Battle of Nashville & Beyond

  • Home
    • Resources
      • Franklin
      • Shiloh
    • About the Author
  • Tour Routes
    • Tour Route – 2 hours
    • Tour Route – 3 Hour
    • Tour Route – 6+ hours
  • Gunships vs Cavalry
    • Naval Battle Timeline
    • Brown Water Navy
    • The Gunboats of Nashville
      • Nashville Gunboats Photos
      • U.S.S. Cairo Virtual Tour
  • Kelley’s Point
    • Kelley’s Point Map
    • Kelley’s Point Naval Battle
    • 1936 Aerial Photo
    • Inset Zoom of Kelley’s Point
    • People of Interest
      • Le Roy Fitch
      • Mark Robertson Cockrill
      • Col. David C. Kelley
      • Richard W. Johnson
        • Battlefield Simulator
      • Hood’s Retreat
  • Blog
  • Hood’s Retreat
  • Virtual Battlefields
  • Athens-South Virtual Tours

March 1, 2017 By Bob Henderson 1 Comment

Champ Ferguson

Confederate Guerrilla Raider: 

• Revised: 04 MAY 17 •

 
chain-ball
Ball and chain used during Champ Fergusion’s Trial • Tennessee State Museum

From the Tennessee Civil War Trails signage:

Champ Ferguson (1821-1865) was born in Kentucky, the oldest of ten children. He moved to White County, Tennessee, in the 1850s. During the Civil War, he showed passionate loyalty to the Southern cause and extreme hatred for the Union. The alleged reasons for his zeal range from a desire to settle longstanding grudges with local Unionists to revenge against the Union soldiers who he said raped his wife and daughter1 and killed his son2. Regardless of his motives, Ferguson was one of the most notorious Confederate guerrillas to roam the Upper Cumberland. He was most infamous for the Saltville Massacre, in which he supposedly directed the murders of several wounded and captured US. Colored Troops at Saltville, Virginia, in 1864. Federal officials arrested him after the war. He was convicted of 53 counts of murder, although he claimed to have killed more than 100 Union soldiers, insisting it was his military duty. Ferguson was sentenced to death by hanging. He requested that his body be taken to “White County, Tennessee, and be buried in good Rebel soil.” Ferguson is interred here in the cemetery named for the France family.

“I was a Southern Man at the start. I am yet, and will die a Rebel. I believe I was right in all I did . … I have killed a good many men, of course, I don’t deny that, hut I never killed a man whom I did not know was seeking my life …. I repeat that I die a Rebel out and out, and my last request is that my body he removed to White County, Tennessee, and he buried in good Rebel soil.” – Champ Ferguson, before his execution, 1865

Other Confederate veterans buried in France Cemetery include four brothers, all of whom died during the war: Sgt. Solomon Carmichael and Pvt. Thomas Carmichael (25th Tennessee Infantry), Pvt. Hance Carmichael (28th Tennessee Infantry), and Pvt. William L. Carmichael (8th Tennessee Cavalry).

Champ Ferguson Grave | France Cemetery | Calfkiller Highway (Hwy. 84)

Reports from Stokes Brigade, claimed that Champ was wounded in a skirmish near the Calfkiller River by the 5th Tennessee Cavalry.

Operations against guerrillas about Sparta February to April: Johnson’s Mills February 22, Sparta and Calfkiller River February 22, 1864. During this time frame, Captain Ferguson was accused of Murdering 19 men of the U.S. 5th Tennessee Cavalry.

Likely position of the February 22 engagement on the Calfkiller River near Long Hollow:

March 18, 1864 the 5th U.S. Cavalry attacked Confederate Colonel Hughes camp two miles from Beersheba Springs. This is most likely the location on the Collins River to the northwest of Beersheba Springs, near the base of the Cumberland Mountains:

Champ Ferguson: Confederate Guerilla and Jack Hinson’s One Man War

Emory & Henry College – Confederate Hospital

Footnotes:

1 After the war, Champ was put on trial for 53 murders. This included the execution of a Lt. Smith with the U.S. 13th Kentucky Cavalry, and 10 of his men. In testimony regarding his motivation, Champ denied that his wife and daughter had been molested. There is a strong suspicion that this was to protect their reputations.

2 According to Broomfield L. Ridley’s Battles and Sketches of the Army of Tennessee, published in 1906: “Champ was a citizen at his home when the tocsin was sounded, and stayed there until his own precincts were invaded. A rabid fire-eater past his house with a troop of blues. You ask why he was so desperate? It was told in camp that Champ Ferguson’s little three-year-old child came out onto the porch waving a Confederate flag. One of the men in blue leveled his gun at Champ and killed the child. Oh anguish! How the father’s heart bled! His spirit welled up like the indomitable will of a primitive Norsemen. In a moment of frenzy he said that the death of his baby would cost the “bluecoats” one hundred lives. And it did. One hundred twenty is believed to be the number he put to death (Comrade S.H. Mitchell got this from Champ himself.)”

#civilwar #guerrilla #champferguson

Filed Under: 360º, Cavalry, Tennessee

February 24, 2017 By Bob Henderson Leave a Comment

Gibraltar of the West

Columbus-Belmont Battlefield: 

Early in the war, troops under Confederate General Leonidas Polk fortified a strategic line on the bluff’s of the Mississippi River here. In September of 1861, it marked the South’s first move into Kentucky. To prevent passage of Union gunboats downstream, a huge chain was stretched across the river. Soon after it was deployed, it broke due to the shear force of the river. A section of the chain and massive anchor is on display in the park.

After the Federal successes in Tennessee at Forts Donelson and Henry, Confederates evacuated Columbus on March 2, 1862. U.S. Army troops moved in the next day, holding the fortress for the remainder of the war.

This was the northern most fortification held by the Confederates on the Mississippi River. It was literally the high-water mark on the Mississippi for the South. It was also one of General U.S. Grant’s first major operations.

Columbus-Belmont State Park: 350 Park Road, Columbus, KY 42032 

Take a 360º augmented virtual tour of the site below. Click on the full screen icon at the bottom of the panorama for a full size few.

This content requires HTML5/CSS3, WebGL, or Adobe Flash Player Version 9 or higher.

Google has mapped the trails here:

 

#columbus #belmont #civilwar

Filed Under: Forts, Kentucky, Parks, United States Navy

February 8, 2017 By Bob Henderson 2 Comments

Davis Bridge

Battle of Davis Bridge in Hardeman County, Tennessee 

Also know as the Battle of Hatchie Bridge

Wikipedia


October 5, 1862 | Southwest Tennessee

Maj. Gen. Earl Van Dorn vs Maj. Gen. Edward O.C. Ord

“By late spring 1862, United States forces in the West threatened to cut the Confederacy in two, having captured both New Orleans and Memphis on the Mississippi River, and the vital railroad hub at Corinth, Mississippi, thereby severing the Memphis & Charleston Railroad, the South’s only east-west connection linking the Atlantic to the Mississippi Valley. Efforts to complete the split stalled that summer when Union naval forces failed to capture Vicksburg, and the field armies struggled to control the vast territory occupied in the spring offensive. The Confederates seized on this lull to launch General Bragg’s invasion into Kentucky, and, in early October, sent an army to capture Corinth. However, repulsed there with heavy losses after two days of brutal fighting, this Southern force retreated back towards Davis Bridge on the Hatchie River in Hardeman County, Tennessee.

When the Southern Army blocked by Federals advancing from Bolivar, Tennessee, fierce fighting engulfed the crossing. The day-long conflict ended east of the river with the Confederates escaping to the south. The failure to retake Corinth proved the last Confederate offensive in Mississippi, as Union forces seized the initiative, and began a final relentless nine-months offensive to capture Vicksburg and take control of the Mississippi River”. – Davis Bridge Shiloh National Park 

This very remote battle site is actually part of the Shiloh Military Park over 30 miles to the east. It’s very hard to find, not marked from Highway 57.

Davis Bridge: 1145 Essary Springs Rd. Pocahontas, TN 38061

Metamora Hill: 1845 Pocahontas Rd. Pocahontas, TN 38061

This 3D like virtual tour covers three point os the Battlefield: the Hatchie River bridge site, cemetery and Metamora Hill.

This content requires HTML5/CSS3, WebGL, or Adobe Flash Player Version 9 or higher.

 

 

#davisbridge

 

Filed Under: 360º, Cavalry, Cemetery, Mississippi, Tennessee, Virtual Tour

February 8, 2017 By Bob Henderson Leave a Comment

Brice’s Crossroads

Sturgis vs. Forrest at Brice’s Crossroads 

June 10, 1864 | North Mississippi

The Confederate success at Brice’s Crossroads (also known as the Battle of Tishomingo Creek and the Battle of Guntown) was a significant victory for Major General Nathan Bedford Forrest, outnumbered over 2 : 1 (4,800 infantry and 3,300 cavalry to Forrest 3,500 cavalry). Forrest captured more than 1,600 prisoners of war, 18 artillery pieces, and wagons loaded with supplies. Once the defeated General Sturgis reached Memphis, he asked to be relieved of command. It was a brilliant victory, including a rare artillery charge, but the battles strategic effect on the war proved to be insignificant. …read more

Take a 3D like virtual tour of the Brice’s Crossroads National Battlefield. The V/T consists of 8 separate locations around the core battlefield.

This content requires HTML5/CSS3, WebGL, or Adobe Flash Player Version 9 or higher.

Map

Wikipedia

The battlefield and visitor center are just off the Natchez Trace Parkway at the Baldwyn Exit near mile-marker 280.

Vistor Center: 607 Grisham St, Baldwyn, MS 38824

Battlefield: 260 Bethany Rd, Guntown, MS 38849

Suggested Reading:

 

 

 

 

 

 

#bricescrossroads #virtualtour

Filed Under: 360º, Cavalry, Forrest Cavalry, Mississippi, Virtual Tour

February 5, 2017 By Bob Henderson Leave a Comment

41st Tennessee

Troop Movements of the 41st Tennessee 

My GG Grandfather, Captain Walter Scott Bearden, led Company E. of the 41st Tennessee. They were captured early in the war after the fall Fort Donelson. They were located next to Graves Battery which was heavily engaged.

 

 

Graves Battery and 41st Tennessee at Fort Donelson

They were exchanged in 1862 and resumed duty at Vicksburg. He and his twin brother Edwin, were both severely wounded in the war. Lt. Edwin Bearden was shoot in the upper leg leading a charge at the Chickamauga, Brotherton Farm break-thru . Walter was wounded three time in the Battle of Atlanta. His third wound was thought fatal. It was only by the intervention of a young nurse from Shelbyville Tennessee, that he over came an upper thigh bullet wound. Walter and Maggie would be wed a few years latter. Walter would go on to be a Circuit Judge. His Sergeant Major S.A. Cunningham would establish the Confederate Veteran Magazine.

The magazine became “the official organ first of the United Confederate Veterans and later of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, the Sons of Confederate Veterans, and the Confederate Southern Memorial Society.” Over the years, the magazine became “one of the New South’s most influential monthlies.” It had a readership of over 20,000 by 1900. After Cunningham’s death in 1913, the second editor was Edith P. Pope. The magazine ceased publication in 1932.   – Wikipedia

The 41st was decimated in front of The Carter House in the Battle of Franklin. Brigadier General Otho Strahl was killed leading their charge.

ESRI ArcGIS Map View larger map
  

#41st #tn

Filed Under: Franklin, Tennessee, The American Civil War, Vicksburg Champaign

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • …
  • 15
  • 16
  • 17
  • 18
  • 19
  • …
  • 28
  • Next Page »
  • Facebook

Battlefield Trust

CWPT Link

Tennessee State Museum

DSC02614_5_6_7_8_opt

Fort Negley

Negely

USCT Charge on Peach Orchard Hill

USCT Painting

Travelers Rest

Travelers Rest

Belle Meade Plantation

Belle Meade Plantation

Battle of Franklin

Franklin

Nashville Naval Battle

Kelley’s Point Video

Nashville MIA’s

Copyright © 2025 · Bob Henderson. All rights reserved.