The Battle of Nashville

In June 1861, Tennessee seceded from the United States to join the Confederacy, but in February 1862, Nashville became the first southern capital to be captured by the Federal Army. Nashville would remain under Federal control for the remainder of the war and served as the logistical hub and strategic center for U.S. military operations in the region. The U.S. Army built several military fortifications, including Fort Negley, to protect and hold the city. Back at Sunnyside, Mary Benton’s extended family lived in the house for most of the war but fled to Chattanooga in 1864. Her cousin, John Schute, took ownership of the property. His timing could not have been worse.

In the Fall of 1864, the Confederate Army of Tennessee under Gen. John Bell Hood advanced toward Nashville. Federal troops led by Gen. John Schofield left the fighting in Georgia to counter Hood’s offensive. In late November, Hood tried to block Schofield from reaching Nashville but was unsuccessful. Schofield’s troops slipped past Hood’s army in the night. The next day, a bloody day of fighting ensued at the Battle of Franklin. There were more than 8,000 casualties of which 75% were Confederates. Schofield’s 30,000 soldiers reached Nashville and joined the 25,000 soldiers already stationed there. The stage was set.

The Battle of Nashville occurred on December 15th and 16th, and Sunnyside was part of the Confederate army’s forward position. Federal troops attacked the house from the west and north, which resulted in damage to the front porch, columns, and northern side of the cabins. In 2023, the Metro Police Department’s crime scenes investigation (CSI) unit used 3-D scanning and drone photography to document and recreate the trajectory of bullets that hit Sunnyside. Their results, supported by additional evidence, confirms that Federal soldiers were firing at, presumably, Confederate soldiers inside the house. The Federal troops drove the Confederates to positions to the south.

A recent archaeological excavation also found a Confederate rifle pit on the property. Recovered artifacts from the pit, like burned nails and charcoal, suggest that soldiers made fires to stay warm using wooden planks from the side of the house or outbuildings. After the battle, Sunnyside was used as a field hospital for wounded soldiers. The U.S. Army held Nashville, and four months later, the war ended when General Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant in Virginia in April 1865.

To learn more, take our Downtown Civil War and Fort Negley walking tours or Civil War driving tour on Nashville Sites.

Continue to your left on the path and enter the log outbuilding if it is open. You can also look through the window to see the interior of the building and the view on the floor to the archaeological excavation site below.