In general, I find the Civil War to be tedious, boring, and sad. It’s not my favorite historical era — give me the weirdos of Jacksonian America or the ghost-lovers of the Victorian age — but it’s such a big part of Nashville’s history that I try not to completely ignore it.

So, when I saw that Lipscomb University was doing free Battle of Nashville tours this month, I signed myself up for one but didn’t rope anyone else into going. After all, it was doomed to be tedious, boring, and sad.

Nashville, I am a fool! It was fantastic. I apologize to everyone I didn’t try to talk into going with me.

David Currey, a historian and documentary filmmaker, guided us around much of the battlefield for the Battle of Nashville and regaled us for three hours about the significance of the battle. And I have to say, going to these places—Fort Negley, Granbury’s lunette, the redoubts, Shy’s Hill, Traveller’s Rest—and driving through the parts of town that contained front lines and paths of retreat, it makes a huge difference when you’re trying to understand the Battle.

Sure, I could tell you that Fort Negley had guns that could shoot over three miles, but it’s not quite as meaningful as standing in a Confederate fortification, just out of range of those guns. And, sure, a lot of history buffs lament that there is no preserved battlefield, but I found it a lot easier to imagine the logistics of how things were laid out when Currey explained that the Confederate western line was White Bridge Road, a road I travel frequently, than I would have if he’d just said “Way over there in that grassy area where there are some monuments.”

I want to give a lot of credit to the Battle of Nashville Preservation Society, who has done a superhuman job of filling a real need in the community. They’ve not only preserved stuff that would have otherwise been lost, but they’ve put together maps and self-guided driving tours and, hell, if you want an expert-guided tour and can afford it, they’ll put a dude in your car and he’ll tell you everything you want to know.

But there’s something to be said for being able to get on a bus and soaking in wisdom while someone else drives. The quality of the Lipscomb tour, to me, suggests that we, as a city and as a tourist destination, are missing out by not having a way to regularly put people on a bus and drive them out to significant places and show them what’s what. ( Grayline offers a “Nashville” Nashville tour, but not a Battle of Nashville tour.)

It’s not just an important part of our history, but, I thought Currey made a convincing show of how we’re still living in a landscape deeply transformed by the battle, if only we knew how to recognize it. We need some way to learn.

In that spirit, Lipscomb is doing a really kick-ass job of providing programing this fall for the public. I’m especially looking forward to November 15, when they’re going to have James McPherson, Joseph Glatthaar, and John Baker in for a symposium, “The African-American Experience in the Civil War Era.” And, during during the tour, they hyped the upcoming Sesquicentennial events on Saturday, December 13, now with a “city-wide progressive cannonade.” I’m not sure what that is, but it sounds awesome. And loud.

So, long story short. No, we don’t have enough cool Civil War stuff normally, but this autumn, we do, so get out there and soak it all in.