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The
Nashville to Atlanta Campaigns Tour
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Much has been written
about the relative values of battles in the east against
those of the west. You will now have the opportunity to
make the comparison? In early 1862 a Federal force under
U.S Grant invests Fort Donelson on the Cumberland River.
Quickly it is overcome with 'no terms or conditions' being
offered to the defenders. Nashville falls and the Confederates
withdraw south towards the Mississippi border and the important
railroad town of Corinth.
In April 62 the
Confederates attacked the Union troops guarding Pittsburg
Landing, at the end of the first day it was a great Southern
victory. During the night Grant brings up, re-enforcements,
the Battle of Shiloh ends as a Union triumph.
'No terms except
an unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted'
(U.S Grant, Fort Donelson)
During the next
couple of years the armies will fight at Stones River, Chickamauga
and Franklin, to name but a few. In the spring of 1864 as
US Grant pushes into the Wilderness in Virginia the new
commander in the south Union General Sherman with new orders
to destroy the Confederate Army in the field, moves into
Georgia.
Within months Atlanta
has fallen and Sherman's march to the sea has commenced.
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Day
1
Fly from London Heathrow
to Nashville Airport to be met by your tour director and transfer
to down town hotel, Nashville.
Day
2
Drive to Franklin and tour
the battlefield. In November 1864, with Sherman's Army 'Marching
to the Sea', the Confederates tried to draw his attention by advancing
into central Tennessee. On the 30 November, the Confederates commanded
by General John Bell Hood, attacked an entrenched Union force, the
attack proved to be a disaster, with losses of over 6,000 men including
Major General Pat Cleburne.
2nd night in Nashville, with a welcome reception.

Day
3
Drive to Murfreesboro to
tour the Stones River Battlefield. Between December 31 1862 and
January 2 1863 the Armies of Braxton Bragg & William Rosencrans
were engaged in a battle which typified the bloody fighting in the
region. One in three of the soldiers engaged became a casualty.
3rd night in Nashville.
Day
4
We leave Nashville and drive
to Dover, the site of Fort Donelson. This is where in February 1862
General Ulysees S.Grant issued his famed 'unconditional surrender'
note, which forced the surrender of the Confederate garrison, which
in turn, compelled the South to give up most of Tennessee.
Travel to Pickwick Landing on the Tennessee/Mississippi border.
Day
5
At 04.55 hours on Sunday
6 April 1862 the Confederate Army of General Albert S.Johnston,
attacked the unprepared Union Army at Shiloh. This battle became
the bloodiest in the West. We will see where Johnston is mortally
wounded, the 'Hornet's Nest' defended stoutly by Union soldiers
enabling reinforcements to come up and stabilise the Union lines.
That night the Confederates are celebrating a victory, they are
confident that on the next morning they will push their foes into
the Tennessee River.
Day
6
During the night General
Grant is able to bring up fresh divisions, these troops force back
the Confederates who eventually withdraw leaving the road open towards
the important railroad hub at Corinth. After lunch we will drive
to Corinth, just over the border in Mississippi, we will also see
Battery Robinette, the site of heavy fighting in October 1862.
Last night at Pickwick Landing.
Day
7
Today we will drive to Chattanooga,
our route takes us through the Southern Counties of Tennessee with
the Alabama border on our right. In Lawrenceburg we will see a statue
of Col. David Crockett. In Pulaski there is a statue of Sam Davis,
the young Confederate soldier executed in the town in 1863. Numerous
small cavalry skirmishes abounded in this region.
Hotel tonight in down town Chattanooga.

Day
8
We visit the battlefield
of Chickamauga, where between the 18 and 20 September 1863, Bragg's
Army inflicted a major defeat on the Union Army. The holding action
by General George Thomas allowed time for the shattered Union Army
to regroup and to stop the Confederates retaking Chattanooga. Second
night in Chattanooga.
Day
9
This morning we will drive
up to Lockout Mountain occupied by the Confederates after Chickamauga,
the mountain here gives an impressive view of the Tennessee River
and the town of Chattanooga.
After lunch we drive south east towards Atlanta, stopping at Pickett's
Mill Battlefield, where on 27 May 1864, the new commander of the
Union Army, General William Sherman's advance was halted with heavy
casualties. Almost 25,000 men fought the terrain, the heat, the
fear and each other in an area that became forever known as 'the
hell hole' to surviving veterans.
Hotel tonight in central Atlanta.
Day
10
We will tour the major Confederate
defensive works on Kennesaw Mountain, abandoning his usual flanking
tactics, and ordered by Grant to bring the Confederate Army to battle,
Sherman sent his troops against strong opposition at Cheatham Hill.
Repulsed bloody, with losses 4 to 1, and under threat of removal
from command, he flanked Johnston's position and continued his drive
to Atlanta.
Driving back into Atlanta we visit the large Cyclorama painting,
42' high by 348' in circumference, depicting the battle for Atlanta,
created in 1886 it is truly an amazing work of art.
2nd night in Atlanta
Day
11
This morning we will take
a sight seeing tour of Atlanta, from Margaret Mitchell's home, to
the CNN Center, to the Atlanta Botanical Garden, to Centennial Olympic
Park, designed for the 1996 games. After lunch we will drive out
to Stone Mountain, the world's largest granite monolith, on the
mountain's north side is a relief carving of President Davis and
Generals Lee & Jackson.
Final night in Atlanta with dinner as a group.

Day
12
An opportunity for shopping
or relaxing before return flight from Atlanta to London pm
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