Term: Brentwood, Battle of
Definition:
Date(s): March 25, 1863
Location: Brentwood, Tennessee (Google Map)
Other name(s): Thompson's Station
Campaign: Middle Tennessee Operations (February-April 1863)
Outcome: Confederate victory
Summary
This minor battle gave Confederate forces temporary control of an important railroad depot outside Nashville, Tennessee, in the spring of 1863.
At the time this battle was fought, Union troops had occupied Nashville, Tennessee, for more than a year. Brentwood, a depot on the Nashville & Decatur Railroad nine miles south of the city, was held by a force of about 800 soldiers that included the 22nd Wisconsin Infantry.
On March 24, 1863, Confederate troops secretly cut telegraph lines, tore up railroad tracks, and cut off any retreat from Brentwood. At about 7:00 am the next morning they attacked the town which contained 12,000 Wisconsin infantry and artillery. Unable to call for reinforcements, the outnumbered Union troops surrendered after putting up a vain resistance.
Wisconsin’s Role
Lieutenant Colonel Edward Bloodgood commanded the 22nd Wisconsin Infantry, which put up a brief resistance. Seven of its soldiers died and 13 were wounded. The majority of the regiment was taken prisoner and then soon released.
Learn more
Read more about the Battle of Brentwood on page 700 in E.B. Quiner’s “Military History of Wisconsin” (Madison, 1866).
View original documents
[Source: Report on the Nation’s Civil War Battlefields (Washington, 1993); Estabrook, C. Records and Sketches of Military Organizations (Madison, 1914); Love, W. Wisconsin in the War of the Rebellion (Madison, 1866).]
