Yesterday F went to Shiloh with a friend who is still in high school. The friend had to visit a historic place during her spring break (the concept of which this high school does not seem to grasp.)

F is one of those people who like history and who like knowing interesting and useless things. We visited Shiloh when she was studying the Civil War during her high school U.S. History class and on the way there she told us all about what we would see, who fought there, what happened, the outcome and effect on the war, and so forth. So when the friend had to go, and her mom told her to try to find someone to go with them because of the long drive and so forth, F asked to be put on on the short list. Actually, she was the only taker.

Various states have put up elaborate monuments to their soldiers who died there. F says an equal number of soldiers from Tennessee fought on each side. Here is a picture she took of the Tennessee monument:













And here is a detail of the dying flag-carrying boy:













I am reminded of The Red Badge of Courage, that godawful thing they force helpless high schoolers to read (or did in my day), and of Ray Bradbury's short story "The Drummer Boy of Shiloh", and of Kipling's Drums of the Fore and Aft although that was a different war. This last story F and I read together last night. I miss sharing things like that with her when she's not here.