree was long dead and it needed to come down to protect visitors from harm if it fell.

Ranger Stacy Allen, who has been Shiloh's historian for the past 12 years, said the tree actually died in the 1960s but had been preserved because it had become a commemorative and cultural feature of the park.

"We did what we could to preserve it for as long as we could because it was important to our visitors," Allen said. On June 25, however, the effort to preserve it where it was standing proved futile and the remains were cut down and hauled away to a secured maintenance building. Pieces of the 12-foot base will be preserved and will become part of the park's permanent collection. Allen said historical societies in Kentucky and Texas will likely be offered pieces as well.

Before the tree is distributed or added to the park's collection, it must first be rid of the insects that were causing it to decompose. Allen said the tree must be put into a freezer for at least two weeks to kill the "pests."

Although there are many chemical agents available, Allen said they all could have adverse affects on not only the wood, but other items in the collection. The best way to preserve the wood is to kill the insects by freezing, vacuuming out the loose particles and insect remains and then placing the remaining wood in climate controlled environments.

"First, I've got to find a freezer that's big enough to handle a 12-foot log and, not only that, but someone who will let me put a log full of bugs in a meat locker," Allen said. "I don't think the USDA would like that too much." He said it's likely that he will have to "sectionalize" the remaining portions of the log to find appropriate freezer space.

The park had received clearance to remove the remains of the tree 10 years ago, but resisted doing so because "it was important to the visitors." Consequently, the park capped the top of the 12-foot tall base - the limbs and branches having been removed years earlier - reinforced it with iron and erected a tall fence around it to protect the tree and people.

When it was taken down, only a three or four inch shell of the mighty oak remained, Allen said. The heart of the trunk had been destroyed by insects.

"Some people are upset that we didn't do enough to preserve it," Allen said. "Some had suggested bronzing it, or putting a glass case around it." Neither of those options seemed to be feasible, however, especially since the park service could not substantiate whether tree was actually alive at the time of Johnston's death.

The oldest trees in the park are 140 to 147 years old which means that even if the tree in question were alive during the battle it was a sapling, Allen points out. The oldest growth on the battlefield died within 15 to 20 years after the battle because the forest had hit the "climax" stage of succession and the second generation of trees, of which the marker tree was likely one, was growing.

The marker tree took on meaning some 34 years after the battle when Senator Isham G. Harris returned to the site to help the park commissioners determine the exact site where Johnston was wounded. A simple marker board was tacked to the tree to mark the site. Allen believes the tree grew to some substance in the years after the battle which made it a natural choice upon which to affix the marker.

"The commissioners needed to mark the sites with something, so they used the boards nailed to trees until they could get the proper tablets and monuments on site," Allen said.

The tree under which Johnston died was also marked, but blew down in a storm decades ago, Allen said. A bronze tablet marks that site.

Harris, who was the war governor of Tennessee in 1862 and served as a volunteer aide on Johnston'sstaff, told the commissioners in 1896 that he had found Johnston reeling in his saddle after having been hit by a minie ball. The ball apparently hit an artery in the back of the knee and he bled to death.

Allen said that a prewar injury caused some nerve damage to Johnston's leg and he may not have realized that the injury was serious until it was too late, since he bled large amounts of blood internally and into his boot.

Based on Harris's statement, a board was nailed to a nearby tree, the one that was recently removed, and it became an important part of the commemoration, even though it may not have existed during the actual battle.

"People made a connection between the tree and the general," Allen said. There have been many evolutions of interpretive signs, from the simple boards, to bronze tablets, to the present modern panels.

One of the people who was fond of the tree was Gene Ingram of Memphis, Tenn. He first stood in the shadow of the oak about 50 years ago as a boy and believes it died at least a decade ago.

In a letter sent to preservation groups and others Ingram said that park could have done more to save the remains of the tree. He is also concerned that the park service is not doing enough to preserve the tree now that it has been taken down.

"Maybe I am being petty, but war logs are selling for thousands of dollars at shows," Ingram wrote. "It seems to me this tree is worth a lot more than any war log and it should be preserved, if not by the National Park Service, then they should give it to someone that will preserve it and donate it to a museum for display."

Allen said at least part of the tree will become part of the park's permanent collection and will likely be put on display occasionally, particularly when there's a special exhibit on Johnston.

He added the park has wooden gun stocks found on the battlefield and a portion of a tree with a cannonball lodged in it, so it is well familiar with the preservation of wood items.