Category: Civil War
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A Chickamauga Battlefield Map With a Haywood County Connection
Photo: Lynn Shaw / I recently purchased a collection of books and several other items from an online auction of the estate of Lynn Jackson Shaw (1940-2019). Shaw served for many years as the Haywood County historian and helped establish the Haywood County Museum in Brownsville. Years ago, he gave me a personal tour of…
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James Sumler and Camp Morton
I’ve been working on my Forrest and Sherrod family lines during the holidays, and today I came across an interesting young couple whose courtship appears to have been interrupted by the Civil War and imprisonment. The story also adds another piece to the complicated family history of my third great-grandmother, Ann “Annie” W. Sherrod Yelverton…
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Knights of the Forked Deer
I recently visited Appomattox Court House National Historical Park in Virginia, where, on April 9, 1865, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee (1807-1870) surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia to Union Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885). Fresh in my mind during the visit was an old article that Judge Roland Reid of Brownsville, Tennessee, had…
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1865: A Year in the Life of the South
I have long been fascinated by the years immediately following the Civil War and how they affected the lives of my West Tennessee ancestors. In just a few days, April 9, 2015 will mark 150 years since Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia to Union Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant…
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The Bridge Company, CSA
I saw a plaque on the wall during my visit to the Haywood County History Museum, and it made me want to dive in and see if there was more about The Bridge Company. C.S.A. to discover. There is little research on the company as it was an independent group of older, established Haywood County…
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Is a Fort Pillow commander buried near Poplar Corner Road?
Photo: An unidentified Union soldier; Photo credit: Library of Congress, Liljenquist Family Collection of Civil War Photographs / Could a Union officer from Obion County, Tennessee who commanded troops during one of the Civil War’s most notorious massacres be buried in an unmarked grave near Nixon Creek in Haywood County? Rodney Wright, a longtime friend…
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Solomon Normon Brantley’s Tennessee Civil War Questionnaire
Photo: Soldiers and spectators watching the Battle of Nashville between the forces of Confederate Gen. John Bell Hood and Union Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas, Nashville, Tennessee, Dec. 15, 1864. Photograph attributed to J.F. Coonley. Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Civil War Glass Negatives and Related Prints Collection. The Tennessee Civil War Veterans…
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Solomon Norman Brantley, Sincerely Yours in Peace
Photo: My third great-grandfather, Henry Day Brantley, (1845-1918) The country is currently marking the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the The Civil War. A few nights ago, I was flipping through channels and stumbled across Ken Burns’ documentary “The Civil War” on PBS. It caught my attention because I recently discovered Solomon Norman Brantley’s…