Muse's Civil War: Blue Springs Tennessee

Showing posts with label Blue Springs Tennessee. Show all posts

Monday, August 22, 2016

Blue Springs, Bradley County, Tennessee (near Cleveland); not the same as the one in Greene County.

Blue Springs, Tennessee - 1863 Map and Discussion

"One division (Stanley's), Fourth Corps, is stationed at Blue Springs (5 miles in advance of Cleveland, on the railroad between that place and Dalton) and at Ooltewah."

Quoted from:Official Records, Series 1, Volume 32, In Three Parts. Part 3, Correspondence, etc., 90. https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth152650/m1/99/

In the Spring of 1864, some brigades of General Oliver O. Howard's Fourth Army Corps were stationed at Blue Springs, Tennessee, and some, at nearby Cleveland, Tennessee.
Official Records, Series 1, Volume 32, Part 3, 551.
https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth152650/m1/560/

RELATED BLOG POST: FOURTH ARMY CORPS: OLIVER O. HOWARD...CLEVELAND AND BLUE SPRINGS

Identifying Blue Springs, Tennessee (the 1864 camp)

Blue Springs does not appear on many maps and should not be confused with Blue Springs, Tennessee, near Mosheim in Greene County, Tennessee, where a battle occurred. This Blue Springs may not have been a town, but just a "watering place" ~ a mineral spring and resort area, where people came to enjoy the mountain water. However, the Federals do sometimes refer to it as "Blue Springs, Tennessee," as one would designate a town.

Library of Congress has a hand-drawn map of Cleveland, Tennessee, in 1863 (below), but it doesn't show Blue Springs. Blue Springs was in the area near where the mapmaker has drawn the mileage scale, but probably was far enough south of there (near the state line) to make it outside the range of this map. To help locate Blue Springs in proximity to Cleveland, Tennessee, I've used two post-war maps of the Bradley County, Tennessee, area, that actually show "Blue Springs" (one, as a railroad stop). Then, I've taken a screenshot from the modern satellite view in Google Maps.

Information Map: Southeastern Tennessee (detail), 1863,
Courtesy of Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division.

Blue Springs is not shown on the Information Map, above, but should (I think) be at the very bottom, near the center of the map, about where the mileage scale is shown. Below are two post-war maps, showing Blue Springs below Cleveland, not too far north of the Tennessee-Georgia state line, though the maps are very general.

1882 Rand McNally Railroad Map (detail, Cleveland, Tenn. area),

Courtesy of Library of Congress Geography and Map Division.

Rand Mcnally, 1888 New Enlarged Railroad Map,
detail of Bradley County, Tennessee, from Library of
Congress, Geography and Map Division.

The 1888 Tennessee map (detail, above) gives some place names, such as Ooltewah, Benton, and Conasauga, that can be compared to the grayish-white 1863 Information Map of Southeastern Tennessee, and also to the Google Earth map, below.

Google Map, above: Probable location of Blue Springs, marked with a pointer.

If the Blue Springs area was named for a spring, it may have even been named for the incredibly beautiful blue, sacred Council Spring on the park grounds, though there are other springs in the area.

RELATED BLOG POST: FOURTH ARMY CORPS: OLIVER O. HOWARD...CLEVELAND AND BLUE SPRINGS
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Citation for 1863 Southeastern Tennessee Map:

United States Army. Department Of The Cumberland. Topographical Engineers. [Information map: Southeastern Tennessee] (detail of map, cropped). [Chattanooga: Topographical Engineer Office, Head qrs., Army of the Cumberland, 1863] Map. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2006635115/. (Accessed August 22, 2016.)

Citation for Rand McNally [1882] Virginia, Tennessee, and Georgia Air Line...
Rand Mcnally And Company, and Tennessee Virginia. The Virginia, Tennessee, and Georgia Air Line; the Shenandoah Valley R.R.; Norfolk & Western R.R.; East Tennessee, Virginia, & Georgia R.R. its leased lines, and their connections. Chicago, 1882. Map. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/98688846/. (Accessed August 22, 2016.)

Citation for Rand McNally 1888 Railroad Map:
Rand McNally And Company. New enlarged scale railroad and county map of Tennessee showing every railroad station and post office in the state, 1888. Chicago, 1888, 1888. Map. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/98688560/. (Accessed August 22, 2016.)

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS MAPS

Use their search tool to search by date, map title, etc.

Battle of Blue Springs Map Compared with the Other Blue Springs: Coincidental Resemblance!

In comparing the two place names of Blue Springs, Tennessee, I became confused as to the location and identification of the place and its relation to a historical map.

"My" Blue Springs (the place that is relevant to my project) is a mineral spring, or watering place (resort) near Cleveland, Bradley County, Tennessee. In Official Records, it is identified as being five miles from Cleveland, Tennessee, between Cleveland (Tenn.) and Dalton, Georgia. The Federals are there on April 30, 1864.

The other Blue Springs was in Greene County, Tennessee, and is now a town called Mosheim, Tennessee. There was a battle at that place in October 1863. Poe was in that battle.

When I found a map sketched by Poe, I thought I had a map of the Bradley County site, and started to make comparisons. Oddly, it fits very closely to the modern-day satellite view of the Blue Springs that is near Red Clay State Historic Park. Apparently, the likeness is just a fluke! Look at the comparison:

Google Satellite image still, of Red Clay State Historic Park.
North of it is the probable location of Blue Springs
1864 camp. Image © 2016 Google Imagery

Citation for Google Satellite Still Image:

Citation for 1863 Blue Springs Map/Drawing:

Orlando Metcalfe Poe and Orlando B. Willcox. [Blue Springs: Tennessee]. [1863] Map/Drawing. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/86691125/. (Accessed August 22, 2016.)

Blue Springs: Poe Map, Willcox Reserve, Battle of Blue Springs, Tennessee, October 1863

Position of Willcox Reserve, Blue Springs, Tennessee, 1863,

Courtesy of Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division

This 1863 map by Poe is related to the Battle of Blue Springs, Tennessee (in present-day Mosheim, Tennessee). It shows the position of Willcox's Reserve during that battle. The location is in Greene County, Tennessee. This is in the papers of Poe, so it must relate to the battle site, not the camp site in Bradley County, Tennessee.

However, I found it while looking for information on Blue Springs, Bradley County, Tennessee, and it certainly does look like the area of Blue Springs in that county. It matches so closely the modern-day satellite view of the "other" Blue Springs, I would really like to see aerial views of the place it is supposed to represent. Of course, mountains and hills can look similar, but that little curved area beside the name, "Willcox," looks so like a farm that is nestled in the mountains at that other Blue Springs.

Citation for 1863 Blue Springs Map/Drawing:

Orlando Metcalfe Poe and Orlando B. Willcox. [Blue Springs: Tennessee]. [1863] Map/Drawing. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/86691125/. (Accessed August 22, 2016.)

Fourth Army Corps: Oliver O. Howard, Commanding. HQ at Cleveland and Blue Springs, Tennessee, April 30, 1864.

Organization of Oliver O. Howard's Fourth Army Corps, April 30, 1864 (as one of the corps in the Department of the Cumberland, under Major-General George H. Thomas).

After the Battles of Chattanooga in November 1863, Union troops came into the mountains around East Tennessee. Colonel Eli Long and various divisions had set up camp in Charleston and Calhoun, Tennessee, in December 1863, later moving down to Cleveland. According to Myra Inman (from her published diary), O.O. Howard's troops were camped near Cleveland on December 13, 1863.

(William R. Snell, ed., Myra Inman: A Diary of the Civil War in East Tennessee, (1859-1866), (Macon: Mercer University Press, 2000), 234.

These next references are later, in the spring of 1864. In Official Records, it shows that some of the brigades were headquartered at Cleveland, Tennessee, and some were headquartered at nearby Blue Springs, Tennessee. This is not the same Blue Springs, Tennessee, that is in Greene County (now called Mosheim). This area was a community near Cleveland, Tennessee, known as a mineral spring or watering place. It is identified in O.R. as being between Cleveland, Tennessee, and Dalton, Georgia:

"One division (Stanley's), Fourth Corps, is stationed at Blue Springs (5 miles in advance of Cleveland, on the railroad between that place and Dalton) and at Ooltewah."

Quoted from:
Official Records, Series 1, Volume 32, In Three Parts. Part 3, Correspondence, etc., 90. https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth152650/m1/99/

FOURTH ARMY CORPS: OLIVER O. HOWARD
Headquartered at Cleveland, Tennessee, and nearby Blue Springs, Tennessee.
Partial extract of: Official Records, Ser. 1, Vol. 32, Pt. 3, 551.

FIRST DIVISION, COMMANDED BY DAVID S. STANLEY
Headquartered at Cleveland and Blue Springs, Tennessee.

First Brigade (Cleveland, Tennessee), commanded by Brigadier General Charles Cruft.

Second Brigade (Blue Springs, Tennessee), commanded by Walter C. Whitaker.

Third Brigade (Blue Springs, Tennessee), commanded by William Grose.

Artillery (Blue Springs, Tennessee), commanded by Captain Peter Simonson.

SECOND DIVISION, COMMANDED BY JOHN NEWTON
Headquartered at Cleveland, Tennessee.

First Brigade (Cleveland, Tennessee), commanded by Col. Francis T. Sherman.

Second Brigade (Cleveland, Tennessee), commanded by Gen. George D. Wagner.

The above divisions consist of various regiments from Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Missouri, a few of which are on furlough or just returned from furlough. These are listed specifically under the division headings. Refer to source for complete listing.

O.R., Ser. 1, Vol. 32, Pt. 3, 551.

Source Citation:

Official Records, Series 1, Volume 32, Part 3 (Correspondence, etc.), 551.

The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union And Confederate Armies. Series 1, Volume 32, In Three Parts. Part 3, Correspondence, etc.

In 1864, The Fourth Army Corps (Oliver O. Howard, commanding) is under General George H. Thomas in the Department of the Cumberland.

Citation for 1863 Southeastern Tennessee Information Map:

United States Army. Department Of The Cumberland. Topographical Engineers. [Information map: Southeastern Tennessee]. [Chattanooga: Topographical Engineer Office, Head qrs., Army of the Cumberland, 1863] Map. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2006635115/. (Accessed August 22, 2016.)

The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union And Confederate Armies. Series 1, Volume 32, In Three Parts. Part 3, Correspondence, etc.