“I was in the battle of Shiloh

“I was in the battle of Shiloh. . “I was in the battle of Shiloh from the opening gun to the close; and while I was very young, the impressions made on my mind are vivid and lasting.”, Here in his boyhood home Thomas Dudley Duncan penned the story of those wartime experiences., In April 1861, fifteen-year-old Duncan enlisted in the “Corinth Rifles” infantry company. However, his father William Duncan insisted young Thomas transfer to the cavalry, on account of his “youth and rather fragile body.”, With a “good horse” provided by his father, Duncan served as a scout in the weeks leading up to the battle of Shiloh. As he “knew the country around Corinth,” he often guided arriving troops to their encampment sites., On the eve of Shiloh, Duncan observed Union camps “absolutely unaware” of the approaching Confederates. He noted many “Confederate lay down in line of battle to rest and slumber, realizing the danger of the coming morn and the certainty that for many the next sunrise would be the last on earth.”, Over the next two days, his courier duties provided ample opportunity to witness “the wrecks of war.” Duncan later remembered “many bullets and grapeshot fanned me and left their unwelcome whistle in my memory.”, After the defeated southern army returned to Corinth, the chief Confederate engineer drew on Tom Duncan’s knowledge of the hills and roads around the city to assist in locating trenches and artillery positions for the “Beauregard Line”. This seven-mile-long series of earthworks became the main defense for Corinth’s vital railroad crossing., Throughout the war Thomas Duncan served under General Nathan Bedford Forrest. He returned to Corinth as a veteran of 52 battles. Duncan worked in a cabinet shop until appointed Postmaster. He restored a rundown Duncan House to its pre-war condition, married Miss Juliette Elgin, and here raised his family., Left: Thomas D. Duncan, age 15, in the uniform of the “Tishomingo Rangers”. Recollections of Thomas D. Duncan., Middle: Thomas D. Duncan, age 57, wearing a reunion medal of the Albert Sidney Johnston Camp of the United Confederate Veterans. Recollections of Thomas D. Duncan., (captions) , Left: Thomas D. Duncan, age 15, in uniform of the "Tishomingo Rangers". Recollections of Thomas D. Duncan , Middle: Thomas D. Duncan, age 57, wearing a reunion medal of the Albert Sidney Johnston Camp of the United Confederate Veterans. Recollections of Thomas D. Duncan. , Right: Cover of Recollections of Thomas D. Duncan, 1866 Pictorial History of the Civil War (1880), 1886 Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, 1920 Janet Krohn., 1976 Rosemary Taylor Williams, 2014 Mona Lisa Grady., (Background image) Duncan House – 2016, Woody Harrell . This historical marker is in Corinth in Alcorn County Mississippi