The Nashville Sounds might have played over Civil War soldiers’ unmarked graves at their old stadium. Nashvillians may have even tread over the graves of 19th-century cholera victims. In honor of Halloween, we’ve uncovered some spooky tales and frightening events from our 236-year-old city’s past.
Fort Negley
When Union soldiers occupied Nashville in 1862, they forced African-Americans, both slaves and freed men and women, to build forts throughout the city to prepare for battles against the Confederates, who were in South Nashville.
The laborers built the French-style, stone Fort Negley in four months at the cost of 600 to 800 lives. The work was hard, the weather harsh and food and shelter slim.
“If you had a tent, then you got to sleep out of a tent, and if you didn’t, then you were out of luck,” said Tracy Harris, education and programs specialist at the historic site.
While only a mile away from the Battle of Nashville, Fort Negley was never attacked.
At the same time, the nearby rail line brought bodies of fallen Union soldiers to bury near the fort.
While many of the approximately 13,000 bodies were dug up and reburied in the National Nashville Cemetery in Madison, Harris believes it is possible some of the bodies were left behind in unmarked graves around the Fourth and Chestnut intersection and even Greer Stadium.
“It wasn’t a fine-tuned system,” he said. “They weren’t using GPS coordinates.” (continue reading at Tennessean)