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Nashville in Davidson County, Tennessee — The American South (East South Central)
 

Belle Meade Plantation

The Battle of Nashville

— Hood's Campaign —

 
 
Belle Meade Plantation Marker image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Don Morfe, July 25, 2013
1. Belle Meade Plantation Marker
Inscription. (overview)
In September 1864, after Union Gen. William T. Sherman defeated Confederate Gen. John Bell Hood at Atlanta, Hood led the Army of Tennessee northwest against Sherman’s supply lines. Rather than contest Sherman’s “March to the Sea,” Hood moved north into Tennessee. Gen. John M. Schofield, detached from Sherman’s army, delayed Hood at Columbia and Spring Hill before falling back to Franklin. The bloodbath there on November 30 crippled the Confederates, but they followed Schofield to the outskirts of Nashville and Union Gen. George H. Thomas’s strong defenses. Hood’s campaign ended when Thomas crushed his army on December 15–16.

(main text)
The family of William G. Harding, the owner of Belle Meade Plantation, had a front-row seat to the Battle of Nashville on December 15-16, 1864. Confederate Gen. James R. Chalmers, who served under Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest, had his headquarters inside the house.

On the first day of battle, Union Col. George Spaulding’s 12th Tennessee Cavalry overran the property and captured Confederate supply wagons that were located near the house and at Belle Meade’s race track (situated near the present-day Belle Meade United Methodist Church on Davidson Road). Federal forces captured at least fourteen wagons containing records, clothing,
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food, and a safe, as well as forty-three soldiers.

During the day’s fighting, Chalmers sent a detachment under Lt. James Dinkins to check out the supply wagons, but Dinkins arrived too late to stop the Federals from burning them. Dinkins charged the Union troops, but his men immediately encountered Union reinforcements and gunfire from advancing Federal infantry. Then one of Harding’s daughters, Selene, left the relative safety of the mansion to stand on the front steps and wave a handkerchief to urge on the Confederate cavalry. Dinkins, horrified at the danger of such exposure, rode up and urged her to go inside, but she refused and stood there until the Confederates retreated.

Bullet holes in the columns on the front porch serve as a reminder of the war’s impact on Belle Meade.

(captions)
Harding’s Light Artillery, ca. 1884 - Courtesy Belle Meade Plantation
Gen. James R. Chalmers Courtesy Library of Congress
Supply train - Courtesy Library of Congress
 
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 September 1864.
 
Location. 36° 6.4′ N, 86° 
Belle Meade Plantation Marker image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Don Morfe, July 25, 2013
2. Belle Meade Plantation Marker
51.863′ W. Marker is in Nashville, Tennessee, in Davidson County. Marker can be reached from Harding Pike (U.S. 70S) 0.2 miles north of Leake Avenue, on the right when traveling north. Located in the parking lot of Belle Meade Plantation. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 5025 Harding Pike, Nashville TN 37205, United States of America. Touch for directions.
 
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker. A different marker also named Belle Meade Plantation (here, next to this marker); War on the Home Front (here, next to this marker); Slave Cabin (within shouting distance of this marker); Dairy (within shouting distance of this marker); Belle Meade Bourbon (within shouting distance of this marker); Ice House (within shouting distance of this marker); Slave Burials (within shouting distance of this marker); Mausoleum (about 300 feet away, measured in a direct line). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Nashville.
 
Also see . . .  Belle Meade Plantation. (Submitted on October 3, 2013.)
 
Belle Meade Plantation House image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Don Morfe, July 25, 2013
3. Belle Meade Plantation House
Belle Meade slave quarters building image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Don Morfe, July 25, 2013
4. Belle Meade slave quarters building
 
 
Credits. This page was last revised on June 16, 2016. It was originally submitted on October 3, 2013, by Don Morfe of Baltimore, Maryland. This page has been viewed 1,154 times since then and 17 times this year. Photos:   1, 2, 3, 4. submitted on October 3, 2013, by Don Morfe of Baltimore, Maryland. • Bernard Fisher was the editor who published this page.

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Mar. 28, 2024