Shiloh and Corinth: Sentinels in Stone
By Timothy T. Isbell
(October 2008 Civil War News)
Illustrated, timeline, bibliography, index, 158 pp., 2007. The University Press of Mississippi, 3825 Ridgewood Rd., Jackson, MS 39211, $40 plus shipping.
Reviewer: Michael J. Winey
Michael J. Winey, who has a BS in history and MS in history museum training, was a curator for more than 25 years and is retired from the U.S. Army Military History Institute in Carlisle, Pa.
Review:
The title of this book doesn’t convey the power, scope and magnitude of this absolutely beautiful book, pictorially or in its depth and well-written history of the campaigns and battles of Shiloh and Corinth.
However, I cannot come up with a better title and since it is already published we’ll accept it as it is and proceed with the review.
The title Shiloh and Corinth: Sentinels in Stone is derived from the second half of the volume wherein are pictured beautiful, art-photography images of the monuments and battlefield views of the two sectors of operations. Author Timothy Isbell truly is an artist using the camera as his gifted brush.
Isbell is also a skilled and through research historian and writer. The first half of this exceptional photo history is a well-written general history which Isbell simply terms “Introduction.” Although in his mind the history of the campaigns of Shiloh and Corinth may only be a vehicle to prepare the reader for the superb color photographs and accompanying texts that follow, there is much good sound historical perspective in this Introduction.
I am not a Western Theater scholar. My interests lie in the East, so for me the whole book was a refresher course on what I had cursorily read in the past.
One interesting item I had never read (perhaps in more thorough studies of the two battles it has been noted, but it was not mentioned in the more general reading I have done) is the fact that Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston had been wounded in the leg in an 1836 duel.
“That hip wound damaged his sciatic nerve, causing Johnston to not have feeling in his right leg all of the time. At Shiloh, he didn’t know he was wounded until it was too late.” Good information for my understanding of Johnston’s blood-filled boot from a leg artery that had been nicked. There is anecdote after anecdote such as the above, personal minutia and battle minutia that make this volume an absorbing read.
The second portion of this engaging book is laid out like a visual tour of battlefields. Each photograph is displayed in beautiful color, each captured in an artistic technique that causes sunshine, shadow and reflection to vividly highlight a monument, building, field or woodlot.
There is no question but that Isbell is a master of his craft. With each photo is also a page of text describing what took place in that vicinity or to a particular individual or unit.
I have not had the pleasure of visiting the Shiloh or Corinth battlefield areas. However, viewing their monuments and battlegrounds via the wonderful color photographs certainly whets my appetite to tour those sites.
One item of note is the mutilation of some of the monuments. Some made of granite have chips or chunks of missing sculpture. Those of bronze show bent or broken weapons or other cast details missing. All of us who decry the wanton acts of vandalism evident are angered that such narrow-mindedness unfortunately abounds. Isbell’s camera captures those missing components sharply as well.
A bright note is the recently dedicated Tennessee State monument (June 3, 2005) of three full- size Confederate soldiers and a Confederate flag cast in lifelike positions and painted in a color-fast material.
A final quote is in order that captivates the entity of this volume. At the dedication of the Illinois monument at Shiloh in 1904, Confederate Gen. Basil Duke said: “When a people renders such honors to the heroic dead it honors itself. The national care bestowed on this historic spot is as much a potent lesson to the future as a sacred duty to the past, for it commemorates the virtues without which nations cannot survive. May those who fell here never be forgotten, and may these monuments erected to their memory remain as enduring admonitions to the youth of succeeding generations, to love and serve their country equally as well.”
If you are planning a trip to Shiloh and/or Corinth, you will want to read this book before you go. Take it with you, it is an excellent tour guide. Read the pages accompanying the beautiful photographs at each appropriate stop.
For those of you, like me, who may never get to travel there, this book is by far the next best thing. I cannot recommend it too highly. When you purchase it you will see for yourself that it highly recommends itself and is in a sense a monument to its artistic author/photographer/historian. |