Lunette Crittenden

Lunette Crittenden (1863-1866) - A U.S. Civil War Lunette established in 1863 as a part of Fortress Rosecrans in present day Murfreesboro, Rutherford County, Tennessee. Named Lunette Crittenden after Major General Thomas J. Crittenden. The Lunette was abandoned in 1866 after the end of the war when Fortress Rosecrans was abandoned.

History of Lunette Crittenden

After the Union army occupied Murfreesboro, Tennessee in January 1863, Major General William S. Rosecrans, (Cullum 1115), Commander of the Army of the Cumberland, gave his chief engineer Brigadier General USV James St. Clair Morton, (Cullum 1495), the job of designing and constructing what became Fortress Rosecrans. Morton planned a large enclosed fortification of over 200 acres that occupied both the north and south sides of the Stones River at Murfreesboro and included an important road junction and a rail line.

Lunette Crittenden and the other Lunettes at Fortress Rosecrans were lightly armed earthworks along the outer perimeter providing strong points along a line of rifle trenches that connected them. Each Lunette was served by batteries of three to nine guns under the command of a commissioned officer with 60 to 100 enlisted men present.

An inspection report dated 14 Jan 1864 indicated that the battery that jointly served Lunette Crittenden and Lunette Gordon Granger was under the command of Captain W.N. Doughty, 37th Indiana and was armed with one 6 pounder and one 3" gun and one 12 pounder field howitzer.

Lunette Crittenden was abandoned in 1866 after the end of the war when Fortress Rosecrans was abandoned.

Current Status

No remains.

---

USGS Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) Database Entry: 1681175

---

{"selectable":false,"width":"500"}

Location: Murfreesboro, Rutherford County, Tennessee. Map point is from the GNIS coordinates and may not be accurate. Maps & Images Lat: 35.85639 Long: -86.40222 Multi Maps from ACME Maps from Bing Maps from Google Elevation: 604'

See Also:

• Fortress Rosecrans
• Murfreesboro Defense System - U.S. Civil War

Sources:

• Miscellaneous Documents of the House of Representatives for the Second Session of the 51st Congress 1890-'91 with Index, GPO, 1891, Chapt XLIV, page 93, Google Books.

Links:

• North American Forts - Lunette Crittenden

Visited: No