Tasso, Tennessee

Last updated

Tasso, Tennessee
Unincorporated community
USA Tennessee location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Tasso, Tennessee
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Tasso, Tennessee
Coordinates: 35°12′42″N84°48′15″W / 35.21167°N 84.80417°W / 35.21167; -84.80417 Coordinates: 35°12′42″N84°48′15″W / 35.21167°N 84.80417°W / 35.21167; -84.80417
Country United States
State Tennessee
County Bradley
Elevation
[1]
810 ft (250 m)
Time zone UTC-5 (Eastern (EST))
 • Summer (DST) UTC-4 (EDT)
ZIP code
37312, 37323
Area code(s) 423
GNIS feature ID1304009 [1]

Tasso is an unincorporated community located in Bradley County, Tennessee approximately five miles north-northeast of the business district of Cleveland. Its coordinates are approximately 35.212 N, 84.804 W and its elevation is approximately 814 feet. [2] It appears in the East Cleveland US Geological Survey records. Tasso is included in the Cleveland metropolitan statistical area.

Contents

Geography

Tasso is mostly a residential community, located in northeastern Bradley County on the edge of a large agricultural area. Since the 1980s the city limits have greatly expanded to within a short distance of the community. Several historic Native American sites are located near the community, including Beeler Spring approximately one-half mile to the east and Rattlesnake Springs about two miles to the northeast, where 13,000 Cherokees were held in preparation for the Cherokee Removal, which became known as the Trail of Tears. Much of the area around the community remains heavily agricultural with hundreds of acres of protected land and some of the most fertile soils in Bradley County.

A Norfolk Southern Railway runs through the community, connecting the area with Cleveland to the south and Athens and Knoxville to the north and is paralleled through the community by Little Chatata Creek. No numbered highways run through Tasso, but it is served by two primary roads, Tasso Lane (which connects to US-11) and Dry Valley Road (which connects between Cleveland and Charleston). Other major roads include Old Charleston Road (also connects to Charleston), Urbane Road, and Jenkins Road. [3] Cleveland Regional Jetport, opened in 2013, is located on the eastern border of the community. A few industries have located warehouses in Tasso including Tri-State Truss, Pratt Industries, Owens Corning, Reliance Frame & Furniture, and Cleveland Recycled Fiber. There are two churches based in Tasso: Tasso Baptist and Tasso United Methodist.

History

The community is part of a region once called Chatata, meaning "clear water", by the Cherokee, and has been in existence since before the American Civil War. [4] The community was first called Fish Town, then McMillin Station, and then Chatata. [5] The community was renamed Tasso in 1905 after an Italian poet who frequently rode the train through the community. [6] The community once contained schools, a post office, train station, two stores, a blacksmith shop, flour mill, and a physician. [5] The railroad was constructed through the community in 1858. [7]

Civil War history

During the Civil War, Union troops under the command of general William T. Sherman camped directly east of Tasso and the railroad in the same valley on multiple occasions in 1863. These troops reportedly were forced to abandon at least one cannon in Little Chatata Creek south of Tasso after it got stuck in the creek bed while they were crossing. [8] Troops under the command of Sherman also camped at the Blue Springs Encampments and Fortifications in southern Bradley County.

In the spring of 1864, during the Civil War, a group of Company C soldiers of the Confederate Army of Tennessee were camped in a field along the railroad just south of present day Tasso when the commander received word of a train transporting approximately 2,000 Union soldiers approaching from the south, followed by a Confederate train pursuing the former. The commander ordered his soldiers to place an explosive charge on the tracks just south of the community, hoping to derail the Union train and allow them to capture the cargo, which reportedly consisted of a cache of rifles and ammunition and three cannons. [9] The Union train failed to detonate the explosive, which was instead detonated by the Confederate train, destroying the train and killing several soldiers. The Confederate soldiers who attempted to destroy the Union train, who had been watching from a nearby hill, immediately rushed toward the wreckage only to be unexpectedly met by a large band of Union soldiers who attacked from a nearby wooded area. The Confederate soldiers immediately fled and several were killed by the Union soldiers in the process. [10]

The Confederate train reportedly contained a cache of Confederate gold and silver coins intended for payroll that are rumored to still be buried at the site of the wreckage. [7] Although no evidence of this has ever been found, a Confederate sword was discovered by a teenager in Little Chatata Creek adjacent to the railroad in 1970. This discovery was later followed by other artifacts from the wreckage, including mess kits, silverware, parts of boots, brass buttons, belt buckles, and a small number of coins. [6]

Related Research Articles

Bradley County, Tennessee County in Tennessee, United States

Bradley County is a county located in the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 census, the population was 108,620, making it the thirteenth most populous county in Tennessee. Its county seat is Cleveland. It is named for Colonel Edward Bradley of Shelby County, Tennessee, who was colonel of Hale's Regiment in the American Revolution and the 15th Regiment of the Tennessee Volunteers in the War of 1812. Bradley County is included in the Cleveland, Tennessee Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is also included in the Chattanooga-Cleveland-Dalton, TN-GA-AL Combined Statistical Area.

Charleston, Tennessee City in Tennessee, United States

Charleston is a city in Bradley County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 664 at the 2020 census. It is included in the Cleveland Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Cleveland, Tennessee City in Tennessee, United States

Cleveland is the county seat of and largest city in Bradley County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 47,356 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Cleveland metropolitan area, Tennessee, which is included in the Chattanooga–Cleveland–Dalton, TN–GA–AL Combined Statistical Area.

Hopewell is a census-designated place (CDP) and unincorporated community in Bradley County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 1,874 at the 2010 census. It is included in the Cleveland, Tennessee Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Calhoun, Tennessee Town in Tennessee, United States

Calhoun is a town in McMinn County, Tennessee, United States. It is part of the Chattanooga–Cleveland–Athens combined statistical area. The population was estimated at 536 in 2020.

Chatata, meaning "clear water", is the original Cherokee name of an area located in Bradley County, Tennessee. Today the name survives in references to a number of locations in Bradley County, most notably Chatata Valley in the northeastern part of the county. Chatata was also the original name of an unicorporated community in this region now known as Tasso.

The Blue Ridge and Atlantic Railroad of the United States purchased the Cornelia-Tallulah Falls section of the North Eastern Rail Road in an attempt to connect Savannah, Georgia to Knoxville, Tennessee. Chartered in 1887, it went bankrupt in about 1892 and in 1898 its properties became part of the newly formed Tallulah Falls Railway.

Red Clay State Historic Park State park in Tennessee, United States

Red Clay State Historic Park is a state park located in southern Bradley County, Tennessee, United States. The park was the site of the last capital of the Cherokee Nation in the eastern United States from 1832 to 1838 before the enforcement of the Indian Removal Act of 1830. This resulted in a forced migration of most of the Cherokee people to present-day Oklahoma known as the Cherokee removal. The site is considered sacred to the Cherokees, and includes the Blue Hole Spring, a large hydrological spring. It is also listed as an interpretive center along the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail.

Whiteside, Tennessee Unincorporated community in Tennessee, United States

Whiteside is an unincorporated community in Marion County, Tennessee. It was originally settled as a Cherokee town in the late eighteenth century.

Chunky Creek train wreck 1863 train derailment in Mississippi

The Chunky Creek Train Wreck occurred on February 19, 1863, when a train crashed into the creek from a bridge damaged by heavy rain on the Southern Rail Road line between Meridian and Vicksburg, Mississippi.

Indian Territory in the American Civil War U.S. state of Oklahoma during the American Civil War

During the American Civil War, most of what is now the U.S. state of Oklahoma was designated as the Indian Territory. It served as an unorganized region that had been set aside specifically for Native American tribes and was occupied mostly by tribes which had been removed from their ancestral lands in the Southeastern United States following the Indian Removal Act of 1830. As part of the Trans-Mississippi Theater, the Indian Territory was the scene of numerous skirmishes and seven officially recognized battles involving both Native American units allied with the Confederate States of America and Native Americans loyal to the United States government, as well as other Union and Confederate troops.

Cherokee in the American Civil War

The Cherokee in the American Civil War were active in the Trans-Mississippi and Western Theaters. In the east, Confederate Cherokees led by William Holland Thomas hindered Union forces trying to use the Appalachian mountain passes of western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee. Out west, Confederate Cherokee Stand Watie led primarily Native Confederate forces in the Indian Territory, in what is now the state of Oklahoma. The Cherokee partnered with the Confederacy in order to get funds, as well as ultimately full recognition as a sovereign, independent state.

East Tennessee bridge burnings Guerrilla operations during the American Civil War

The East Tennessee bridge burnings were a series of guerrilla operations carried out during the American Civil War by Union sympathizers in Confederate-held East Tennessee in 1861. The operations, planned by Carter County minister William B. Carter (1820–1902) and authorized by President Abraham Lincoln, called for the destruction of nine strategic railroad bridges, followed by an invasion of the area by Union Army forces then in southeastern Kentucky. The conspirators managed to destroy five of the nine targeted bridges, but the Union Army failed to move, and would not invade East Tennessee until 1863, nearly two years after the incident.

Blue Springs Encampments and Fortifications United States historic place

Blue Springs Encampments and Fortifications is the site of a Civil War military encampment in Bradley County, Tennessee. Union Army forces commanded by General William Tecumseh Sherman camped at this location between October 1863 and April 1865. Entrenchments built on the crests of ridges overlooking the camps are still visible on the site. Stone reinforcements are present in some sections of the entrenchments.

The C.S.M. Paul B. Huff Medal of Honor Memorial Parkway, more commonly known as Paul B. Huff Parkway or Paul Huff Parkway, is a major east–west thoroughfare which runs through northern Cleveland, Tennessee. While not a numbered highway, it serves as a connector between U.S. Route 11 (US 11) and State Route 60 (SR 60) as well as to Interstate 75 (I-75), is maintained by the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT), and has come to be one of the most heavily traveled and widely used roads in the city, with many corporate and private businesses locating to it. In 2017 the parkway had an annual average daily traffic (AADT) volume of 26,762 vehicles. The road is named in honor of Paul B. Huff, a Cleveland-born recipient of the Medal of Honor for his actions in World War II.

Richard Mitchell Edwards was an American attorney, politician and soldier who served one term in the Tennessee House of Representatives (1861–1862). A Southern Unionist, he represented Bradley County at the East Tennessee Convention in 1861, and served as colonel of the 4th Tennessee Cavalry of the Union Army during the Civil War. He ran unsuccessfully for governor on the Greenback Party ticket in 1878 and 1880.

Rattlesnake Springs United States historic place

Rattlesnake Springs is a historic site in Bradley County, Tennessee listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 1975.

Copper Basin (Tennessee) Geological area in southeastern Tennessee, United States

The Copper Basin, also known as the Ducktown Basin, is a geological region located primarily in Polk County, Tennessee that contains deposits of copper ore and covers approximately 60,000 acres. Located in the southeastern corner of Tennessee, small portions of the basin extend into Fannin County, Georgia and Cherokee County, North Carolina. The basin is surrounded by the Cherokee National Forest and the cities of Ducktown and Copperhill, Tennessee and McCaysville, Georgia are located in the basin.

The Hiwassee River Heritage Center is a history museum located in Charleston, Tennessee which was established in 2013. The museum chronicles the region's Cherokee and Civil War history. It is a certified interpretive center on the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail.

Battle of White Sulphur Springs Battle in the American Civil War

The Battle of White Sulphur Springs, also known as the Battle of Rocky Gap or the Battle of Dry Creek, occurred in Greenbrier County, West Virginia, on August 26 and 27, 1863, during the American Civil War. A Confederate Army force commanded by Colonel George S. Patton defeated a Union brigade commanded by Brigadier General William W. Averell. West Virginia had been a state for only a few months, and its citizens along the state's southern border were divided in loyalty to the Union and Confederate causes. Many of the fighters on both sides were West Virginians, and some were from the counties close to the site of the battle.

References

  1. 1 2 U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Tasso
  2. ↑ "Tasso Populated Place Profile / Bradley County, Tennessee Data". tennessee.hometownlocator.com.
  3. ↑ "Tasso map with satellite view". 24timezones.com.
  4. ↑ Lillard 1980, p. 37.
  5. 1 2 Lillard 1980, p. 40.
  6. 1 2 Jameson 1997, p. 79.
  7. 1 2 Jameson 1997, p. 76.
  8. ↑ Hardy 1962, p. 53.
  9. ↑ Jameson 1997, p. 77.
  10. ↑ Jameson 1997, p. 78.

Bibliography

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.