Civil War in Jackson County - Divided Loyalties - Gainesboro, TN - Civil War Discovery Trail Sites on Waymarking.com

"Jackson County, strategically located on the Cumberland River, was a target for occupation during the Civil War. Early on, Union troops occupied Gainesboro and Granville. Although most residents supported the Confederacy, Gen. Alvan C. Gillem, a Gainesboro native and graduate of West Point, remained loyal to the Union. He commanded the troops that killed famed Confederate raider Gen. John Hunt Morgan during a surprise attack in Greenville in 1864. Gillem's Confederate counterpart, Granville attorney and senator Sidney Smith Stanton, organized the 84th Tennessee Infantry. He was killed during the Atlanta Campaign.

In January 1862, defeated at the Battle of Mill Springs in Kentucky, Confederate Gen. George B. Crittenden retreated to Gainesboro to communicate with Nashville. He lost most of his supplies to the flooded river. Confederate Maj. Giles M. Hillyer wrote that every building, house, and cabin in Gainesboro was filled with the sick and wounded. Pvt. Noble L. Stone, 37th Tennessee Infantry, wrote his parents, "We have had a hard time in our retreat from Mill Spring to this place. We lost a great deal of clothing, food, horses, wagons, and ammunition, and various artillery of importance - all to the hands of the Yankees. We was without rations for three days, and when we did get something to eat, it was parched corn."

Steaming up the river, Union gunboats later burned the towns of Celina (originally part of Jackson County) and Columbus. Gainesboro was saved by Military Governor Andrew Johnson's order to use its buildings for a military post."
Reference: pictured sign

Type of site: Other Address: 101 E Hull Ave Gainesboro, TN USA 38562 Admission Charged: No Charge Website: [Web Link] Driving Directions: Located on the west side of the Jackson County Courthouse on the Gainesboro square. Phone Number: Not listed

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