Rifling the Courthouse
— Forrest's First West Tennessee Raid —
(Preface):Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest led his cavalry brigade on a raid through West Tennessee, Dec. 15, 1862 - Jan. 3, 1863, destroying railroads an severing Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's supply line between Columbus, Kentucky and Vicksburg, Mississippi. Forrst crossed the Tennessee River at Clifton, defeated Union Col. Robert C. Ingersoll's cavalry at Lexington, captured Trenton and Union City, and ranged briefly into Kentucky. He raided back through Tennessee, evaded defeat at Parker's Cross Roads, and crossed the river again at Clifton. Grant changed his supply base to Memphis.
Confederate Gen. Nathan B. Forrest's cavalry brigade captured Trenton, an important stop on the Mobile and Ohio Railroad, on December 20, 1862. He and his men occupied the town briefly before riding on toward Union City the next day. Forrest's aide, Capt. Charles W. Anderson, allegedly entered the Gibson County courthouse here, gathered the bonds and oaths of allegiance to the United States that Trenton residents had signed, piled them in the yard, and set them afire.
Corp. William H.H. Ibbetson, of Co. D, 122nd Illinois Infantry, described the war's effects on the town. He arrived in Trenton with his regiment on October 9, 1862. The unit had ridden in boxcars used for transporting cattle by rail to Corinth, Mississippi. In his diary, Ibbetson wrote the next day, the regiment "went into quarters that evening in a large store on the west side of the [courthouse] square. The town is very nice, but shows unmistakable signs of the Civil War. It used to have a population of 1,500 but now not more than 500 remain. A great many homes are vacant."
The Russell-Hill Chapter, United Daughters of the Confederacy, erected the Confederate monument in 1907.
(Sidebar):The current Gibson County courthouse was completed in 1899. It is the fourth courthouse to be constructed on this site. A log building was completed in 1825, a brick structure replaced it in 1829, and another brick courthouse was built between 1839 and 1841. It survived the Civil War and stood until this courthouse was constructed.
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