Do you think Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie know about the battle of Shiloh, the bloodiest battle in United States history up to that point, on the 6th and 7th of April, 1862? 3,477 soldiers died between the two armies and over sixteen thousand soldiers were wounded in the two-day battle. Close to four thousand soldiers were captured or missing. That means that 78 soldiers were killed per hour over 48 hours, though the fighting did not go non-stop for that amount of time.
When I studied the Civil War (in high school, with a fantastic, though intimidating teacher, Mr. Dean) the battle of Shiloh was my favorite. One area the fighting took place was in Sarah Bell’s peach orchard. After the battle, the dead were covered with a layer of snowy peach blossoms. This image has always stayed with me, thanks, in part, to Mr. Dean’s ability to paint vivid and poetic portraits of the battles.
I assume Brad and Angelina were thinking more along the lines of the Old Testament Shiloh, where a sanctuary housed the Ark of the Covenant. Christians tend to define the word as, “peaceful one,” alluding to the Christ. A little research reveals that the exact definition of Shiloh is debatable.
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