Confederate Occupation

On August 18, 1862, Union-occupied Clarksville came under attack from Confederate forces to disrupt river traffic. The town was still very much a pro-Confederate hotbed of guerilla activity and the focus of Confederate cavalry raids. Confederate Col. Thomas Woodward rode at the head of two combined forces: Col. Adam R. "Stovepipe" Johnson's 10th Kentucky Partisan Rangers and Woodward's Kentucky Cavalry Battalion, veteran cavalry commands bolstered with new recruits.

The Confederates crossed the bridge over Red River on the Hopkinsville Road and headed toward the Federal base at Steward College (now Austin Peay State University). Johnson's column searched for Union commander Col. Rodney Mason downtown while Woodward swept toward the college. Mason hurried to the campus when he learned of the attack, but his three hundred soldiers of the 71st Ohio were scattered. Some were stationed at the two railroad bridges; and some patrolled telegraph lines.

Mason initially rebuffed the Confederate surrender demand but soon had second thoughts. Many residents had joined the Confederates, whose strength was reported at 800 but most likely consisted of half that number. Mason also assumed they faced two Confederate artillery pieces, but they were clever fakes produced by Johnson's partisans and thereby accounting for his nickname, "Stovepipe." Taking his precarious position into consideration, Mason struck his colors. The 71st Ohio was paroled and sent to Paducah.

The Confederates gathered supplies and planned further operations in the Clarksville vicinity. Soon after, on August 25, Woodward attacked a detachment of the 71st Ohio at Dover but was repulsed, and he fell back to Clarksville.

(captions)
Col. Rodney Mason Courtesy Martin Stewart
Col. Adam R. "Stovepipe" Johnson Courtesy Findagrave.com
Col. Thomas Woodward Courtesy Kentucky Library-Western Kentucky University

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Show me all markers in:  Clarksville, TN  |  Montgomery County  |  37040  |  Tennessee  |  United States of America

Site of Montgomery County Colleges
Austin Peay State University
Robert Loftin Newman
Archwood
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Austin Peay

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