Since I haven’t wrote a post about my Shiloh experience in quite some time–I figured why not write one today. I love writing these posts because when I sit down and go through the pictures again to get them ready for the post, and also when I’m writing the post, it takes me back to when we visited Shiloh and helps me relive that feeling over again. Now on with a little about Ross’ battery.

Ross’ battery consisted of six Parrot guns and were assigned to the Army of the Tennessee’s 4th division led by Stephen Hurlbut. They were organized mainly in Grand Rapids, Mi, but also had a some men join in Detroit as well. There captain was William H. Ross, thus the name Ross’ battery.

The Peach Orchard at Shiloh was a site that seen some of the most fierce fighting of the entire day. Though the Peach Orchard is treated as a separate area in the Shiloh park it still seen just as fierce of fighting as the Hornet’s Nest did on Sunday, April 6th. The Peach Orchard is actually due East of the Hornet’s Nest along the Sunken Road and was directly along the line that seen the bulk of the day’s fighting. This is where Ross’ battery was positioned on that fateful day.

They originally held a line in the middle of the Peach Orchard, but after the fierce fighting of the morning, and the ensuing Confederate advance, were pushed back to the North and took up a second position to continue trying to hold their line. Unfortunately for these gentleman that line didn’t hold and some were eventually captured after being surrounded in the late afternoon to early evening. General Beauregard himself, commander of the confederate army at that time, was actually wounded by this battery as he took it upon himself to lead the charge through them. There was more fighting over this battery than any battery on the field, and General Beauregard took it upon himself to address that particular issue.

Although the Peach Orchard now is hardly a peach orchard at all, because of the abundance of deer in the park who eat the trees, at the time the men talked about the “peach blossoms covering the ground like snow”. With the bullets flying through the air, and whipping through the peach trees, it caused the blossoms to float to the ground- even covering bodies at the time. The Park Service is actually trying to plant new peach trees in order to bring the orchard back to what it once was.

The Peach Orchard saw a lot of fighting, and Ross’ battery was instrumental in that fighting, and allowed time for Grant to build up his last line of defense. No matter how hard I try, I can still never imagine what it must’ve felt like to stand on that ground and fight. The things those men endured is just incredible.

The first picture you see in this post is a picture from the confederate side looking at the area where Ross’ battery was first positioned. The second picture is a picture of Ross’ battery in their first position of the day. The third picture is my ugly mug at the Ross’ batteries second position of the day, and the others I think all of you can figure out and enjoy!

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