Beauregard’s Headquarters - Ten Oaks - Jacksonsville, AL. - Alabama Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

BEAUREGARD’S HEADQUARTERS

This home “Ten Oaks” was headquarters for General P.G.T. Beauregard, October 15-23, 1864, when he coordinated the movement of General J. B. Hood’s army, then marching across northeast Alabama enroute to Nashville. He and his retinue, including Governor I.G. Harris of Tennessee and General M.L. Smith, were guest of Mr. and Mrs James Crook who erected “Ten Oaks” in 1850, the largest house in Calhoun County. Beauregard stood on the front balcony to be serenaded by the townspeople who were assembled in the yard to honor him on his appointment as Commander, Military Division of the West, C.S.A., by Jefferson Davis.

General John K. Forney Historical Society - October, 1976

Marker Name: Beauregard’s Headquarters Marker Type: Urban Addtional Information:: Calhoun County, Alabama is named for John C. Calhoun, famous member of the United States Senate from South Carolina. Beauregard [from Wikipedia ] Beauregard took command of coastal defenses in Georgia and South Carolina in 1862. He successfully defended Charleston from repeated Union attacks from 1862 to 1864. In 1864, he assisted Robert E. Lee in the defense of Richmond. He defeated Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler in the Bermuda Hundred Campaign near Drewry's Bluff. He followed this victory with a desperate defense of Petersburg. His tiny 2,200-man force resisted an assault by 16,000 Federals, known as the Second Battle of Petersburg. He gambled by withdrawing his Bermuda Hundred defenses to reinforce Petersburg. He assumed that Butler would not capitalize on the opening. His gamble succeeded, and he held Petersburg long enough for Lee's army to arrive. Hood [from Wikipedia] As Sherman regrouped in Atlanta, preparing for his March to the Sea, Hood and Jefferson Davis attempted to devise a strategy to defeat him. Their plan was to attack Sherman's lines of communications from Chattanooga and to move north through Alabama and into central Tennessee, assuming that Sherman would be threatened and follow. Hood's hope was that he could maneuver Sherman into a decisive battle, defeat him, recruit additional forces in Tennessee and Kentucky, and pass through the Cumberland Gap to come to the aid of Robert E. Lee, who was besieged at Petersburg. Sherman did not cooperate, however. Instead, he sent Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas to take control of the Union forces in Tennessee and coordinate the defense against Hood, while the bulk of Sherman's forces prepared to march toward Savannah. Hood's Tennessee Campaign lasted from September to December, 1864, comprising seven battles and hundreds of miles of marching. After failing to defeat a large part of the Union Army of the Ohio under Maj. Gen. John M. Schofield at Spring Hill, Tennessee, on November 29, the next day at the Battle of Franklin his troops were unsuccessful in their attempt to breach the Union breastworks and they allowed the Union force to withdraw unimpeded toward Nashville. Two weeks later George Thomas defeated him again at the Battle of Nashville, in which most of his army was wiped out, one of the most significant Confederate battle losses in the Civil War. After the catastrophe of Nashville, the remnants of the Army of Tennessee retreated to Mississippi and Hood resigned his temporary commission as a full general as of January 23, 1865, reverting back to lieutenant general. Date Dedicated / Placed: October, 1976 Marker Number: Not listed

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