Clarksville Civil War Roundtable’s next meeting is October 16th, 2013

The 115th meeting.  

Clarksville, TN – The next meeting of the Clarksville (TN) Civil War Roundtable will be on Wednesday, October 16th, 2013 at the Bone & Joint Center, 980 Professional Park Drive, right across the street from Gateway Hospital.

This is just off Dunlop Lane and Holiday Drive and only a few minutes east of Governor’s Square mall. The meeting begins at 7:00pm and is always open to the public. Members please bring a friend or two – new recruits are always welcomed.

Topic: “The Long Road Home: William Quarles Brigade in Hood’s Tennessee Campaign, 1864.”

Clarksville’s Confederate General William A. Quarles commanded a brigade in the Army of Tennessee. He led his troops through critical battles of the Atlanta Campaign and now, for the first time in years, the men of his Tennessee regiments were coming back to the Volunteer State. Quarles’ Brigade consisted of the 1st Alabama Infantry and the 42nd/48th, 46th/55th, 49th and 53rd Tennessee Infantry regiments. The 49th Tennessee contained men from the Clarksville area.

At Franklin, as part of William Loring’s Division, Quarles and his brigade assaulted the Union line close to the Carter Cotton Gin. Quarles fell badly wounded and was captured on December 17th. The 49th Tennessee suffered the highest rate of casualties of any Confederate regiment in the war; close to 85 per cent!

At Nashville, the remnants of the brigade were attacked on December 15th, 1864 along the Confederate left along Hillsboro Pike north of Richland Creek. Union cavalry enveloped the flank and forced the Confederate line to collapse and fall back. The next day, the brigade held the line just right of Shy’s Hill at Granny White Pike.

Again, the Confederate left was enveloped by Union cavalry while Federal infantry assaulted the lines on the hill itself. Once again, the Confederates fell back, this time all the way to Alabama. John Bell Hood, commanding the Army of Tennessee, resigned his command. What was left of the army split into two factions; part of them, including Quarles’ Brigade, went to North Carolina to finish the war there, while the other portion went to Mobile, Alabama.

Nashville based historian Brian Allison will give an overview discussing in detail the experiences of Quarles’ Brigade at the battles of Franklin and Nashville, and what happened to the survivors, the prisoners, the wounded, and the dead.

Born and raised in Nashville, Tennessee, Brian Allison grew up fascinated by the rich historical heritage of the area around him. A graduate of Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, he has worked in the history field for the better part of two decades. Most recently, he was the Curator of Travellers Rest Plantation & Museum in Nashville. An artist and a storyteller, he enjoys breathing life into the forgotten stories of the past.