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

9. The Nashville and Northwestern: November 9, 1863–March 12, 1864

9 + The Nashville and Northwestern November 9, 1863–March 12, 1864 By this time a large Union army was gathering near, or was en route to, Chattanooga, and with it came a growing demand for food, ammunition , livestock, and the other tools of war. Even if the Rebel forces were driven back from Chattanooga,a reliable and secure rail line was necessary , and Nashville was the most important point from which supplies could be forwarded.Nashville itself,however,like the line further south that Kimball and the other Michigan Engineers had labored to repair in the previous months, was also vulnerable to Confederate mounted raids and guerillas. A single railroad line from Louisville to Nashville provided one route for supplies, but it had been cut several times during the war by Confederate cavalry and remained vulnerable at many points. Though Nashville was located on the broad Cumberland River, it was not a reliable water route for large supply steamers during periods of lower water. Clearly, another supply line was needed. Union authorities turned their attention west from Nashville to a partially completed line that linked that city with the Tennessee River near Waverly,Tennessee. Dubbed the Nashville and Northwestern Railroad, this line had been started before the war. A February 1863 study conducted by Major Yates of the Michigan Engineers laid out the remaining work. About eight miles of track were in place running east from the Tennessee and 110 chapter 9 about twenty-six running west from Nashville.The intervening gap was about forty-four miles long and some of it was partially graded.The hilly route would require several long bridges, not to span large rivers but rather to ease the grade. In addition, the railroad crossed the Harpeth River seven times in a ten-mile span. Completion required a force of bridge builders and railroad men supported by a large force of laborers. The Michigan Engineers were to provide the first two and black infantry regiments the latter, with Colonel Innes in overall charge of the line’s construction. Since the line’s route included few populated points, the working locations were generally referred to by their distance from Nashville. Section 49, where Kimball worked for a time, was between forty-nine and fifty miles from the city. Kimball worked in this area through late November as part of a detachment guarding a survey party. At various times,as many as four or five companies of the Michigan Engineers were working on the Nashville and Northwestern,beginning in September 1863. Kimball’s Company H arrived on November 10 and remained on this duty until March 1864, when the Michigan working parties were near section 55. Since the First Missouri Engineers and Mechanics were responsible for the railroad beyond that point, the Michigan men were pulled from this railroad and given new orders. Though the territory around the Nashville and Northwestern was less vulnerable to roving Confederates than the Nashville and Chattanooga , there was still risk as Kimball and the others in Company H worked and foraged in the neighboring countryside. The Union command provided a small defensive force to guard the Michigan Engineers and USCT regiments, and Kimball frequently comments on this bitter war involving the Eighth Iowa Cavalry and other units against Confederate guerillas and mounted units. Despite the risk, however, Kimball and his comrades were regularly in the countryside, foraging to supplement their meager rations. As he noted in his journal for November 24, “such expeditions were the spice of life with us.” He also noted that day the presence of a pro-Union man named Adams who guided the party. Tennessee remained a bitterly divided state, and the area behind the lines was filled with both those intent on killing Union troops and those willing to risk their lives to aid them. the nashville and northwestern 111 Kimball and his comrades also worked alongside many of the same black soldiers they had known back at Elk River in the summer of 1863. These were the men of the Twelfth and Thirteenth USCT regiments ,former slaves commanded by newly commissioned white officers. Among the company-grade officers were men promoted from the ranks of the Michigan Engineers. During this time,the company continued to receive recruits as regimental authorities sought to fill the unit up to its authorized strength of eighteen hundred men. These men’s arrival was the result of President Lincoln...