Press Release-Hood's Tennessee Campaign: The Desperate Venture of a Desperate Man

The History Press is pleased to announce the publication of  Hood's Tennessee Campaign: The Desperate Venture of a Desperate Man (Civil War Sesquicentennial) by James R. Knight.

About the book: The Tennessee Campaign of November and December 1864 was the Southern Confederacy’s last significant offensive operation of the Civil War. General John Bell Hood of the Confederate Army of Tennessee attempted to capture Nashville, the final realistic chance for a battlefield victory against the Northern juggernaut. Hood’s former West Point instructor, Major General George Henry Thomas, led the Union force, fighting those who doubted him in his own army as well as Hood’s Confederates. Through the bloody, horrific battles at Spring Hill, Franklin and Nashville and a freezing retreat to the Tennessee River, Hood ultimately failed. Civil War historian James R. Knight chronicles the Confederacy’s last real hope at victory and its bitter disappointment.

Meet-the-Author

Thursday, August 21 at 6 p.m. @ Maury County Library

(211 W 8th St, Columbia, TN)

Friday, August 22 at 10 a.m. @ FiftyForward Turner Lifelong Living Center at Bellevue YMCA (8101 Hwy 100, Nashville, TN)

Friday, October 10, time TBA @ Stones River National Battlefield (3501 Old Nashville Highway, Murfreesboro, TN)

November 14-16 @ Carter House/Canton Plantation, celebrating Blue & Grey days and anniversary of Battle of Franklin (Franklin, TN)

Saturday, November 29 @ Rippavilla Plantation - The Battle of Spring Hill Sesquicentennial Anniversary (Spring Hill, TN)

Tuesday, December 2 at 2:30 p.m. @ The Metropolitan Archives - First Tuesday at the Archives Meeting (Nashville, TN)

Monday, March 23, time TBA @ The Blount Mansion (Knoxville, TN)

St. Johns County Confederate Burial #2 William Dominique Ashton

William Dominique Ashton  Florida Conscripts


William Dominique Ashton was born some time around 1830 in Florida . The records are not completely clear but this gives a very good estimate that is in between the dates found. He was the son of John and Susan Ashton.


By 1860 William was married and he and his wife Mary had started a family. The 1860 census shows them having four children. Also in the home was William's younger brother, Samuel. William worked as a farmer and appears to have been a successful one. He owned $500 worth of real estate and had personal property worth $4,400. This personal property included four slaves; 3 males and a female. The war was not kind to the Ashton family and by 1870 his worth had dropped to a combined $800; less than 20% of his pre-war wealth. His family continued to grow however and the 1870 census showed he and Mary had nine children. The war could not have been far from the family mind when in 1867 they named a son Robert Lee Ashton. The year 1880 saw the family continue to grow and by this time there were at least 13 children though several had left home to start their own lives.


William was not to live much longer; passing away on June 8, 1887. William is buried in Sanksville Cemetery. The approximate GPS coordinates for his burial location are N 29.54.959 W 081.31.607 . His grave is marked with a Confederate headstone. It does not appear that his wife ever filed for a widows pension in the state of Florida so little is known about the family at this point.




William served a very short time as a Private in the Florida Conscripts. It appears he was a member of the Florida Conscripts and was mustered in to service on September 27, 1862. He was discharged for disability in December 1862. His military records show he was 5' 7" with blue eyes, light skin and sandy hair.