Spring Haven

Spring Haven, the home of Joseph Edwards during the war, was in the path of Confederate Gen. John Hunt Morgan in August 1862. Morgan was leading a raid on the Louisville and Nashville Railroad and burning trestles to slow the Union army's movement toward Gallatin. According to local tradition, as Morgan's men passed the house, someone inside shot at them. Several mounted troopers allegedly surged through the front door and out the back, hoping but failing to locate the bushwacker., After the Emancipation Proclamation was issued in January 1863 and slaves fled their homes in search of assistance and protection, Federal forces established a contraband camp nearby in Gallatin. Ironically, the business records of a previous owner, John Armfield, assisted former slaves after the war as they sought family members who had been sold south., In 1849, Armfield bought the house from Dr. John P. Wagnon, who built it about 1825. Andrew Jackson, a friend and patient of Dr. Wagnon, had been a frequent visitor, Armfield and his business associate Isaac Franklin together created one of the largest slave-trading operations in the antebellum South, with its headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia. Franklin owned nearby Fairview. After Franklin's death in 1846, Armfield moved here to settle Franklin's estate for his widow. In 1855, Armfield bought property near Beersheba Springs and its healing waters, and sold Spring haven to Edwards., (captions) , Contrabands coming into camp - Courtesy Library of Congress , John Hunt Morgan and wife Courtesy Library of Congress , John Armfield (1797-1871), Isaac Franklin (1789-1846) Courtesy Tennessee State Library and Archives