Hendersonville in Sumner County, Tennessee — The American South (East South Central)
Strategic Location
Hendersonville in the Civil War
Photographed by Darren Jefferson Clay, May 17, 2023
1. Strategic Location Marker
Inscription.
Strategic Location. Hendersonville in the Civil War. Hendersonville's strategic location on the Louisville and Nashville Railroad made it a prime target for Union and Confederate armies seeking control of Middle Tennessee. After the fall of Forts Henry and Donelson in February 1862, Union troops pressed on toward Nashville and soon occupied Hendersonville to control the rail lines from Kentucky. The Federals used the Methodist church, located on Gallatin Pike and Walton Ferry Road overlooking Drakes Creek, as an observation post. They maintained barracks and headquarters there for the rest of the war. Confederate Gen. John Hunt Morgan launched several small attacks to disrupt Federal communication lines, but the Louisville and Nashville Railroad remained under Union control., The town's residents suffered losses from soldiers on both sides. Union troops occupied several nearby houses and farms, including Rock Castle and Hazel Path. Confederate Gen. Davis S. Donelson, Hazel Path's owner and a nephew of Andrew Jackson, is buried in the First Presbyterian Church cemetery. Monthaven, known during the war as Liberty Hall, served as a hospital for both Confederate and Union soldiers., Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant issued orders to build camps for refugees in August 1862, and land owned by Confederate officers and soldiers were treated as vacant and available for the purpose. By 1864, Hendersonville was the location of a camp for refugee slaves (called contrabands) who received shelter, food, clothing, medical necessities, and employment as laborers for the army. After the war, many newly freed African Americans established churches, schools, and homes in the area.
Hendersonville's strategic location on the Louisville & Nashville Railroad made it a prime target for Union and Confederate armies seeking control of Middle Tennessee. After the fall of Forts Henry and Donelson in February 1862, Union troops pressed on toward Nashville and soon occupied Hendersonville to control the rail lines from Kentucky. The Federals used the Methodist church, located on Gallatin Pike and Walton Ferry Road overlooking Drakes Creek, as an observation post. They maintained barracks and headquarters there for the rest of the war. Confederate Gen. John Hunt Morgan launched several small attacks to disrupt Federal communication lines, but the Louisville & Nashville Railroad remained under Union control.
The town's residents suffered losses from soldiers on both sides. Union troops occupied several nearby houses and farms, including Rock Castle and Hazel Path. Confederate Gen. Davis S. Donelson, Hazel Path's owner and a nephew of Andrew Jackson, is buried in the First Presbyterian Church cemetery. Monthaven, known during the war as Liberty Hall, served as a hospital for both Confederate and Union soldiers.
Union
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Gen. Ulysses S. Grant issued orders to build camps for refugees in August 1862, and land owned by Confederate officers and soldiers were treated as vacant and available for the purpose. By 1864, Hendersonville was the location of a camp for refugee slaves (called contrabands) who received shelter, food, clothing, medical necessities, and employment as laborers for the army. After the war, many newly freed African Americans established churches, schools, and homes in the area.
Location. 36° 18.701′ N, 86° 35.975′ W. Marker is in Hendersonville, Tennessee, in Sumner County. It can be reached from East Main Street (U.S. 31E) west of Maple Drive, on the right when traveling west. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 270 E Main St, Hendersonville TN 37075, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in Middle Tennessee and in Greater Nashville. It is also in
Photographed by Darren Jefferson Clay, May 17, 2023
2. Strategic Location Marker
the American South and specifically in the Upper South. Globally, it is in North America, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once the territory of the Mississippian Culture, one of the Confederate States of America, and the Antebellum South.
Credits. This page was last revised on June 2, 2023. It was originally submitted on May 31, 2023, by Darren Jefferson Clay of Duluth, Georgia. This page has been viewed 613 times since then and 57 times this year. Photos:1, 2. submitted on May 31, 2023, by Darren Jefferson Clay of Duluth, Georgia. • Bernard Fisher was the editor who published this page.
