Pikeville During the Civil War

Pikeville During the Civil War. History Around You. , The Bledsoe County Courthouse in front of you stands on the site of the first courthouse, which was completed by 1821. During the Civil War, in August 1862, Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg led his Army of Tennessee north from Chattanooga to invade Kentucky. A Confederate veteran later stated that "General Bragg and his army used the …courthouse as a hospital" in August and September., To your left is the John Bridgman House, the home of a civic and business leader who constructed the Federal-style dwelling about 1830. In 1861, his son, John M. Bridgman, organized a company of Confederate infantry in Bledsoe County called the Tulloss Rangers. Federal troops occupied the house in 1863. Pennsylvania cavalry Capt. William F. Colton described a social gathering there on Christmas Eve 1863: "A small party of the Fifteenth [Pennsylvania Cavalry]…smuggled some of the nicest of the girls away and finished the party at Judge Frazier's house.", The Story (later the Ferguson) Hotel, which was constructed early in the 1800s and later expanded stood just to the left of the Bridgman House. On June 20, 1862, Union forces under Gen. Ebenezer Dumont crossed the Cumberland Mountains to Pikeville. Col. William B. Sipes led a cavalry charge against 600 Confederate defenders here, causing them to retreat in confusion. Sipe's men captured 142 prisoners without any Union casualties, occupied the town, and took over and ransacked the hotel, destroying many of its furnishings. They also enlisted some 200 loyal mountaineers in the Union army before returning to Murfreesboro. , Captions: , Bledsoe County Courthouse, photograph ca. 1900, Courtesy Bledsoe County Historical and Genealogical Society, John Bridgman House, photograph ca. 1990 - Courtesy Elizabeth Robnett, Story Hotel, photograph ca. 1900, Courtesy Bledsoe County Historical and Genealogical Society