Chuck Lawliss
Page 10
Brentwood, Tennessee
The Battle of Nashville was a decisive point of the war. After losing Atlanta to Sherman, John Bell Hood moved north, hoping to reclaim this strategic city. But the Confederacy’s last great offensive cost Hood his army.
The battle left a number of historic sites in the area, and a good place to make your headquarters while you explore them is in the suburb of Brentwood, where Willa “Deanie” English has turned her elegant colonial home on five wooded acres into a comfortable inn.
A friendly collie greets guests as they drive up, and a horse may be watching from the hill behind the columned house. Prepare to be pampered, from a comfortable bed in one of the handsome guest rooms to a hearty Southern breakfast to start the day right. Deanie is a caterer and will prepare picnic baskets or, with notice, dinner in the inn for guests too tired to go to one of the nearby restaurants.
Address: 6304 Murray Lane, Brentwood, TN 37027; tel: 615-373-4627; fax: 615-221-9666.
Accommodations: Seven guest rooms, all with private baths.
Amenities: Air-conditioning, off-street parking, phones in rooms, large-screen cable TV, picnic baskets and dinner on request (extra charge).
Rates: $$-$$$. All credit cards and personal checks.
Restrictions: No pets, restricted smoking.
Sam Davis Home
Smyrna, Tennessee
Sam Davis was the Nathan Hale of the Confederacy. The oldest of nine children, he enlisted and was wounded at Shiloh and again at Perryville. He was assigned to Coleman’s Scouts, and in November 1863 was captured by Union troops carrying papers addressed to Bragg that outlined Union plans. Offered his freedom if he revealed his source, Davis replied: “If I had a thousand lives to live, I would give them all gladly rather than betray a friend.” The twenty-year-old Davis was hanged as a spy.
Sam Davis’s boyhood home was built circa 1820, and the Davis family came here in the late 1840s. They raised cotton, wheat, and tobacco, and owned about fifty slaves. Many original Davis family pieces are in the house. Among the outbuildings that remain are the overseer’s house, kitchen, smokehouse, and a three-hole privy. In the family burial grounds near the house, a monument marks Sam Davis’s grave. A small museum displays Civil War and Davis family artifacts.
The Sam Davis House, 1399 Sam Davis Rd., Smyrna, TN 37167, is open June through August, Monday-Saturday, 9:00-5:00, and Sunday, 1:00-5:00; September through May, Monday-Saturday, 10:00-4:00, and Sunday, 1:00-4:00. Admission and house tour are $4 for adults, $3.50 for seniors, and $2.50 for children. From I-24 east take Exit 66B and go 5.5 miles to Sam Davis Rd. From I-24 west, take Exit 70 and go five miles to Sam Davis Rd. For information phone 615-459-2341.
Oaklands
Murfreesboro, Tennessee
Oaklands, one of the most elegant houses in central Tennessee, was the center of a 1,500-acre plantation. During the war both Federal and Confederate armies camped on the lawn, and in June 1862 Colonel William Duffield, commander of the Ninth Michigan Regiment, made the house his headquarters.
A month later, Nathan Bedford Forrest led a daring early morning raid on the unsuspecting Federals, routed them, and in the house accepted the surrender of Murfreesboro from the injured Duffield.
In December 1862, Jefferson Davis and his aide, Robert E. Lee’s son “Rooney,” stayed here while visiting troops in the area. Oaklands, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is operated by the Oaklands Association.
Oaklands, 900 North Maney Ave., is open Tuesday-Saturday, 10:00-4:00, and Sunday, 1:00-4:00. Admission and a guided house tour are $4 for adults, $3 for seniors, and $2 for children. For information phone 615-893-0022.
Clardy’s Guest House
Murfreesboro, Tennessee
Just outside this central Tennessee town, from December 31, 1862, to January 2, 1863, a Confederate army fought bravely but failed to halt the Federal advance on Chattanooga. The engagement was called the Battle of Stones River and cost ten thousand Confederate and thirteen thousand Union casualties.
After the battle, the Federal army, now in control of central Tennessee, built Fortress Rosecrans here, a huge earthen fortification that also served as a supply depot.
This area is rich in Civil War history, and this Richardson Romanesque-style mansion-turned-inn is a good place to stay. It is a splendid representation of the turn-of-the-century architectural style, with masonry arches and balustrades. When the house was being built, the owner, J. T. Rather, who dreaded fire, had giant firecrackers built into the walls, on the theory that a fire would touch off the firecrackers and the noise would wake the family in time to get out safely. The theory, happily, has never been put to a test.
Today Robert and Barbara Deaton are the hosts at the inn, and delight in showing guests the features of the house—stained-glass windows, ornate carved mantels and woodwork, and rooms tastefully furnished with period antiques.
Address: 435 E. Main St., Murfreesboro, TN 37222; tel: 615-893-6030; fax: 615-833-7701.
Accommodations: Three guest rooms, two with private baths.
Amenities: Air-conditioning, off-street parking, golf and tennis nearby.
Rates: $$, including continental breakfast. No credit cards but personal checks accepted.
Restrictions: No pets, restricted smoking.
Shiloh Battlefield
Shiloh, Tennessee
Ulysses S. Grant’s forty-thousand-man Army of the Tennessee was camped near Pittsburg Landing, waiting for General Don Carlos Buell and his Army of the Ohio to arrive and join him in attacking the Confederate army at Corinth, Mississippi. Before Buell arrived, however, General Albert Sidney Johnston surprised Grant by attacking at dawn on April 6, 1862.
Although Johnston was mortally wounded later in the morning, the determined rebels pushed Grant back to the river and nearly captured the Union supply base at Pittsburg Landing. Buell’s twenty-thousand-man army arrived in the night, however, and Grant counterattacked the second day, forcing the Confederates, now commanded by General P. G. T. Beauregard, to retreat toward Corinth.
Grant sent Sherman to try to catch the remnants of the rebel army, but ten miles out he ran into a rear guard commanded by Nathan Bedford Forrest, and decided to abandon the pursuit.
Shiloh, the first major battle in the West, was one of the fiercest in history. In two days, nearly 24,000 men were killed or wounded, or were missing in action. The Union casualty list shocked the nation. Veterans called it Bloody Shiloh. By failing to destroy Grant’s army, the Confederates opened the way for him to attack Vicksburg.
Shiloh National Military Park is ten miles southwest of Savannah on TN 22. Open daily 8:00-5:00, except Christmas. Admission is $2 for adults, $4 for families. Guided tours are offered from Memorial Day to Labor Day. The Visitor Center has a small museum. For information phone 901-689-5275.
Magnolia Manor
Bolivar, Tennessee
Ulysses S. Grant made this house his headquarters on his way to Shiloh, and three of his generals—Sherman, Logan, and McPherson—also stayed here while their troops camped in a nearby walnut grove. Today, portraits of the four Union generals who stayed here hang in the entry hall.
Once Sherman made an ungracious comment about Southern women at dinner, and Grant ordered him to apologize. Later, in a fit of anger, Sherman took his saber and struck the banister, leaving a slash mark that is still visible.
The Georgian house was built in 1849 by Judge Austin Miller, a prominent lawyer and banker. Downstairs the ceilings are fourteen feet high and set off the museum-quality antique furnishings in the double parlor. Magnolia Manor is one of approximately twenty houses in the area that were spared by Union troops. Innkeepers Jim and Elaine Cox will arrange a tour of the historic district for guests. Shiloh is an hour’s drive to the south.
Address: 418 N. Main St., Bolivar, TN 38008; tel: 901-658-6700; fax: 901-658-6700.
Accommodations: Two suites, one with private bath, and two double rooms that share a bath.
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bsp; Amenities: Air-conditioning, off-street parking, VCR and cable TV in common room, restaurant on premises by reservation only, public golf and tennis nearby.
Rates: $$, including full breakfast. Personal checks (no credit cards accepted).
Restrictions: No children under twelve, no pets, restricted smoking.
GEORGIA
Chickamauga and Chattanooga
Battlefields
Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia
The gateway to the heart of the Confederacy was Chattanooga, and to possess the city, two great armies clashed here in the fall of 1863 in some of the hardest fighting of the war.
Union general William S. Rosecrans had swept the Confederates from middle Tennessee and was determined to capture Chattanooga, but first he went southeast of the city to cut the rail line to Atlanta. Confederate general Braxton Bragg then abandoned Chattanooga and attempted to trap Rosecrans in northern Georgia. The armies met at Chickamauga.
On the first day, September 19, Bragg pushed the Union army back. The next day he tried in vain to drive between Rosecrans and Chattanooga, but couldn’t crack the Union line. Then Bragg got lucky. A mistaken order opened a large gap in the Federal ranks. James Longstreet’s troops smashed through, routing Rosecrans and half his army. General George H. Thomas took command and formed a new battle line on Snodgrass Hill, managing to hold it against repeated assaults. He earned the sobriquet, “Rock of Chickamauga.”
At this crucial moment, if Bragg could have crushed Rosecrans’s army before it could be reinforced, the war in the West would have turned out differently. His hesitation allowed the Union army to retreat into Chattanooga.
Bragg laid siege to the city. He occupied Missionary Ridge, Lookout Mountain, and the Chattanooga Valley. By placing artillery on the heights overlooking the river and blocking the roads and rail lines, Bragg prevented supplies from entering the city. Unless something was done quickly, Rosecrans’s army would be starved into surrendering.
Reinforcements were sent. General Joseph Hooker arrived from Virginia with twenty thousand troops; Sherman brought sixteen thousand more from Mississippi. In October, General Ulysses S. Grant assumed overall command, replacing Rosecrans with General Thomas as commander of the Army of the Cumberland.
The situation soon began to change. Union troops opened a short supply route, called the “cracker line.” Thomas attacked on November 23 and routed the Confederates from Orchard Knob. The next day, Hooker, aided by a heavy fog, pushed the Confederates out of their defenses around the Cravens House on Lookout Mountain. And the day after that, Sherman struck the right flank of Bragg’s army concentrated on Missionary Ridge. Hooker attacked the rebel left.
The attack soon ran into trouble: Hooker was slow crossing Chattanooga Creek, and Sherman’s attack couldn’t crack the Confederate line. To take the pressure off Sherman, Grant ordered Thomas to attack the rifle pits at the base of Missionary Ridge.
Then something miraculous happened. Thomas’s men spontaneously scaled the heights of Missionary Ridge in one of the great charges of the war. The rebel line collapsed, and Bragg’s troops fled to the rear. During the night they retreated into Georgia.
The siege and battle for Chattanooga were over. Union armies now controlled the city and nearly all of Tennessee. Chattanooga became the base for Sherman’s drive on Atlanta.
Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park is composed of a number of separate areas, all of which can be toured easily in a day. The Visitor Center, located at the north entrance to the 5,400-acre Chickamauga battlefield, on U.S. 27, seven miles south of Chattanooga, is the best starting point. A seven-mile self-guided auto tour begins here. Rangers also give guided tours of the battlefield, evening programs, and summer musket- and cannon-firing demonstrations. The park is open daily, 8:00-4:45, to 5:45 in the summer. Closed Christmas. For information phone 706-866-9241.
Gordon-Lee Mansion
Chickamauga, Georgia
This 1847 Greek revival house was the only structure in the village of Chickamauga to survive the battle. From September 16-19 it served as General Rosecrans’s headquarters, then as his main hospital during the bloodiest two days in American history, when 37,000 men became casualties. With Rosecrans was his chief of staff, James A. Garfield, who later would become the twentieth president. After the Union army retreated into Chattanooga, twenty-five Confederate army doctors remained in the house, submitting to capture rather than leaving their patients.
The mansion, a National Historic Site, is now an inn, authentically restored and furnished in the period. The atmosphere of early Southern aristocracy is mirrored in the Oriental floor coverings, crystal and brass chandeliers, and ornate millwork. In the house are three guest rooms—the Red, Gold, and Blue rooms—all with their own baths, and a small apartment with a private entrance off the back veranda. Guests may also stay in a log house on the grounds.
Guests enjoy exploring the inn’s seven manicured acres and its three gardens—a formal English garden, an herb garden, and a vegetable garden. They also enjoy the rocking chairs on the several verandas. An elegant but informal full Southern breakfast is served in the dining room.
The Gordon-Lee Mansion has it all. It is, in the author’s opinion, the most outstanding Civil War inn in the country.
Address: 217 Cove Rd., Chickamauga, GA 30707; tel: 706-375-4728; E-mail: GLMBB1@aol.com.
Accommodations: Four double rooms and a log house, all with private baths.
Amenities: Air-conditioning and cable TV in rooms, breakfast served in dining room.
Rates: $$, including full breakfast. Visa, MasterCard, and personal checks.
Restrictions: No children under twelve, except in log house, no pets, restricted smoking, two-night minimum in October and on weekends.
The Whitlock Inn
Marietta, Georgia
Here is an oasis of Victorian charm, a block away from the historic town square in Marietta, two miles from the Kennesaw battlefield, and eight miles from the Kennesaw Civil War Museum. On the way to the square (which has some good antique shops) you will pass the hotel where James J. Andrews, the Union spy, and his men stayed the night before they stole the train, the General.
The town has a number of antebellum homes, and innkeeper Alexis Edwards will give you a map and help you plan a walking tour of the historic district. The national cemetery here has ten thousand Union graves; the Confederate cemetery, three thousand.
The inn is a restored Victorian mansion with period furnishings and modern conveniences. The porch has comfortable rockers and the garden is a delight.
Address: 57 Whitlock Ave., Marietta, GA 30064; tel: 770-428-1495; fax: 770-919-9690.
Accommodations: Five guest rooms, all with private baths.
Amenities: Climate-control, off-street parking, phones and cable TV in rooms, public golf course nearby. Fax machine and copier available.
Rates: $$-$$$, including continental breakfast and afternoon snacks. Major credit cards and personal checks.
Restrictions: No children under twelve, innkeeper will make arrangements to board pets, no smoking.
The Kennesaw Civil War Museum
Kennesaw, Georgia
The star attraction here is one of the most celebrated relics of the war, the General, the steam locomotive whose theft by Union saboteurs led to the “Great Locomotive Chase.”
On April 12, 1862, a band of twenty-two soldiers, dressed in civilian clothes and led by the spy James J. Andrews, boarded the train in Marietta. When the train stopped at Big Shanty, they uncoupled the passenger cars, commandeered the locomotive, and took off for Chattanooga, planning to destroy railroad bridges and tunnels along the way.
They were pursued by the irate conductor, who managed to find another locomotive and some volunteers for the chase. The General ran out of steam at the Tennessee border and the saboteurs were captured. Andrews and seven others were hanged, but the entire band was posthumously awarded Medals of Honor.
This incident was t
he inspiration for two motion pictures: the 1926 silent comedy The General, starring Buster Keaton, and Disney’s 1966 The Great Locomotive Chase, starring Fess Parker.
The Kennesaw Civil War Museum, 2829 Cherokee St., Kennesaw, also displays a collection of Civil War artifacts. Open March through November, Monday-Saturday, 9:30-5:30, Sunday, 12:00-5:00; December through February, Monday-Saturday, 12:00-5:30, Sunday, 12:00-5:00. Admission is $3 for adults, $1.50 for children seven to fifteen. For information phone 770-427-2117.
The Atlanta Cyclorama
Atlanta, Georgia
In a special building in Grant Park is a giant painting-in-the-round that depicts “The Battle of Atlanta.” It is forty-two feet high, 358 feet in circumference, weighs more than nine thousand pounds, and covers more than sixteen thousand square feet of canvas. In front of the canvas is a strip, called a diorama, containing a three-dimensional landscape with soldiers, horses, and other paraphernalia of war. Visitors sit in the center on a bleacher-like stand. When the lights go down and the narration and music begin, the stand slowly revolves, giving visitors the sensation that they are in the center of the great battle.
Cycloramas were popular entertainments in the years following the Civil War, but only this one and the one at Gettysburg survive. Elsewhere in the building is shown a film on the Atlanta Campaign, narrated by James Earl Jones. A small museum displays artifacts and mementos of the Battle of Atlanta. Nearby in the park are traces of a temporary Confederate fortification.
The Cyclorama is open daily, 9:20-4:30 in the fall and winter, 9:20-5:30 in the spring and summer. Bookstore. Admission is $5 for adults, $4 for seniors, and $3 for children six to twelve. From I-20 east, take Exit 26 and follow signs to park. The entrance to Grant Park is off Cherokee Avenue in southeast Atlanta. For information phone 404-658-7625 or 404-658-7626.
Ansley Inn
Atlanta, Georgia