Military

Few areas in the United States symbolize the American pioneer spirit more than Cumberland Gap. Crossing the gap meant encountering America's first western frontier and symbolically severing European ties. Between 1760 and 1850 more than 300,000 people walked, rode, or…

The engagement at Dandridge occurred when Federal troops, commanded by Maj. Gen. John Parke, moved toward Dandridge in East Tennessee on January 14 in search of forage. Upon receiving reports of the Federal move, Confederate Lieut. Gen. James Longstreet ordered…

Davis Bridge was a small yet fierce battle in the Civil War. Taking place near Pocahontas, Tennessee, on October 5, 1862, the battle served an important role in the Corinth Campaign. Had it been a major Union victory, the battle…

"Boy Hero of the Confederacy" Sam Davis was born on his family's farm near Smyrna on October 6, 1842. A frail child, Davis grew up playing on the land around his home and learned the landscape of Middle Tennessee, knowledge…

John De Brahm, engineer and cartographer, was a native of Germany. A military engineer in the army of Charles VII, he resigned his commission in 1748 and three years later led a group of immigrants to America, settling in the…

Congressman and industrial entrepreneur George G. Dibrell was born and raised in Sparta and returned to White County after attending East Tennessee University (now University of Tennessee) in Knoxville. In 1842 he married Mary E. Leftwich, and they had eight…

Confederate Major General Earl Van Dorn was murdered May 7, 1863, in his Spring Hill headquarters by Dr. George Peters, who charged that the short, dapper general had carried on an affair with his wife while he was out of…

Dragging Canoe, Cherokee warrior and leader of the Chickamaugas, was born in one of the Overhill towns on the Tennessee River, the son of the Cherokee diplomat Attakullakulla. Historians have identified Dragging Canoe as the greatest Cherokee military leader. Even…

Born March 17, 1803, in Salem, Massachusetts, William Driver is credited with nicknaming the American flag "Old Glory." At age thirteen Driver ran away from home to be a cabin boy on a large sailing ship. At twenty-one he qualified…

Born into a prominent family, John Henry Eaton was the son of John and Elizabeth Eaton. His father, a chaise maker, was county coroner, a member of the state assembly, and the owner of five thousand acres of land in…

Belle Edmondson, Confederate smuggler, was born in Mississippi. On the eve of the Civil War her family moved to a Shelby County farm on Holly Ford Road (now Airways Boulevard), about three miles from the Mississippi border and eight miles…

This Obion County airfield began operations as a training base for aviation cadets in 1942. The land was acquired in early March, construction proceeded immediately, and the first class arrived in July 1942. Riddle-McKay Aviation School of Florida, a private…

David G. Farragut, the first U.S. admiral, was born James Glasgow Farragut in 1801 and raised in Stoney Point, near Knoxville. In 1806 his father received a navy commission and moved his family to New Orleans. In 1808, when a…

In 1858 John O'Mahony established the Fenian Brotherhood of America to provide money, arms, and military leadership for an anticipated rising against England by the Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood. An odd twist in this story of nineteenth-century Irish nationalism was the…

Nathan Bedford Forrest, the "wizard of the saddle," was one of the finest Confederate cavalry commanders and one of the foremost military figures produced by the state of Tennessee. He was particularly famous for his determination to be "first with…

Although the official address of the U.S. Army's Fort Campbell reads, "Fort Campbell, Kentucky," two-thirds of the installation by area is in Tennessee. Fort Campbell came into existence in 1941 as the United States prepared for war. In need of…

Tennessee Confederates constructed the earthen fort in the summer of 1861 to defend the river approach to Middle Tennessee and Nashville; the fort was named for Daniel S. Donelson, Tennessee's adjutant-general. Principally a commanding water battery with adjacent armed camp…

Named for Confederate Senator Gustavus Henry of nearby Clarksville, this poorly positioned earthen field fortification was laid out on low ground by Tennessee state engineers and constructed in the summer of 1861 to defend the Tennessee River and the critical…

Located in present-day Monroe County, Fort Loudoun was named in honor of John Campbell, the Earl of Loudoun, commander-in-chief of the British forces in North America at the time of the fort's construction in 1756-57. Interest in building a fort…

The first permanent Anglo settlement of Nashville dates to 1770 when two parties of settlers led by John Donelson and James Robertson, respectively, established a fort enclosing two acres along the banks of the Cumberland River. The present Fort Nashborough…