The next meeting of the Nashville (TN) Civil War Roundtable will be on Tuesday, October 17th, 2023, in the visitor’s center of Ft. Negley Park, a unit of Metro Parks, Nashville, TN. This is located at 1100 Fort Negley Blvd. off I-65 just south of downtown between 4th Avenue South and 8th Avenue South on Edgehill Avenue/Chestnut Avenue. Take Exit 81, Wedgewood Avenue, off I-65 and follow the signs to the Science Museum.
The meeting begins at 7:00 PM and is always open to the public. Members please bring a friend or two – new recruits are always welcomed.
July is our fiscal year so please plan on paying your membership dues at this meeting if you missed that. Without dues we cannot get speakers and programs so please support the Nashville CWRT.
Our Speaker and Topic – “Logistics in U.S. Grant’s Vicksburg Campaign”
Union General U.S. Grant set his sights on Vicksburg starting in December 1862. His troops would move down the railroad from west Tennessee towards Jackson, Mississippi and then turn west towards the fortified Confederate city. In the meantime, General William T. Sherman’s corps would move down the Mississippi River and attack Vicksburg at Chickasaw Bluffs which was directly north of the city. Grant’s goal was to hit the Confederates on two sides and squeeze out a victory.
Confederate reinforcements sent from Bragg’s army in Middle Tennessee along with Confederate cavalry raids by Earl van Dorn and Nathan Bedford Forrest, cut Grant’s railroad supply line forcing him to abandon his maneuver while entrenched Confederates stopped Sherman cold. Vicksburg 1.0 was a failure. But Grant already had other plans in the works including using the river itself with secure US Navy power and transports to move his needed supplies south, set up a supply point in Louisiana and draw from there for the campaign. While Vicksburg would not fall until July 4, 1864, it was Grant’s multi-faceted planning and his mastery of logistics that would bring him the victory.
Our speaker this month is Dr. Philip Kemmerly, retired professor from Austin Peay State University. The program is based on his recent essay in the journal “Military History,” a prestigious military history publication for which he won an award this year.