The Gales of November - Introduction

Fighting to remember

The Tennessee Historical Commission marker sets alongside Trotwood Avenue, the historical Mount Pleasant Pike.

I imagine most, if ever they consider the term, think of the Gales of November as that violent phenomenon of weather closely associated with the Great Lakes, ever immortalized by the late great Gordon Lightfoot in his song "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitsgerald". Still, if a gale is a violent tempest and November holds the last light of autumn, it can truly be said that Tennessee witnessed the Gales of November as the winds of war blew hard on her people in November of 1864. Beginning in earnest on the 17th of November, the armies of Lieutenant General John Bell Hood and Major General John M. Schofield engaged in a running battle in a series of engagements that literally became a footrace to the bridge over Bigby Creek at Neeley's Mill just south of Columbia on the morning of November 24, 1864.

Today, 161 years later, that same ground is being fought over again. This time the struggle isn't over the high ideals of man's right to govern himself, or the definitions and dichotomies of freedom, liberty, and slavery in Antebellum America, or the Republic of Free and Independent States as set forth by the founders in the Declaration of Independence contrasted with the idea of a singular nation as promoted by Lincoln in his Gettysburg Address. This time it is a fight between developers and landowners.

The issue is complex and nuanced with villains and heroes emerging from the fray as the fight moves from summer into fall. The many arguments against are all valid arguments that seem to be unanimous among those who will actually be affected by this development should it go through. The arguments for the project seem to be an extreme minority that basically can be condensed to one rallying cry by the city council, "We need the tax money!"

November 24...a bit of irony.

As a citizen of Maury County, Tennessee, I completely understand all the good and valid reasons to oppose this, none the least of which is a serious and real environmental liability. I understand the overcrowding and snarled traffic that Maury Countians deal with now as our once peaceful little Southern town has now been identified by national celebrities as part of "Nashville's big back yard", with that place being the new "It" city which has created an avalanche of new arrivals across our once slow-moving and pastoral countryside. I get it, and the list goes on and on. Be that as it may, my interest from the beginning has been to preserve the historical and rural nature of the land that is at the center of this debate.

The land being targeted for development has significant historical and cultural importance.  The local community takes its name from one of the grandest plantations ever to be built in Tennessee, Colonel Polk’s Ashwood, of which the summer kitchen still stands on the grounds presently hidden by forestation.  St. John’s Episcopal Church, dating from 1842, is one of only three surviving plantation parish churches in America.  The church was the charge of Bishop turned soldier, Leonidas Polk who gave his life in military service in May of 1864 as a Lieutenant General in the Army of Tennessee.  On the 26th of November General John Bell Hood established his headquarters in the home of Colonel Polk’s Ashwood with at least part of the Army of Tennessee bivouacking in the fields alongside the road. After the Battle of Franklin, six Confederate Generals, Granbury, Gist, Strahl, Adams, Carter and Cleburne, were all initially buried in the cemetery of St. John’s, a testimony to the catastrophic disaster that Hood suffered on November 30. These facts alone make the area historically noteworthy.

What's more, this area has received national recognition because of its historical significance. The site of Ashwood Hall is on the National Register of Historic Places. The very land slated for development has long been identified by a marker placed there by the Tennessee Historic Commission memorializing the pitched battle between Nathan Bedford Forrest's Corps of cavalry and the cavalry Brigade of Colonel Horace Capron. This area has further distinction as it has been identified by the National Park Service as one of 38 essential battlefields in Tennessee that should be preserved and if possible interpreted. The site appears in the American Battlefield Trust map showing it as a core battlefield study area. The land is significant, the history is rich, and the pain and suffering that occurred there was real. For these reasons alone the site should be preserved. It is worth noting that since my first meeting on July 8, we now have numerous preservation organizations that are lending their voice to the chorus for preservation. They include The American Battlefield Trust, the Tennessee Civil War Preservation Association, the Tennessee Wars Commission, the Tennessee Historical Commission, the Battle of Franklin Trust, and the Battle of Nashville Trust. All are greatly appreciated.

As I write this, the next meeting of the Mount Pleasant Planning Commission is set to convene next Monday evening, November 24, exactly 161 years to the day that men fought and died in the field they want of cover over with a mass housing development. At the last meeting I attended, I personally handed each of the commissioners on the city council an information packet I had compiled as sort of a "crash course" in the historical nature of the land and what would be lost should they move ahead with the effort to rezone this land and annex it to the city with the intent it be developed as planned. I am sad to say it made no difference whatsoever. At least it had no impact on three of the five commissioners. Nevertheless, I have kept up what effort I can by posting short "summaries" of the action that took place on the land that make its preservation so important. I've done this in an effort to raise awareness on social media of what we're about to lose in Maury County should this go forward.

Grave of Confederate soldier buried in the churchyard of St. John's Episcopal Church.

As a result of my posts and various conversations I've had with locals, I have decided to make a series of blog posts in an effort to educate those with interest about the historical nature of this land, why it was so important, and the larger contest for Columbia between the 24th and the 29th of November 1864. There is simply too much information to disseminate via posts on Facebook. So, with each blog article, I will post the link on Facebook. That link will take you to my private site dedicated to Shiloh where I can host the articles. I hope these articles are enjoyable and read with interest. I welcome any questions one might have. I am no expert on the 1864 campaign. Actually, my favorite period of history is the American Revolution. Nevertheless, any questions that come my way I will do my best to provide an answer. Here's hoping one day we can stand on the Forrest/Capron field and discuss the historical events in the location where they actually occurred not so long ago. - JLB