Duval-Groves House

James Duval constructed this house between 1850 and 1853, and James and Mariah Groves owned and occupied it during the Civil War. Mariah Groves lived here until her death in 1897. Groves family members shown in the photograph reminisced about soldiers who knocked on their doors, including one who died on the front step, and about nearby Camp Trousdale, a major Confederate training camp. Established in 1861, Camp Trousdale was relocated twice before settling permanently just under a mile east of here. The camp contained tents and temporary huts constructed on Summers Beach. Most soldiers arrived by train, and by July 1861, the camp held more than 6,000 men. After the fall of Fort Donelson in February 1862, thousands of Union soldiers streamed past here southward along the Louisville and Nashville Turnpike and the railroad. Because of their numbers and the lack of army provisions, they foraged here and throughout the countryside for food and supplies. In 1909, Capt. Hester revisited the house and the site of Camp Trousdale and recalled the fine brick house near the junction of the turnpike and the branch along which soldiers went to camp, the grove of cedars in the yard, the old drill field, forests that had replaced tillable fields, and the old mill and brewery.

Portland, Tennessee · United States