Shiloh by DeBerry

We intended to drive north to Adamsville to lunch and the library today, and then maybe over east to Savannah, on the Tennessee River, but THINGS HAPPENED.  I saw the Shiloh Battlefield Artifact Museum was open, and I wanted to see how much it would cost to enter.

My question was quickly answered by Larry DeBerry, the owner of the museum (World War 1 and 2 artifacts also, he reminded me). FREE. Larry is also a professional guide of the battlefield.  But he is actually much more than either of these regarding the battle at Shiloh Church.

Mr. DeBerry is ALSO a Trustee of the Shiloh UMC, was the Chairman of the Shiloh Log Church Project that built the historical replica on the site, is the Commander of the local Son’s of Confederate Veterans which meets every first Thursday evening of the month at Shiloh Church and is a Civil War Re-enactor with participation in two movies, Gettysburg and Gods and Generals to his credit. Larry is a member of Morton’s Artillery, CSA, and Freeman’s Artillery, CSA. Each a reactivated Civil War unit of the south.

 Larry's museum is not large, but it is the recognized (by the rangers at Shiloh National Park, and Larry) as the largest single artifact collection from this battle anywhere in the world.  That tells me there are lots of items in private hands, or lost in old boxes, or still in the ground.  But no National ground is legal to go digging in for anything without God and the Presidents permission.

I shared my retirement from the UMC with Larry and that’s when he shared his connection to Shiloh.  He also shared that his dear wife of 37 years died just about 3 years ago.  And he copied a beautiful letter she had hand written to their adult daughter and hidden so it would be found just after her death. A woman of obviously great faith, Larry said he and the family too are doing fine because they know they shall see her again.

Almost all of the Shiloh artifacts on display were found by Larry and were taken with permission off private land adjacent to the park.  Much of his collection is not at his museum, but is on display at the Tennessee River Museum in Savannah, Tennessee, so I’ll see them when we head over to the library in that town.

One other thing about Larry.  he has dozens of grand-relatives buried in several of the church yards around several local counties.  One of them is the only civilian to have been killed at Shiloh.  He was you ill to leave his cabin on the first day and a random  cannon shell ended his life.

I asked Larry about park attendance. It seemed to Mona and I that the area was not attracting many tourists, and the park, while well kept, had not had any obvious new additions in signage or infrastructure in what appeared to be decades.  he told us we were correct. In 2009 the park had over one million visitors, but in 2013 only half that number came to tour the fields and woods where almost as many men fought as at Gettysburg.

And some say the economy is getting better. Not for travelers.  We've found that RV sales, while reported as UP for the last few years, are actually, without used rig numbers, still going down. And we have seen countless empty, near empty or even closed parks which once had FULL signs half the year long.

Not to belabor the point, but if you enjoy camping, and can afford the fuel and time to enjoy it, costs for camping in most areas, and availability of nice sites, are ideal.

Of course, if you can boon-dock, as we do, those concerns are almost non-existent.

We did eventually get to lunch, and the library. When I finally returned to the car from the museum Mona said she knew what had happened.  And that it was alright.  Did I marry the right woman or what???

-Ken

PS: All of the pics I took at the DeBerry Museum are on Facebook.