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1864 Florence Gunboat Battle
By: Kurt Vetters, The University of North Alabama
December 27th, 1864. Confederate General Hood’s retreating Army lies five miles to the right, east, (see Hood’s retreat) crossing the Tennessee River on a pontoon bridge to safety. Union General Thomas is in pursuit from Nashville, trying to trap the rebel army against the river. Union Admiral Lee’s Tennessee River fleet is tasked with breaking the pontoon bridge.
Kurt Vetters is a former US Army Cavalry Captain and Civil War reenactor who now resides in Florence, Alabama. He is an author and painter with an emphasis on historical subjects.
A graduate of the University of Alabama, Vetters served as Executive Officer of Delta Company, 1st Battalion 40th Armor and was awarded two Army Commendation Medals. He is currently the Vice President of a medical supply company and is a former American Legion Post Commander.
Vetters has always had a passion for military history and has written for the Greenfield, Indiana Daily Reporter and Studio Magazine in the Shoals. He is currently a Master of Public History Student at the University of North Alabama and has contributed works to The Byler Road Project, Historic Tuscaloosa, the Muscle Shoals National Heritage Area, and the Florence Alabama Arts and Museums Department. He has written two Civil War Novels, Confederate Winter and Freedom Spring.