Last updated: April 24, 2021
Place
Union Camp
NPS
Quick Facts
Amenities
2 listed
Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits, Parking - Auto
In this location, you will see rifle pits, some just beyond the wayside exhibit. These are much different than the other earthworks that surrounded the Confederate fort. This tour stop is called the Union camp, because it was captured after General Smith's counterattack earlier in the day (Tour Stop #5).
Many of General Buckner's men, the soldiers with the 18th Tennessee, the 2nd Kentucky, and the 14th Mississippi infantries, struggled throughout the afternoon on February 15th to try and dislodge the Union forces from their newly-acquired position in the former Confederate rifle pits. By nightfall, soldiers on both side collapsed, cold, exhausted, and hungry. Both armies roughly ended up in the same battlefield positions from which they began fighting earlier that same morning. The Confederates had captured some pieces of artillery, weapons, and military supplies, but this wasn't what this breakout attempt had been all about.
Confederates now formed a new line, their final defense on the wooded ridge, across the park road, behind you.
Many of General Buckner's men, the soldiers with the 18th Tennessee, the 2nd Kentucky, and the 14th Mississippi infantries, struggled throughout the afternoon on February 15th to try and dislodge the Union forces from their newly-acquired position in the former Confederate rifle pits. By nightfall, soldiers on both side collapsed, cold, exhausted, and hungry. Both armies roughly ended up in the same battlefield positions from which they began fighting earlier that same morning. The Confederates had captured some pieces of artillery, weapons, and military supplies, but this wasn't what this breakout attempt had been all about.
Confederates now formed a new line, their final defense on the wooded ridge, across the park road, behind you.