IRON FAITH IN DICKSON CO. 1861-1865
In 1861 Dickson County voted 1141 to 71 for secession from the Union. By April of 1861, President Lincoln had declared his intentions of using force upon the states of the Deep South, and his decision sent the Southern people scurrying to the defense of their homes for which their forefathers had bled and died. The War of Northern Aggression caused the closing of the schools, since all who could shoulder a musket marched off to war, with Ft. Donelson the first battle for many of them. Those who could not fight did necessary work at home, as all of the people steeled themselves to resist the invader. With the South in need of iron, Anthony Van Leer was determined not to close the Cumberland Furnace, however the North had other plans and it was shut down for the duration. The Union forces destroyed many of the ironworks in the Cumberland River counties however this one was spared even though the area was a frequent campsite for Confederate forces and was where guerrillas joined up with Wheeler's & Forrest's cavalry units when they made their raids west of Nashville. Iron Furnaces established by men like Richard Napier & Montgomery Bell were plentiful in the county. Napier had two sons fight for the South. Richard became a surgeon & Col. Thomas Alonzo Napier was killed at Parker's Crossroads in West TN while under command of N. B. Forrest. Bell's old Yellow Creek Furnace was demolished and its owner, Robert Steele was killed. There were no major battles in Dickson County but with the mouth of the Harpeth and Betsytown as the Confederate' favorite places to ford the Cumberland River, there was plenty of activity with several skirmishes.
Second Furnace at Cumberland Furnace, 1810-1893 was constructed by Montgomery Bell. It was the furnace used by Van Leer, Drouillard and Drouillard Iron Works until Southern Iron Works built the 3rd and final Cumberland Furnace in 1893. It operated until it was dismantled in 1942. Cannon Balls pictured below were made at the furnace which supplied Gen. Andrew Jackson's Army in the battle of New Orleans during the War of 1812.
Early in 1862 Fort Donelson fell, and within a few months there were Federal soldiers in Charlotte. By nightfall on February 16th Nathan Bedford Forrest & his men reached Cumberland Furnace, and there they remained overnight. A heavy snow had fallen throughout the day and stood ten inches deep as Forrest and his men rode into the iron manufacturing community in sub-zero weather. The people of Cumberland Furnace were found to be most hospitable, and many opened their homes to the shivering men. The sick and wounded were left behind when Forrest proceeded toward Charlotte on the next morning, and were cared for by the people of the community. Many of them died and were buried on a hillside just north of the town. Stones were erected for some, but many today lie buried in unmarked graves. Proceeding at daybreak to Charlotte, Forrest found the county seat in a "state of wild alarm and agitation" over a report that Nashville had fallen into the hands of the Federals. The information had been brought to Charlotte by a "local legislator" who had ridden hard from Nashville, his horse "white with sweat-foam", where the report had been circulated that the Federals were at the gates of the city. Forrest devoted his best efforts to quieting the fears of the populace, assured them that the rumor was a false one, and threatened the legislator with arrest and punishment, (probably Thomas McNeilly). All blacksmiths were pressed into service to shoe the horses most in need, while the men filled the saloons and held the civilians spellbound with tales of war. Forrest lost little time in Charlotte, however, and by nightfall he had proceeded toward Nashville as far as the valley of the Harpeth where he made camp for the night.
From that time to the end of the war the people of Dickson County caught glimpses of military activity. Some weeks after the battle of Fort Donelson and the resulting Forrest march through the county, a group of about sixty Federals visited the county on a raiding party, and engaged in a bitter hand-to-hand encounter. Prior to the war, a rail line ran from Nashville to Kingston Springs but no farther, which gave the line little military importance. After the federal seizure of Nashville in February 1862, The Union Army ordered completion of a rail line extending westward to Johnsonville on the Tennessee River, to provide another supply line for the federal armies. Free blacks as well as former slaves who sought freedom in Union-occupied Nashville were impressed into service by federal forces to construct the Nashville-Northwestern railroad from Kingston Springs to Johnsonville. At the completion of the railroad, black laborers were inducted into official U.S. military units. The 12th & 13th U.S. Colored troops Infantry Regiments guarded the trestles, bridges and blockhouses along the railroad they had constructed. The Union Army took steps to shut down the raids throughout the county but saw that sending out patrols had little effect. By the summer of 1862 guerrilla warfare was at its peak in Dickson and the surrounding counties so a prison was established by the Federals on the public square of Clarksville, which lay some thirty miles north of Charlotte. By the fall of 1862 there were seven guerrillas from Dickson County in the prison facing charges such as "Rebel Agent or Spy". In nearby Humphreys County considerably more guerrilla activity was transpiring and several men were shot and others were hanged by the vengeful Federals.
Section of track at White Bluff & remnants of Union breastworks constructed by the 1st Michigan Infantry
One of the most successful raids against the Federals west of Nashville took place in January 1863. General Wheeler sent a unit of his cavalry, under the command of Col. Wade, to destroy all shipping between Betsytown and the shoal at the mouth of the Harpeth. On Jan. 13th, Wade's forces destroyed two steamers and the gunboat Sidell at the Harpeth Shoals. Six days later, the steamer Mary Crane was burned at Betsytown.
Harpeth Shoals near Ashland City on the Dickson/Cheatham Co. line
In February 1863, Thomas G. Woodward's 2nd Kentucky Cavalry camped at Cumberland Furnace, acting as rear guard for Confederate forces whose main camp was two miles from the river on the Charlotte road. By March 1863 Colonel Sanders D. Bruce who was in command of the 20th KY United States Infantry was in complete control of Clarksville, and his men made raids on Charlotte not infrequently. On March 13, he wrote his commanding officer of a foray in that vicinity. "My Calvary found another party of rebel cavalry yesterday near Charlotte," he wrote, "captured 13 prisoners with horses. Five are new conscripts who claim to be Union men, and desire to take the oath. Instruct me." On April 20th, 1863 he reported that Woodward, with six hundred men & two pieces of artillery, left Van Leer's furnace for Columbia by way of Centerville. Pvt. James C. Peacher of his command was laid to rest in the old Van Leer Cemetery where several other Confederate soldiers are buried.
A BLESSING FOR GEN. FORREST: Rev. J. H. McNeilly, a Confederate chaplain: from an old Confederate Veteran Magazine:
My mother's father lived six miles south of the little village of Charlotte, in Dickson County, Tenn., on a farm which was granted to his father for services as a captain in the Revolutionary War. He was nearly ninety years old at the beginning of the Civil War. Though he had loved the Union devotedly, he deeply regretted that he could not fight for the South. He believed in her cause with all his heart. He had his old rifle cleaned and placed where he could lay his hands on it, should occasion arise for him to use it against an invading foe. On one of his expeditions into Tennessee-I think it was on the way to Fort Donelson in 1863-Gen. Forrest spent a night at my grandfather’s, and by his considerate attention, won the old man’s heart.
The next morning, when the General and his personal attendants were ready to start, the old gentleman, though nearly blind, must needs accompany him part of the way. So, taking his staff in his hand and one of his grandchildren to lead him, he walked along by the General’s horse until they came to the main road at the edge of the farm. When the General stopped to bid his host good-by the escort rode on. The old man asked him to get off his horse, which he did. He them asked him to kneel down. Then, laying his hands on the General’s head and lifting his sightless eyes to the heaven, the old patriarch solemnly invoked the blessing of God on Gen. Forrest, on his men, and on the cause for which he was fighting. The General’s face was bathed in tears as he remounted his horse. In a year my grandfather was laid in his grave. Gen. Forrest lived to win many victories during the war, and afterwards he became a humble Christian. It maybe that prayer was one of the influences that kept him safe through many dangers and finally led him to the Savior in who the old man trusted.~
Confederate Guerrillas Duval McNairy, Henon Cross & James McLaughlin kept the Union troops that guarded the railroad on constant edge throughout the river counties. He & his men protected local citizens from abuse at the hands of Union Captain Creasy’s Cavalry & the Perry Co. Jayhawkers from White Bluff to Centerville, Pinewood, Little Lot & beyond.
Maj. Philip Van Horn Weems, owner of Weem Springs, killed at Parker's Crossroads serving under Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest
Noted guerrilla Maj. Richard “Dick” McCann was captured with some of his men after surviving a skirmish with Union cavalry at the home of C.S.A. Major Phillip Van Horn Weem's Springs in Bon Aqua August 19th, 1863. So much was his reputation statewide, that it was said if a dastardly act was committed between Knoxville and Nashville, Dick McCann did it.
Dickson Co. Courthouse (Union Camp Charlotte) / Cumberland Presbyterian Church (used as hospital)
By November of 1863, the number of gunboats were increased above Clarksville & two Federal regiments numbering about 400 men under the command of a Major Kirwine and Lieutenant Donnehue took possession of Charlotte establishing what they called "Camp Charlotte". Headquarters were established in the courthouse & troops not only destroyed the furniture and county records but stripped the country side of all food and supplies. Tents were pitched in the courtyard, a makeshift barracks built, and the Cumberland Presbyterian Church was taken over & converted into a hospital. Much damage was done to the public buildings including the church, smokehouses were raided, stores were taken over and much property was destroyed & a lot of damage was done to the town.
To combat this activity the people of Dickson County went underground and engaged the invader in guerrilla warfare. According to one source, "a continuous fight was kept up between the Federals and the guerrillas, and not a few lives were sacrificed as a result." Several weeks before they broke camp, the Federals captured a Charlotte citizen named William D. Willey and shot him as a guerrilla. William Daniel Willey was at Fort Donelson with Nathan Bedford Forrest's Cavalry when Ft. Donelson fell to General Grant and made their escape. William Daniel was discharged in early 1864 due to his age, which was approximately 64 years and that being very old for that time. He managed to make his way home on his cavalry mount, coming through the Federal lines & was so incensed when he got home when he saw what was being done that he began harassing the enemy at every opportunity. Since he was familiar with every hill and valley, he would mange to elude the local troops. A number of times he would escape and taunt them with waving his cavalry hat and giving the "Rebel Yell" but later in 1864, he and another man were captured by a troop of Federals under Lt. Donohue and shot in retaliation for allegedly killing John Lindsey, a northern sympathizer and collaborator. It is told that a song was composed and sung locally about Dan Willey and the legendary black stallion. During the same year, and in a short time thereafter Demps Dobson, a guerrilla, was captured by the Federals, and taken about a mile north of Charlotte and shot. When friends of the dead man went after the body to give it decent burial, they found in his hand a scrap of paper, on which was written, "Shot in retaliation for the killing of John Lindsey." M. Gilbert, a citizen of Charlotte, was also killed by the Federals. The Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railway (then known as the Northwestern Railway) was guarded by detachments of Federals stationed at White Bluff, Burris' Station, Cox Springs and Gillam Station.
After Kirwine's men evacuated Charlotte in March 1864, another group of Federals passed through the town in going from Johnsonville to Nashville. They had been led to believe that General Forrest was on his way to Johnsonville intent upon wiping out the Federals, and they were said to have reached Charlotte "in a state of demoralization, having left behind them a trail marked by guns, ammunition, blankets, flour, meal, meat, and in fact everything they found unhandy to carry in their flight." Upon reaching Charlotte they learned that the crafty Forrest had shifted his command in such a manner as to block their flight from Charlotte to Nashville. At Charlotte the Federals decided to join other Federals at Clarksville rather than to risk and encounter with Forrest. One of the larger land actions took place south of Charlotte on August 15, 1864, when the Southern forces failed to disrupt the newly completed railroad. Dickson was established where a railroad station and maintenance facility was constructed in 1865. Dickson was originally named Sneedsville, in honor of E. C. Sneed, the civil engineer who designed the trestles originally constructed when Union Troops extended the railroad. On approval of a post office, the official name became Smeedsville until 1869 when it was changed to Dickson. During the War Between the States, the track siding was referred to as Mile Post 42. The first house was built by W. H. Crutcher during the War Between the States. He also started a store building but this and his home were destroyed by Union soldiers camped at Cox Spring before these buildings were completed. The Union soldiers took the building materials and built quarters for their troops. He finally built his store in 1865 and other homes and taverns and general merchandise stores were built in 1865 and 1866.
A bit farther to the east, Mile Post 36 was formed indicating the mileage from Nashville to the town but later named Burns Station. While some say that it was named for a yankee commander of negro railroad workers stationed there, others say it was named for troops for the president of the Nashville & Northwestern Railroad which makes more sense. Some old timers S.E. of Burns say that Frank James kept a horse with saddlebags packed for a quick getaway at Spencer’s Mill following the war. Frank & Jesse lived briefly in this area of Middle Tennessee while running from those that wished to kill them. Jesse went by the name of J.D. Howard but was known by locals as the 'Rabbit Man' while Frank went by B.J. Woodson. They leased the Big Bottom Farm on the TN River & it was during this time that Jesse‘s twin infant sons died & were buried at Denver in Humphreys Co.
Following the end of the War Between the States, the resulting railroad provided a nucleus for White Bluff. Alexander Carr built the first home in the newly platted town soon after the last Union soldiers moved out after the War. The first store was built in 1865 by Morton and Wright & the town was platted in 1867 by A. Myatt and incorporated in 1869. After the War the people of Charlotte, like the people of the entire South, sought to bind up the nation's wounds and to readjust themselves to peaceful pursuits. Despite hard times, the people were able to repair the damage done to the Cumberland Presbyterian Church by the Federal troops. In 1905, nearly a half century after the destruction wrought during the war, the United States government made partial restitution for the damage done by the Federal troops by appropriating $1,800 to the church.
Taken from all available sources on the subject of wartime in D.C. for the
Dickson Co. Bicentennial Monument Dedication Charlotte TN March 2004
~ Cmdr. Bryan A. Sharp / Capt. W.H. McCauley Camp 260 Dickson Co. TN
Capt. Edmund Dillahunty Baxter of Columbia, TN commanded Baxter's Battery TN Lgt. Artillery which was mostly made up with recruits from the corners of Dickson, Hickman, & Williamson Counties.
Pvt. William Sullivan / Baxter's Battery
In Memory of 1st Lt. William Washington Pettus / 27th Alabama Infantry Co. E / Lauderdale Co. AL
