Hello,

The next meeting of the Clarksville (TN) Civil War Roundtable will be on Wednesday, September 18th, 2024 at Fort Defiance Interpretive Center, our new home, 120 Duncan Street, off New Providence Blvd. Turn onto Walker Street off New Providence Blvd. and then onto Duncan Street. There are site markers on New Providence Blvd above and below the park.

The meeting begins at 7:00 pm and is always open to the public.

Our Speaker and Topic – ”Cumberland Gap in the Civil War”

The Cumberland Gap has been a vital route through the Appalachian Mountains for thousands of years, taking a prominent role in Native American trade routes, as a gateway for Daniel Boone and over 300,000 settlers to travel into Kentucky, and by the time of the Civil War, a major route for invasion for the Union and the Confederacy.

Fortified by both sides and changing hands during the war, the Gap was an interesting site that was part of the 1862 Kentucky Campaign when the Confederates tried to isolate its Union garrison; a battle at Tazewell fought to the south of the gap along with Wildcat Mountain in 1861 north of it. And yet when U.S. Grant was promoted to commanding general of the Union Army in 1864 he ordered it to be abandoned.

Our speaker this month, Dr. Lucas Wilder, will tell the fascinating story of Cumberland Gap's history in the Civil War, from its earliest Confederate occupiers to the incredible Union campaign to capture it in 1863. He tells the stories of curious soldiers exploring a cave, horrible deaths by falling rocks, dangerous bushwhackers, and mutinous Confederates in this thrilling account of Cumberland Gap and the Civil War. Dr. Lucas teaches at Lincoln Memorial University and works with Cumberland Gap National Historical Park.