A Vast Depot

Fortress Rosecrans was one of many Union defenses along the vital Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad, protecting one of the largest supply depots in the war's Western Theater. A vast complex of weapons, ammunition, and food storehouses sprawled across the open ground within the fort, mostly beyond Lytle Creek. The fort also included four sawmills and a fifty-acre vegetable garden used by the large hospital there. The depot helped supply Maj. Gen. William S. Rosecrans's army during its advance toward Tullahoma and Chattanooga in the summer of 1863, and for a time its warehouses held enough supplies to feed 50,000 men for ninety days.

Murfreesboro, Tennessee · United States