Affair at Cumberland Mountain-A Brief Fight - Pleasant Hill TN
Posted by: 
Don.Morfe
N 35° 58.582 W 085° 11.658
16S E 662800 N 3982834
Less than half a mile west of here, on the Lewis Whitaker farm, the only engagement of the war in Cumberland County between regular Union and Confederate troops took place on December 9, 1863.
Waymark Code: WM181Y6
Location: Tennessee, United States
Date Posted: 05/12/2023
Views: 0
TEXT ON THE HISTORICAL MARKER
Affair at Cumberland Mountain-A Brief Fight
Less than half a mile west of here, on the Lewis Whitaker farm, the only engagement of the war in Cumberland County between regular Union and Confederate troops took place on December 9, 1863. Several companies of Col. Thomas J. Jordan’s 9th Pennsylvania Cavalry bivouacked there after Confederate forces dislodged them from Sparta. Ascending the Cumberland Plateau on the road to Crossville earlier that day, Jordan intended to cross the mountains and join forces with Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside near Knoxville.
In the evening, Capt. Champ Ferguson’s guerrillas and a detachment of Col. John M. Hughes’s 25th Tennessee Infantry (totaling 450 men) attacked the Federals. Hughes was in the area under orders from Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg to round up stragglers, recruit new soldiers, and harass Union forces on both sides of the Tennessee-Kentucky border.
The Federals suffered eight casualties in the engagement. Union Capt. Thomas McCahan wrote in his diary that Confederate “Maj. Reagan” was killed and a handful of Confederates were captured. The 9th Pennsylvania’s sutler also died in the firefight, and the Confederates
looted the Union supply wagons before withdrawing. The Federals did not pursue them but marched to Post Oak Springs in Roane County.
Fifty years later, this site of combat became a place of healing. Dr. May Wharton, the “Doctor Woman of the Cumberlands,” moved here and began ministering to the health needs of Cumberland Plateau residents.
(captions)
Corp. William Thomas, 9th Pennsylvania Cavalry Courtesy Leroy Matter
Capt. Champ Ferguson, Harper’s Weekly
Pvt. Mitchell Copeland, 25th Tennessee Infantry Courtesy Tennessee Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans
Name of Battle:
Engagement at Cumberland County
Name of War: U.S. Civil War
Date(s) of Battle (Beginning): 12/09/1863
Entrance Fee: Not Listed
Parking: Not Listed
Date of Battle (End): Not listed
|
Visit Instructions:
Post a photo of you in front of a sign or marker posted at the site of the battle (or some other way to indicate you have personally visited the site.
In addition it is encouraged to take a few photos of the surrounding area and interesting features at the site.