State grant preserves nearly two acres of Civil War battlefield land in Coffee County

The Battle of Hoover’s Gap was part of the Tullahoma Campaign during the American Civil War. It will be preserved thanks to a $115,000 state grant. | *Wikipedia Image*

A piece of Civil War history just across the Moore County line will remain undeveloped, thanks to a state preservation grant announced Thursday.

The Tennessee Wars Commission has awarded the American Battlefield Trust $115,000 to acquire the 1.69-acre Spears Tract at the Hoovers Gap Battlefield in Coffee County — one of six grants totaling more than $2.6 million announced as part of the state’s Civil War Sites Preservation Fund for fiscal year 2025.

Hoovers Gap was the site of a pivotal June 1863 engagement during the Tullahoma Campaign, in which Union forces under General William Rosecrans maneuvered Confederate General Braxton Bragg’s Army of Tennessee out of Middle Tennessee with remarkably few casualties. The swift Union advance through the gap — aided in part by the newly issued Spencer repeating rifles — is considered one of the more tactically sophisticated operations of the western theater.

The newly protected Spears Tract adds to battlefield land that, without preservation efforts, would be vulnerable to development. The Civil War Sites Preservation Fund provides matching grants specifically for acquiring and protecting properties tied to the 38 most significant Civil War sites in Tennessee.

A full list of 2026 grant recepients

The Hoovers Gap award was one of six granted statewide this fiscal year. The complete list of recipients:

• Franklin’s Charge Inc. — $1,250,000 for the 1.247-acre Bernander Tract, Franklin Battlefield (Williamson County)

• American Battlefield Trust — $543,245.26 for the 11.15-acre Henderson Tracts II and III, Stones River Battlefield (Rutherford County)

• American Battlefield Trust — $199,273.82 for the 5.09-acre Henderson IV Tract, Stones River Battlefield (Rutherford County)

• American Battlefield Trust — $33,000 for the 2.0-acre Johnson Tract II, Shiloh Battlefield (Hardin County)

• Battle of Nashville Trust, Inc. — $500,000 for the 1.21-acre Kay Tract on Shy’s Hill, Nashville Battlefield (Davidson County)

• American Battlefield Trust — $115,000 for the 1.69-acre Spears Tract, Hoovers Gap Battlefield (Coffee County)

Preserving around 22 acres of local history

Together, the six grants preserved approximately 22.4 acres of battlefield land. Since the fund’s creation in 2013, it has directed more than $22 million toward saving roughly 1,100 acres of threatened Tennessee battlefield property.

“Since its debut in 2013, over $22 million in funding from this program has helped save approximately eleven hundred acres of threatened Tennessee battlefield lands,” said Miranda Montgomery, Interim Executive Director of the Tennessee Historical Commission.

Organizations interested in applying for next year’s cycle can submit applications between August 10 and October 31, 2026. For more information, contact Tennessee Wars Commission Program Director Nina Scall at Nina.Scall@tn.gov. •

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