Hello,
December 15th, 2014 – Our 70th Meeting!! We continue our sixth year!
The next meeting of the Nashville (TN) Civil War Roundtable will be on Monday, December 15th, 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 - “The United States Colored Troops in the Battle of Nashville”
On December 16, 1864, along the second Confederate line south of Nashville that ran from Shy’s Hill in the west to Overton Hill on the east, Union troops under General George Thomas waited for the cue to launch their second devastating attack in as many days. As with the attack on the 15th, the main effort would be made against the Confederate left with cavalry moving behind the main Confederate line to envelop that flank. Also continuing with the attack plan of the day before, Federal troops would assault the Confederate right which was anchored on the hill which was land owned by John Overton who also owned the home being used as headquarters by CS General John Bell Hood – Travellers Rest .
The hill was held by CS General Henry Clayton’s Division of Alabama, Georgia and Louisiana troops. The strong position was supported by two batteries of artillery with more in reserve as well as other Confederate infantry nearby. This position was the target of four Union brigades; those of Abel Streight and Sidney Post of Samuel Beatty’s Division and two brigades from James Steedman’s division, Charles Grosvenor’s and Charles Thompson. It is the latter brigade that will be the focus of the program this month for both contained regiments of United States Colored Troops. The 12th, 13th and 100th USCT made a fateful assault up the slopes of the hill braving galling fire and slaughter. When the smoke of the battle cleared, the hill remained in Confederate hands but the charges of the black troops earned begrudging respect from the men that shot them down, including a Confederate general, as well as those who served with them.
Please join us as Nashville based historian Brian Allison presents a story of raw courage in one of the great battles of the Civil War. Brian has been studying the Battle of Nashville for many years even attending high school on part of the battlefield. He has worked in several Nashville Civil War sites and has developed over time a fine reputation as a historian and speaker.