Cavalry Archives | Battle of Nashville & Beyond

December 29, 2017 By Bob Henderson 10 Comments

Noblit-Lytle Home

1840’s Home Dismantled

UPDATE: 9 April 2018

Dismantled by Barnwood Builders for it’s log cabin core. See the schedule of the programs here.

Sometime between last spring and last week, this historic Noblit-Lytle home was dismantled. Historical markers have vanished in the area in the last decade as well. This is the site of the Battle of Sugar Creek, the last stand of the Confederate Army of Tennessee, in the Volunteer State.

Inscription. “Thomas H. Noblit (1812-1899), who served the community as justice of the peace, doctor, merchant, and farmer, built this log dogtrot farmhouse in the 1840s. The Civil War battle at Sugar Creek occurred nearby in December 1864. In the 1890s, his son-in-law, William Franklin “Will” Lytle (1858-1942), renovated the house in the Queen Anne style. Will’s daughter, Mary Will Lytle (1897-1990), was among Tennessee’s first women dentists.” …read more

December 22, 2017 By Bob Henderson 3 Comments

Fort Pillow

Lt. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest and Fort Pillow:

Revised 22 December 2017

December 21, 2017 – Lt. Gen. Nathan B. Forrest’s statue was removed by the city of Memphis, Tennessee to an undisclosed location. They city bi-passed the state law on removing historical monuments from public land – so they sold it.

What will they do with his General and Mrs. Forrest buried beneath it?

February 2017:

It was with some trepidation, that I set off for Memphis to shoot Nathan Bedford Forrest. The former Nathan Bedford Forrest Park has been renamed the Health Sciences Park on Union Street. Arriving at 7 AM, I had the place to myself. Metered parking was available on South Dunlap street (no weekend fee). To my relief, there had been no desecration of the monument.

Recent efforts my the Memphis City Council to remove the statue to another city was rejected by the Tennessee Historical Commission… read more

I proceeded north towards Henning, Tennessee to shoot Fort Pillow State Historic Park. It was about and hour and a half drive. Bass boats periodically droned up and down Cold Creek below the fort. It’s not easy to find and not very well marked. I am going to submit an update to Google Maps.

Parking at the trail and head on Crutcher Lake Road, it was about a mile hike to the restored earthworks. In the hour and a half I spent there, on a clear warm Saturday morning, I encountered no visitors.

Suggested reading on the larger historical perspective of this controversial figure of American history:

“Having once been a racist, Nathan Bedford Forrest became an outspoken advocate of black civil rights in Memphis, culminating in his beautiful yet largely forgotten speech before the black civil rights Pole-Bearers Association in 1875. Encouraging the black people in attendance to take an active part in their country’s government, he told them he was with them ‘heart and hand’ to help their cause in any way he could.” – Nathan Bedford Forrest’s Redemption

Check this 3D like 360º virtual tour of Fort Pillow and Nathan Bedford Forrest park. Historical markers are embedded in the tour.

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Forrest Park: Madison Ave & S Dunlap Street, Memphis, TN 38103

Fort Pillow: 3122 Park Road Henning, TN 38041

Recommended Reading:

#fortpillow #nathanbedforforrest

December 18, 2017 By Bob Henderson Leave a Comment

Death at Summit Springs

Cheyenne Dog Soldiers and the 5th U.S. Cavalry – Shruged

Revised: 22 December 2017

Why does this Colorado battlefield sit on private land that is very difficult to access? It’s essentially the last significant battle of the Cheyenne Dog Soldiers. It marked a turning point in the taming the wild west. It was so significant, that Buffalo Bill Cody (who was fighting with the 5th Cavalry in this) used the story as a narrative of his World Famous Wild West Show.

A modern Dog Soldier headdress at a pow wow.

Planning a new series of battlefield virtual tours beyond the American Civil War, I had a preconception, that this would be yet another atrocity against the American Indians. We invaded their country and destroyed their way of life, but with this battle, I have to side with U.S. Cavalry. This chilling story chronicles the events that led to the fall of some of the deadliest Dog Soldiers on the Great Plains.

As with most Indian campaigns, much credit goes to the Native Americans (in this case Pawnee’s) that assisted the cavalry as scouts and warriors. Much of the blame for the escalating violence goes to Colonel John Chivington, for his murdurous raid on Sandy Creek five years prior.

The 5th Cavalry were battle tested. They had fought from Bull Run to Gettysburg to the Shenandoah Valley Campaign.

From: Death at Summit Springs: Susanna Alderdice and the Cheyennes

“On the afternoon of July 11, 1869, it was hot and windy in northeastern Colorado Territory — typical summer weather for that part of the country. But it was not otherwise a typical day. As the hour approached 3 o’clock, the order was given by trumpet to charge the Indian village at Summit Springs (near present-day Sterling, Colorado). At the sound of ‘Charge, 244 officers and men of the 5th U.S. Cavalry, along with 50 Pawnee Indians serving as scouts, quickly descended upon the village of 84 lodges. Cheyenne Dog Soldier Chief Tall Bull and his people could not have been more surprised”… “Almost as soon as the shooting stopped, a powerful hail and thunderstorm descended upon the village. Everyone took shelter, but lightning killed one horse while a soldier sat upon it.”…read more

Virtual Reality Panorama of the Summit Springs Battlefield.

Summitt Springs Battlefield – Shruged from athensofthesouth.design on Vimeo.

Location: 40° 25′ 58″ N, 103° 8′ 21″ W

#summitsprings

General’s Night Fight

Rear Guard Action at the West Harpeth River

December 17, 1864

Updated: 8 JUN 2017

John B. Hood’s 100 mile running rear guard, led for the most part by Lt. General Bedford Forrest*, is one of the most amazing feats of the war. Although it is some of the most daring fighting of the Army of Tennessee, it may never be fully appreciated as real estate worthy of preservation. It is that fear, that led me into Virtual Reality photography for battlefield preservation.

Given the fact that the actions at the West Harpeth River are so close to the relatively new I-840 corridor, this land will more than likely be lost in the next decade. As of June, 2017 core battlefield property is for sale.

To categorize these heroic clashes as delaying actions, is a disservice to the men that fought on both sides.

From ‘In the Lions Mouth’:

“In the gathering darkness, the Confederates at first were unsure if the approaching horsemen were friend or foe since so many Southern cavalrymen, like the rest of Hood’s army, wore captured Union clothing. ‘This was a critical moment, and I felt great anxiety as to its effect upon the men, who, fewer in numbers, had just had the shameful example of the cavalry added to the terrible trial of the day before, Stevenson [Major General Carter Stevenson] noted.”

“… the gray cavalry was immersed in some of the toughest combat in this phase of the retreat, with their generals just as – or more – involved in actual fighting than their infantry counterparts. Abraham Buford was assailed by a Union trooper, who twice slashed at him over the shoulder with a saber. General Chalmers quickly came to Buford’s aid, killing the Federal with two revolver shots. Chalmers also captured another Union soldier amid the engagement. Apparently in the same encounter, another bluecoat swung his saber at Buford, but the blade was diverted by a Confederate trooper using the barrel of his empty carbine. Buford, a big man, weighing about 300 pounds, then grabbed his assailant and yanked him from his horse. Squeezing him so tightly that the Federal later said it, was like being ‘hugged by a bear,’ Buford spurred to safety, with his prisoner.”

From the Official Record:

“HDQRS. CAVALRY CORPS, MIL. DIV. OF THE MISSISSIPPI, Three Miles North of Thompson’s Station, on West Harpeth, December 17, 1864-6 p. m.

Brigadier General W. D. WHIPPLE,

Chief of Staff:

GENERAL: We have “bust up” Stevenson’s division of infantry, a brigade of cavalry, and taken three guns. The Fourth Cavalry and Hatch’s division, supported by Knipe, made several beautiful charges, breaking the rebel infantry in all directions. There has been a great deal of night firing, volleys and cannonading from our guns – the rebels have none. It is very dark, and our men are considerably scattered, but I’ll collect them on this bank of the stream – West Harpeth. Hatch is a brick!

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

J. H. WILSON,

Brevet Major-General, Commanding.”

Tennessee 3D 17 – Hood’s Retreat – December 17, 1864

“Moving rapidly south through Franklin, Stephen D. Lee’s Corps with Chalmers’ Cavalry Division attached, took up a delaying position in this area about 1:00 PM They beat off attacks by Wood’s IV Corps & Wilson’s Cavalry. Here, Gen. Lee was wounded; command passed to Maj. Gen. Carter L. Stevenson. The Army of Tennessee bivouacked that night around Spring Hill.”

Location: North Side of the West Harpeth River:

Franklin, TN 37064

Highly Recommended Reading:

*Forrest was in route to join up with Hood’s Army when the Battle at the West Harpeth River occurred. Coming from Murfreesboro, he would catch up at the Duck River, in Columbia a few days later. Major General Carter Stevenson, was in command of Lee’s Corp here after Lt. Gen. Stephen D. Lee was wounded. Lee was hit in the foot by shell fragments here December 17.

#hoodsretreat #battleofnashville

March 29, 2017 By Bob Henderson 2 Comments

Sugar Creek

The Battle of Sugar Creek | Hood’s Retreat

440 Appleton Road, Five Points, TN 38457

In The Lion’s Mouth – by Derek Smith

“What followed over the next twelve days would be one of the most spellbinding and tragic episodes in American military history, as hunters and hunted left bloody footprints on the bayonet-sharp ice for more than 100 miles. Grizzled Confederates who survived claimed, it was worse than the patriots’ sufferings at Valley Forge. One general wrote ‘that it was a most painful march, characterized by more suffering than had ever before, been my misfortune to witness.’ ”

Sugar Creek was the last battle* of the Confederate Army of Tennessee – in Tennessee. It was fought on the Giles and Lawrence county line, near the Tennessee, Alabama border in late 1864. For ten bitter December days, and over one hundred miles, Lt. General Forrest defended Hood’s vanquished army, in a sequence of valiant rear-guard delaying actions, following the crushing rout at Nashville. From Brentwood, to Sugar Creek, Tennessee, these final desperate maneuvers, enabled the war-weary Confederates to break out, over the Tennessee River into Alabama. But the game would soon be up. The South would capitulate a few months later, ending the long bloody war between the States.

*the Battle of Bentonville, NC was the last battle of the Army of Tennessee before the Army was surrendered by Gen. Joseph is E. Johnston at Bennett Place near Durham Station, North Carolina.

Recommended Reading:

“Just before 8 A.M. on a cold winter morning, U.S. Gen. James H. Wilson’s cavalry corps advanced slowly through a thick fog. Forrest had stationed two brigades under Gen. Edward C. Walthall about 200 yards south of the creek’s main ford behind rock-and-log breastworks”… read more

The core battlefield of this last stand, is about 3 miles northwest of the Highway 11 bridge crossing at Sugar Creek. The battlefield is on private property, but can be viewed from several street views. The closest public perspective is on Puncheon Branch Road. PLEASE RESPECT PRIVATE PROPERTY HERE. This is not a public park.

This virtual tour is the final leg of that 100 mile battle. Tour points include the following historical Civil War sites in southern Giles & Lawrence County, Tennessee:

Appleton, TN at The Big Red Store
The Lower Ford
The Upper (Peach) Ford
Puncheon Branch Road
Sugar Creek Road
Dobbin’s Cemetery
Cemetery at Anthony Hill
Lytle-Noblit House

The Lytle-Noblit House

Dismantled in 2017

“Thomas H. Noblit (1812-1899), who served the community as justice of the peace, doctor, merchant, and farmer, built this log dogtrot farmhouse in the 1840s. The Civil War battle at Sugar Creek occurred nearby in December 1864. In the 1890s, his son-in-law, William Franklin “Will” Lytle (1858-1942), renovated the house in the Queen Anne style. Will’s daughter, Mary Will Lytle (1897-1990), was among Tennessee’s first women dentists.”

NOTE: The historical marker for this site disappeared around 2014, as well as the Sugar Creek marker a few miles away.

Take a 360 degree virtual tour of the battlefield land below:

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The Big Red Store

440 Appleton Road, Five Points, TN 38457

The Big Red Store in Appleton, Tennessee is said to be the largest historic rural General Store in the country. It host’s several events during the year, including one on the 4th of July, and the anniversary of the Battle of Sugar Creek, each December 26th.

The event center is open by appointment only, and on special occasions. Contact Linda Boyd for details at (931) 556-2023. Admission is free, but donations are appreciated to help with restoration and upkeep of the building.

More battle sites on Hood’s Retreat

Chronology of General Hood’s Champaign

Reports from the Military Official Record

#sugarcreek