Civil War Trail Preview

Near McFarland Park was the site of the Florence steamboat landing—head of steamboat navigation on the Tennessee River. Upstream of this point, the Muscle Shoals prevented virtually all river craft from ascending any higher upriver. Below this point, the river connected to an astonishingly extensive transportation network through the Ohio and Mississippi River systems.

Late in December 1864, following the disastrous Confederate defeats at Franklin and Nashville
and their subsequent retreat out of Middle Tennessee, the Confederate Army of Tennessee
removed south of the Tennessee River and all but ceased to be an organized fighting force. By
New Year's Day 1865, Union forces held sway north of the Tennessee River and would retain
control through to the end of war. After halting their pursuit of the rebel General John Bell Hood
at the river’s edge in Lauderdale County, Alabama, Federal cavalry forces under command of
Brevet Major-General James Harrison Wilson made their headquarters at Gravelly Springs in
January 1865 and spent the rest of the winter in camps preparing for a renewed spring
campaign.
Over the upcoming weeks, six cavalry divisions — amounting to between approximately 22,000
and 27,000 men — spread out their encampments for ten miles along the Waterloo Road
between Gravelly Springs and Waterloo in what has been estimated as the largest gathering of
cavalry in the history of the Western Hemisphere. After a series of delays, by March 22, 1865,
three divisions of Wilson’s corps were again on the move. What resulted was a momentous raid,
known to history as Wilson’s Raid, which would lead to not only the burning of the University of
Alabama, the destruction of the famed rebel arsenal at Selma, the surrender of General Nathan
Bedford Forrest, and occupation of the State Capitol (and symbolic birthplace of the
Confederacy) at Montgomery, but the capture of Confederate President Jefferson Davis in the
final days of the war. Less than 14,000 of the men encamped at Gravelly Springs, however,
would ultimately participate in Wilson’s Raid in the spring of 1865.

Shoal Creek begins near Lawrenceburg, Tennessee, and winds its way south into Lauderdale County, Alabama, near Green Hill. In the community today known as Happy Hollow, a bridge carried the Military Road across Shoal Creek. Here was located the factory of Baugh, Kennedy and Company. Near the creek’s mouth at the Tennessee River, a bridge carried the Huntsville Road across.

On November 5, 1864, Confederates attacked the United States cavalry commanded by John T. Croxton all along the line of Shoal Creek. Croxton was outflanked, driven from his position on the Huntsville Road bridge, and fell back to Four Mile Creek. Further up the creek at Baugh’s Factory, Col. Clift was also outflanked and retreated towards Lexington. United States soldier John McCartey, who was wounded in the fighting on November 5, 1864, recalled more than ten years later his experience after being left behind in the hands of southern civilians.

Tuscumbia was a strategic transportation hub at the start of the Civil War, sitting where the Memphis and Charleston Railroad touches the Tennessee River upstream of the Muscle Shoals. Initial United States attempts in the spring of 1862 to control the area of the Shoals south of the Tennessee River were not successful, and Tuscumbia remained reliably in Confederate hands throughout the war. United States soldiers made forays to Tuscumbia in the spring of 1863 in conjunction with Streight’s Raid, and again in the fall of 1863 ahead of William Tecumseh Sherman’s move through the Tennessee Valley (resulting in the skirmish on Little Bear Creek). Between these momentary chapters, Tuscumbia was a key base for Col. Phillip Roddey, to which conscripted men from the Tennessee Valley were often brought and held. In the fall of 1864, General John Bell Hood encamped for three weeks in and around Tuscumbia ahead of his failed Tennessee Campaign, foraging off the citizens living nearby.

Lying on the Memphis and Charleston Railroad between Corinth and Tuscumbia, and in close proximity to the Tennessee River above Colbert’s Shoals at Chickasaw (Riverton), Cherokee sat astride two vital transportation corridors. As a result, the community was visited early in the war and frequently by both armies. Events were especially active in the Spring of 1863, with the Federal Army’s stronghold at Corinth, Mississippi, acting as a base of operations, supporting Streight’s Raid in April 1863. And in October 1863, as William Tecumseh Sherman moved east in the direction of Chattanooga, skirmishes raged in the vicinity, resulting in the engagement at Little Bear Creek. A calmer period followed between the end of 1863 and the end of 1864. Finally, in the closing days of the war, Wilson’s cavalry crossed south of the Tennessee River from their winter encampment at Gravelly Springs, en route to the raid on the University of Alabama and Selma.

During the Civil War, Leighton was located in Lawrence County. Lying on the railroad between Tuscumbia, Courtland, and Decatur, Leighton found itself on a major transportation corridor, and consequently was the scene of repeated troop movements and skirmishes throughout the war. Situated on flat, fertile land, Leighton was a center of plantation agriculture in what is now Colbert County.

During the Civil War, today’s Franklin County was the more rugged and remote southern half of
a larger Franklin County that included present-day Colbert County, in which, owing to the
terrain, plantation agriculture was less viable. The remoteness also resulted in fewer larger
troop movements or military engagements, exceptions being Streight’s and Wilson’s Raids, and
the Battle of Vincent’s Crossroads. But in the absence of larger military events, fighting in the
Hill Country was more close-knit and interpersonal. Being situated south of the Tennessee
River, the county was in Confederate-held territory. But the nearby Federal presence at Corinth,
Mississippi, provided an opportunity for Unionists to escape violence and enlist in United States
regiments.

The geographical duality of Lawrence County greatly influenced the events of the Civil War that
happened within the county. In the northern half, centered around Courtland, the flatter arable
land was well-suited to plantation agriculture. The Memphis and Charleston Railroad, too, was
an important transportation route which invited repeated troop movements and skirmishing,
especially after United States forces occupied Decatur. In the south, however, the rugged hill
country was more remote and isolated from persistent skirmishing. But partisan and guerrilla
infighting took the place of larger-scale open combat.

Lying on the railroad between Tuscumbia and Decatur, at the center of a flat fertile region, Courtland was a hub of plantation agriculture in north Alabama. A short distance from the strategic crossing of Lamb’s Ferry, Courtland’s place at the meeting of transportation corridors meant that it was crisscrossed throughout the war with raids and expeditions. Courtland was spared from the largest troop movements through the Tennessee Valley, (which favored crossing at the foot of the Muscle Shoals) with the exception of Hood’s Army of Tennessee in October 1864. Still, fighting and skirmishes were numerous, starting with the first Federal occupation of the Tennessee Valley in the spring of 1862, resulting in the skirmish of July 25, 1862.

Lamb’s Ferry was an important crossing point on the Tennessee River, lying downstream of Elk River Shoals and upstream of the Big Muscle Shoals. The water here was deep and the river was narrow, meaning the ferry could carry heavy wagons, which was not possible on the shallow and rocky shoals. On the north bank of the ferry, the road led through Rogersville north to Pulaski, Tennessee. And on the south bank, the road led to Courtland.

Limestone County’s location at a crucial railroad junction meant it was a hotbed of activity from
an early point in the war. On the north bank of the Tennessee River near Mooresville, the
Memphis and Charleston Railroad crossed the Tennessee River and formed a junction with the
railroad leading north to Nashville. The Federal foothold in Middle Tennessee in 1862 and again
after the summer of 1863 meant Athens was a reliable base to support Federal operations in the
region, (with notable exceptions, such as Forrest’s Raid in September 1864). Federal control
was not without severe consequences for local people, as dramatically illustrated with the
sacking of Athens under Turchin in May 1862.

Near this point, the Florence-Athens Road crossed Elk River. Located near the strategic river crossings of Brown’s Ferry and Lamb’s Ferry, with the Elk River valley extending up into Middle Tennessee, the site was a transportation corridor. As such, this point was frequently crisscrossed by Federal and Confederate troops, in numbers ranging from small squadrons to entire armies. Without a bridge, the river had to be forded.

During the Civil War, two railroads formed a junction across the river from Decatur, as they still do today. One branch, coming from the east, was known during the war as the Memphis and Charleston. From this junction, it ran to Huntsville, Stevenson, and Chattanooga. The northern branch ran to Athens, crossed the Elk River into Tennessee and led to Nashville. The two lines formed a junction and crossed the Tennessee River as one track over a single railroad bridge leading into Decatur. From Decatur, the line ran to Tuscumbia, and eventually Corinth, Mississippi. These two railroads became vital corridors of supply to United States forces, especially in the spring and summer of 1864 ahead of Sherman’s Atlanta campaign.

Decatur occupied arguably the most strategically significant location in the Muscle Shoals National Heritage Area: the place where the Memphis and Charleston Railroad crossed the Tennessee River. Additionally, on the north side of the river at Decatur Junction, the railroad parted ways, the north branch going to Nashville via Athens, and the east branch going to Chattanooga via Huntsville. Early United States attempts to control the south side of the Tennessee River in the spring of 1862 were unsuccessful, and after Buell’s retreat, Decatur sat in reliably Confederate territory. After Sherman’s march through the Tennessee Valley in the fall of 1863, and Dodge’s move to Pulaski, Decatur became the target of more frequent Federal expeditions. Finally, as Sherman prepared for the Atlanta Campaign in the spring of 1864, Decatur rose to enormous strategic significance as a vulnerable bridgehead in the railroad transportation network leading from Nashville. Private citizens were expelled from Decatur, and all buildings requisitioned for government use.

Lying on the Memphis and Charleston Railroad between Decatur and Courtland, Trinity was a waystation in the transportation network south of the Tennessee River connecting the Federal stronghold at Corinth, Mississippi, with the vanguard of United States troops in and around Huntsville in the summer of 1862. The thinly stretched Federal garrisons left to guard the railroad were routinely harassed by homegrown Confederate cavalry.

During the Civil War, Somerville was located on the road leading from Decatur to the Coosa River at Gadsden. It was situated on the fringes of what was known as the “Hill Country” where the rugged landscape of the foothills of the Appalachians prevented widespread plantation agriculture from being feasible, which also shielded the community from the large-scale troop movements that happened elsewhere in the Tennessee Valley. A significant exception occurred when General John Bell Hood’s Confederate Army of Tennessee, passed through Somerville en route to Decatur, Tuscumbia, and the doomed Middle Tennessee Campaign in the fall of 1864.