Gallatin Public Square

Early in 1861, Gallatin and Sumner County were divided over secession, but after the fall of Fort Sumter, residents voted almost ten to one in favor. Support of the Confederacy never wavered, as Capt. Benjamin S. Nicklin, 13th Battery, Indiana Light Artillery, wrote in 1864, “This County has not even the germ of loyalty in it.” With the Louisville and Nashville Railroad just northwest of the public square and the Cumberland River three miles south, Gallatin’s logistical importance to the Union was obvious. Federal forces occupied the town in February 1862. Confederate Gen. John Hunt Morgan raided Gallatin throughout the war to disrupt Union supply routes. In August 1862, Morgan’s troops destroyed the train depot, the railroad tunnel leading to Bowling Green, Kentucky, and the railroad bridge leading to Nashville. After Morgan withdrew, Union Gen. Eleazar Paine reoccupied Gallatin in November 1862 and constructed Fort Thomas, a star-shaped work about 900 yards northwest of the square, to protect this transportation hub. The square served many purposes, including as an enlistment center. In July 1863, two hundred local African Americans enlisted in the U.S. Army. They were part of the 13th U.S. Colored Troops, formed at Nashville in November 1863, the same month that the 14th U.S. Colored Troops was formed in Gallatin. Several significant Civil War-era buildings remain in Gallatin. Trousdale Place, built in 1815 two blocks west of the square, served various functions for the U.S. Army. Next to Trousdale Place, First Presbyterian Church, built in 1836, was used as a hospital. The Williamson Adams Carriage Factory, built in 1839 three blocks east of the square, became a Federal barracks.

Gallatin, Tennessee · United States