Wheeler's Raid around Rosecrans, December 30, 1862 (La Vergne)

La Vergne was a village before it was a suburb. Its post office took the name of a French-born physician, Francois Roulhac de La Vergne, on the day he died in 1852, and the town was incorporated in 1860. Much of the community burned in 1862 during the skirmishing that led up to Stones River. After the war it never recovered its footing: the charter was rescinded in 1881 because too few adults remained to elect officials or organize a government.

What the plaque says

Wheeler's Raid around Rosecrans December 30, 1862 Striking this area about 1:00 p.m. Wheeler attached with three columns, and captured 200 stands of arms, numerous horses and mules and 500 prisoners, and destroyed the Reverse Wagon Train of the Federal XIV Corps. To forestall further attacks, Col. M. B. Walker's Federal brigade was deflected from its march on Murfreesboro, but the raiders departed south toward Rock Springs.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Stones River National Battlefield — 13 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.
• Andrew Jackson's Hermitage — 13 mi
  Andrew Jackson's cotton plantation east of Nashville, where visitors can walk to the quarters, Alfred's Cabin and the Enslaved Cemetery as well as the mansion.
• Fort Negley — 14 mi
  The largest inland stone fort of the Civil War, built in 1862 on St. Cloud Hill by more than 2,700 conscripted Black laborers, hundreds of whom died.
• National Museum of African American Music — 15 mi
  A downtown Nashville museum, opened in 2021, tracing gospel, blues, jazz, rhythm and blues and hip-hop through Black history from 1619 to 2016.

More markers nearby

• Mary Kate Patterson — 0.7 mi
• Sewart Air Force Base — 3.1 mi
• Sam Davis — 4.5 mi
• Smyrna Railroad Depot — 4.5 mi