Preservation | Battle of Nashville & Beyond

August 29, 2017 By Bob Henderson Leave a Comment

U.S.C.T. Statue

Honoring the United States Colored Infantry (U.S.C.I.)

The Civil War Monuments issue should take 180º turn. It’s time to honor the contributions of the 13th USCT in the Battle of Nashville. Fort Negley Park would be ideal for it’s location. The fort was constructed by African Americans, including the USCT. The grounds around the fort were “contraband camps” of Black refugees from around the region. Some may still be buried there.

Fort Negley Park is currently under threat of commercial development.

The time is now to act and honor this page of American history. Save the park and honor the USCT.

USCT Monument by Aerial 3D360 on Sketchfab

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

The 13th USCT

Five color bearers of the 13th U.S.C.I. — carrying a flag with its origin: “Presented by the Colored Ladies of Murfreesboro” — were shot down before their banner was captured. The regiment lost 40 percent of its men, the highest casualty rate of the battle of Nashville.

The 13th U.S.C.T. was comprised of 20 officers and 556 men, most of whom had been enslaved in Tennessee. Ordered to assault Peach Orchard Hill during the battle, after many white Union regiments had failed, the 13th U.S.C.T. was slaughtered by the Confederate troops defending the hill. Yet in undertaking this task these freed slaves, untried in fierce combat, won in their deaths the admiration of friend and foe alike…read more

Blood Proof: USCT and the Battle of Nashville

#usct #usci #nashville

July 20, 2017 By Bob Henderson Leave a Comment

General Order #1

Defending Fort Negley Park

Lt. Col. David Acuff, U.S. Army (ret.)

“This situation keeps causing an image to pop into my mind. It is Dec. 15, 1864, and you are at one of the Redoubts, alone. Tens of thousands of property developers and city planners are formed up and advancing toward you. You wait for them with your musket. You know that the outcome doesn’t matter. You “will guard everything within the limits of my post and quit my post only when properly relieved.” (General Order #1)”

July 20, 2017 By Bob Henderson Leave a Comment

PETITION UPDATE

They’ve noticed our efforts – we’re not giving our park away without a fight!

From Change.org

Keep an Urban Park in Nashville
JUL 20, 2017 — Friends,

We are rattling the cages of the back-room-deal power brokers in Nashville who thought giving away public and historic park land worth $30million for about $1million might go without notice (or that we probably can’t put a price on the history of this inland fort).

Just like the fight to save Radnor Lake and the Ryman – there comes a time when thinking people sit up and say “this makes no sense” — why, as so many other Nashville mayors did, are we not adding to and protecting our city land instead of giving it away to private developers?

So, while the challenge to this award is being worked through in a formal complaint process with the city, our collective efforts are shining a light on the importance of this issue to Nashville and our region.

Please read expert opinions from Ridley Wills II, David Ewing, the Walker Collaborative, The National Civil War Trust and more at the link below.

Tomorrow we will share information on the Legal Defense Fund which has been set up to fight this.

Keep sharing this petition, asking friends to sign, caring.

Together we can make this right.

#thisplacematters

July 8, 2017 By Bob Henderson 4 Comments

Fort Negley Desecration

Nashville moves backwards on Civil War Preservation

14 July 2017 Update: Letter to the Nashville Mayor by the Civil War Trust CWT Comments – Fort Negley

8 July 2017:

Almost 20 years ago, I submitted Fort Negley to the Civil War Preservation Trust as one of this most endangered sites in the United States. It was selected #1. The Purcell administration had an immediate response to resuscitate the moth-balled city park. In December 2004 it reopened after 60 years.

Jim Lighthizer (still President of the Civil War Trust) flew to the press conference in Nashville. He praised the city, and those of us active in the preservation effort. It’s ironic that he chastised the Franklin and Murfreesboro municipalities for not doing more to save their hallowed battlefields. His quote, I remember, was “get into politics, or get out of preservation”.

Ironic, at least in Franklin, people listened. 20 years later, I can count at least 5 tracts of commercial property that have been reclaimed, cleared and turned back into core battlefield grassland.

I remember attending the victory party for Bill Purcell in 1999. We had met at a Greenways fundraiser when he was running for office. After moving back to Nashville from Denver, Colorado I wondered how long it would take Nashville to catch up with the Greenways network that city had developed.

Mayors Bill Purcell and Karl Dean can take credit for many miles of true green space and green ways. This is not the time to reverse this course, and even more abhorrent, is the desecration of this extremely important part of African American history. Hundreds died at Fort Negley in the service to this country!

I thought this city had matured beyond the power of property development influence. Shame on you that do nothing to stop this.

“The world is not dangerous because of those who do harm, but because of those who look at it without doing anything” – Albert Einstein.

Nashville Scene: The Value of Fort Negley is Not Just at the Top of St. Cloud Hill

@savingplaces #thisplacematters #civilwar

Possible Development of Fort Negley Park:

The Old Greer Stadium

Besides the tourism/historic value of this American Civil War icon, why is the city wanting to decrease public green space downtown? There is too little of it now. This 31 acre parcel has been in the public park inventory since the 1920’s. Over half of it is proposed for commercial development by the Metro Council. That could be around 18 acres of public downtown Green Space. As downtown explodes in development, we need more, not less, open space.

Cannibalizing an existing park for a revenue stream, sets a dangerous precedent for Nashville City Parks.

Key Points

Fort Negley is the largest Civil War stone fort (inland)
Few Civil War sites remain in Nashville
African American Contraband Camps were located here
A former cemetery of over 11,000 Union soldiers – some of which could still be there
Water run-off improvements
Green space
More traffic congestion
Monarch butterfly habitat
Rare fossil site

If you live in Davidson County, Tennessee please contact your council person here.

Download the Friends of Fort Negley Plan

1100 Fort Negley Blvd.

Nashville, TN 37203

615-862-8470

– Bob Henderson (former Metro Historical Commission member)

Historic Nashville – In Defense of Fort Negley – May 22, 2017

Additional reading: Developers Propose the Desecration of Fort Negley – Nashville Scene April 28, 2017 by Betty Phillips

@savingplaces #thisplacematters #fortnegley