Oaklands Mansion is an historic house museum located in

Murfreesboro Murfreesboro is a city in and county seat of Rutherford County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 152,769 according to the 2020 census, up from 108,755 residents certified in 2010. Murfreesboro is located in the Nashville metropol ...

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Oaklands is on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

and is a local landmark known for its unique

Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian R ...

design. The plantation was caught in the middle of the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

and officers from both the

Confederate Confederacy or confederate may refer to: States or communities * Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities * Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between 1 ...

and

Union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

armies stayed in the mansion. The most notable visitor to the home was Confederate President

Jefferson Davis Jefferson F. Davis (June 3, 1808December 6, 1889) was an American politician who served as the president of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865. He represented Mississippi in the United States Senate and the House of Representatives as a ...

, who stayed at Oaklands December 12–15, 1862 accompanied by his aid

George Washington Custis Lee George Washington Custis Lee (September 16, 1832 – February 18, 1913), also known as Custis Lee, was the eldest son of Robert E. Lee and Mary Anna Custis Lee. His grandfather George Washington Custis was the step-grandson and adopted son of G ...

, son of Confederate General

Robert Edward Lee Robert Edward Lee (January 19, 1807 – October 12, 1870) was a General officers in the Confederate States Army, Confederate general during the American Civil War, towards the end of which he was appointed the General in Chief of the Ar ...

. Other notable visitors were former United States First Lady

Sarah Childress Polk Sarah Childress Polk (September 4, 1803 – August 14, 1891) was the first lady of the United States from 1845 to 1849. She was the wife of the 11th president of the United States, James K. Polk. Well educated in a successful family, Sarah met he ...

, United States Senator from Tennessee and the 1860 Constitutional Union Party's nominee for President of the United States John Bell, Confederate General

Braxton Bragg Braxton Bragg (March 22, 1817 – September 27, 1876) was an American army officer during the Second Seminole War and Mexican–American War and Confederate general in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War, serving in the Weste ...

, Confederate Lieutenant-Genera

Leonidas Polk Lieutenant-General Leonidas Polk (April 10, 1806 – June 14, 1864) was a bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana and founder of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Confederate States of America, which separated from the Episcopal Chur ...

, Confederate Naval Commander

Matthew Fontaine Maury Matthew Fontaine Maury (January 14, 1806February 1, 1873) was an American oceanographer and naval officer, serving the United States and then joining the Confederacy during the American Civil War. He was nicknamed "Pathfinder of the Seas" and i ...

and Confederate Brigadier-General

George Maney Brigadier-General George Earl Maney (August 24, 1826 – February 9, 1901) was an American soldier, politician, railroad executive and diplomat. He was a general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War and a postbellum ...

. During the

First Battle of Murfreesboro The First Battle of Murfreesboro was fought on July 13, 1862, in Rutherford County, Tennessee, as part of the American Civil War. Troops under Confederate cavalry commander Brig. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest surprised and quickly overran a Feder ...

on July 13, 1862, Confederate cavalrymen under

Nathan Bedford Forrest Nathan Bedford Forrest (July 13, 1821October 29, 1877) was a prominent Confederate Army general during the American Civil War and the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan from 1867 to 1869. Before the war, Forrest amassed substantial wealt ...

surprised and defeated Federal forces encamped on the front lawn of the Mansion, near the plantation's spring and at the Rutherford County Courthouse as part of a raid on Union-occupied Murfreesboro. It is said that Lewis and Adaline Maney's children watched the fighting from the window of the second-floor hallway. After the surrender was signed, both armies gathered for a meal of black-eyed peas and sweet potatoes. Colonel

William Ward Duffield William Ward Duffield (November 19, 1823 – June 22, 1907) was an executive in the coal industry, a railroad construction engineer, and an officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War. After the war he was appointed Superintendent o ...

of the 9th Michigan Infantry, was severely wounded and captured by the Confederates during the early part of the battle. He was taken into the house and nursed by the Maney family. At noon the same day he was made prisoner by Forrest, but, in his then helpless condition, he was released upon his parole and promised not to bear arms against the Confederate States until regularly exchanged. Mrs. Duffield was a guest in the Maney home while her husband recovered for several months. The Duffields and the Maneys became friends during the Colonel's recuperation. After the war, the Duffields presented the Maneys with a silver tea service in gratitude for their hospitality and care of the Colonel. The last residential owner of Oaklands, Rebecca Jetton, moved out of the house in the 1950s when she could no longer maintain it. The abandoned mansion was vandalized and left in disrepair. The city of Murfreesboro acquired it in 1958 with the intention of tearing it down. However, the mansion was restored to its original grandeur by a group of women who rallied together to form the Oaklands Association. The home was opened to the public as a museum in the early 1960s and now receives thousands of visitors annually and is used for various public and private functions.

References

External links

Oaklands Mansion website
Historic house museums in Tennessee Houses in Rutherford County, Tennessee Museums in Rutherford County, Tennessee Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Tennessee National Register of Historic Places in Rutherford County, Tennessee {{Tennessee-museum-stub

See also

References

External links