The Battle Of Nashville Trust continues to make progress in restoring its newly-acquired 1.2 acre battlefield site to the same condition it was in when Federal troops stormed over it l60 years ago on the second day of the Battle of Nashville.
The Trust purchased the property in April, 2024, and immediately put in motion plans to maximize use of the grounds by visitors interested in the battle which occurred there on Dec. 16, 1864. In July, brush and debris were cleared from the site, exposing the original ground where Col. Lucius Hubbard led the Fifth and Ninth Minnesota regiments up the northeast slope of Shy’s Hill, marking the beginning of the end of the Battle of Nashville.
Also exposed was more actual evidence of the fighting that occurred as the Confederate line, above and to the east, fired on Union soldiers assaulting the Hill across that ground. Even though Civil War relic hunters have scanned Shy’s Hill for decades in their search for artifacts, the clearing of the property led to BONT recovering a number of bullets left undetected over the years, along with other relics including uniform buttons, shrapnel, and unidenfied metal. Some of the findings can be seen in the photo below by Bobby Whitson.
Top row: Silver washed pewter button, .58 3 ringer, the next 8 are .570ish Confederate 3 ringers, sabot fragment from an artillery round, unidentified brass piece. Middle Row: US General Service Eagle Button, fired 3 ringer, 6 dropped Enfields (one is stepped on), dropped Williams Cleaner, fired 3 ringer. Bottom row: Fired 3 ringer, fired Williams Cleaner with separated disk, fired Confederate 3 ringer, fired Enfield, 2 fired Williams Cleaners, two fired 3 ringers.
Because of the number and field position of “drops” (unfired bullets) found during the clearing, BONT historians were able to determine the location of Confederate pickets. Bobby Whitson, President of BONT, reminded anyone interested in relic hunting on the new site that metal detecting is strictly prohibited on this and all other battlefield ground which is owned or maintained by the Battle of Nashville Trust.
Whitson explained that the fired bullets in the photo above are probably a combination of Federal and Confederate rounds. However, the unaltered and unfired “drops,” including three ringers and ungrooved Enfields, are likely Confederate bullets. Telltale signs in the three-ringers is their uneven thickness and micro-measurements; as for the Enfields, they were in common usage by CSA troops, and their “location on the hillside and the arc across the land on which they were found, combined with the other Confederate drops, give them an extremely high probability of being Confederate drops,” he added.
Furthermore, the number and positions of the drops are indicators of the likely locations of Confederate pickets. “Given the location of this parcel of land, I would assume that the pickets would have been either from Jackson’s or maybe Finley’s brigade, making them probably Georgia or Florida troops,” he said. The reference is to two brigades of Gen. William B. Bate’s Division, entrenched on and defending the summit of Shy’s Hill high above this ground.
The new site is not yet open to the public but BONT is hoping to prepare it for visitors this Fall in conjunction with the 160th anniversary of the Battle. Plans currently include further improvements to the property for ingress and egress, as well as parking. In addition, BONT is working with Civil War Trails to install interpretive signage, both at the 4601 Benton Smith Rd. site and the plateau further up the hill where BONT has placed field artillery pieces in the area most likely used for Beauregard’s battery on Dec. 16, 1864.
“We are devoting the highest level of expertise, time, energy, and resources to preserve fully this hallowed ground on which so many Minnesotans and others were wounded and killed assaulting the Confederate position on the hill,” Whitson said. “It’s an invaluable piece of the battlefield. It’s our privilege at the Trust not only to acquire it, but now to preserve it, to maintain it, and to interpret it for visitors to learn about this momentous event in Nashville and U.S. history.”
