Piercing the Heartland , livre ebook

Turner Publishing Company - Jim Miles

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208 pages

English

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Piercing The Heart and: A History and Tour Guide of the Fort Donelson, Shiloh, and Perryville Campaigns"", by Jim Miles, traces the history of the Civil War from the attack on Logan's Crossroads, through the battle of Shiloh, and the running war through Tennessee and Kentucky during the Perryville campaign. Includes driving tours.

Sujets

Civil War Period

Histoire

Shiloh

American Civil War

Shaïlo

United States

Civil War

History

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Publié par	Turner Publishing Company
Date de parution	01 octobre 1999
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781620453100
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	1 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0650€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

Copyright © 1991 by Jim Miles

All rights reserved. Written permission must be secured from the publisher to use or reproduce any part of this book, except for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles.

Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Rutledge Hill Press, Inc., 513 Third Avenue South, Nashville, Tennessee 37210

Typography by Bailey Typography, Inc.
Drawings by Tonya Pitkin Presley, Studio III Productions.
Unless noted differently, photographs are by the author.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Miles, Jim.
Piercing the heartland : a history and tour guide of the Tennessee and Kentucky campaigns / Jim Miles.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
9781620453100
1. Historic sites—Tennessee—Guide-books. 2. Historic sites—Kentucky—Guide-books. 3. Tennessee—History—Civil War, 1861-1865—Battlefields. 4. Kentucky—History—Civil War, 1861-1865—Battlefields. 5. United States—History—Civil War, 1861-1865—Battlefields. 6. Tennessee—Description and travel—1981-—Tours. 7. Kentucky—Description and travel—1981-—Tours. I. Title.
F437.M55 1991 91-15362
917.6804’53—dc20 CIP

Printed in the United States of America 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8—97 96 95 94 93 92 91
Introduction
The outcome of the Civil War was decided in the Heartland of the Confederacy, what was known as the western theater. While Robert E. Lee struggled magnificently to keep massive Union forces out of Richmond, Virginia, armies in Tennessee and Kentucky marched incredible distances and fought fierce battles for control of entire states.
This region contained most of the Confederacy’s raw materials, manufacturing facilities, and agricultural bounty. Here iron, copper, munitions, gunpowder, and food were produced in abundance. The Heartland was also the key to the South’s vital interior transportation system, which consisted of half a dozen major rivers and several long railroad lines that allowed quick transfer of troops and materiel.
The battlefront of the Heartland stretched for 430 miles, from the Mississippi River in the west to Cumberland Gap in the east. It included an enormous area of 150,000 square miles in Kentucky and Tennessee, and northern Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia. This prize was so important that many of the war’s bloodiest battles were fought to control it.
The Heartland was the crucible that forged such figures as Ulysses S. Grant, Albert Sidney Johnston, William T. Sherman, Braxton Bragg, and George Thomas. Their brilliant maneuvering, decisive battle tactics, and sometimes incredible incompetence determined which nation triumphed in the Civil War.
In the East the initial Union offensive was routed at First Manassas during July 1861. In the spring of the following year, an enormous army under George McClellan inched toward Richmond, then was driven back by a series of thunderbolts during the savage Seven Days’ Battle. Another Union force was routed at Second Manassas in August; then the Union army struggled to drive out the first Confederate invasion of the North at bloody Antietam, Maryland. After two years of war, the situation in the East was stalemate.
Two of the North’s major objectives were to split the Confederacy in half by controlling the Mississippi River and to destroy the natural resources, industry, and agricultural bounty of the South. This second objective could only be achieved by seizing a corridor that extended from Nashville through Chattanooga to Atlanta. The first two savage years of the war in the West drove deep wedges into the Heartland and made the achievement of these goals possible. This is the story of the beginning of the end for the Confederacy.
Touring the Heartland
The Confederate Heartland was an enormous territory. The armies that fought there in the first two years of the Civil War marched incredible distances as they maneuvered for advantageous positions. The extensive driving tours depicted here in Piercing the Heartland trace these military campaigns from the confluence of the Ohio and Cumberland rivers at Smithland, Kentucky, south to Corinth, Mississippi, east across northern Alabama to Chattanooga, and north through Knoxville and Cumberland Gap to Lexington and Frankfort. Over 100,000 soldiers traveled these routes, some on river steamers, others on rickety railroad lines, but most of the time on foot. Driving these tours is the best way to understand the famous campaigns of the Civil War and to gain some appreciation of what the soldiers experienced. Imagine armies trudging down dusty lanes, pushing cannon and wagons over steep mountains, bridging wide rivers, camping simply in the woods, and engaging in mortal combat. These soldiers, who wore the blue and the gray, were our ancestors, men who fought for their beliefs. We need to remember their sacrifices.
This is a region of wonderful natural beauty. There are many fascinating waterfalls, an incredible number of mysterious caves, deep gorges, scenic mountain gaps and overlooks, sparkling streams, calm lakes, quiet forests, and bluegrass pastures. America’s heritage, from prehistory to the present, is displayed across the region. There are mysterious Indian mounds, recreated frontier forts, pioneer homesteads, legendary Civil War battlefields, quaint covered bridges, historic cemeteries, monuments, homes, churches, and taverns, massive TVA projects, and numerous museums that interpret the legacy of the Heartland.
The driving tours to historic sites have been researched exhaustively, but readers need to bear in mind that highways and streets are occasionally altered and names and designated numbers of roads are often changed. Thus we have included written directions, mileage, and maps to enable you to circumvent any changes that might be made to the tour route in coming years. Also, remember that odometers can vary considerably. Our . 1 might be your .2, so please take this into account. When in doubt about your location, do not hesitate to ask local residents for directions. While preparing this guide, we were frequently “misplaced.”
For safety’s sake, it is obviously best to tour the Heartland with a companion. While one drives, the other can read and direct. It is also advisable to read in advance the touring information. Familiarizing yourself with the route before you go will enable you to choose the sites you would like to visit.

Map 1: Battles for the Heartlands swept across Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama in 1862.
By all means, be respectful of private property. Do not trespass on land or call on the residents of a private historic home. It is extremely difficult to live in or on a part of history, and there are too many vandals and arsonists around to be tolerant toward uninvited visitors. Fortunately, many historic homes are open as part of community tours around Christmas and during the spring. Check calendars of events for specific dates.
Table of Contents
Title Page Copyright Page Introduction Touring the Heartland Chapter 1 - The War Begins in the West: Logan’s Crossroads Chapter 2 - The Struggle for Forts Henry and Donelson Chapter 3 - A Driving Tour of the Fort Donelson Campaign Chapter 4 - The Battle of Shiloh Chapter 5 - A Driving Tour of the Shiloh Campaign Chapter 6 - The Confederate Invasion of Kentucky: Perryville Chapter 7 - A Driving Tour of the Perryville Campaign Conclusion Appendix A Chronology Appendix B Resources Bibliography Index
Chapter 1
The War Begins in the West: Logan’s Crossroads
A t the beginning of the Civil War, Kentucky’s 1.2 million people made it the South’s second most populous state. Its strategic position dominated the Ohio River, on which flowed a great deal of the North’s iron and coal, as well as its industrial production. Because of geographic features, if Kentucky were in Union hands, Tennessee would effectively be denied to the South. If possessed by the Confederates, Kentucky could be used to split the North in half through the Great Lakes and to attack such cities as Cincinnati, and the flow of vital goods on the Ohio would be crippled. “I think to lose Kentucky is nearly the same as to lose the whole game,” Lincoln wrote. Both sides needed the state for defensive purposes and to launch offensives in the West.
Kentucky was the birthplace of the U.S. president, Abraham Lincoln, and the Confederate president, Jefferson Davis. Historian Bruce Catton wrote that the state was “emotionally a part of the South, and geographically a part of the Midwest.” Kentucky loved the Union and the South, and this mix made her the champion of compromise. In the presidential election of 1860, the voters had rejected the bid of native son and vice president John C. Breckinridge for John Bell’s Constitutional Union party. Kentucky senator John J. Crittenden authored the last attempt at reconciliation before secession occurred.
The citizens of Kentucky were split between Union and Confederate sentiments. By war’s end 90,000 Kentuckians had fought for the North, while 45,000 had served the South. During the early months of the conflict, both the Federals and the Confederates actively recruited in Kentucky; but the government carefully refrained from committing military forces. Five thousand rifles were secretly slipped into the state for supporters of the North, who organized the Home Guards, while Southern men obtained weapons by joining State Guard units. Both sides began to drill for battle.
Kentucky was determined to remain neutral. When Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers for ninety days to put down the rebellion, Gov. Beriah Magoffin refused to commit any Kentuckians, stating, “Kentucky will furnish no troops for the wicked purpose of subduing her sister Southern states.” In May 1861, after an effort to call a secession convention failed, the state legislature, newly elected with a Unionist majority, announced that the state would protect itself against aggression from any quarter, Confederate or Federal. In c

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Piercing the Heartland , livre ebook

Civil War Period

Histoire

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Civil War

History

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