Day 9 September 6, 2025 Paducah Kentucky to Clarksville Tennessee 119 miles
It did rain overnight. Everything outside was wet. Good thing Rob put up the side curtains last night. The inside of the woodie was dry. Sometimes after a heavy rain the car has trouble starting. No problem starting today.
We have about a two hour drive to Dover Tennessee. That was the location of Fort Donelson which is considered by some to be the turning point of the Civil War. We arrived at the Visitor’s Center just as the ranger was leaving to give a talk at the National Cemetery located within the park. We followed him to the location. A few rain drops were falling so we went in one of the small buildings that contained information about the war, the cemetery and some of the people involved. He gave about a 20 minute talk about the war and the cemetery. Some of the graves are from other engagements but the majority are from the Union soldiers and sailors of the Civil War that died during the battle. The names are unknown because they were buried where they died and as soon as possible. A total of 670 with 512 unknown men are interned here.
We returned to the Visitor’s Center and watched a video that helped explain what had happened here. We got a map with the various sights marked and off we went. When we got to the river an employee of the National Park talked to us about the battle that had occurred here. The Union forces came up the river in their iron clad boats. The Confederate soldiers however had some big canons lining the banks of the river. The canons did some serious damage to the boats. The next day General Grant and his forces surrounded the fort from the land side. The Confederate soldiers however did a surprise attack and forced the Union soldiers back. Then the Confederate army made a huge mistake and returned to the fort. This allowed the Union to regroup and surround the fort eventually forcing a complete surrender. The Union victory gave the Union control of the rivers allowing easy access to the south. Turns out the park employee was a maintenance man who just happened to love history.
We had a nice picnic lunch in the park.
We also visited the Dover Hotel where the surrender documents were signed. Another video was supposed to be here but it wasn’t working.
Then we drove on to Clarksville Tennessee where we will spend the night.
Spoffords Travel 