Historical Society of Quincy and Adams County

Shiloh: horrible beyond description

Adams County boys at the Battle of Shiloh

              We are proud to announce that our exhibit, “Shiloh—horrible’ beyond description,” is now open in the History Museum. The show focuses on that day, Friday, April 6, 1862, the 150th anniversary of the first major battle of the Civil War and the valor of the nearly 400 young men of Adams County who fought there.
               The exhibit features a new image of General Benjamin Mayberry Prentiss, which was recently discovered in the HSQAC archives. The picture was taken in St. Louis, where Prentiss went in early September 1861 after a dispute over rank with General Ulysses S. Grant.
               Among the Historical Society’s prized artifacts that will be showcased is the diary of Private Edward H. Warden of Pinhook (Coles County), who recorded each day’s events in 1862,including what he saw at the Battle of Shiloh. It was his entry on April 11 that gave this exhibit its title. It was, young Warden wrote, “horribal beyond description.”
          The diary was a gift to the Historical Society last year by his great grandson, Ross Warden of Quincy.
          Another important artifact in the exhibit is the drum set that teenager George W. Robison of Columbus used as the drummer boy for the 50th’s Company E. Three sticks are in the exhibit. The boy lost the fourth on the battlefield.
               The society is proud to be able to include in the display the saddle of Colonel Moses M. Bane of Payson. Bane was one of four community leaders who stirred the patriotism and recruited hundreds of young Adams County men after President Lincoln’s call in July 1861 for 500,000 volunteers. Put in command of the 50th Illinois, Bane was seriously wounded in the opening moments of their engagement in the battle. Although field surgeons considered his wounds deathly, Bane was saved by his brother Garner, a surgeon from Liberty, who amputated his right arm. Bane was able to return to command in October.
               Numerous other artifacts, documents and pictures interpreting the Battle of Shiloh from the perspective of the Adams men who fought there will be exhibited.
               The exhibit is a collaboration of Jean Kan, HSQAC archivist and research librarian; and HSQAC volunteers Steve Butts, a retired Air Force veteran who built the three-dimensional relief map of the battlefield; Bridgett Quinlivan, who holds a masters degree in history, who helped organize and document the exhibit; Phil Reyburn, author of the book Jottings from Dixie, who assisted with collected letters; and Mick Ankrom of Jacksonville, who built the new showcases for the HSQAC’s Warden diary and drumset.       

    Adams Men of the 50th Illinois    The Battle    The Battlefield    Brochure
                       The complete 1862 Diary of Private Edward H. Warden      

Telling the story of Adams County’s  young men who fought in the first major battle of the Civil War.