Tullahoma Campaign

Tullahoma Campaign. June 24-July 4, 1863. [Side A] , Shelbyville , “Little Boston” , Shelbyville, Tennessee, better known as “Little Boston,” was a hotbed of Unionist sentiment throughout the war. When William Rosecrans' Union army captured the town, they were welcomed as liberators, and locals held a July 4th celebration as the Confederates retreated to Chattanooga. Shelbyville was hardly unique. The war produced fiercely divided emotions on both sides. In 1861, middle Tennesseans voted against secession in the spring, before reversing their decision after the firing on Fort Sumter in mid-April. East Tennessee remained loyal to the Union throughout the war. Western Tennessee was staunchly secessionist., Communities within the Tullahoma Campaign area, such as the sister counties of Bedford and Franklin, were split as well. Franklin was intensely pro-Confederate, and even attempted to secede from Tennessee and join Alabama when the Volunteer State refused to leave the Union in the spring of 1861. Bedford County, however, remained intensely pro-Union. Their opposing support proved that the Civil War was as much a war of neighbor against neighbor as region against region., The Perils of Pauline , During Bragg's occupation of the city, Shelbyville nearly witnessed the hanging of a Federal spy a woman. Pauline Cushman, born Harriet Wood in New Orleans in 1833, had made her way to the New York City stage during her teenage years, and gained a reputation as a beautiful, though not necessarily talented, actress. She worked the stage during the war once her husband, a Union volunteer, died of disease in camp. After faking a demonstration of southern sympathies, she went behind southern lines to operate as a spy. In May, 1863, she scouted Bragg's defenses by befriending officers in his command, one young engineer in particular. She was eventually discovered with stolen documents in her possession. General Bragg sentenced her to hang. Only Rosecrans' timely invasion saved her life. Later, the Federal government rewarded her with the rank of major, and, upon her death years later in San Francisco, she was buried with military honors by the Grand Army of the Republic, the Union veterans' organization., Captions , (top) Shelbyville from an 1863 Harper's Weekly. , (bottom) Pauline Cushman in a Union uniform., [Side B] , Anatomy of a Campaign , In late June of 1863, Union Major General William S. Rosecrans launched a massive offensive from his base in Murfreesboro in an attempt to drive Confederate General Braxton Bragg's 43,000-man Army of Tennessee from its entrenchments of Shelbyville and Wartrace and possibly out of the state. The Union commander planned to capture Chattanooga and, in his words, "rescue loyal East Tennessee from the hands of the rebels.” The campaign was bold and swift with relatively few engagements. By July 2 the Union's Army of the Cumberland, 70,000 strong, had forced a Confederate retreat to Chattanooga, leaving nearly all of Tennessee in Union hands., Advance to Manchester , To maneuver Bragg out of his Shelbyville trenches, Rosecrans divided his army into four independent columns., The first column, under Major Genera! Gordon Granger, advanced south from Murfreesboro, down what is today US 231, to threaten the main Confederate infantry at Shelbyville. The second, led by Major General Alexander McCook, moved south through Liberty Gap. The third column, lead by Major General George Thomas, marched southeast down the Manchester Pike (US 41), the main road to Chattanooga. A fourth column, commanded by Major General Thomas L. Crittenden, advanced due east along the McMinnville Turnpike (US 70) before turning south to cross the High!and Rim below Bradyville, at Gillie's Gap., Rosecrans' goal was to get the bulk of his army to Manchester, push on to Tullahoma, and capture the road to Chattanooga before the Confederates had a chance to respond. Only rain and the poor conditions of the roads slowed the Union advance.
, Captions , (top) Confederate General Braxton Bragg; Union Major General William S. Rosecrans , (bottom) Granger; McCook; Thomas; Crittenden