Battle of Snow's Hill
Spring always marks a dramatic change is scenery and surroundings, but it was never more so than 150 years ago in the spring of 1863. War came to DeKalb County.
General Rosecrans’ Federal army occupied Murfreesboro since the new year while General Bragg’s army was in winter quarters in Shelbyville. Rosecrans was increasingly pressured by Abraham Lincoln as spring came to lead his army to Chattanooga. Rising terrain and Bragg’s forces made such an advance a difficult undertaking.
Finding suitable roads to Chattanooga for thousands of men and hundreds of wagons became the task of Federal patrols. General Morgan’s Confederate cavalry headquartered in McMinnville was assigned the duty to guard all the roads leading east to the Highland Rim from Coffee, Cannon, and DeKalb counties and to oppose Federal scouting parties in this area of Bragg’s northern flank. These conflicting objectives resulted in thousands of armed combatants in these counties as winter gave way to spring.
Throughout the early months of 1863 there were weekly, if not daily, fights in these Middle Tennessee counties by probing Federals and defending Confederates. Pitched battles took place in Milton and Woodbury while smaller fights occurred in Bradyville and Liberty.
By April of 1863, Federals determined to test Confederate defenses at Snow’s Hill between Liberty and Smithville because the Sparta Pike which climbed the hill was a good road to the east toward Sparta where roads lead to Chattanooga. Bragg had used the Sparta route from Chattanooga to invade Kentucky the previous year so Federal leadership considered it for a flanking movement around Bragg in Shelbyville.
Thomas Gray Webb best describes what followed.
"On April 2, 1863, an advance was made by a force of Federals under John T. Wilder and including part of Stokes’ cavalry. After some skirmishing, the Confederates took a position just east of Liberty and camped that night in line of battle. The Federal forces spent the night a mile or so west of Liberty. During the night the Confederates sent out scouts, and they reported that not only was there a large force of infantry behind the Federal cavalry, but that more Federal troops were advancing from Readyville and Carthage. With the odds so heavily against them, it was decided to withdraw most of the Confederate force to Snow’s Hill during the night. The Sixth Kentucky Regiment under Major Bullit remained in front of the town, where they were charged at day break by the Union cavalry. The Confederates were rapidly pressed backward through the town until the Federals came within range of the Confederate artillery on the hill east of Liberty. This checked the Federals for a while, but they soon pushed forward again until they reached the covered bridge across Dry Creek, where Dowelltown now is. When the Federals were crowded up at this bridge, Byrne’s Confederate battery opened fire and burst shells right in their midst. However, Federal artillery soon drove the Confederate artillery away and the main Federal force advanced on to Snow’s Hill."
"It was thought that Snow’s Hill would be easily defended, but this turned out not to be the case. The Confederates had established their positions on the turnpike all along the hill, but heavy artillery fire and infantry attacks soon forced them to withdraw farther back toward the top of the hill. Meanwhile a column of Federals, possibly led by Joe Blackburn, had gone up Dry Creek and out the Mann’s Hill road to cut off the Confederates from the rear. This road went through the Farler Hollow, up the hill and out the ridge to meet the turnpike near what was then the Atwell Schoolhouse, where the Snow’s Hill Community Center now is. Captain Quirk’s scouts fought a delaying action against these Federals on the Mann’s Hill road and were able to prevent them from cutting off the Confederate force and trapping them between the two parts of the Federal army. The Confederate troops on Snow’s Hill soon saw the danger they were in. Lieutenant B.L. Ridley wrote, 'Suddenly we saw the Yankees coming around the hill on the Dry Creek road. Some of the men said it was Joe Blackburn in lead of the cavalry. We fell back on Duke’s regiment, while they fell back on another regiment, so that we were all jumbled up together. Then our stampede began. We were stampeded like cattle on the prairie.' Lieutenant Ridley was almost captured when his pony ran into a mudhole and fell over two or three other horses that had floundered there. However, he escaped with wet clothes and a mouthful of mud."
"General Morgan’s brother-in-law, Basil Duke, along with Colonel Smith, returned from McMinnville just in time to meet the first group of men coming toward Smithville from Snow’s Hill. He reported, 'The moral condition was the most singular I ever witnessed. There was no panic, no running, jostling, [nor] wild fear. They road along quietly, talked rationally, seemed utterly free from any lively and immediate apprehension but just to be their timidity. It made some of them go clear off, swim unfordable streams, and stay away for days. We were unprovided with a guard, and although we could stop these fellows until the road was jammed and packed with them, it was utterly impossible to make them turn back. At length, in disgust, we gave up the attempt, and rode on to see what was the condition of affairs nearer the scene of actual fighting.' "
"There they found that both sides had run out of ammunition, and that the Federals had ended their pursuit. The Confederates continued their retreat toward Smithville, and the wagon train was ordered on to McMinnville. Some of Morgan’s men, who were dressed in blue overcoats, came out on the road in front of the wagon train. The teamsters took them for Yankees and ran off in every direction. Some turned their teams and headed back to Smithville, while others floundered off the road and tried to drive through impassable thickets. Several of the wagons were badly damaged before order could be restored. Of the entire battle of Snow’s Hill, Basil Duke wrote, 'The division received more injury from this affair than I would have supposed a hard fight and serious defeat would have done it. Nearly two weeks were required to collect the fugitives. General Morgan, on his way to join us on the night of the 3rd, met a straggler, wandering loosely about, and demanded sternly why he was absent from his regiment.' 'Well, General', answered the follow ingenuously, 'I’m scattered.' "
The battle of Snow’s Hill engaged about 2,000 men on each side, a sizable number, but not many in comparison with the really big battles of the war. The Battle of Murfreesboro, for example, engaged about 40,000 men on each side. There were several casualties in the Snow’s Hill battle. Some of those killed were buried near the old Atwell Schoolhouse, while a number of the wounded were treated free of charge by Dr. John A. Fuson at his home on Dry Creek.
Before April of 1863, DeKalb Countians had learned the costs of war from a distance by burying their dead and caring for wounded from Shiloh, Perryville, Seven Pines and Murfreesboro. But never before had it been unsafe to leave their homes or go about daily life. From this point until well after the final Confederate surrender in June 1865, it was never safe. In June, Rosecrans settled on other routes onto the Highland Rim at Beech Grove and Bradyville and did not bring his army into DeKalb County, but peace did not come. Instead, chaos followed as DeKalb County became strategically unimportant to both sides and not effectively governed by either. Red of blood rather than the white of the dogwoods marked the springs which followed. DeKalb County became as lawless as the border areas of Missouri and Kentucky as the bushwhackers took the place of due process.
contributed by the Savage-Goodner Camp 1513 of the Sons of Confederate Veterans
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