LaGrange in Fayette County, Tennessee — The American South (East South Central)
LaGrange
Union Supply Base
Photographed By Lee Hattabaugh, October 21, 2010
1. LaGrange Marker
Inscription.
LaGrange. Union Supply Base. Federal forces occupied LaGrange during the war, 1862-1865, and made it an important supply base. Gen. William T. Sherman established his headquarters here when the occupation began in 1862. In April 1863, Union Col. Benjamin H. Grierson left here with a combined force of cavalry and artillery on an extended raid deep into Mississippi to disrupt Confederate supply lines before the Union advance on Vicksburg. Gen. Andrew J. Smith started from LaGrange with another Union task force in July 1864 in a northern Mississippi campaign that included the Battle of Tupelo on July 14. Col. Edward Bouton's brigade of U.S. Colored Troops was in Smith's command., Many historic buildings associated with LaGrange's Civil War story still stand. Woodlawn, completed in 1828, was Sherman's headquarters and a Union army hospital. Hancock Hall, which was finished in 1857, served as Gen. Stephen A. Hurlbut's headquarters. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant stayed there during a visit to LaGrange. Slaves constructed Immanuel Episcopal Church in 1842, and it served as a Union hospital after the battles of Shiloh and Corinth. The Lucy Holcombe Pickens House was the birthplace and early residence of Lucy Holcombe, the wife of the antebellum ambassador to Russia and the wartime South Carolina governor Francis W. Pickens. her portrait appeared on Confederate currency., "[LaGrange] was a neat little place of about a thousand people. The yards were beautifully improved, filled with evergreens and rare shrubberies. A fine college building crowned a gentle eminence to the east of the town and a Seminary for Ladies looked across it from the North. All is vulgar desolation now. The college and its twin buildings are used now for hospitals, and the churches are all appropriated to the same uses, with many of the private dwellings. The fences are all burned, the gardens trampled, the most elegant evergreens turned into hitching posts for Yankee horses, and all this in a town where there had been no strife of contending forces. It is a natural consequence of war." - Capt. Henry Forbes, Co. B, 7th Illinois Volunteer Cavalry, 1863
Federal forces occupied LaGrange during the war, 1862-1865, and made it an important supply base. Gen. William T. Sherman established his headquarters here when the occupation began in 1862. In April 1863, Union Col. Benjamin H. Grierson left here with a combined force of cavalry and artillery on an extended raid deep into Mississippi to disrupt Confederate supply lines before the Union advance on Vicksburg. Gen. Andrew J. Smith started from LaGrange with another Union task force in July 1864 in a northern Mississippi campaign that included the Battle of Tupelo on July 14. Col. Edward Bouton's brigade of U.S. Colored Troops was in Smith's command.
Many historic buildings associated with LaGrange's Civil War story still stand. Woodlawn, completed in 1828, was Sherman's headquarters and a Union army hospital. Hancock Hall, which was finished in 1857, served as Gen. Stephen A. Hurlbut's headquarters. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant stayed there during a visit to LaGrange. Slaves constructed Immanuel Episcopal Church in 1842, and it served as a Union hospital after the battles of Shiloh and Corinth. The Lucy Holcombe Pickens House was the birthplace and early residence of Lucy Holcombe, the wife of the antebellum ambassador to Russia and the wartime South Carolina governor Francis W. Pickens. her portrait appeared on Confederate currency.
"[LaGrange]
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was a neat little place of about a thousand people. The yards were beautifully improved, filled with evergreens and rare shrubberies. A fine college building crowned a gentle eminence to the east of the town and a Seminary for Ladies looked across it from the North. All is vulgar desolation now. The college and its twin buildings are used now for hospitals, and the churches are all appropriated to the same uses, with many of the private dwellings. The fences are all burned, the gardens trampled, the most elegant evergreens turned into hitching posts for Yankee horses, and all this in a town where there had been no strife of contending forces. It is a natural consequence of war." - Capt. Henry Forbes, Co. B, 7th Illinois Volunteer Cavalry, 1863
Erected by Tennessee Civil War Trails.
Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in this topic list: War, US Civil. In addition, it is included in the Tennessee Civil War Trails series list. A significant historical month for this entry is April 1863.
Location. 35° 2.705′ N, 89° 14.609′ W. Marker is in LaGrange, Tennessee, in Fayette County. Marker is on Main Street south of Third Street (Tennessee Highway 57), on the left when traveling south. Located across the street from the City Office. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: La Grange TN 38046, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Credits. This page was last revised on June 16, 2016. It was originally submitted on October 26, 2010, by Lee Hattabaugh of Capshaw, Alabama. This page has been viewed 1,814 times since then and 65 times this year. Last updated on January 21, 2012, by Ken Smith of Milan, Tennessee. Photos:1, 2. submitted on October 26, 2010, by Lee Hattabaugh of Capshaw, Alabama. • Craig Swain was the editor who published this page.
