Hello everyone,
April 21, 2014 – Our 61st Meeting!! We begin our sixth year!
The next meeting of the Nashville (TN) Civil War Roundtable will be on Monday, April 21, 2014, in the visitor’s center of Ft. Negley Park, a unit of Metro Parks, Nashville, TN. This is located off I-65 just south of downtown between 4th Avenue South and 8th Avenue South on Edgehill Avenue/Chestnut Avenue. Take Exit 81, Wedgewood Avenue, off I-65 and follow the signs to the Science Museum. The meeting begins at 7:00 PM and is always open to the public. Members please bring a friend or two – new recruits are always welcomed.
OUR SPEAKER AND TOPIC - “Forrest’s Pursuit of Abel Streight’s Raid”
Union General William S. Rosecrans had been trying to build his cavalry arm since taking command of the Army of the Cumberland in late 1862. By April, 1863, his mounted forces were formidable and well-lead on most levels. Securing sufficient horses remained a problem, however, and the general tangled with his War Department superiors along those lines. Then came a proposal from Colonel Abel Streight, commanding an infantry brigade, to mount his men on mules and launch a raid into Alabama and Georgia with the ultimate goal of breaking the vital Western & Atlantic Railroad than ran from Atlanta to Chattanooga and carried supplies for the Confederate Army of Tennessee operating in that state. Rome, Georgia, an industrial center, provided an additional target.
Therein was the problem; Streight’s Federals would ride animals much better suited to pulling guns and wagons than bearing troops in a lightning raid. After picking up some of the mules near Clarksville, Tennessee, Streight’s men took river boats to Eastport, Mississippi and after training the men, the raid began as part of a Union offensive by General Grenville Dodge which provided cover. Facing Dodge were a collection of Confederate forces including some cavalry under Nathan Bedford Forrest. Forrest correctly interpreted what Dodge was doing as his scouts picked up Streight’s movements. And so began the chase that would add to Forrest’s legend and end near the Georgia/Alabama border with Streight’s surrender.
Our speaker this month is retired Brigadier General John Scales who will set up the situation and the rationale behind the raid, which began on April 19th, 1863, then going over the events day by day until Streight's surrender on May 3rd.
John Scales is a retired Brigadier General with extensive service in U.S. Army Special Forces from Vietnam to Desert Storm including as acting commanding general of U.S. Army Special Forces Command. He holds several degrees in physics and has taught that subject at several academic levels. He is currently employed by Science Applications International Corporation of Huntsville, Alabama as a Senior Systems Engineer. He has developed and patented weapons systems among his accomplishments. John is also past president of the Tennessee valley CWRT in Huntsville and is the author of a deep military study of the Atlanta Campaign. A book on Streight’s Raid is pending.
We hope that you will join us for this informative program!