G-G-Grandfather Goins, G-G-Grandfather Holcomb and the Battle of Shiloh

The other day I was cleaning out a closet in the studio behind my garage and ran across a scrapbook my maternal grandmother had put together 30 years ago. Mostly the pages were filled with brochures and ticket stubs and other treasures collected along her journey, but I did run across a few fascinating pictures. One was of a thin, old man with a beard and wearing a suit that was entirely too big for him. On the back of the picture in my grandmother’s distinctive handwriting it read, “Grandpaw Goins, Died at 78 years, July 1923, Fought in the Battle of Shiloh, Mother’s father.” This must be my grandmother’s grandfather. It’s a shame I don’t know any more about this man, so out of curiosity I researched the Battle of Shiloh for some insight. Just over the Tennessee River, this battle was fought on the eastern edge of west Tennessee in hopes to keep Gen. Grant’s Union troops, Army of the Tennessee, from advancing to join forces with Maj. Gen. Buell’s Army of the Ohio. On April 6, 1862, Generals Johnston and Beauregard launched a surprise attack and believed they had a complete victory the first day. In fact, Beauregard sent President Jefferson Davis a telegram communicating complete victory, knowing he was going to have to finish the job the next morning. However the battle lines became blurred during the fight and Gen Johnston was killed. Beauregard, now in command, decided not to fight into the night, allowing for reinforcements from Buell’s army to join Grant’s in the cover of darkness. Launching a counter attack on the morning of April 7, the Confederates were forced to retreat in what was up until that time the bloodiest battle in the history of the United States. More than 23,000 men from both sides were either killed, wounded, missing, or taken prisoner. That number represents more casualties than the American casualties in the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, and the Mexican-American War combined. Both sides were shocked at the carnage, dashing hopes that one big battle would bring this war to a close. Only days later after discussing this with my Dad did I learn that on my father’s side my great-great-grandfather William Marion Holcomb from Missouri also fought in the Battle of Shiloh. Dad did have an interesting tidbit to share with me regarding the battle. His grandmother told him that her dad was wounded in the battle when a bullet was shot through his heel. He survived, but the incident killed the horse he was riding. Other relatives Joshua Floyd Jones and his brother Benjamin Franklin Jones enlisted in the Civil War together after the Battle of Shiloh, served identical duty, and left together. They fought in the battles of Franklin and Nashville, among others. My dad had the good fortune to hold their Civil War pension applications at the Tennessee State Library and Archives. Today these documents are scanned on to microfiche and the original documents are no longer accessible by the public.