In June of 2007 I met up with some good friends to spend a few hot days stomping the battlefield of Shiloh. (I wrote a little bit about it here.) Our base of operations was in Corinth, MS. Corinth saw more than its share of action during the war, and is a pretty cool destination for the ACW traveler itself. The NPS recently opened the Corinth Civil War Interpretive Center, and it’s one of the spiffiest NPS facilities I’ve seen.
The entrance to the building, situated on the site of Battery Robinett which featured prominently in the battle of October, 1862, is via a winding footpath, along which are strewn bronze replicas of the detritus of battle, like the cartridge box and shell jacket below (click on the thumbnails for larger image):
Just outside the entrance is a sculpture in relief of soldiers on the march. I was told by the staff at the center – by the way, just about the prettiest staff I’ve seen at an NPS facility – that all of the figures are based on NPS employees at Shiloh. Below is a shot of the group, and details of the Tim Smith and Stacy Allen based soldiers:
Inside the Interpretive Center is open, bright and airy. It features multi-media presentations on Corinth in the Civil War and the battle of Shiloh. There’s a bookstore, where I purchased a print that I later had framed and now hangs over the fireplace in my family room (I wrote about it here). And there’s a research library for public use, with a full set of ORs and essential reference sets like the Southern Historical Society Papers and The Union Army.
There’s also a cool display of the colors of the 6th Missouri Infantry (Confederate). The flag was sewn by the wife of Col. Eugene Erwin, who was wounded at Corinth and killed at Vicksburg in June 1863. She smuggled the banner and her husband’s uniform jacket out of Vicksburg after the city fell on July 4. Below are images of the flag, Col. Erwin, and his jacket (I apologize for the poor quality – I’m buying a digital SLR so stuff like this won’t happen anymore):
One of the most attractive aspects of the center is the water feature courtyard. The feature consists of a water course, which begins with a waterfall flowing in 13 streams from a block etched with the words of the preamble to the Constitution. The stream flows through tumbled blocks representing the major engagements of the Civil War, and ends with the reflecting pool of the reunited nation:
Outside the center are some monuments to and gravesites of Confederates who fell at Battery Robinett. Prominent among them is an obelisk to Col. William P. Rogers, an Alabamian who led Mississippians in the War with Mexico, signed the Texas Ordinance of Secession and fell at the head of the 2nd Texas Infantry at Corinth. Included below is the only known photo of Confederate dead in the Western theater. Col. Rogers has been identified as one of the bearded men in the foreground (here’s a link to his diary and letters):
Learn more about the Corinth Civil War Interpretive Center here and here.
Another interesting site in Corinth is the train station at the vital crossroads (nice museum inside):
Taking nothing away from the charm of Savannah, TN (the other base used by Shiloh pilgrims), Corinth has lots to offer the ACW traveler. Be sure to block out some time to tour the town when you visit Shiloh.
Harry,
I love those bronze sculptures of the wreckage of battle. They are incredibly evocative. I’ve often thought how cool it would be to reproduce, in bronze, the pair of shoes that appears in the foreground of the Gardner photograph of the wreckage of the Richmond battery with Dunker Church in the background.
Those shoes in the photo mural at the Antietam visitors center elicit a great deal of comment.
Mannie
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Harry,
did you notice how those bronzes are anchored to the ground? In my part of the country, meth tweakers steal just about any piece of metal they can find. What a world…
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Mannie:
That sounds like a capital idea to me. But of course there is no more monumentation allowed at Antietam. Maybe you could turn the photo on the wall of the VC into a diorama of sorts?
BTW, I hope you weren’t too offended by my “prettiest staff” award. You and John are mighty purty too, OK?
Drew:
If you look closely, you can see that the bronzes are attached to some sort of metallic base in the grass. I don’t know how heavy they are,, but I understand the NPS has hired the ghost of Buford Pusser to guard the grounds so it shouldn’t be a problem.
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Harry I enjoyed your article on Corinth. I was this last June but of course Tom was off at a meeting. I love the bronzes items outside. It is a wonderful place to visit. I found several books in the bookstore I couldn’t leave without.
Susan
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Set up “base camp” in Downtown Motel in Corinth in June 2000 on my 2nd of many ACW treks. Drove up to Shiloh, down to Brice’s Crossroads, drove through Iuka looking for markers, any sign of that engagement; found zilch! Anybody know of any progress in interpreting Iuka? Do need to come back to the northeasternest tip of Mississippi for another visit, expecially for the new VC. Many thanks for the preview, BR!
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No problem, Art. I didn’t get over to Iuka, so I don’t know what has been done there.
Thanks for stopping by, and come back often. And call me Harry.
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[…] it just didn’t appeal to me. I may have been expecting too much after having seen the new Corinth Interpretive Center. Anyway, here are some photos I took that hot, hot Saturday morning. Click the thumbs for […]
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[…] #5 – Corinth Interpretive Center. See here. […]
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Great write-up. I’m metal detecting in the area and actually sitting in the parking lot about to go in and browse the bookstore. HH
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Hi Harry,
I work here at the South Mountain State Battlefield as the Park Historian and I am also the Historian for the Monterey Pass Battlefield site in Pa. I am working on designing an Interpretive Center for Monterey Pass Battlefield and I love those bronze replicas of the detritus of battle. Do you have any other photographs you can share or even send to me. I would like to do something simular for the wreckages of wagons that were attacked by the Union Cavalry.
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John, I’ll take a look and see if there were any other photos I didn’t post.
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Thank you, Harry/
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