Casey Jones and Shiloh National Battlefield

Casey Jones is considered a hero in railroading circles as the engineer on Engin #382.   An engine similar to the original #382 is housed at the Casey Jones Home and Museum in Jackson, TN.   Casey is remembered in song and in movies as the engineer who always arrived on time.   On one fateful evening as he was on his way home he ran into a parked train on a siding which was not completely off his track.   He managed to save everyone aboard but in the process he was killed in the crash of his engine.  He left a widow with three small children in Jackson.    The house is also on the site, and it was built in the late 1800's.   We were able to walk through the house, but while it has period furniture, none of it is original to the family.  

After lunch we drove south about 45 miles to the Shiloh National Military Park and Cemetery.   After a 45 minute film on the battle of Shiloh, we drove through the park and visited the book store.   The fighting here resulted in over 24,000 soldiers being killed or injured in the battle.   After the battle, General P.G.T. Beauregard asked permission to remove the Confederate dead from the Shiloh battlefield.   General Grant politely replied that the dead from both armies had been buried immediately.   When Shiloh became a national park, battle veterans chose to preserve the burial sites of the Confederate dead in place, identifying and honoring 5 mass graves with memorials.    It was an honor to be there on June 6.