Michael Clinton Oliver

The Civil War in Grundy County and Southern Middle Tennessee Michael Clinton Oliver

Grundy County, Tennessee and surrounding areas suffered under the occupation of the Confederate and Union forces for most of the Civil War. Though no major battles were fought here, the are was important for several strategic reasons. Nathan Bedford Forrest, along with Tennessee governor Isham Harris, planned Forrest's famous raid on Murfreesboro in Beersheba Springs. The Confederate raid on the Union garrison at Tracy City created a flurry of troop movement to protect the coal mines and Union supply depot. The bridge over the Elk River at Pelham was one of the most important strategic sites in the battle for Tennessee. Once Colonel John Wilder, equipped with repeating rifles, seized the bridge over the rain swollen Elk River at Pelham, Braxton Bragg knew he could not defend Tullahoma, and the Army of Tennessee retreated over the mountain to Chattanooga. Bushwhackers and deserters roamed the sparsely populated mountains and coves. Calvin Brixey, the most notorious of the bunch, caused much death and destruction. It would be years before the area would recover.