1864 Civil War Map -
West Nashville to Dickson, TN
By DJ Hutcherson
December 8, 2024
The Civil War era map shown below was created in 1864, and depicts the routes traversed by The Nashville & Northwestern Railroad and The Charlotte Turnpike in Northern Middle Tennessee. The map also includes the paths of many of the smaller, less traveled roads and wagon trails, as well as the names of some of the families who were living in the area at the time the map was created.
I have selected only a small section of a much larger map that depicts nearly all of Middle Tennessee. In order to more easily see the smaller details shown on the map, the portion of the bigger map that I have selected shows a smaller region of Middle Tennessee. This area includes West Nashville and Western Davidson County, the Southern half of Cheatham County, and the Eastern section of Dickson County.
I have highlighted the routes of the Nashville & Northwestern Railroad and the Charlotte Turnpike just to make them easier to see and follow. The orange boundary lines I have drawn indicate my best estimates of where the borders of Cheatham County would be located on this map, with Davidson County to the east, and Dickson County to the west. Below the map, I have added some historical information about the Nashville & Northwestern Railroad, as well as more on the history of the Charlotte Turnpike.
(Click on the map below to enlarge & use your fingers
to zoom in and out if you are viewing this on your phone or tablet)
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| 1864 Civil War map of the country traversed by the Nashville & Northwestern Railroad (in yellow) and The Charlotte Turnpike (in blue) |
* The Nashville & Northwestern Railroad is shown n Yellow
* The Charlotte Turnpike is shown in Blue
* The approximate locations of several cities/towns are shown in RED
* The approximate boundaries of Cheatham County are shown in ORANGE
About The Map -
This map was drawn in 1864 by Union topographical engineer Lt. Col. H. C. Wharton showing landowner's names, detailed road system, topography, mills, with notes as to land and road quality. Map covers a portion of Middle Tennessee west of Nashville covered by the Nashville and Northwestern Railroad, and south of Nashville following the Nashville, Decatur and Stevenson Railroad and the Duck River from Columbia to its mouth. Issued by command of Major General George H. Thomas. The map basically stretches from Nashville south to Columbia and west to the Tennessee River. The new Federal depot and supply installation at Johnsonville is shown. Scale is one half inch equals a mile. Color present along some railroad and water routes.
Wharton was a graduate of West Point who served with the U.S. Engineers as Chief Topographical Engineer in the Department of the Cumberland. Such detailed engineer's maps conveyed vital information to Federal troops entering an unfamiliar area, such as inhabitants' names, locations of mills, iron furnaces, blacksmith shops, and notations of good and bad roads and fords.
To view the complete map in its entirety, click on the link below to be taken to the Tennessee State Library and Archives website -
https://teva.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p15138coll23/id/109/rec/52
Copy and paste the link below into your internet browser to be taken to The Tennessee State Library & Archives website where you can view their collection of historic maps online -
https://teva.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p15138coll23/search
More on the History of
The Nashville & Northwestern Railroad
Surveying The Proposed Route
In 1851, assistant engineer and land surveyor for The Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad Company, George Hazelhurst, submitted to his superior, Chief Engineer of the company, Jas. H. Grant, his completed survey of the land between Nashville and "a point in the Northwest corner of the State" on the Mississippi River where the proposed route of the new railroad was to be located.
In his report, he describes in detail the most challenging topography that would be encountered by any one of the possible routes he found most appealing. These obstacles would have to be either be avoided completely or tackled head on in order to complete the entire route.
The kind of obstacles that any proposed route would encounter includes major rivers (In this case the Harpeth River in particular) and difficult terrain, such as steep inclines and ridges, as well as low areas and valleys.
The image below is only a portion of his lengthy report, and describes the location of the route he felt would be the easiest, least expensive, and most expeditious to complete. The portion of the route he discusses below spans from Richland Creek in the east, westward along the Harpeth River, to the mouth of Turnbull Creek in Kingston Springs, all the way to portions of Dickson County in the west.
(Click on the article below to enlarge and zoom in if necessary)
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| Portion of the 1851 Hazelhurst Survey of the proposed route of the new railroad. |
The Civil War era photograph (circa 1863 - 1865) above shows a westbound Nashville & Northwestern Railroad photographic train as it crosses over the Sullivan's Branch railroad trestle, located about a mile and a half west of Kingston Springs, TN, and around a half a mile east of Craggie Hope, TN. Photographic trains such as this one were used by federal forces to take photographs of bridges, trestles, , buildings, and various other facilities located along the railroad . The specially designed railroad car seen in this picture behind the locomotive with a person standing on top was outfitted as a traveling studio. This particular trestle was known as Sullivan's Branch Bridge #2. A redoubt had been built in close proximity to the eastern end of the trestle. Such redoubts were usually constructed in locations near the most strategically important and vulnerable infrastructure along the railroad, including bridges, tunnels, stations, various other structures, and even sections of the track itself. Redoubts were intended to guard railroad property from attacks by bands of Confederate guerillas who sought to inflict as much damage and destruction they possibly could.
The following paragraphs come from The American Battlefield Trust's website. The link to this website can be found below.
Kingston Springs and the 12th USCT
As the Civil War began the Nashville and Northwestern Railroad (NNWRR) set aside plans to lay tracks west of Kingston Springs. After the Union seized the railroad and began extending the line to the Tennessee River in late 1863, the 12th United States Colored Troops (USCT) regiment headquartered here on and off through December 1865.
Many who joined the 12th USCT self-emancipated by running to Union lines around Nashville. Some of these men, along with enslaved African Americans who were leased to the Union by their masters or captured while supporting Confederate troops, were first pressed into service involuntarily as civilians or soldiers. Upon arriving in Kingston Springs in October 1863, these soldiers joined Black and Irish laborers digging cuts, laying track, and building bridges. Today, you can see the remnants stone piers which held one of X bridges across the Harpeth River they likely guarded and built or rebuilt about a half mile away at L.L. Burns Park canoe/kayak launch.Upon arriving in Kingston Springs in October 1863, these soldiers joined Black and Irish laborers digging cuts, laying track, and building bridges. Today, you can see the remnants stone piers which held one of X bridges across the Harpeth River they likely guarded and built or rebuilt about a half mile away at L.L. Burns Park canoe/kayak launch.
They also protected the rails under construction and the critical military traffic which flowed between Johnsonville and Nashville beginning in May 1864. Soldiers of the 12th joined other units in pursuing Confederate raiders who in October 1864 repeatedly tore up tracks, burned woodpiles, derailed engines, and attacked train and repair crews between Kingston Springs and Mile Post 42. Today, you can see the abandoned railroad bed these troops built and defended along the Baker Cemetery Trail in Montgomery Bell State Park eleven miles west.
The 12th USCT left Kingston Springs to fight valiantly in the Battles of Johnsonville and Nashville, returning here in January 1865. Some survivors of the guerillas and the battles died of disease in the Kingston springs regimental hospital leaving no burial records. Others lived on as free citizens and veterans.
They also protected the rails under construction and the critical military traffic which flowed between Johnsonville and Nashville beginning in May 1864. Soldiers of the 12th joined other units in pursuing Confederate raiders who in October 1864 repeatedly tore up tracks, burned woodpiles, derailed engines, and attacked train and repair crews between Kingston Springs and Mile Post 42. Today, you can see the abandoned railroad bed these troops built and defended along the Baker Cemetery Trail in Montgomery Bell State Park eleven miles west.
Source - https://www.battlefields.org/visit/heritage-sites/kingston-springs-and-12th-usct
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| "Big Harpeth Bridge No. 7" Kingston Springs, TN |
The following is an excerpt from from a series of Union correspondences sent and received by Union Officers from May 1, 1865 to the end of the war, as well as the postwar years.
Office of Chief Engineer, U.S. Military Railroads
Washington D.C., April 24, 1866
General D.C. McCallum
Director and General Manager, Military U.S. Railroads
| The railroad was seventy-eight miles long and extends from Nashville to the Tennessee River at Johnsonville. It was partly built before the war. On the 22d of October, 1863, the Secretary of War ordered this road to be constructed for "military purposes," and placed it in charge of Andrew Johnson, then Military Governor of Tennessee, who was empowered to "employ an engineer and other officers and workmen necessary to complete it without delay." Col. W. P. Innes was acting as engineer at the time the railroads in this military division were taken charge of by the U. S. Military Railroad Department, and had a considerable forces of soldiers and civilian laborers employed on the road. But as the work was not progressing to the satisfaction of the general commanding, he relieved Colonel Innes and placed the construction of the road in your charge. This order of General Grant's was given on the 17th of February, 1864, and on the 25th of the same month I received your order directing me to adopt the most energetic means at my command to complete the Nashville & Northwestern Railroad. I at once made an examination of the work to be done and found it to consist of a rather formidable amount of grading, bridging, track laying, and other work incident to the construction of a new railroad, and proceeded to take the necessary steps to complete the work as directed. I appointed Lieut. Col. John Clark engineer of construction, and by General Grant's direction sent North for 2,000 mechanics and laborers in addition to the force then on the road. Some time after we had got fairly under way Governor Johnson, claiming the right under the above-mentioned order of the Secretary of War to appoint an engineer, also selected Colonel Clark, who then filled this double position until the work of construction was so far completed that the track was connected through, an event which took place on the 10th day of May, 1864. Governor Johnson continued to exercise semi-control over the operations on this road until it was formally taken possession of by General Sherman and placed absolutely under the control of the general manager of military railroads, in accordance with the order of the President of the United States dated August 6, 1864. The Transportation Department then took charge of the movements of trains, and the maintenance of way, together with construction work, remained in my department.
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| On the 20th of August I appointed W. R. Kingsley, esq. (who had been connected with the road as division engineer since April), engineer in charge of construction and maintenance of way. He continued to perform the duties of this position faithfully and satisfactorily until the 1st of April, 1865, when, all construction work being done, the maintenance of way was turned over to the transportation department. The line of this road as originally located crossed the Tennessee River nearly perpendicular to the course of that stream and at an elevation of fifty-two feet above low water and nine feet above high water. The approach to the river was an embankment seventeen feet high above the surface of the ground on the river bank. The object of making this a military railroad being the transportation of army supplies from the Tennessee River to Nashville, it became necessary to construct ample and convenient arrangements for the transfer of freight from steam-boats to cars. Accordingly two large transfer freight-houses were designed and built, one on each side of the railroad, with tracks starting from main line at the bluff and curving right and left until parallel with the buildings and river bank. The freight-house or shed on the north or lower side, 600 feet long by 30 feet wide, was hastily knocked up so as to bring it into immediate use, and the levee in front graded off to the water's edge with a slope of 9 degrees or about 16 feet rise in 100 feet horizontal. The freight-house on south side, 600 feet long and 90 feet wide, was a much more complete building. The floor was two feet and a half above high-water mark and the levee in front graded to a slope of 14 degrees, on which it was designed to lay railroad tracks from low-water mark to floor of freight-house. The plan for transferring freight from steam-boats to cars was to load from the boats onto small cars, which were hauled up the levee to the level of the freight-house floor by a wire rope passing round a pulley or spool, which was dropped into or lifted out of gear with the main shaft by a lever. This main shaft was 500 feet long and passed through the center of the building immediately below the floor or platform and was operated by an engine located in the middle of the building. The freight was then passed directly through the building and loaded into cars on the opposite side. The levee was of sufficient length to allow at least four or five boats to unload at the same time, and the side tracks were so arranged that a whole train of cars could be loaded at once, and as soon as loaded could be moved away and another train run right alongside the house. This plan would undoubtedly have enable us to handle a large amount of freight with great rapidity and ease, but we had not the opportunity of bringing it to a practical test, for just as everything was about completed Hood's invasion of Tennessee took place and Johnsonville was evacuated by our troops, and during their absence the freight-house was burned, as is supposed, by rebel sympathizers in the neighborhood. However, the engine and all the most valuable parts of the machinery were saved by being taken to Nashville. | ||
| All could have been saved if we had had sufficient transportation for it. Although the road was opened through to Johnsonville after Hood's defeat at Nashville, but little work was done in rebuilding the houses and platforms at that point. Grading off the levee involved considerable work; about 30,000 cubic yards of earth had to be moved. It was designed to pave it, or put on a covering of broken stone, but owing to the delay in furnishing gun-boat protection to our boats, which were to bring stone down the river for this purpose, the work was but partially carried out. A row of piles were to have been driven at the edge of the water to protect the levee and prevent its washing away at time of floods, but the pile driver for this purpose never reached Johnsonville. It is but proper for me to state here that the work on the buildings and levee at Johnsonville was much delayed by the confusion and embarrassment caused by the conflict of authority incident to a divided control of the work. | ||
| The amount of grading was very considerable, but I am unable to give the number of cubic yards moved, because when we took charge of this road I had no time to measure it, and I had no assistants to do it for me. By the time I procured the requisite assistance much of the work had been done. Thorough cuts of as much as forty and fifty feet in depth and 800 feet in length were taken out and high embankments made. Even where the grading had been done previously much labor was required to dress up the embankments and clean out the cuts. The information in the previous paragraphs come from the following website - https://www.csa-railroads.com/Nashville_and_Northwestern.htm More on the history of The Charlotte Turnpike By DJ Hutcherson This following information comes directly from my other blog post about the Charlotte Turnpike. In 1804, James Robertson cut the path of what would later be known as the Nashville - Charlotte Turnpike, often referred to as the Charlotte Road or Charlotte Pike. At that time, Robertson owned several iron furnaces, including several in Dickson County near the town of Charlotte, which he named after his wife, Charlotte Robertson. Two years after the road was completed, The Nashville Impartial Review newspaper, dated July 12th, 1806, announced various mail routes in Middle Tennessee, including the opening of a mail route on the Charlotte Pike. In 1829, the road was purchased by The Nashville - Charlotte Turnpike Company, which had been charted that year. This marked the beginning of toll booth operations along parts of the road, officially making it a turnpike. The company was owned by Jetton, Walker & Co.
After becoming a turnpike road in the 1830's, it was the main stagecoach route between Nashville and Charlotte. According to an ad in a Nashville newspaper, stages would leave Nashville every Friday at 6 A.M., and arrive in Charlotte by noon, meaning it took around 6 hours to travel the entire length of the road at that time. (Approximately 35 - 40 miles) That same year, a newspaper advertisement appeared in The Arkansas Gazette of February 2nd, 1830. The ad announces the start of stagecoach service between Nashville and Memphis, with operations set to begin in January 1830. The stage coaches would run 3 days a week. The ad states that the coaches were lead by a team of four horses, and that the coaches were "fitted up in "superior style" for the passengers. (see photo below) By the 1840s, at least 2 tollgates had been established on the turnpike. The first was located 6 miles or so from Nashville on top of the first of several ridges, known as Sullivan's Ridge. For many years, Samuel Adkisson, the stone cutter and engineer who had helped Montgomery Bell excavate the tunnel at the Narrows of the Harpeth in 1818, operated the 2nd tollgate along the road near his home on Dog Creek. It was located in the area where Dog Creek Cemetery is today. With the advent and rapid construction of railroads by the 1850s, traffic along turnpike roads in Middle Tennessee sharply declined, including the amount of traffic on the Charlotte Pike. The decline was mainly the result of the construction of The Nashville & Northwestern Railroad, which offered travelers a faster, easier, and more comfortable mode of transportation, when compared to traveling by stagecoach. The railroad had been completed from Nashville to Kingston Springs by the beginning of the Civil War, and later to Dickson in 1863. The trip between Dickson and Nashville took only 3 hours or so by train, while it was still around a 6 hour journey by stagecoach on the turnpike. From the late 1860's up until the turn of the century, travelers along the road could stop for a rest or an overnight stay at Nichol's Inn, located near Sullivan's Ridge. It was owned and operated by Lydia Nichols, whose husband was killed while fighting for the Confederacy during the Civil War. The large orchard that surrounded the Inn was famous for its apples and pears. The structure still stands to this day on Old Charlotte pike, one mile from the first climb up Sullivan's Ridge. The entire length of the road was still traversable up until the 1920s\30's, but after the construction of the new Memphis - Bristol Highway (Highway 70) was completed in 1926, some sections of the old Charlotte Road were bypassed by the highway and cut off or closed to traffic, including the section between the end of Dog Creek Road and Sam's Creek Road. After passing through Shacklett headed west, the route of the new highway generally followed the old route of the Charlotte Turnpike between Shacklett and White Bluff. Some sections of the old road can still be seen, especially on each side of the long straight stretch of the Highway just before entering White Bluff. |
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