Shiloh is a beautiful park, with lovely memorials like the Iowa one above. The self-guided car tour is comprehensive yet easy to follow, since the battle only lasted two days. The site includes Native American mounds, the National Cemetery well organized placards and a reproduction of the log church for which the battle was named.

The Union graves often are adorned with pennies, in honor of Lincoln, and many confederate graves have flowers. Unfortunately, many soldiers were buried unmarked in trenches, and many confederates were not re-interred. It was a mistake to leave the confederates in mass graves and not make more effort to identify them. There must have been prisoners who could have helped identify the dead, at least by unit. After the war, veterans from both sides petitioned for proper burials and a fitting memorial.

There’s a difference between respecting war dead and agreeing on the honor of the cause. No soldier wants to be forgotten, especially after serving bravely and paying the ultimate cost. Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address is reproduced at the cemetery, and he was correct in saying that the ground has been consecrated by the blood of the dead. But that does not mean that the causes were equal. One side fought to end slavery, and the other side fought to keep it. Both sides deserve respectful burials, but only one side deserves to be remembered honorably.