Old newspaper brings Civil War battle to life

This map, from the front page of the July 1, 1863 New York Herald, shows the positions of Confederate troops in Bedford County during the Battles of Liberty and Hoover's Gap. (T-G Photo by Brian Mosely) [Click to enlarge]

News of the time was delivered to editors either by telegraph or via letters dispatched from the front by various war correspondents.

But in the July 1, 1863 edition of the New York Herald, readers were able to glean the latest details from the western battlefront -- in Bedford County, where the battles of Library Gap and Hoover's Gap had taken place a few days earlier.

Shelbyville, Wartrace, Normandy, Fosterville, Middleton and Beech Grove are all depicted on a map that graces the front page of that edition, with contains the positions of Union and Confederate troops, outposts and creeks. A full report from the Union army could be found on page 10.

Many area residents know the history of that Civil War battle, but to read accounts written at the time it happened gives a new perspective.

Work related hobby

I began collecting rare and historic newspapers around the first of this year, after I acquired three pieces: two Philadelphia papers from 1801 and one from 1863 containing a front page story about the battle of Murfreesboro.

But I thought that if one northern newspaper still existed with details of local Civil War battles, there had to be others, so I began to build my collection with an eye for hunting down these historic reports.

I've been slowly gathering the old issues, looking for unique historical reports and rare editions, but through it all, there was one paper I was looking for -- an edition with details of the Tullahoma Campaign. But finding a paper with a local report could prove difficult, since the more famous events at Gettysburg and Vicksburg took place at the same time.

The Tullahoma Campaign began immediately following The Battle of Stones River in Murfreesboro in January 1863 and continued until the start of the Battle of Chickamauga in September of that year.

The Battle of Liberty Gap, which was reenacted earlier this year between Wartrace and Bell Buckle, was part of the Tullahoma Campaign. Union General Rosecrans, who commanded the Army of the Cumberland, had approximately 60,000 soldiers facing Confederate General Bragg, who led 47,000 soldiers.

The federals were scattered in and around Liberty Gap and Hoover's Gap, while the Confederate forces were stationed in Shelbyville and Wartrace with the rebel headquarters in Tullahoma. Confederate States Corps Commander William J. Hardee was headquartered at Beechwood, now known as BeechWood Farm, on Highway 269 near Wartrace.

Editorial bias

News reports of that time were full of overtly patriotic verbiage, in papers published on both sides of the Mason-Dixon line, and the New York Herald was no exception.

The headline "IMPORTANT FROM TENNESSEE" can be seen in the middle of page 10, with colorful subheads such as "Brilliant Success of the Union Forces," "The Rebels Driven Back with Great Losses" and "Rebel Accounts of the Late Battles at Hoover's and Liberty Gaps."

The first part of the Herald report is dated June 28, from the headquarters of the Army of the Cumberland at Beech Grove, and begins with "The military authorities now permit the announcement that the Army of the Cumberland has been engaged in a general forward movement since the 14th instant."

Heavy rain had set in during the campaign and orders "could not be as rapidly executed as expected," but the unaccredited writer says that movement of the different columns "over the several roads leading southward from Murfreesboro progress satisfactorily."

"Whenever the rebels advanced bodies have been met by our troops they were vigorously pushed back with severe punishment," the story read.

Hoover's and Liberty Gap

Under a subhead titled "The Rebels Driven Back with Great Loss," the first details of the Battle of Hoover's Gap became known to New York readers.

"Colonel Wilder's mounted infantry had a very heavy skirmish at this point on the 24th, in which he drove a superior force of infantry from its position, inflicting a loss, with his Spencer rifle guns, of several hundred killed and wounded, while his own was between forty and fifty."

This was one of the first times that a repeating rifle had been used in battle against the muzzle-loading rifled muskets of the south, and the impact of the new weapon was obvious.

"The advance of General McCook's corps, Willichs' brigade of General Johnson's division, drove two regiments of infantry and a battery of artillery, on the same day, in gallant style from a very strong position at Liberty Gap ..." the report continues, listing losses of Union officers.

"On the afternoon of the 25th the greater part of Clayburn's division attacked our pickets at the same point," the 145-year-old report reads. "Willich's and Wilder's brigades, of Johnson's division, and General Carter's brigade, of Davis' division, promptly engaged the enemy in succession, and after an action of about an hour utterly routed them."

The report continues with details of the aftermath, claiming the rebels had left their dead, wounded, and prisoners "with the battle flag of the Second Arkansas in our hands."

"General Mitchell's cavalry had a spirited engagement on the Shelbyville Pike on the 24th, resulting in the rout of the enemy," it reads. "Notwithstanding the great hardships imposed by the sorry condition of the road, the troops are in high spirits and full of eagerness to meet the enemy."

"The purposes of the enemy have been developed. The indications are that the enemy will not fight this side of the Duck river."

MONDAY: Reports and over-the-top verbiage describe the area's historic battle.