Guide to Civil War Nashville-2nd Edition
Published 2019
94 Pages
Black and white; Soft Color Cover
8.5 x 11
107 photographs
17 maps and dozen diagrams
Bibliography
Be sure to order the updated and expanded
2nd Edition (Zimco-2019)
Retailers:
Title available from Ingram
Guide to Civil War Nashville (2nd Edition)
takes you on a 50-mile tour of 25 historical sites defining the Battle of Nashville and the Union occupation of Tennessee’s capital. Illustrated with modern and wartime photographs, touring and battle maps, and diagrams, the guide also explores the plight of citizens living under the gun and the wartime role of Nashville. Also included are the tour map, precise driving directions with GPS coordinates, historical-marker text and locations, illustrated orders of battle, Medal of Honor recipients, and information about other Middle Tennessee sites. All of the sites on the tour include original photographs.
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In addition to a timeline and map of military operations, the book covers the fall of the river forts and the capture of Nashville by Union forces in February 1862, prompting the Great Panic. The role of the river transports and the military railroad system is thoroughly explored, along with the controversies of Federal occupation. A map of Nashville in 1864 shows the city’s infrastructure. The pride of the Federal engineers is Fort Negley, a tourism site which interprets the ruins of the largest stone fortification built during the war.
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Three historic cemeteries are explored, complete with maps of burial sites. Three antebellum plantation mansions (Belmont, Travellers Rest, and Belle Meade) are now renovated and open to the public in all their splendor. Also examined at the Tennessee State Capitol complex (built right before the war) and the magnificent newly built Tennessee State Museum. Many of the city’s structures, including four extant churches on the tour, were used as military hospitals during the fighting.
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A lengthy article explores the decisive 1864 Battle of Nashville, the last major military activity in the Western Theater. Another article explores the skirmish on the Cumberland River prior to the main battle, between Federal gunboats and the Confederate cavalry. Four detailed maps, designed in coordination with Battle of Nashville Preservation Society Historian Ross Massey, illustrate the troop movements both days of the battle. There is no preserved battlefield today, urban development has obliverated most of it. However, the tour includes a dozen battle sites, including the famous Shy’s Hill (known as Compton’s Hill at the time).
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The first edition of Guide to Civil War Nashville was published in 2004 under the auspices of the Battle of Nashville Preservation Society.
Praise for Guide to Civil War Nashville
"This guide is a MUST HAVE for anyone wanting to learn about the Battle of Nashville and wanting to tour the battlefield. I highly recommend it. For those who think Nashville is a lost battlefield, this guide disproves that notion."
Edwin C. Bearss, Historian Emeritus of the National Park Service and the nation's preeminent Civil War tour guide.
"As owner of HistoryAmerica Tours I have read literally hundreds of tour guides and this is one of the best I've ever seen!"
Pete Brown
"The book combines brief background narratives with detailed battle accounts, all illustrated with photographs and many battle maps created for this project and not available elsewhere. This guide is more than an ordinary history book, however. It includes a tour designed to peel back the present urban and suburban development to expose occupied and fortified Nashville and the battles for it."
The Nashville Scene
"The work includes more than statistics. A narrative tells the story of Nashville's occupants, military and civilian, black and white. The tour explores sites important to the period of Union occupation of the town as well as the climactic Battle of Nashville in late 1864. Numerous maps were created for this publication, which includes large numbers of period photographs, some never before published and others just stunningly obscure.
Civil War Interactive
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