Bethesda Presbyterian Church | |
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| Nearest city | Russellville, Tennessee |
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| Coordinates | 36°14′51″N83°13′41″W / 36.24750°N 83.22806°W Coordinates: 36°14′51″N83°13′41″W / 36.24750°N 83.22806°W |
| Area | 5 acres (2.0 ha) |
| Built | 1835 |
| NRHP reference No. | 73001771 [1] |
| Added to NRHP | April 11, 1973 |
Bethesda Presbyterian Church is a historic church in Russellville, Tennessee, US, that was used as a hospital during the American Civil War. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Bethesda Presbyterian Church was organized in 1832. [2] The church building was completed in 1835. It is a brick building equipped with high-back wooden pews and an "ornate" wooden pulpit. [3] [4]
As the Civil War approached, the congregants' sympathies were divided between the Union and secessionist sides. The split led the church to suspend activity until after the hostilities ended. [3] [4]
Some 25,000 Confederate Army soldiers under the command of General James Longstreet arrived at the church in December 1863 to spend the winter, after the Battle of Bean's Station. They remained there until February 1864 and used the church building as a hospital. [3] [4] Military engagements occurred near the church in both October and November 1864. [3] In the Battle of Morristown (also known as "Vaughn's Stampede") in October, Union forces under General Alvan C. Gillem attacked Confederate troops commanded by General John C. Vaughn, causing them to retreat to Carter's Station on the Watauga River. [5] [6] In the Battle of Bull's Gap (also known as “Gillem's Stampede”) in November, Confederate forces under General John C. Breckinridge and Vaughn prevailed over Gillem's troops, chasing the Union forces westward to a defensive position near Knoxville. [6] [7] During one of these skirmishes, a cannonball penetrated one of the church walls, causing structural damage that was repaired by reinforcing the walls with large iron rods. [3] The Union Army used the church as a hospital for soldiers wounded in these operations. [7] Many soldiers from both sides are interred in the church cemetery. Eighty of the wartime burials are unidentified. [3] [4] [7]
Worship services resumed after the war ended, but church members could not reconcile their political differences. Confederate and Union supporters sat on different sides of the church, separated by empty pews. In 1871, one group walked out together; they then joined the Presbyterian Church of Morristown. The other group continued to worship at Bethesda Presbyterian Church until 1875, when they closed Bethesda and left to become part of the new Russellville Presbyterian Church. [3] [4]
The church was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. [1] The church building and its cemetery are maintained by members of a local chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. [4] In 2011, a pair of local teenagers vandalized the church and its cemetery, breaking windows and defacing gravestones. [8] It currently has a Civil War Trails sign that signifies its usage in the American Civil War and a plaque honoring the fallen Civil War veterans.
Morristown is a city in and the county seat of Hamblen County, Tennessee, United States. Morristown also extends into Jefferson County on the western and southern ends. The city's population was recorded to be 30,431 at the 2020 United States census. It is the principal city of the Morristown Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Grainger, Hamblen, and Jefferson counties. The Morristown metropolitan area is also part of the Knoxville-Morristown-Sevierville Combined Statistical Area.
The Battle of Bulls Gap was a battle of the American Civil War, occurring from November 11 to November 13, 1864, in Hamblen County and Greene County, Tennessee.
Knoxville National Cemetery is a United States National Cemetery located in the city of Knoxville, Tennessee, United States. Established during the Civil War in 1863, the cemetery currently encompasses 9.8 acres (4.0 ha), and as of the end of 2007, had 9,006 interments. The 60-foot (18 m) Union Soldier monument, which stands in the eastern corner of the cemetery, is one of the largest Union monuments in the South. In 1996, the cemetery was added to the National Register of Historic Places as part of a multiple properties submission for national cemeteries.
Alvan Cullem Gillem was a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Although Southern-born, he remained loyal to the Federal government and fought in several battles in the Western Theater before commanding occupation troops in Mississippi and Arkansas during Reconstruction. He later played a prominent role in the Modoc War in 1873.
Morristown College was an African American higher education institution located in Morristown, the seat of Hamblen County, Tennessee. It was founded in 1881 by the national Freedman's Aid Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The school was renamed Knoxville College-Morristown Campus in 1989 and closed in 1994. Prior to the civil rights movement, the college held the distinction of being one of only two institutions in East Tennessee for African Americans, the other being Knoxville College, founded in 1875.
The Mabry–Hazen House is a historic home located on an 8-acre (3.2 ha) site at 1711 Dandridge Avenue in Knoxville, Tennessee, at the crest of Mabry's Hill. Also known as the Evelyn Hazen House or the Joseph Alexander Mabry Jr. House, when constructed in 1858 for Joseph Alexander Mabry II it was named Pine Hill Cottage. The house was in what was then the separate town of East Knoxville. Stylistically, the house exhibits both Italianate and Greek Revival elements. Additions in 1886 increased the size of the first floor. Having operated as a museum since the death of Evelyn Hazen, the house retains its original furniture and family collections, including antique china and crystal with over 2,000 original artifacts on display making it the largest original family collection within America. The house is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The First Presbyterian Church Graveyard is the oldest graveyard in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States. Established in the 1790s, the graveyard contains the graves of some of Knoxville's most prominent early residents, including territorial governor and Constitutional Convention delegate William Blount and Knoxville founder James White. In 1996, the graveyard was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
William Price Sanders was an officer in the Union Army in the American Civil War who died at the Siege of Knoxville.
Russellville is a census-designated place in Hamblen County, Tennessee, United States. Located along U.S. Route 11E-Tennessee State Route 34, it is situated approximately at a midpoint between Whitesburg and Morristown.
Horatio Stockton Howell was a Union Army chaplain killed in downtown Gettysburg on the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg in the American Civil War.
The Confederate Monument in Danville, originally located between Centre College and the First Presbyterian Church at the corner of Main and College Streets in Danville, Kentucky, was a monument dedicated to the Confederate States of America that is on the National Register of Historic Places. The monument was dedicated in 1910 by the surviving veterans of the Confederacy of Boyle County, Kentucky and the Kate Morrison Breckinridge Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC). In 2021, it was relocated to a museum in Meade County, Kentucky.
The First Church of Hanover, also known as the First Presbyterian Church of Hanover or the Hanover Presbyterian Church, is located on Mount Pleasant Avenue in East Hanover, Morris County, New Jersey, United States. Established in 1718 in what was then the British Province of New Jersey, it is a member of the Presbyterian Church (USA) and is the oldest religious congregation in Morris County. The congregation's current building, constructed in 1835, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The 13th Tennessee Cavalry Regiment was a cavalry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The regiment was originally designated 12th Tennessee Volunteer Cavalry, but was changed by order of Governor Andrew Johnson on December 31, 1863.
Old Stone Church is a historic Presbyterian church located at Lewisburg, Greenbrier County, West Virginia.
Charleston Cumberland Presbyterian Church is a historic church on Railroad Street in Charleston, Tennessee.
Thomas William Humes was an American clergyman and educator, active in Knoxville, Tennessee, during the latter half of the 19th century. Elected rector of St. John's Episcopal Church in 1846, Humes led the church until the outbreak of the Civil War, when he was forced to resign due to his Union sentiments. He was named president of East Tennessee University in 1865, and during his tenure, he led the school's expansion and transition into the University of Tennessee. Humes later served as the first librarian of the Lawson McGhee Library, and published a book about East Tennessee's Unionists entitled, The Loyal Mountaineers of Tennessee.
John Crawford Vaughn was a Confederate cavalry officer from East Tennessee. He served in the Mexican–American War, prospected in the California Gold Rush, and participated in American Civil War battles including First Manassas, Vicksburg, Piedmont and Saltville.
First Presbyterian Church of Clifton is a historic Presbyterian church located in an antebellum building on Main Street in Clifton, Tennessee.
The Battle of Morristown was a battle of the American Civil War fought in present-day Hamblen County, Tennessee on October 28, 1864. Union forces under General Alvan C. Gillem attacked Confederate forces under General John C. Vaughn who were defending Morristown, Tennessee. Vaughn's Confederates were routed and Gillem's forces pursued them into nearby Russellville, Tennessee.
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