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Tennessee Civil War Battles
Railroads and Railroad Bridge Battle History
| Strawberry Plains Bridge, Tenn. (ca 1860s) |
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| Photograph courtesy Library of Congress |
The 1,600-foot Strawberry Plains Bridge spanned the Holston
River and it was located approximately 15 miles from Knoxville. It was considered the most important bridge in East Tennessee and it was destroyed and rebuilt several times during
the Civil War. In O.R., 23, i, p. 388*, referring to the Strawberry Pains Bridge, Colonel William P. Sanders, Army of the Ohio, reported that his army had "destroyed the splendid bridge over the Holston River, over 1,600 feet long, built
on eleven piers. The trestle-work included, this bridge was 2,100 feet in length." When destroyed, United States Military Academy graduate and Union General, Ambrose Burnside, pleasurably stated, “It will take months to rebuild it.” O.R., 23, i, 385. Also see Tennessee and American Civil War Railroads.
*Official Records
of the Union and Confederate Armies
Advance to:
Recommended
Reading: Bridge Burners: A True Adventure
of East Tennessee Underground Civil War. Description: When the East Tennessee and Virginia Railway line was completed, dignitaries gathered
in celebration as the final spike was hammered into the last tie in Greene
County. Opening new doors of growth and economic development in the Region,
the railroad would become a point of conflict only three years later. When the Civil War began, the line became a vital link
in transporting Confederate troops and supplies into Virginia.
The railroad was vulnerable since many hostile Unionists remained in the region. Confederate authorities were understandably
worried about the rail lines and how to protect them. Continued below...
Inevitably the stage
was set and on a cold Friday night, November 8, 1861, the Unionists
proceeded with plans to burn the key railroad bridges of East Tennessee; President Abraham Lincoln had approved the plan. This thoroughly researched,
easy-to-read narrative tells the incredible true story of the people and events in the ‘insurrection gone wrong’.
Recommended Reading:
War at Every Door: Partisan Politics and Guerrilla Violence in East
Tennessee, 1860-1869. Description: One of the most divided regions of the Confederacy, East
Tennessee was the site of fierce Unionist resistance to secession, Confederate rule, and the Southern war effort.
It was also the scene of unrelenting 'irregular,' or guerrilla, warfare between Union and Confederate supporters, a conflict
that permanently altered the region's political, economic, and social landscape. In this study, Noel Fisher examines the military
and political struggle for control of East Tennessee from the secession crisis through the
early years of Reconstruction, focusing particularly on the military and political significance of the region's irregular
activity. Continued below...
Fisher portrays in grim detail the brutality and ruthlessness
employed not only by partisan bands but also by Confederate and Union troops under constant threat of guerrilla attack and government officials frustrated
by unstinting dissent. He demonstrates that, generally, guerrillas were neither the romantic, daring figures of Civil War
legend nor mere thieves and murderers, but rather were ordinary men and women who fought to live under a government of their
choice and to drive out those who did not share their views.
Recommended Reading: Valor
in Gray: The Recipients of the Confederate Medal of Honor. Description: Gregg
Clemmer writes in detail about the events that occurred that caused these men to be remembered. He has spent countless hours
researching the character of each recipient and their heroic-selfless actions. Includes the valorous actions of James
Keelen. Continued below...
Whether a descendant of the North or the South, this book will make you feel the emotion that drove these
men to risk their lives for their values and beliefs. Each chapter is devoted to a separate Confederate Medal of Honor recipient.
Valor in Gray is destined to be one of the best books on Civil War history.
Recommended
Reading: East
Tennessee and the Civil War (Hardcover: 588 pages). Description:
A solid social, political, and military history, this work gives light to the rise of the pro-Union and pro-Confederacy factions.
It explores the political developments and recounts in fine detail the military maneuvering and conflicts that occurred. Beginning
with a history of the state's first settlers, the author lays a strong foundation for understanding the values and beliefs
of East Tennesseans.
He examines the rise of abolition and secession, and then advances into the Civil War.
Early in the
conflict, Union sympathizers burned a number of railroad bridges, resulting in occupation by Confederate troops and abuses
upon the Unionists and their families. The author also documents in detail the ‘siege and relief’ of Knoxville.
Although authored by a Unionist, the work is objective in nature and fair in its treatment of the South and the Confederate
cause, complete with a comprehensive index, this work should be in every Civil War library.
Recommended Reading: Touring
the East Tennessee Backroads (Touring the Backroads) (380 pages) (John F Blair Pub; 2 edition) (October 1, 2007).
Description: The historical facts in the first edition of Touring the East Tennessee
Backroads have not changed much since the book was first published in 1993, but highway construction and development has altered
the routes of the 13 tours. For this second edition, the author drove over 3,000 miles to update the tours where people such
as Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett, Sam Houston, Andrew Jackson, Sequoyah, Nancy Ward, and Clarence Darrow once traveled the same
backroads.
Try the Search Engine for Related
Studies: Tennessee Civil War Battles, Railroad Bridge Burners, List of Tennessee Railroad Bridges Burned, The
Battle of Strawberry Plains Bridge Tennessee, Civil War Railroad History, Photo, Picture, Details, Facts
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