The next meeting of the Middle Tennessee Civil War Round Table is scheduled for Tuesday, October 17, 2006 (7:00 P.M.) at Bradley Academy. Anyone interested in open discussion of the Civil War topics with a local flavor are welcome to attend.

This month’s featured speaker is Jamie Gillum, a local historian and author of "The Battle of Spring Hill: Twenty-Five Hours To Tragedy." He will present a program based on his findings from his twelve years of research into the Battle of Spring Hill and the perplexing series of events that allowed Union forces to escape a potentially deadly trap on the evening of November 29, 1864.

Spring Hill was the prelude to the Battle of Franklin. On the night of November 28, 1864, Gen. John Bell Hood’s Army of Tennessee marched toward Spring Hill to get astride Maj. Gen. John M. Schofield’s Union army’s lifeline.

Cavalry skirmishing between Brig. Gen. James H. Wilson’s Union cavalry and Maj. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest’s Confederate troopers continued throughout the day as the Confederates advanced. On November 29, Hood’s infantry crossed Duck River and converged on Spring Hill. In the meantime, Maj. Gen. Schofield reinforced the troops holding the crossroads at Spring Hill. In late afternoon, the Federals repulsed a piecemeal Confederate infantry attack.

During the night, the rest of Schofield’s command passed from Columbia through Spring Hill to Franklin. This was, perhaps, Hood’s best chance to isolate and defeat the Union army. The engagement has been described as “one of the most controversial non-fighting events of the entire war."

The Middle Tennessee Civil War Round Table meets every third Tuesday of the month at Bradley Academy, located on Academy Street in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Membership applications are available at each meeting. Membership costs $10 per year for individuals and $15 for families. All meetings are open to the public regardless of membership status. Each meeting will include time for interested parties to share stories and memorabilia from the Civil War era with the membership.

For more information, visit our web site at http://www.mtcwrt.org or contact Jim Lewis at 615-890-1926 (before 8 PM) or by e-mail at lewisjb66@comcast.net.