Camp Trousdale

Camp life here was as much about illness as drill. The Third Tennessee Infantry was sent to the camp on July 16, 1861, hoping a change of air would end a measles epidemic, but its soldiers kept falling sick. The men also found time for recreation; one wrote that dances were held nightly, and another called the rules mighty tight, spelling it his own way. The camp was in use from June until November 1861, when the Union invasion of Middle Tennessee forced it to be abandoned.

What the plaque says

Camp Trousdale Served formerly by Richland Station on the L&N RR., this was an early staging and training area for Tennessee Confederate units. Regiments trained here included the 7th Infantry (Hatton) 16th Infantry (Savage), 18th Infantry (Palmer), 20th Infantry (Battle), 32nd Infantry (Bushrod Johnson), 4lst Infantry (Tillman), 44th Infantry (McDaniel); also, the 1st (McNairy) and 2nd (Samuel Jones) Cavalry Battalions, which (May, 1862) became the 1st Cavalry (Biffle), trained here after organizing at Nashville and Mt. Pleasant, respectively.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Wynnewood State Historic Site — 20 mi
  A National Historic Landmark log inn at the Bledsoe's Lick springs, beside a Mississippian mound center and tied to the domestic slave trade.

More markers nearby

• Cold Spring School: Circa 1857-1933 — 1.9 mi
• Zollicoffer's Headquarters — 2.5 mi
• Scattersville Community — 2.5 mi
• Richland — 3.1 mi