Cumberland River Campaign

Cumberland River Campaign (HM1AL3)

Location: Gainesboro, TN 38562 Jackson County
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Country: United States of America
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N 36° 22.667', W 85° 38.45'

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Inscription

Burning of Old Columbus

North of this marker lies the site of Old Columbus,once an important landing on the CumberlandRiver. In the winter of 1863-1864, the warhad disastrous consequences for this river village.

Late in December 1863, Gen. Ulysses S.Grant sent a naval convoy up the river fromNashville to Creelsboro, Ky., on a reconnaissanceand supply mission. The U.S. gunboats Reindeerand Silver Lake No. 2 under U.S. Navy Lt. HenryA. Glassford accompanied three transports carryinga detachment of 140 sharpshooters from the129th Illinois Infantry, under the command of Col.Andrew J. Cropsey. At five locations includingGainesboro, the county seat, Confederate guerrillabands fired on the convoy as it headed upriver.Tennessee military governor Andrew Johnson haddecided to establish a Federal army post therebecause the town was a base of operations for Confederatepartisans in the region. He ordered gunboatcommanders not to destroy the town so thatthe buildings could be used for military purposes.After the Federals occupied Gainesboro, Unionforces began to suppress partisan warfare. Duringa February 1864 raid into the countryside, Col.Henry K. McConnell's 71st Ohio Infantry pursuedtwo companies of Confederate rangers led byCols. Oliver P. Hamilton and John M. Hughs. TheFederal force arrived at Columbus, where manyof the partisans lived and kept their horses. Afterremoving the women, children, and livestock, theFederals burned the village to the ground.

"The country between Carthage and theCumberland Mountains through which wepassed is bordering upon famine. Familieswithout regard to politics are eaten out andplundered by those common enemies ofmankind (rangers) until even those formerlywealthy are utterly reduced, and many ofthe poorer are now actually starving."
—Col. Henry K. McConnell, 71st Ohio Infantry

"Jackson County was represented to me asthe seat of operations of several guerillabands, and it fully merits its reputation,for we had scarcely touched the county linebefore guerillas were discovered on the lookoutfor us."
— Lt. Henry A. Glassford, USN

(Inscription under the photo in the upper center)
USS Gunboat Silver Lake No. 2, fromThe Photographic History of the Civil War (1911)
Details
HM NumberHM1AL3
Series This marker is part of the Tennessee: Tennessee Civil War Trails series
Tags
Placed ByTennessee Civil War Trails
Marker ConditionNo reports yet
Date Added Friday, September 5th, 2014 at 12:17am PDT -07:00
Pictures
Locationbig map
UTM (WGS84 Datum)16S E 621914 N 4026709
Decimal Degrees36.37778333, -85.64083333
Degrees and Decimal MinutesN 36° 22.667', W 85° 38.45'
Degrees, Minutes and Seconds36° 22' 40.02" N, 85° 38' 27.00" W
Driving DirectionsGoogle Maps
Area Code(s)931
Closest Postal AddressAt or near 1107 N Grundy Quarles Hwy, Gainesboro TN 38562, US
Alternative Maps Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap

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