January 1, 1863
- First Michigan Engineers, U.S. Army of the Cumberland, hold off several
attacks by confederate cavalry along Nashville Pike during the Battle of
Stone's River.
January 1, 1927
- Cumberland River reaches 56.2 feet at the Nashville gauge; highest
recorded flood waters in the city.
January 1, 1946
- Catastrophic flooding at Pineville, Ky, leads to the construction of a
system of levees and floodwalls.
January 10,
1991 - In Rhea County, Tenn., ravishing flood
waters raced down normally quiet Piney Creek from Grandview Mountian's
20,000 acre watershed and into Spring City, located near Watts Bar Lake. It
was the worst flood in local history. Some damage estimates in Spring City
alone reached a million dollars.
January 13, 1874 - MAJ Walter McFarland, escapes fire at Chattanooga
District Engineer Office; plans for Muscle Shoals Canal, seven months in
preparation, go up in smoke.
January 13, 1994 - A ruptured pipe was discovered at Dale Hollow Lake.
Nashville District crews labored eight days in sub-zero weather to prevent a
$1/2 million loss to the sport industry in middle Tennessee. A ruptured
water supply pipe running beneath a parking plaza near the base of
snow-encrusted Dale Hollow Dam threatened to cut off a vital water source
for 90,000 pounds of trout at the Dale Hollow Fish Hatchery. A fish
Hatchery contractor repaired the rupture. On January 21st, the final
connection was made and fresh water flowed steadily at 9,000 gpm into the
fish hatchery raceways.
January 1933 - The Nashville District begins construction of Wheeler
Lock & Dam at Muscle Shoals, AL, the last District construction project on
the Tennessee River, until Kentucky Lock.
January 1937 - District Engineer, MAJ Bernard
Smith dispatches entire fleet down the Cumberland River for rescue and
relief work in response to severe flooding; with bridges too low to pass,
vessels steam across farmland and bridge approaches, dodging telephone and
power lines.
January 1977 - District personnel proceed to northern Ohio to administer
snow removal contracts for opening roads into small communities isolated by
record snow falls and cold temperatures.
January 1981 - The emergency Management Branch was brought up to full
staff for the first time. Organization established in all Districts and
Divisions of the Corps of Engineers to ensure the proper emphasis in all
phases of emergency management, but especially to increase preparedness for
mobilization during wartime activities.
January 1986 - Construction of the new Wallsend Bridge began as part
of the Pineville Flood Control Project. The bridge connected the
communities of Wallsend and Pineville, Ky. The two-lane bridge replaced a
lower one-lane bridge.
Feb. 19, 1823 - Major Harold C. Fiske becomes Nashville District
Commander. During his tenure, he oversees the investigations leading to
multi-purpose development of the Cumberland & Tennessee Rivers.
Feb. 23, 1988 - Corps Ranger Keith
Crowe and Division of Forestry's Ted Melton discovered a giant Swamp
Chestnut Oak growing on Old Hickory Lake property. The giant oak measured
20 feet around and was more than 100 feet tall.
Feb. 23, 1990 - A ceremony is held
at District HQ on the seventh floor of the Federal Building in Nashville,
Tenn., to add the names of Robert L. Thomas, R.; Ronald G. Welbern; and
Harold R. Stafford to the Distinguished Civilian Employee plaque. The
79-year-old retiree Ed "Digger" Drake entertained the crowd with stories
from his 1935 to 1975 career, including tales about Soils Lab employee Louis
Campbell, and a "wet-behind-the-ears" engineer names Euclid Moore, later
Chief of Engineering Division.
Feb. 24, 1862 - The city of
Nashville surrenders to advancing Union Army following its victories over
Confederate forces at Fort Henry (Tennessee River) and Fort Donelson
(Cumberland River).
March
March 1881 - The Corps of Engineers
was laboring to build a system of lateral canals to bypass the barrier of
Muscle Shoals on the Tennessee River.
March 1942 - Workers began
construction of the Berry Hill Air Crew Classification Center. The District
was also pressing construction of a large prisoner of war compound at
Crossville, Tenn., that eventually held large numbers of German and Italian
POW's.
March 1982 - Howard Boatman, father
of Todd Boatman, was named Federal Employee of the Year.
March 11, 1819 - Long before there
was a Nashville District, the steamboat General Jackson used a sudden rise
in the Cumberland River to pass the treacherous sand bars of Harpeth Shoals,
becoming the first commercial steamer to reach Nashville.
March 11, 1881 - Legendary outlaws,
Frank & Jesse James relieved the District Paymaster of his $5200.00 payroll
for the canal workers.
March 11-14, 1975 - The resulting
floods from ten inches of rain raised the level to 48 feet on the main stem
of the Cumberland River. Without District flood control reservoirs, a
record flood would have resulted and with it an estimated $150 million
dollars in damage. Actual damage totaled 17.9 million.
March 15, 1938 - During an
inspection visit, District Engineer LTC Charles E. Perry drowned at Wheeler
Lock & Dam after a fall from the spillway wall. He is the only DE to die
while in command at Nashville.
March 15, 1991 - Old Hickory
Resource Manager hosted 20 high school students from Japan.
March 18, 1991 - TWRA first signed
an MOU with the Corps to manage more than 100,000 acres of forest resources
at Cordell Hull, Dale Hollow, and Center Hill Lakes.
March 23, 1992 - Giant drills broke
through the last of four tunnels for a ceremonial completion of the first
phase of the Harlan Project.
March 31, 1989 - DDELTC William
Allen retires, receives the Legion of Merit.
April
April 12, 1780 - Settlers ascending
the Cumberland River arrive at the mouth of the Red River and found a
settlement that becomes Clarksville, Tenn.
April 24, 1780
- John Donelson's party of settlers reached the future site of Nashville
after an epic four-month voyage down the Tennessee River, up the Ohio and
the Cumberland.
April 1865
- Major Wilbur F. Foster, Confederate Engineers [later of the Foster
Creighton Company a builder of several Corps projects] arranges the escape
of the Confederate government from Richmond, Va.
April 1865
- General Godfrey Weitzel and Major William R. King [later in charge of
improvements on the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers] lead the first Federal
troops into Richmond, Va.
April 1, 1918
- Satellite district established at Florence, Ala., to manage the
construction of Wilson Dam.
April 1936
- The Nashville District steam towboat Warioto, transports the 317th
Field Artillery and 310th Cavalry (U.S. Army Reserve units) to Lock A,
Ashland City, Tenn., for tactical maneuvers and weapons testing.
April 1943
- Work on Center Hill Dam is stopped by World War II. Work never resumed
until after the war was over.
April 1974
- In the aftermath of 100+ tornadoes across the central U.S. (April 3rd)
District survey teams prepare 575 damage reports covering 35 Tennessee
counties.
April 1977
- Record flooding inundates Upper Cumberland region. Levee at Pineville,
Ky., is overtopped as is the construction cofferdam at Martins Fork.
Valiant flood fighting effort by National Guard, townspeople and Corps
employees saves Barbourville, Ky., from flooding.
April 1981
- The Master Plan for recreational development in the Big South Fork
National River and Recreation Area, Nashville District's most challenging
recreational project, is approved.
April 1986
- Bandy Creek Recreation Area completed at Big South Fork.
April 1994
- The Harlan tunnels were tested for the first time as heavy rains deluged
the area. They easily passed the test as floodwaters only half filled the
four 32-foot-tall tunnels.
May 4, 1917
- a month after the nation enters World War I an amatuerish attempt is made
to sabotage Lock & Dam 21 near Burnside, KY. Armed guards patrol District
projects until the end of the war.
May 18, 1933 - Tennessee Valley Authority created.
Supervision of Tennessee River development passes from Nashville District to
the new agency.
May 1, 1961 - Nashville's military construction
mission is transferred to Mobile District.
May 1963 - President John F. Kennedy speaks at
Vanderbilt Stadium and presses a golden key detonating a charge that breaks
ground for the Cordell Hull project.
May 1979 - (this probably sounds too familiar)
Eight barges break loose from the Towboat Robert D. Herbert and lodge
against Cheatham Dam. One sinks. The barges are a threat to get underneath
the dams' tainter gates, but are successfully removed.
May 1979 - Tenn-Tom Constructors, a joint venture
between Morrisson-Knudsen, Brown & Root and Martin K. Eby proceed on largest
civil works contract in Corps history to excavate 11.3 mile section of
Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway Divide Cut section (271 million dollars.)
May 1984
- Flooding produces record pool levels at Martins Fork, Wolf Creek, Center
Hill, Old Hickory, J. Percy Priest and Barkley. An estimated $200 million in
damages is averted.
June 1864
- Union engineers construct a 2,170- foot pontoon bridge across the James
River in Virginia, the longest pontoon bridge constructed until World War
II. Another James River pontoon bridge, laid down by Major William Rice
King, District Engineer at Chattanooga during the 1876-1885 period, spans
over 1,300 feet. Three years later the District Headquarters moved to
Nashville.
June 1, 1927 - Wilson
locks open for navigation.
June 3, 1993 - Peter W.
Tunnicliffe, President of the Hazardous Waste Action Coalition (HWAC) and
Lieutenant General Arthur E. Williams, Chief of Engineers, sign a Partnering
Agreement aimed at guiding the cooperative efforts of the two organizations
in the nation's environmental restoration program.
June 13, 1995 -
Electrician Steve Tinker closed Chickamauga Lock to navigation at 4:48 p.m.
What Tinker spotted was the failure of the gudgeon pin's hinge assembly on
the lower miter gate's land leaf. The closure was of great interest to
local media since the annual River Bend Festival was about to start.
Traditionally, the River Bend Festival is a time when many pleasure craft
use the lock to travel to the Ross Landing Dock area in Chattanooga. The
lock was reopened to barge and pleasure craft on June 17 before the
festivities began.
June 14, 1991 - The
largest lift lock in the District undergoes dewatering, repair. Wilson Lock
was closed down for maintenance and a scheduled dewatering.
June 16, 1775 - Congress
authorizes the commissioning of Engineers in the new American army.
June 30, 1943 - Dale
Hollow Dam completed for purpose of flood control.
June 30, 1979 - Martins
Fork Dam is dedicated.
June 1977 - Initial public
meetings completed on Upper Cumberland local flood control projects.
1834 (August 8) - U.S. Civil
Engineer Howard Stansbury begins the first survey of the Upper Cumberland
River.
1888 (August 18) - Prompted by
requests of the Cumberland River Commission, various legislators, and the
engineering faculty at Vanderbilt University, U.S. Army Engineer District
established in Nashville at 609 Broad Street. Colonel John Barlow then
moved into the District office as its first District Engineer on October 1.
1933 (August 1)
- Chattanooga District is abolished due to the establishment of the
Tennessee Valley Authority.
1943 (August) - Ft. Loudoun Lock
opens for the first time to navigation traffic.
1966 (August 20) - Vice President
Hubert H. Humphrey dedicates the Barkley Lock and Dam project, which was
completed for $20 million dollars less than the original estimate. He
symbolically mixed the waters from both river basins to commemorate the
opening of the Barkley Canal.
1973 (August) -
Congressman Joe L. Evins pulls a lever to power up the first generator at
Cordell Hull Dam.
1984 (August) - Groundbreaking held for Barbourville,
Kentucky, Section-202 flood control project.
1834 - Captain Henry Shreve and Richard
Delafield examine Cumberland River from its mouth to Nashville and devise an
improvement plan.
1918 (September 2)
- Lock & Dam C on the Cumberland River goes into operation.
1924 (September 8) - Widows Bar
Dam on the Tennessee River completed.
1941 & 1951 (September 1) - Wolf
Creek Dam groundbreaking is followed exactly
ten years later by its dedication.
1954 (September 18) - Cheatham
Lock & Dam dedicated.
1973 (September) -
Cordell Hull Lake was first filled.
1974 (September) - Smithland Lock &
Dam construction begins.
October
1768 - Lt. Thomas Hutchins,
Engineer, British Army, supervises the construction of an armed galley which
he uses the following year to reconnoiter & map the Tennessee & Cumberland
Rivers.
1832 -
Captains' Henry Shreve and Richard Delafield examine the Lower Cumberland
River. Channel and stream bank clearing begin the same month and continue
for several years.
1863 (Oct. 26-27)
- While under artillery fire the 1st Michigan Engineers lay a
900 foot pontoon bridge across the Tennessee River at Brown's Ferry,
breaking the Confederate siege of Chattanooga.
1867 (Oct. 7)
- Topographer Edward McDermott, U.S. Engineers, drowns below
Chattanooga during a survey of the Tennessee River.
1888 (Oct. 1)
- Colonel John Barlow opens Nashville District Office.
1925 (Oct. 1)
- Widows Bar Lock opens on the Tennessee River (submerged by
Guntersville Project in 1939.)
1973 (Oct. 17)
- Cordell Hull project dedicated.
1983 - Beginning of Pineville,
Kentucky, Section 202 flood protection project.
November
1862 - At Nashville, the Union
Army of the Cumberland forms and commences training of three Pioneer
(engineer) battalions.
1863 (Nov. 29) - At
Knoxville, Union forces defending Ft. Sanders, an earthwork designed by army
engineers, decisively repulse an attack by Confederate forces commanded by
General James Longstreet.
1864 (Nov. 13)
- Captain John Barlow, later the first Nashville District Engineer, arrives
at the Tennessee capitol to direct the construction of a seven mile long
defense line. These fortifications halt General John B. Hood's advancing
Confederate army.
1888 (Nov, 8)
- General Order No. 93, establishes Division offices for the
Army Corps of Engineers.
1890 (Nov. 10)
- Muscle Shoals Canal opens to traffic.
1913 (Nov. 1)
- First vessel locks through Hale's Bar project on the Tennessee River.
1933 (Nov. 28)
- Nashville District transfers to the Ohio River Division.
1948 (Nov. 27)
- Center Hill Dam construction completed; lake impoundment
begins.
1977 November Emergency personnel
open four temporary area offices in western North Carolina to facilitate the
replacement of over 500 bridges washed away in massive flooding.
December
1779, Dec. 22 - Colonel John
Donelson's flotilla begins a five-month journey down the Tennessee River and
eventually up the Cumberland River to present day Nashville.
1830, Dec. 1
- Construction of first Muscle Shoals canal begins.
1864,
Dec. 15-16 - The occupying Union army emerges from Corps of Engineer
constructed fortifications and routs the Confederate Army of the Tennessee
in the climactic Battle of Nashville.
1911, Dec. 4
- Colbert Shoals Canal opened on the Tennessee River.
1916, Dec. 21
- Lock D opens for navigation on the Cumberland River.
1926, December
- Nashville's greatest flood begins.
1941, Dec. 1
- The Construction Division of the Army Quartermaster Corps is transferred
to the Corps of Engineers, greatly increasing Nashville District's military
construction mission.
1950, December
– Wolf Creek Dam was completed for flood control operation
and Lake Cumberland was filled. The project was authorized by the Flood
Control Act of 1938 and the River and Harbor Act of 1946. The Lake drains
5,789 square miles, has a shoreline of 1,255 miles, a pool length of 101
miles, and stores more water than any Corps project east of the Mississippi
River.
1952, December
- Cheatham Lake filled and Lock opens to the public. The
Lock and Dam were authorized by Congress in 1946 as a navigation project to
enhance the development of the Cumberland River.
1967, December
– J. Percy Priest Lake filled upon completion of the Dam.
The project was authorized by Congress in 1946, initially under the title
“Stewarts Ferry Reservoir”. Public Law 85-496, approved July 2, 1958,
changed the name to honor the late Congressman from Tennessee.
1985,
December
- The first complete transit of the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway occurs.