Following the recent suggestion mentioned in the Dragoons Commander's column for June to look for Confederate historical sites while on summer vacation travels, we recently spent a night in Pikeville TN. Pikeville is just northwest of Chattanooga on US Hwy 127. We stayed at a wonderful airbnb there which was just a couple blocks from the downtown Main Street area which has been renovated with brick sidewalks, fencing and lanterns along the shopping district which includes a couple quaint sandwich and ice cream restaurants and a Framer's Market. There is a beautiful Bledsoe County Veterans Park there with monuments and a fountain. The courthouse sits in the town square there also. There was a skirmish in the town of Pikeville in June of 1862 where Confederate defenders of the town were routed by a Union cavalry force which subsequently ransacked the town and burned down the hotel which was on the town square here. The original courthouse on the grounds was used by Confederate General Braxton Bragg as a hospital in the summer of 1862. The historic John Bridgman house dating from 1830 sits across the square. It was occupied by Federal troops during the Christmas season of 1863. Interesting bit of War Between the States history in the quiet little town of Pikeville TN which during the War apparently was anything but.
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