The Kentucky and Tullahoma Campaigns

You are about to enter Middle Tennessee, the site of two important Civil War campaigns. The first occurred in June 1862 as Confederate Gen. Braxton Braggs maneuvered the Army of Tennessee successfully through the mountains north past Union Gen. Don Carlos Buell's Union army and invaded Kentucky. At Monteagle (Exit 134) a Tennessee Civil War Trails marker explains the Federal dilemma.

In June 1863, the tables turned during the Tullahoma Campaign as Union Gen. William S. Rosecrans maneuvered his Army of Cumberland south from Murfreesboro past Bragg and the Confederate Army of Tennessee. After overwhelming the Confederate defenders of Hoover's Gap (Exit 97; a park at Beech Grove Cemetery interprets the campaign) on June 24, the Federals occupied Manchester (Exit 111) and Shelbyville on June 27 as Bragg retreated. Tullahoma (Exit 111), on the Nashville & Chattanooga Railroad, was an important part of the Confederate communications and supply systems. Late in June, the Federals destroyed railroad tracks to Decherd (Exit 127) and at Sewanee (Exit 134). On July 3, Bragg's army began its retreat to Chattanooga, leaving much of Middle Tennessee and the railroad in Union hands after a skillful campaign remarkably low in Federal casualties.

Follow the routes of the armies along the Tennessee Civil War Trails. Colorful markers