Among the Enemy: A Michigan Soldier’s Civil War Journal

10. Railroad Blockhouses: March 13–June 27, 1864

10 + Railroad Blockhouses March 13–June 27, 1864 The Nashville and Northwestern could help ensure that supplies reached the forward base at Nashville, but the long railroad route further south was still very vulnerable to roving bands of guerillas and raids by Confederate cavalry units.Sabotaged railroad track could be quickly replaced but the key bridges and storehouses couldn’t. It was obvious that Union forces would be moving south from Chattanooga toward the Rebel base at Atlanta, which would only increase the reliance on a single railroad track for supply and reinforcement over a longer route.The answer was to protect all key points along the long railroad route leading back to Nashville. In addition, Union railroad officials determined they could accelerate the delivery of supplies south if they repaired and defended the Nashville and Decatur (also known as the Tennessee and Alabama) line. This route ran southwest from Nashville to a junction with the Memphis and Charleston road at Decatur on the Tennessee River.With this route in operation, railroad officials could operate a one-way triangle, with loaded trains running from Nashville to Bridgeport to be unloaded and then back to their base along the Memphis and Charleston and Nashville and Decatur. Even if this scheme wasn’t always utilized, the Nashville and Decatur line would provide a secondary route for supplies and reinforcements being shipped south.Of course,this also meant there were more railroad lines to be maintained and defended. 122 chapter 10 Union commanders had experimented with different types of railroad defenses up to this point,with mixed results.The key was to design a structure that could house a small garrison and stand up to an assault by dismounted cavalry.It was expected that raiding enemy cavalry might have light artillery but not heavier field pieces, and would be reluctant to remain in an area for long. During the spring of 1864, Lieutenant Colonel Hunton of the Michigan Engineers was involved in a series of experiments using different styles and thicknesses of wooden defenses and various artillery pieces and small-arms fire. The design result was a square blockhouse structure, built from the standing timber found in abundance throughout the region. Though actual defenses varied with the needs and resources at each crossing, a typical blockhouse had two stories.The lower was often constructed of a double thickness of wood laid horizontally, with a second level containing a single thickness of wood, often set at an angle to the lower to allow full defensive fire in all directions. In other cases, the lower level was covered by banked earth, with a single level showing to the attackers.In either case, the roof was comprised of timber to protect against plunging artillery fire. Usually the initial and more complicated construction work was done by men in the Michigan Engineers and then garrison troops finished by moving dirt and removing trees that the enemy could use for cover to attack. Beginning in March, eight of the twelve companies of the Michigan Engineers were pulled from their various assignments, such as the Nashville and Northwestern Railroad,and shifted over to building these blockhouses along the railroad. Kimball and his comrades in Company H were sent to work on the line running from Nashville to Decatur as part of a four-company battalion under Major Yates that also included Companies A, F, and G. The companies were divided into squads and spread out along the route, with each squad assigned a specific blockhouse .Kimball was part of a squad assigned to build a blockhouse about five miles from Columbia,Tennessee.It was probably the one protecting a crossing of the Duck River or one of several at the many Rutherford Creek crossings. After completion of their assigned work, Kimball’s squad and the others were moved further south along the railroad to build blockhouses closer to the Alabama state line. Kimball was also detailed to work at the company headquarters. By the middle of May, he was working on a Blockhouse designs were prepared by army engineers following tests of various styles, conducted in part by officers of Kimball’s regiment. Kimball worked on the construction of several in 1864. (Buell-Brien Papers,Tennessee State Library and Archives) This blockhouse is nearing completion, and the image demonstrates its strategic role in defending railroad bridges such as this one over Running Water in the Whiteside Valley...