Battle of Nashville & Beyond

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National Parks 360º

New 360 Photography in the National Military Parks

The National Park Service is adding 360 degree Google Street View Tours to selected military parks. To date, I have identified these:

360º driving tours: 

Vicksburg

Perryville

Antietam

Gettysburg 

U.S.S. Cairo Gunboat in Google Street View

Vicksburg National Military Park has a new Google Street View virtual tour. It lacked interior imagery of the USS Cairo, so I completed it with several interior perspectives. 

The Cairo is the only remaining Brown Water Navy Gunboat from the American Civil War.

More tour points of the Vicksburg National Battlefield: http://battleofnashville.com/the-last-ironclad/

The Campaign for Vicksburg: I Vicksburg Is the Key, II Grant Strikes a Fatal Blow, III Unvexed to the Sea (3 volume set)

 

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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.

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#davisbridge

 

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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.

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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

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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

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The Last Ironclad

The Last Brown Water Navy Gunboat: 

 

Vicksburg National Battlefield Virtual Tour

 

3201 Clay Street, Vicksburg, MS 39183

Recommended Reading

Torpedoed in 1862, and raised a half century later, the U.S.S. Cairo is the only remaining American Civil War vessel remaining of the vast river Brown Water Navy.  Seven City Class riverboat monitors were requisitioned in the summer of 1961. They were constructed in 100 days at a cost of about $100,000 each. All other river monitors were lost for scrap metal during WWI.

Take a look inside of the reconstructed warship in 3D, and follow the rest of the Vicksburg National Battlefield virtual tour on the Google Maps portal below the virtual gunboat tour.

Suggested reading on the significance of this fighting force through a biography of one of it’s front-line commanders: Lt. Cdr. Le Roy Fitch. An unsung naval leader that in many ways, founded inland waterway insurgency tactics.

 

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#vicksburg

Tonnage: 512
Length: 175 ft (53 m)
Beam: 51 ft 2 in (15.60 m)
Draught: 6 ft (1.8 m)
Propulsion:
  • Steam engine with 22 inches (560 mm) cylinder and stroke of 6 feet (1.8 m), fed by five fire-tube boilers at 140 psi (970 kPa)[1][2]
  • paddle wheel-propelled
Speed: 4 knots (7.4 km/h)
Complement: 251 officers and men
Armament: (see section below)
Armour:
  • forward casemate: 2.5 inches (64 mm)
  • pilot house: 2.5 inches (64 mm)
  • 60 feet (18 m) of the side covering the machinery: 2.5 inches (64 mm).
  • forward part of casemate sides: 3.5 inches (89 mm) railroad iron[1]

Virtual Tour Battlefields

VR Battlefields

Naval Battle of Nashville

Kelley’s Point Map

Google Earth Simulator

Battlefield Simulator