The fields and stone walls around Confederate Redoubt No. 3 in Nashville would have been enveloped in a maelstrom of rifle fire, the whine of minie balls and thunder of artillery, and the thick fog of black powder smoke, as the Union army bore down from three directions on the last remaining Confederate earthworks in the late afternoon of Dec. 15, 1864.

John Allyn speaking at the Minnesota Monument Dedication Ceremony on Shy’s Hill, 2014

It was therefore the perfect place for the home of Nashville attorney John Allyn to live with his family on the short dead-end street which later evolved there, Hood’s Hill Road, just over a football field’s distance from the Redoubt, the vestiges of which are now barely visible in the backyard of the nearby Calvary Methodist Church.

John, 76, passed away on Nov. 4, 2023, but he left a long and meaningful legacy of contributing to the preservation and understanding of the Battle of Nashville and other aspects of Nashville’s military and ancestral history. He served many years on the Battle of Nashville Trust board in his role as a tireless supporter of the its mission of acquiring, preserving and interpreting remnants of the battlefield.

A New Yorker by birth, John came south to attend Vanderbilt University. He majored in history, or as his family noted, he “majored in his hobby.” Afterwards, he received his law degree from Vanderbilt Law School, and decided to stay in Nashville. These decisions were fortunate for Nashvillians interested in the history of the city, especially the years of the Civil War and the December, 1864, Battle of Nashville.

His work for BONT was concentrated in the years 2013 to 2018, when he served as its president, but his work and influence spread far beyond that role. He became one of the Trust’s “go to” historians who, as an attorney, dedicated his keen mind, analytical ability and pure joy of history to understanding and interpreting every aspect of the Battle of Nashville.

John wrote a number of in-depth articles for the BONT website, including, as would be expected, contributing to the site’s page on the mayhem that had occurred in his neighborhood about 150 years earlier at Redoubt No. 3, and also on the Cumberland River naval skirmishes that preceded the main battle of December 15 and 16. In 2013, he edited massive changes to the Battle of Nashville Wikipedia page in order to clarify and amplify the factual content.

He had a special interest in the men who fought for Minnesota, a state which suffered more casualties at Nashville than at any other battle where its troops fought, and which is commemorated with a granite monument and flag on Shy’s Hill. He wrote an essay for the website on the importance of Minnesota troops in the Battle, and was later invited to present his thoughts and findings to the Minnesota Historical Society in Minneapolis.

His interest in the ancestry of those who fought in Nashville led him to contribute a website essay on Nashville’s Civil War burials, and to become involved with other Nashville historical groups, especially the Nashville City Cemetery Association for which he served as a board member and president, enjoying especially leading some of the City Cemetery’s legendary tours. In addition, he had an important role with Friends of Fort Negley, and served as a featured speaker at various historical meetings. John had an ancestral link to the Battle through his wife, Cary DeWitt Allyn, whose great-grandfather, Marcus Bearden DeWitt, was the chaplain for the 8th Tennessee posted on the down slope of Shy’s Hill on Dec. 16.

The BONT board and membership will miss John personally as well as his dedication to its mission, his time and talent as president, and his work clearing brush on the slopes of Shy’s Hill with as much zest as his time spent in the research of official battlefield records. The Trust will honor his memory at its annual Wreath Ceremony on the summit of Shy’s Hill on Dec. 16, 2023, the 159th anniversary of the Battle of Nashville.