Military

The 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) has been since the 1960s the single major military force stationed--if only partially--in Tennessee. The unit boasts an illustrious combat record and is one of the U.S. Army's most potent quick reaction forces. Formed…

William R. Anderson, U.S. Navy captain and congressman, is best known as the commander of the submarine USS Nautilus during the first underwater crossing of the North Pole in 1958. Anderson was born on June 17, 1921, in the Sycamore…

The Army of Tennessee, known by various names in the course of its existence, was the Confederacy's principal army on the western front. From the Appalachian Mountains to the Mississippi River, this force fought most of the major battles that…

Located on thirty-nine thousand wooded acres in Coffee and Franklin Counties, AEDC is the world's most diverse complex of aerospace ground simulation test facilities and one of the most unusual U.S. Air Force installations. Approximately three thousand civilian scientists and…

Attakullakulla was a powerful eighteenth-century Overhill Cherokee leader who played a critical and decisive role in shaping diplomatic, trade, and military relationships with the British Colonial governments of South Carolina and Virginia for over fifty years. He effectively led and…

William B. Bate, lawyer, Confederate general, governor, and U.S. senator, was born at Castalian Springs in Sumner County on October 7, 1826, the son of James H. Bate and Anna Weathered Bate. His education was limited to a few years…

The engagement at Bean’s Station developed as a result of Confederate General James Longstreet’s retreat into East Tennessee following his repulse at Knoxville. Longstreet’s First Corps was detached from the Army of Tennessee following the Battle of Chickamauga to retake…

Beechlawn, on Pulaski Pike (U.S. 31) south of Columbia, is one of southern Middle Tennessee's most imposing Greek Revival homes, distinguished by a full-temple front supported by four monumental Ionic columns. The house was built in 1853 for Major A.…

Big Hill Pond State Park is located at the junction of the Tuscumbia River and the Hatchie State Scenic River in southwest McNairy County. Containing over 4,200 acres and featuring scenic wetlands, timberland, hardwood bottom land, the park centers on…

Braxton Bragg, controversial commander of the Army of Tennessee from June 1862 to December 1863, was born in Warrenton, North Carolina, on March 21, 1817. He attended West Point and graduated fifth in the class of 1837. Bragg fought against…

The village of Brentwood, situated between Nashville and Franklin on the Nashville & Decatur (also called the Tennessee & Alabama) Railroad, was a strategic supply depot and source of food and livestock for the Union army during its operations in…

John Calvin Brown, Confederate general and governor, was born in Giles County on January 6, 1827, to Duncan and Margaret (Smith) Brown. He was the younger brother of former governor Neill S. Brown. After graduating from Jackson College in Columbia,…

Camp Blount is one of the few historical sites in Tennessee associated with the War of 1812. Situated along the banks of the Elk River in Fayetteville (Lincoln County), Camp Blount served as the rendezvous point and mustering ground for…

Camp Forrest, at Tullahoma, was one of the largest U.S. Army training bases during World War II. The camp served as a training facility for eleven infantry divisions, two battalions of Rangers, numerous medical and supply units, and a number…

Camp Tyson was the nation's only World War II barrage balloon training center. Established at Paris, Henry County, the camp trained servicemen to fly, build, and repair barrage balloons, which were helium- or hydrogen-filled balloons measuring thirty-five feet in diameter…

Arthur Campbell, a political and military leader in Virginia and frontier Tennessee, was born in Augusta County, Virginia, on November 3, 1743. A band of Wyandotte Indians captured fifteen-year-old Campbell and took him to the area of present-day Detroit where…

David Campbell, Revolutionary War captain, State of Franklin supporter, and early Knox County settler and merchant, was born in Augusta County, Virginia, in 1753. His distinguished career began in 1774, when he served in the Virginia militia during Lord Dunmore's…

William B. Campbell, lawyer, soldier, state legislator, congressman, and governor, was born on Mansker's Creek, Sumner County, on February 1, 1807, the son of David and Catherine Bowen Campbell. He studied law at Abingdon, Virginia, with his relative, Governor David…

The engagement at Campbell’s Station occurred as a result of Union General Ambrose Burnside’s decision to fight a delaying action against the Confederate forces of Lieut. Gen. James Longstreet moving to invest Knoxville. Longstreet’s First Corps was detached from the…