Woodbury in the Civil War

Woodbury in the Civil War. "A Brilliant Little Affair". Woodbury, located on the Murfreesboro-McMinnville Turnpike, experienced two significant Civil War actions in 1862–1863., On July 12–13, 1862, when Confederate Col. Nathan Bedford Forrest marched through Cannon County to raid Murfreesboro, he and his men bivouacked on Woodbury's eastern outskirts. Confederate Col. Baxter Smith wrote that the troops "reached Woodbury about midnight, where the whole population of the town seemed to be on the streets.” The Confederates attacked the Federal garrison in Murfreesboro, capturing about 1,200 Union soldiers and rescuing prisoners, including several prominent county residents., After the Battle of Stone's River early in 1863, Union troops occupied the county, first camping at Readyville. Fighting became almost a daily affair. Union lieutenant and future author Ambrose Bierce, 9th Indiana Infantry, wrote, "Connecting Readyville and Woodbury was a good, hard turnpike nine or ten miles long. ... For months after the big battle at Stones River these outposts were in constant quarrel, most of the trouble occurring, naturally, on the turnpike mentioned, between detachments of cavalry.", A January 1863 skirmish on Woodbury's western side pitted Confederate Col. John B. Hutcheson's 2nd Kentucky Cavalry against four Union regiments in Col. William B. Hazen's command. Hutcheson had sworn, "I have on numerous occasions promised the people of Woodbury that no live Yankee should come into that town unless over my dead body, and I am going to keep my promise.” Hutcheson died in the fighting. Union Capt. T.D. McClelland of the 3rd Ohio Cavalry described the victory as "quite a brilliant little affair."