Civil War in Sumner County

Bledsoe Creek State Park borders historic early settlements and houses including Bledsoe's Lick, Cragfont, Wynnewood, and the Avery Trace in what had been an Indian hunting ground. During the Civil War, this prosperous river and railroad hub suffered under military occupation. Sumner County residents were initially divided over secession, but after the bombardment of Fort Sumter in 1861 and President Abraham Lincoln's call for volunteers, the county voted overwhelmingly to secede. More than 3,000 local men enlisted and trained at Camp Trousdale near Portland. After the fall of Fort Donelson early in 1862, Federal forces occupied the county seat, Gallatin, to control the county's transportation routes. Confederate Gen. John Hunt Morgan's cavalry raided and disrupted supply lines along the Nashville & Louisville Railroad. Although Morgan destroyed the Gallatin train depot and bridges and forced a Federal withdrawal, Union Gen. Eleazar A. Paine retook Gallatin in November. It remained under Federal occupation for the rest of the war. Union and Confederate foragers decimated local farms, scarring the countryside and terrorizing citizens. Federal troops occupied the house and grounds at Cragfont, a nearby plantation, and established a camp and earthworks near Wynnewood, a vast log dwelling built as a stagecoach stop and inn. After the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, Gallatin became a recruitment center for contraband (escaped slaves) who joined the newly formed 13th and 14th U.S. Colored Troops regiments. Former slaves, after the war, established communities including Village Green and Free Hill. In the unincorporated Cairo community, the Rosenwald School served African American children for more than 35 years.

Tennessee · United States