Where to visit?

[anyexcuse]

I am visiting my parents in Nashville TN and would like to spend a day/night/day visiting a battleground. I have visited Stones River, Nashville, Shiloh, Hartsville, Chattenooga, Chickamauga, Ft Donelson. I plan to visit Franklin on a day trip with my parents.

Should I go to Perrryville, Ft Henry, Champions Hill, Vicksburg, Corinth, The Overland Campagin, Spring Hill? Others within an easy day drive from Nashville?
I guess I'm not sure how far it is to the Vicksburg area from TN. Thanks for any help you can give on any interesting, well preserved historic places!
R E Hansen

 

[larry_cockerham]

Your next stop after Franklin, which I certainly encourage, is Murfreesboro out 840 about a 20 minute drive east from Franklin. The Stones River Battlefield is worth a visit, a national park. From there a quick stop perhaps at Hoover's Gap about 15-20 miles down (east/south) on I-24 from Murfreesboro. Site of an 1863 battle. Chattanooga and the Chickamauga National Park are well worth the visit, though about 1-1/2 to 2 hrs one way from Nashville. Welcome to our town! (If you go to Murfreesboro, also stop at Old Fort Park on Higway 96 near downtown at the Stones River. This is the site of the huge Fortress Rosecrans, the Federal depository during the later part of the war. There was also a battle there Dec. 7, 1864 called the Battle of the Cedars. Forrest and Bates vs. Rousseau and Milroy. About 16,000 men engaged for a couple of hours. I also recommend a stop at Ft. Negley on the hill beside the children's museum on Chestnut St. near downtown. This is a massive federal stone fortress, or at least what's left of it. There is a visitor center there as well. We hope you enjoy yourself and come back soon with some more tourist dollars!

 

[bama46]

I concur with Larry... I think that for you to head west from all the places you can see around Nashville will be biting off a little more than most can chew. Last month a number of friends and I went to Vicksburg, Corinth and Shiloh..
We were gone a week and were extremely pressed to see all we wanted to see...
There is a lot to see in Tenn, Alabama, and Mississippi

Ed

 

[ole]

Should I go to Perrryville, Ft Henry, Champions Hill, Vicksburg, Corinth, The Overland Campagin, Spring Hill? Others within an easy day drive from Nashville?

Ft. Henry is under water, but a lot of Ft. Donelson is still there. There isn't much to see in Spring Hill except some of the remaining open vistas, but all alone without guidance renders the location iffy. All the others, as bama said, would be out of reach.

Franklin can be thoroughly explored in a long day (no overnight required). Fort Grainger, Winstead Hill, the Carter House, the McGavock home (Carnton), and a charming downtown can easily take the whole day. Save Vicksburg for more than a full day on the ground; plus travel time, you're looking at a week being gone from Minnesota. It's about 12 hours hard driving from here just south of Chicago, and from here we're starting on one of the only ways to get through Memphis. (Last I looked, I-35 goes to Kansas City.)

Have fun.

Ole

 

[anyexcuse]

Ft. Henry is under water, but a lot of Ft. Donelson is still there. There isn't much to see in Spring Hill except some of the remaining open vistas, but all alone without guidance renders the location iffy. All the others, as bama said, would be out of reach.

Franklin can be thoroughly explored in a long day (no overnight required). Fort Grainger, Winstead Hill, the Carter House, the McGavock home (Carnton), and a charming downtown can easily take the whole day. Save Vicksburg for more than a full day on the ground; plus travel time, you're looking at a week being gone from Minnesota. It's about 12 hours hard driving from here just south of Chicago, and from here we're starting on one of the only ways to get through Memphis. (Last I looked, I-35 goes to Kansas City.)

Have fun.

Ole

Thanks, all.
I will be in Nashville from June 28-July 3rd. (9 day vacation from MN). I could take a day drive from Nashville somewhere and stay at a motel and drive back the next day. Sounds like Vicksburg, etc would be too much. Franklin sounds like a good idea. I didn't know Ft Henry was under water. I didn't know of the warehouse in Murphreesboro. I've been to Stones River and Negley, but could visit again. Thanks much!

 

[anyexcuse]

Your next stop after Franklin, which I certainly encourage, is Murfreesboro out 840 about a 20 minute drive east from Franklin. The Stones River Battlefield is worth a visit, a national park. From there a quick stop perhaps at Hoover's Gap about 15-20 miles down (east/south) on I-24 from Murfreesboro. Site of an 1863 battle. Chattanooga and the Chickamauga National Park are well worth the visit, though about 1-1/2 to 2 hrs one way from Nashville. Welcome to our town! (If you go to Murfreesboro, also stop at Old Fort Park on Higway 96 near downtown at the Stones River. This is the site of the huge Fortress Rosecrans, the Federal depository during the later part of the war. There was also a battle there Dec. 7, 1864 called the Battle of the Cedars. Forrest and Bates vs. Rousseau and Milroy. About 16,000 men engaged for a couple of hours. I also recommend a stop at Ft. Negley on the hill beside the children's museum on Chestnut St. near downtown. This is a massive federal stone fortress, or at least what's left of it. There is a visitor center there as well. We hope you enjoy yourself and come back soon with some more tourist dollars!

Thanks!
I stay with my parents in Hermitage when in the Nashville area, but it seems I manage to contribute to your economy plenty. The north may have won, but the south has most of the battlefields to bring in at least some tourist money, some of mine, anyway.

 

[larry_cockerham]

Thanks!
I stay with my parents in Hermitage when in the Nashville area, but it seems I manage to contribute to your economy plenty. The north may have won, but the south has most of the battlefields to bring in at least some tourist money, some of mine, anyway.

Haven't you heard. It ain't over! (just kiddin?) Actually I think there were few if any wins in the American Civil War.

 

[civilwarbuglertn]

If you are at Stones River Saturday about 2, I think we are haveing a dress rehearsal of our cemetary tour were we tell stories of the soldiers that are buried there in their own words.

 

[anyexcuse]

Haven't you heard. It ain't over! (just kiddin?) Actually I think there were few if any wins in the American Civil War.

Is there anything to see and learn from the Tullahoma campaign still around? Anything by Shelbyville or Manchester or anything? I don't know a lot of this campaign, but am willing to learn.

 

[larry_cockerham]

The battle of Hoover's Gap site is worth a visit. The second exit south on I-24 from Murfreesboro, about twenty minutes. Do some reading on that one. Richard Young, who's on this forum most of the time is an 'expert' on this battle and the 1863 campaign. There is a cemetery there, well maintained and markers, monuments to both Union and Confederate. This is the Bell Buckle exite from I-24, but go immediately east rather than west. Tullahoma and Manchester don't have much to show (there is a Confederate graveyard in Tullahoma, though I'm not familiar with it).. Several of Michael R. Bradley's books deal with the 1863 campaign. He can easily be found on Amazon. Anything he has written is worth the read. Dr. Bradley lives in Tullahoma and had a long career teaching history at Motlow State nearby. He is currently Division Commander of the SCV in Tennessee.