Clarksville, TN – The Clarksville Civil War Roundtable announces its April 2023 program and speaker. The meeting is always open to interested members of the public.
The next meeting of the Clarksville (TN) Civil War Roundtable will be on Wednesday, April 19th, 2023 at Fort Defiance Civil War Park, our new home, 120 Duncan Street, off New Providence Boulevard. Turn onto Walker Street off New Providence Boulevard and then onto Duncan Street. There are site markers on New Providence Boulevard above and below the park.
The meeting begins at 7:00pm and is always open to the public. The Clarksville Civil War Roundtable began in March 2004 and features well-known authors and historians as speakers.
Our Speaker and Topic – “The Nashville & Decatur Railroad in the Civil War”
The Nashville & Decatur Railroad was the conglomeration of several companies along a track line that ran from Nashville, TN to Decatur, AL where it connected with the Memphis & Charleston Railroad. The line was important to the Confederacy until Nashville fell in February 1862 and Union troops pushed further south in Tennessee.
Later, the N&D became important to the Federals because they used it to transport men, animals, and supplies to allow their armies to gain a stronger foothold in the South. Crucial to this was supplying General Sherman for his invasion of Georgia.
It became a weapon that the Federals used against the Confederacy and was highly contested because cavalry units of the Confederate Army and its sympathizers tried incessantly to disrupt the railroad’s operation while the Federals worked hard to keep it open.
Our speaker this month is Walter Green who has written a recent book on the railroad. His program will describe the work of four key Federal men who were primarily responsible for design and construction of the bridges, trestles and railroad fortifications during the key period when Sherman was sending supplies to Chattanooga. The program will also discuss the most significant military activity near the railroad from Confederate cavalry raids to guerrilla activity.
Walter Green is a busy retired Professional Civil/Structural Engineer. He lives in historic Franklin, Tennessee, is happily married, and has three daughters and eight grandchildren. He has written study reports for use by the City of Franklin and documents for publication in the local historic journal.
