March, 2017
BRENTWOOD RESIDENT LOCATES SITE OF FORT
The combination of historical inquisitiveness by Nashvillian Rob Field, the use of Google satellite imagery, and a rare map posted on the Battle of Nashville Preservation Society’s website, has resulted in an interesting new find – an aerial view of the remains of the long-vanished Fort Brentwood.
Fort Brentwood map owned by Jim Kay of BONPS
The fort, built in 1862 by Union troops to guard the railroad trestle at the Little Harpeth River in Brentwood, TN, was part of the Union Army’s stronghold on Middle Tennessee at the time and was home for the 104th Illinois and 19th Michigan regiments.
On March 25, 1863, the stockade was attacked and captured by the 4th Mississippi and the 10th Tennessee Calvary units led by Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest, bringing about the surrender by Capt. Elijah Bassett of the 19th Michigan, along with about 200 men, all supplies, arms and a dozen wagons. It was eventually reclaimed by Union Forces led by Brig. Gen. Green Clay Smith with about 700 Union cavalry, causing Forrest to retreat west towards Hillsboro Road.
It is unclear exactly how, when or why the fort was destroyed, but Rob Field, who grew up as a kid in Brentwood, became curious about the location of the fort after viewing a photograph of a map on the Battle of Nashville Trust’s website, www. Bonps.org.
The photo is of a copy of an original drawing by John L. Anderson, probably drawn in 1863 and made available on the BONPS website courtesy of the Jim Kay Collection. The only other known sketch of the stockade was completed by Anson Smith and is in The National Archives.
After seeing the outline of the fort as depicted on the map, Field decided to view satellite imagery to see if any features of the landscape along the Little Harpeth River could offer a clue as to the location. Tracing the course of the river, the ghostly, faint outline of the fort emerged from fields located immediately northeast of the point at which the current rail line crosses the Little Harpeth, just west of I-65 and north of Concord Road.
A comparison of the contours of the outer walls of the Stockade and the straight lines of pale grass in the field make it almost certain that the remnants of the fort lie just under the surface of the field. Field sent his images and explanation to BONT, which are reprinted below with his permission (NOTE: click any photo to enlarge):
“Here’s what I believe to be the Brentwood stockade, visible in the fields south of town”:
“If you look in the large field (which is tan to the left half and green to the right) in the center of the image, between the highway and the railroad tracks and just west of “The Heritage at Brentwood”, you can make out the outline of the stockade breastworks (it’s lighter in color.)”
“Here’s a comparison with the crude map drawn during the time period. You can see that the lighter outlines in the field match pretty well to the curves of the map, especially in the jagged top left edge. The slightly darker area with the single tree may correspond with the remains of the raised redoubts. The highway would appear to have destroyed the easternmost section of the stockade.”