Posted on 05/16/2003 6:28:47 AM PDT by stainlessbanner
Kindly accept this note concerning the matter of Tullahoma's having a historic marker celebrating the Army of Tennessee and its headquartering in Tullahoma in the first six months of 1863.
That marker is proposed to be located in the South Jackson Civic Center Park (the Public Square in Tullahoma's original plat and town plan). This note is an explanation of some of the marker's importance to me as a lover of local history and historic preservation, a fan of the Army of Tennessee, a proud Coffee Countian and a booster of Heritage Tourism in our part of Middle Tennessee.
I do think that this is an important historic marker that needs to be located somewhere in that public park area at our civic center. The cost of the marker is being paid from donated funds left over after paying the expenses of Tullahoma's Sesquicentennial Celebration. No city funds are being used.
I am a member of a committee with Dr. Michael Bradley and others concerning the design and location of that Army of Tennessee historic marker. I understand how some will mistakently read a racism issue into this mix because it was a Confederate army, but that should not be a factor in this case.
I am a director of Tennessee's Backroads Heritage, Inc., the heritage tourism booster group in this area, and we have in the last two years printed a very nice brochure and driving trail to make folks aware of the War Between the States activity in the five counties of the Backroads area, identified as The Tullahoma Campaign. The goals of that awareness-building effort include putting the stories about the officers and soldiers who served bravely in both armies in that terrible war (the Confederate Army of Tennessee and the Union Army of the Cumberland) on paper so they will not be forever lost, and to attract heritage tourists to spend a few hours or days and dollars in our area.
We also have new high-quality interpretive signs going up at key sites, thanks to a $40,000 grant from the National Park Service and a preservation consultant from Nashville. The first one can now be seen at the Beech Grove Confederate Cemetery, and it is excellent, as documented in last Sunday's article in The Tullahoma News. One of those new signs has also been created for Tullahoma, and its site has not yet been determined. The South Jackson site is preferred by many of us. You can be sure that Tullahoma is a stop on the driving tour.
This tour also receives boosts in marketing from the Tennessee Department of Tourism, and that group is well aware of our success in putting this area an the tourism map in a significant way. Just go visit Lynchburg or Bell Buckle any day to see what a real effort can do for a town and its citizens.
We in the Backroads group believe that failing to take advantage of the fect that tens of thousands of heritage tourists in our country use part of their vacations to visit Civil War sites and museums and other attractions.
I am also a director of The Historic Preservation Society of Tullahoma. On the historic preservation side, we have put together a Tullahoma Heritage Walking Trail and produced a brochure, with the help of the city on the sign work. Look for the small green signs in the historic parts of Tullahoma. Part of the trail marks activity here when the city was the headquarters of the Army of Tennessee from January 1863 to July, 1863. Including is mention of renowned generals who were here, and the visit by Jefferson Davis. Also noted in front of First National Bank is the 1951 visit of President Truman to dedicate AEDC.
And the noble and ill-starred Army of Tennessee!! What a bunch of fabulous personalities, stories, dedication, and bravery! What unfortunate generalship at the top. To me, people make history, not places or things or dates. And we Tennesseeans and southerners had some great people in that Army. Forrest, Cheatham, Hardee, Cleburne, Sam Davis, Breckenridge, Polk, Todd Carter. An Army with a lot of native Middle Tennesseean soldiers and officers going through the deprivation and horror of that conflict. The same army fighting the battles at Shiloh, Murfreesboro (just before it retreated to Tullahoma for the six months), Chickamauga and Chattanooga and Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge (followed their leaving Tullahoma by about 2 months), Atlanta, Franklin and Nashville. The same army! And they were here, but hardly anyone out there knows it. We have been trying to correct that situation.
I wish we could get a museum for that army started here, but you know how hard that is. That army does not have a city that claims it as its own, so there is a door of opportunity for some city-some city like Tullahoma. And Dr. Bradley maintains an internet site and electronic library at Motlow to house information about the war experiences in this area.
Go to www.motlowcollege.edu and click on the link provided there.
The Tennessee Backroads Heritage website is at www.tennesseebackroads.org
And you can be assured that very few members of that Army were slaveholders or cared anything at all for those who did own slaves. Most soldiers served to run out the Norhern invaders. They were fighting for their homes and right to be independent and leave the Union. The believed in the rights of states to govern themselves, and a weak federal government, right or wrong.
So I think we should welcome this historic marker to a fine bunch of brave men to Tullahoma, and get the public educated about the story and why the marker is good for all our residents and businesses. We need to do much more to make ourselves appealing to heritage tourists, and maybe this marker can help us start.
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