156 YEARS SINCE BATTLE OF SULPHUR CREEK TRESTLE

If you walk south on the Richard Martin Trail from the railroad depot in Elkmont, you will find some of Elkmont's Civil War history.  On the 25th of September, the Sulphur Creek Trestle Battle began.  This battle and the events that led up to it covered a three day period starting on September 23 with the battle of Athens. 

The Decatur and Nashville line, was a major route for moving Union troops and supplies to Atlanta and to Union positions at Chattanooga. Heavy fortifications and blockhouses had been built along its route to ensure safe passage for the trains. 

On September 24, 1864, Forrest and his cavalry moved north from Athens along the railway toward a strategic point in the line known as the Sulphur Branch Trestle.

Built in 1863, the trestle itself was 74 feet high and over 300 feet long.  It spanned a deep gorge between two ridge lines with Sulphur Creek at the bottom.  It was guarded by a fortification with 1000 union soliders as well as by two blockhouses at either end of the bridge. This gave the troops stationed there, a commanding sweep of the entire valley.

Several Union units protected the trestle:
*9th and 10th Indiana Infantry - 200 troops 
*3rd Tennessee Calvary - 400 troops (mostly from East Tennessee)
*111th U.S. Colored Infantry - 400 troops


 
General Nathan Bedford Forrest's Confederate cavalry, supported by Morton's battery of four cannons attacked the trestle on the morning of September 25, 1864.   Forrest ordered his cavalry under Colonel Kelly to attack the outer pickets and skirmish lines of the Union troops to drive them back into the fort.  

Captain John Morton's  three artillery batteries were placed on hills located to the southwest, east and north of the fort. The devastating barrage opened up at dawn with  800 pound rounds crashing into the fort and its earthworks and continued for 2 hours. With the union position located at a lower point than the confederate artillery positions, the bombardment was tantamount to "shooting fish in a barrel".  

The "awful rebel yell" of the confederates rang in the valley as they charged toward the picket lines. The Union lines were quickly overrun by the confederates and driven back up the hill toward the main fortification.

Over 200 Union officers and men, including Col. Lathrop, lay dead within the walls of the garrison, with "relatively few wounded, so complete was the devastation". The fort's commander had been killed early on in the bombardment. His last words were, "Do not surrender the fort". His second in command, Colonel Minnis was wounded by shrapnel soon after.  Command passed to Major Eli Lilly (Lilly and Company Pharmaceuticals) for a time. Minnis recovered enough to assume command and accepted Forrest's terms of surrender. After the garrison surrendered, the trestle and blockhouses were burned. 


Forrest's after-action report summed up the carnage, "The enemy suffered severely in this assault.  Every house was perforated with shell and the dead lay thick." An member of his troop recalled. " I saw no more horrid spectacle during the war than the one which the interior of that fort presented.  If a cyclone has struck the place, the damage could hardly have been worse."

The battlefield is on private property so no metal detectors or exploring is allowed if you choose to visit the battle area.  The fort earthworks are all that remain but the surrounding area is mostly undeveloped lending itself to imagining the battle.  There is also a sign with fort illustrations and battle placements.