June, 2020
END COMES FOR 400-YEAR-OLD WITNESS TREE THAT SAW A VIOLENT CLASH OF CAVALRIES AS PART OF THE BATTLE OF NASHVILLE
An ancient Bur Oak, which has witnessed buffalo thunder along the trail which later became Granny White Pike and was there to watch the legendary Battle of the Barricade during the Battle of Nashville, has finally lost its battle against time.
The Witness Tree of Richland Country Club, a stately Bur Oak (quercus macrocarpa) which dates to about 1613, was finally removed from its position on the Richland golf course on June 1, 2020.
Photo: Jan Stinson
Located about one hundred yards from Granny White Pike, Nashville’s most historic trail, the huge tree had witnessed buffalo migrating single file to the Great French Lick in present day downtown Nashville. It served as cover from the heat and storms for early Indians and later for the Creek, Cherokee and Chickasaw hunters. John Rains, one of Nashville’s earliest settlers, killed 32 bear in the cane breaks just north of this location in the 1770s.
Travelers from Nashville to Franklin went past this tree and this included Andrew Jackson, Thomas Hart Benton, John Overton and John Lea. This Bur Oak witnessed the construction of Granny White turnpike in 1849 on the old buffalo path.
On December 16, 1864, Confederate cavalry under the command of Col. D.C. Kelley and Col. Ed Rucker began its defense of the road to Brentwood as the Confederate army was swept from the field of the battle at Nashville three miles north. The Battle of the Barricade began nearby and the fierce fighting continued around this tree and to the south before the hand to hand combat ended in the cold darkness. On the same night, part of the victorious but exhausted U.S. cavalry under the command of General James Wilson camped under its branches.
The Tennessee Urban Forestry Council honored the Richland Bur Oak as No. 23 in its Landmark and Historic Tree Registry in 2013. “The Richland Witness Tree proudly stood watch for many years over the club at the No. 9 gold tee. It was a lasting tribute to those who have come and gone before us, lived their lives and made their marks on American soil,” said Jim Kay, president of the Battle of Nashville Trust and past president of Richland Country Club. With thanks to BONT Board Member John Banks, below are his final remarks regarding the remarkable tree:
Another Witness Tree, the Basket Oak, stands on the grounds of the Battle of Nashville Monument on Granny White Pike. For more on this ancient survivor of the battle, click here.