The
Civil War
In
Wayne County, Tennessee
No major battles were fought in Wayne County, Tennessee during the Civil War. However,
the armies of both the Union and the Confederacy traversed the county numerous times
during the period of the war. An estimated 100,000 soldiers, both Union and Confederate,
marched through Wayne County, Tennessee. The result was devastation for the people of the
county. By 1865 the county seat of Waynesboro had been abandoned because of the constant
threat of armies marching through. Food and supplies were exhausted through the county.
In 1861, the people of the county voted in the majority to remain in the Union,
although there was a strong secessionist sympathy. When the State of Tennessee seceded
from the Union, several companies of Confederate soldiers were raised in Wayne County. The
men in these units came from all the various districts of the county, although the
majority were from the Buffalo River area and from the Houston and Craven's Mills area.
So great, however, was the sympathy of a majority of the people for the Union that as
soon as General Grant's army marched into Savannah in March 1862, many men of Wayne County
walked or rode to Savannah and volunteered for Union service. These men joined Ohio,
Illinois and Indiana units stationed with Grant at Savannah.
Following the Battle of Shiloh in April 1862, General Grant sent Captain Edward R.
Bladen to Brantley's Crossroads (in the area of present day Cromwell Crossroads) in Wayne
County, Tennessee to recruit volunteers for Union service. Over 200 men volunteered at
this time, forming the units of Co. A and Co. G of the 10th Tennessee Infantry.
By the end of the war, over 2500 men from Wayne County, Tennessee were either in
Confederate or Union service. The only people left at home were old men, women, and
children, who struggled to raise enough food to feed their families and protect their
property from both the armies and marauding guerrillas.
On the following pages we will attempt to provide information on Confederate and Union
Units and on the men who served in those units, as well as some history of the many
skirmishes which took place inside the boundaries of the county during the war.
Follow the following links. Some are presently under construction, while others are
only partially finished. Your comments and suggestions
are welcome. If you have information on any Wayne County, Tennessee resident or native,
who served either the Union or the Confederacy, please let us know. We will be happy to
add your information to these pages.
The Union
The Confederacy
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