06/21/2024
Civil War in Tennessee - United States Colored Troops
Nashville & Northwestern Railroad History
Many U.S. Colored Troops, former slaves, and Free Blacks, built the Nashville and Northwestern Railroad westward from Kingston Springs, Tennessee to the Tennessee River.
12th USCT (United States Colored Troops / Infantry)
12th U.S. COLORED INFANTRY REGIMENT
Originally called 3rd Tennessee Volunteers (African Descent);
also called 1st U.S. Infantry Regiment (Colored)
13th USCT (United States Colored Troops / Infantry)
The Nashville & Northwestern Railroad Company was chartered by the Tennessee State Legislature on Jan. 22nd, 1852. The Railroad was to extend from Nashville, TN to Hickman, KY, a distance of 170 miles.
Connection To Johnsonville - U.S. Military Railroad
Prior to the Civil War, a Rail line ran from Nashville, Tennessee to Kingston Springs, Tennessee, but no farther, which gave the line little military importance. After the Federal seizure of Nashville in February 1862, work began to extend the line westward from Kingston Springs to Johnsonville, Tennessee, located on the Tennessee River, to provide another supply line for the Federal Armies.
Until the mid-1860s, life in this region was isolated, with access to cities limited to horse-drawn vehicles traveling on rough roads. At the outbreak of the “War Between the States,” the Nashville and Northwestern Railroad had completed its line only as far out of Nashville as the Harpeth River at Kingston Springs. After General Ulysses S. Grant was given command of the Grand Army of the Republic in March 1864, one of his first actions was to order the Union Army to complete the railroad from Kingston Springs to the Tennessee River in order to provide a secure route for supplies into Nashville, Chattanooga and points beyond.
In November 1863, Federal troops occupied Kingston Springs to serve as headquarters for the supervisors of the U.S. Military Railroad Construction Corps. They oversaw the construction of this section of the Nashville and Northwestern Railroad. When it was completed, the rail line connected Nashville to the major Union Depot at Johnsonville on the Tennessee River.
Free blacks, as well as former slaves, who sought freedom in the Union-occupied-Nashville, were impressed into service by Federal forces to construct the Nashville-Northwestern Railroad from Kingston Springs to Johnsonville. Together they constructed three wooden trestles near here, as well as bunkers, blockhouses, and fortifications to guard the line. The black laborers were inducted into the 12th and 13th United States Colored Troops (USCT) in 1863 and stationed in Kingston Springs. Colonel William W. Wright, Chief of Engineers, reported that about 500 men of the 13th USCT began the work on November 19, 1863, and the 12th USCT relieved them on May 10, 1864. General Alvan C. Gillem commanded both units. After the construction was completed, the 13th USCT remained on guard duty along the railroad until November 30, 1864.
These 78 miles of Rail became even more important after Confederate General John Hunt Morgan succeeded in burning the south tunnel on the Louisville and Nashville Railroad in Sumner County. Accomplishing the task in as short a time as possible required extensive construction of wooden trestles and bridges. Because such structures were prime targets of the Confederate raiders and guerrilla parties, blockhouses and field fortifications were constructed at vulnerable bridges and trestles.
The Union’ Johnsonville Depot was the western terminus of the Nashville-Northwestern Railroad. It was established at a small community called Knott’s Landing which had grown in the 1850’s along with Reynoldsburg to the north. It was renamed Johnsonville after Andrew Johnson, military governor of Tennessee, and later President of the U.S.
Throughout the summer of 1864, General William T. Sherman’s Federal Army steadily pushed southward against the Confederate Army under General Joseph Johnston, though he wasn’t able to pin down the elusive Confederates for a decisive battle. Johnston’s tactics of continuous withdrawal became increasingly unpopular with Confederate President Jefferson Davis and the Southern people, so Johnston was replaced by General John Bell Hood. Hood made several reckless attacks against the Federals, but he was unable to check the advance.
Consequently, the Confederates abandoned Atlanta to Sherman on Sept. 2, 1864. Unable to stop Sherman’s superior force, Hood decided to attack the Federal rear to sever their supply line and force a withdrawal. As part of this overall plan, General Nathan Bedford Forrest was sent to attack the Federal Depot at Johnsonville.
Leaving Corinth, Mississippi, on October 16, 1864, Forrest moved northward along the Tennessee River. By October 28th he had placed artillery along the west side of the river at Paris Landing and Fort Heiman. Orders were to fire at ships headed upstream to Johnsonville since they would be loaded with supplies. They harassed Federal shipping on the river for several days, capturing a gunboat and a steamer.
On November 1, 1864, Forrest moved south to attack the Johnsonville Depot. On the 4th, the Confederate batteries were in place on the opposite shore at Johnsonville. Nine Federal gunboats from Paducah had been sent down for support. Confederate batteries began firing at them, then at the Depot itself. As the warehouses began to burn, the Federal forces panicked. Commander Col. C.R. Thompson was convinced Forrest had a superior force and would soon cross the river to capture the garrison. Though neither assumption was true, Thompson ordered the rest of the supplies destroyed to prevent their capture.
During the raid, Forrest’s forces destroyed four gunboats, 14 transports, 17 barges, 33 pieces of artillery, and 75,000 to 120,000 tons of quartermaster stores. They also captured 150 prisoners and obtained much-needed supplies from captured ships. Forrest’s losses were two men killed and nine wounded. The loss of Federal property was estimated to be between $2 million and $6 million.
The loss of the Depot didn’t impact the outcome of the war because Sherman had stockpiled enough supplies for this campaign in Georgia while Nashville forces relied on the reopened L&N line and the Cumberland River. Forrest had been successful, but it had come too late. After the end of the war, the Railroad was turned over to Nashville-Northwestern Railroad President Michael Burns after the Federal government surrendered it back to its former owner on September 15th, 1865. The Nashville-Northwestern Railroad was later sold to the N.C. & St. Louis Railroad Company in 1873.
SOURCES:
Historical Marker Database
Connection To Johnsonville, U.S. Military Railroad, https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=69365
Tennessee Virtual Archive
Maps at the Tennessee State Library & Archives
https://teva.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p15138coll23/id/109?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR2xtXCfvJxcCbWN7I_bngP_Y1aC7SeYElcUODK7n1x3Wd9x81q2kAE-oVY_aem_ZmFrZWR1bW15MTZieXRlcw
Nashville & NW RR History
Tennessee Civil War Railroad
https://nashvillenwrr.tripod.com/id1.html
American Battlefield Trust
https://www.battlefields.org/visit/heritage-sites/kingston-springs-and-12th-usct
Road to Freedom: TN Tour Guide
Explore the Black Experience in Civil War-Era Tennessee
https://www.battlefields.org/visit/mobile-apps/road-to-freedom-tn
Civil War Trails, Inc.
On October 20, 2022 Civil War Trails, Inc. installed a Historical Marker for Fort Hill in Waverly, TN
https://www.facebook.com/groups/182460225500764/posts/1528415657571874/?__cft__[0]=AZXFRylaJe82oI2bT522Q2_HwFIoZVi_hJmzzKwowVd7XmHwEERJpdMcUSJmB1DrmBoQU2HCKGgvPhCIYvl7UUqoximb7Ai4gbFTHgDAlWJDzRd5-v6wp9hxL7jfZbOJUXI4toxFaSsU_eMol4y2pIEpWMQKJ4zK2L6lfvph7e-VmJ4J1jVY3zgd-oZ5fvxCGQs1KVsg2syLUajTKl-md88iTNQSTm5nSaByY9Qr7T3A3g0lvcOdP5oOmtlz1vFArKqCwDy0A7mTjYHUc_hLEOyH&__tn__=-UK-R
Nashville & Northwestern Railroad
