After returning from the rendezvous, we took a day to visit the Shiloh Battlefield where Generals Grant and Johnston traded bloody blows during a rainy couple of days in April, 1862. It was the first of what would be many gruesome battles where armies ground against each other in a state of total war. I’ve visited several old battlefields and it always humbles me. Shiloh is another place where the tree of liberty was watered with the blood of patriots.