Saving Spring Hill Battlefield

[gunny]

Hey everyone,

Spring Hill is an important place. A battle was fought there on November 29, 1864 that led directly to the slaughter at Franklin the next day. The battle encompassed several areas on the field - some of which are already lost.

A Target occupies the spot where Hiram Granbury's Texans approached Columbia Pike and caused the retirement of a the 36th Illinois and a section of artillery.

Saturn Parkway splits the battlefield from north to south (built in the early 1990s).

The Civil War Preservation Trust helped to save 110 acres in the 1990s, but missed the most important lands.

They again helped preserve land adjacent to "Rippavilla" that was occupied first by Bate's division and later by Johnson's division south of Spring Hill.

However, where the most dramatic fighting of the day took place remains unprotected.

Now, the city wants to build a connector road from Columbia pike to Kedron Road that will split the battlefield again.

Saturn Parkway (an access from point A to B) already provides this access and the new proposed road would be less than a quarter mile north of the current access (Saturn Parkway).

It makes very little sense to me. This new road would obliterate the advance Cleburne's division made on the enemy forces at Spring Hill. The road would run within less than 100 yards of where his division engaged the 42nd Illinois in which that unit lost heavily.

http://www.springhillhomepage.com/p...osed-connector-road-near-battlefield-cms-2197

Please contact the city if you live nearby - or don't live nearby.

 

[mt155]

I took this last summer. The Target store is off to the left of the photo. The Columbia Pike is directly to my back and Saturn Pkwy is to the right of the photo. The view is looking east. Pat Cleburne's men fought and camped in the fields behind the distant tree line on Nov 29, 1863.

 

[ErnieMac]

Great looking photo except for the construction equipment in the background. I guess having Target on the left flank and Saturn Drive on the right pretty much says it all.

 

[mt155]

Great looking photo except for the construction equipment in the background. I guess having Target on the left flank and Saturn Drive on the right pretty much says it all.

Yeah, I took this shot to enter it into the CWPT contest in the Preservation Threats category. I wasn't sure what they were building but I wouldn't be surprised if it was a Walmart to compete with the new Target.

 

[gunny]

It ended up being a Carmike Cinema and a restaurant along side it. The ground that the photo ErnieMac took is of the field just north of Saturn Parkway. Before they cleared this area, it had the old McCutcheon's Trace/military round that ran through it. Bate's right flank passed along that ground and received a lot of artillery fire from near Spring Hill while they drove the 26th Ohio toward the photographer.

Wish I could have been there when they first started clearing ground. There were probably hundreds of artillery fragments littered all over the ground.

I only live about 2 1/2 miles from there.

 

[ErnieMac]

Not my photo (though I wish it was). Need to credit mt155 for that.

 

[gunny]

Ooops!

Mt155! Sorry!

 

[USS ALASKA]

BOMA approves rezone for Crossings multi-use development, USTA sports complex
Jay Powell
The Daily Herald

Spring Hill Crossings is a new mixed-use development aimed to bring retail, residential and recreational space to approximately 213 acres. After many weeks of discussions, the Spring Hill Board of Mayor and Aldermen approved a rezone for a 213-acre planned development adjacent to The Crossings. The proposed development will include a mixture of residential, commercial and office space, as well as a 136,000 square-foot United States Tennis Association sports complex. The proposal also includes plans for 600,000 square feet of commercial space, as well as 1,000 hotel rooms, a 17.37-acre recreational area and approximately 2,150 residential dwelling units. This is particularly pertaining to the site's proximity to land associated with the Civil War significance to the Battle of Spring Hill. "This is a vote that is more than just a rezoning. It's a vote that has a heavily vesting development that's poised to change the complexity and course of our city forever," Nieves said. "The rezone will not only forever alter the historically significant land that is more than just a Civil War battlefield, but an area that is significantly part of America's history, as the BOMA was recently reminded."

Full article can be read here - https://www.columbiadailyherald.com...-development-usta-sports-complex/69747040007/

Cheers,
USS ALASKA