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Tennessee's Civil War Battlefields: A Guide to Their History and Preservation

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This book is a joy to read, and will be an invaluable guide to Tennessee batttlefields. Historian Randy Bishop is a gripping writer and thorough researcher. His narrative is interspersed with the words of those, both Union and Confederate, who fought those deadly battles. The battles are presented in chronological sequence, and each is a history within itself. I am glad I stumbled on this book.

TENNESSEE'S CIVIL WAR BATTLEFIELDS: A GUIDE TO THEIR HISTORY AND PRESERVATION

RANDY BISHOP

PELICAN PRESS, 2010

QUALITY SOFTCOVER, $25.00, 440 PAGES, PHOTOGRAPHS, MAPS, ENDNOTES, BIBLIOGRAPHY, INDEX

Admitted to the Union on June 1, 1796, as the 16th state, Tennessee was the last to secede. In answer to Lincoln's call for two regiments for immediate service, Governor Isham Greene Harris had responded that the state wouldn't furnish a single man for purposes of coercion, "but 50,000, if necessary, for the defense of our rights and those of our Southern brothers." Although Eastern Tennessee had many Unionists, a special session of the legislature drew up a declaration of independence which was approved in an election on June 8, 1861, thereby making the state a part of the Confederacy although the word secession wasn't used. Many of the major engagements of the war in the West were fought within the state, among them Fort Donelson, Shiloh or Pittsburgh Landing, Chattanooga, Stones River, Franklin, and Nashville. Tennessee sent 186,652 men to the Confederacy while 31,092 went to the Union. Forrest's cavalry corps, surrendered as part of General Richard Taylor's command on May 9, 1865. It was the last Confederate unit to surrender east of the Mississippi. After Union successes had established military control in the western part of the state, Andrew Johnson served as a military governor. He was inaugurated as President of the United States on April 15, 1865. In June, 1865, he declared the rebellion in Tennessee ended, but a congressional group opposed efforts to readmit the state. After stormy debate, on 24 July 1866, Tennessee, last to secede, was the first to be re-admitted to the Union. Tennessee contains approximately 2,900 recorded sites from The War Between the States. One thousand of these locations are locations of military actions of varying sizes. Today, commercial and residential development threatens the conservation of these sites. This book, TENNESSEE'S CIVIL WAR BATTLEFIELDS: A GUIDE TO THEIR HISTORY AND PRESERVATION is a storehouse of information as it relates to the State of Tennessee. With the 150th Anniversary of The War Between the States approaching in 2011, both students and historians will find this book a useful guide not only to the major engagements in Tennessee but also to the obscure engagements as well.

Lt. Colonel Robert A. Lynn, Florida Guard

Orlando, Florida