Army of the Cumberland, June 24-26, 1863 (Hoover's Gap)

Colonel John T. Wilder turned his infantry brigade into mounted infantry by seizing horses on raids, then armed it with seven-shot Spencer repeating rifles, each soldier signing a $35 note that Wilder co-signed at his hometown banks. On June 24 the brigade reached Hoover's Gap nearly nine miles ahead of its corps, found the summit empty, and dug in despite an order to fall back. Counterattacks failed until Thomas's infantry arrived that evening. Rosecrans, riding up, shook Wilder's hand and thanked him for disobeying.

What the plaque says

Army of the Cumberland June 24-26, 1863 Reynolds' Division of the XIV Corps forced Hoover's Gap, driving a task force of Bate's & Bushrod Johnson's Brigades back to Fairfield, 5 mi. S.W., whence it had come. The XIV Corps reunited with other units of Rosecrans' army at Manchester, thus getting in the Confederate rear and forcing Bragg's withdrawal to Chattanooga.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration — 16 mi
  The Shelbyville show grounds where the Tennessee Walking Horse has been crowned world grand champion each late summer since 1939, and where the practice of soring is part of the story.
• Stones River National Battlefield — 16 mi
  The Murfreesboro battlefield of December 1862, with a national cemetery built by Black soldiers, a Trail of Tears route and the story of the freedmen's settlement called Cemetery.
• Old Stone Fort State Archaeological Park — 17 mi
  A 2,000-year-old enclosure of piled stone and earth on the bluffs above the forks of the Duck River, built by Native people between about 80 and 550 A.D., with a museum and waterfall trails.
• Henry Horton State Park — 24 mi
  A Duck River park on Governor Henry Horton's former farm in Marshall County, with a mill ruin from 1845, kayak floats and the grave of a governor the House declined to impeach.

More markers nearby

• Henry Watterson — 4.2 mi
• Governor John Price Buchanan — 6.4 mi
• The Webb School — 7.1 mi
• Army of the Cumberland, June 24-26, 1863 (Christiana) — 8.3 mi