Military Memorial Museum, Crossville, Tennessee

The Military Memorial Museum was founded in 2002 by Robert and Nita Boring. The museum has grown through donations from local veterans and military buffs across the country and from around the world. It is housed in the old courthouse, which had caught on fire while still used as a courthouse. This fire weakened the flooring upstairs, so it is now used as a storage area and not open to the public. There are a couple of veterans who volunteer in the museum and give a small tour to visitors. The museum is supported by a board of directors and a cadre of volunteers.

The collection covers military history and artifacts from the Civil War to the present conflicts. The museum is centrally located across from the historic Cumberland County Courthouse landmark. 

Tear Catcher

During the American Civil War, soldiers on both sides often left their wives an ornate bottle in which to store their tears. If the man survived battle, the stored moisture was an indicator of his wife's devotion and love. If he did not make it back, the bottle would be set in a place of honor.

Defenders of Freedom
Those who Served their Country with Honor

Soldiers Permanent Pass - Class A

This is an official movie prop from Saving Private Ryan. The prop was used during the filming of Band of Brothers as either a back drop stunt item, or promotional piece, and is considered a Limited Edition Movie Prop. The Curator of the museum is a dynamite wanting to get authentic pieces, and actually called Tom Hanks personally and asked him if the museum could get the shells used in the bazooka. That happened, and here they are.

Alvin C. York was the greatest hero of World War I. Single-handedly, he silenced a German battalion of 35 machine guns, killing 25 enemy soldiers and with the help of his squad captured 132 prisoners. In 1968 a statute of York was unveiled on the grounds of the Capitol. To commemorate the 100th year of York's birth (December 13, 1887), the Tennessee Historical Commission erected a monument in 1987 at the small town in France near where he accomplished his heroic deeds.

Edmund Ruffin

Father of "Secession in Virginia" supposedly was the one to have fired the first shot during the Civil War or "War Between the States." He pulled the lanyard of a cannon that sent the first shell against the ramparts of Ft. Sumter.

John Clem is shown here upon receiving his 2nd Lt. Commission from President Ulysses S. Grant at age 20. He served three years during the war, a drummer boy age 10 to 12 where he saw bitter action at Shiloh and became a national hero. At age 12 he made Sergeant. 

George A. Custer of the 5th U.S. Cavalry shown as a Captain after capturing his first prisoner. His prisoner was a fellow classmate at West Point -- Lt. J.B. Washington. The young boy is believed to be Washington's slave who followed him into battle.

Dr. Mary Edwards Walker

She was the only woman to earn the Medal of Honor. In 1855 she graduated from Syracuse Medical College. When war broke out she went to Washington and tried to join the Union Army, she was denied a commission as a medical officer. She volunteered anyway and served as an acting assistant surgeon, the first female surgeon in the U.S. Army. In 1863 she was appointed assistant surgeon in the Army of the Cumberland, where she served in an army hospital in Chattanooga, Tennessee, during the battle of Chickamauga. She was later appointed as a surgeon to the 52nd Ohio Infantry Regiment. She was known to continually cross Confederate lines to treat civilians.

In April of 1864, dressed in full uniform she accidently walked into a group of Rebel soldiers just south of the Georgia-Tennessee border, she was sent to Richmond as a prisoner, later released along with two dozen other Union doctors in exchange for 17 Confederate surgeons. She served as a surgeon in Louisville, Kentucky during the battle for Atlanta. After the war she was recommended for the medal by General William T. Sherman and George Thomas.

During the purge of 1917, her medal was revoked for "unusual circumstances." She refused to return the medal and wore it every day until her death in 1919. Thanks to the efforts by her granddaughter, President Jimmy Carter reinstated he medal in 1977. She remains the only woman out of approximately 1.8 million woman veterans to receive the Medal of Honor.

Union Soldiers in the Woods

The Civil War Memorial honors the Cumberland County soldiers who served on both sides of the war. The number of Union and Confederate soldiers is about equal.

In June of 1861, Tennessee became the last state to join the Confederacy. Many Tennesseans continued to support the Union, especially in east Tennessee and the river counties of middle West Tennessee. While no actual battles were fought in Cumberland County, there was a skirmish in the Crab Orchard where some members of the PA Calvary were killed, and some captured. Bands of partisan fighters, called "bushwhackers" terrorized communities and social order broke down across the county. The mountainous terrain of the Cumberland plateau prevented military control by either the Confederacy or the Union. The area was referred to as "The Wilderness" and was avoided by both armies.

Hand painting by German POW Jurgen Sperber showing his barracks in Camp Crossville in 1944. He sent this picture as a "postcard" to his family in Germany. It was donated to the museum by his son.

Camp Crossville 1942-1945

Opened in November 1942 with 68 Germans captured about 17 days before in  Casablanca. It was one of the first POW camps in the U.S. The camp was originally meant to house Japanese civilians, but actually houses over 1500 German and Italian prisoners. The camp was unique in that it specialized in officers from Rommel's North African Corps. The camp also held General Peitro Gazzeri (Electric Whiskers), one of the Italian army's highest ranking officers. 

Camp Crossville was planned as an officer's camp, and housed 1,000 officers along with 400 enlisted POWs who serve as valets, waiters and cooks, according to the terms of the Geneva Convention. They maintain their own military discipline and salute only captors of superior rank. Germans and Italians were quartered separately (another Geneva rule). Even though food is regulation U.S. Army field rations, Germans got more potatoes, fewer of the vegetables; Italians get more spaghetti, more flour for the solid Italian bread they bake for themselves.

Officer POWs are not required to work, so to keep themselves busy, they keep themselves occupied with hobbies and the elaborate pebble work common to all prison camps. 

This is the original coffee pot used on the site of MASH, and Colonel Potter's hat is sitting on top of the pot.

Sgt. Morgan W. Strader

The picture above shows Sgt. Strader in full uniform where he posed as a model for young men joining the military. Sgt. Strader died in Fallujah, Iraq on November 12, 2004. He was 23 years old when he was killed in action.

USS New York

The USS New York was built with 24 tons of scrap steel from the World Trade Center that was cast as the ship's bow section. When it was poured into the molds, the big rough steelworkers treated it with reverence. It was a spiritual moment for everybody there. It had a big meaning to everyone there; bin Laden knocked us down; they cannot keep us down. We will be back. The ship's motto: "Never Forget." The USS New York was in a new class of warship; designed for missions that include special operations against terrorists. It carried a crew of 360 sailors and 700 combat ready Marines to be delivered ashore by helicopters and assault craft. 

Federal artillery in East Tennessee mountains, 1863

Divided loyalties in Tennessee produced a bitter and violent Civil War experience in Cumberland County, the only county that did not report a vote either for or against secession. Guerillas on both sides killed and wrecked havoc on civilians here. Union raiders stole cattle, horses, plow mules, and food. Confederate raiders stole hundreds of Federal horses. In July 1864, Maj. T.H. Reeves declared "the citizens ... aiders and abettors to the thieving band" and seized their property.

This photo was taken while standing on the steps of the museum in circa 1888-1900. The empty field across the street in the photo is now home to the third court house built in Cumberland County. This appears to be a parade. The buildings to the far right are still there today.

True to the tradition of volunteerism, many served in Tennessee's four volunteer infantry units during the Spanish-American War in 1898. Twelve men from Cumberland County served in the United States Volunteers, three of whom were from Crossville. During 1898 the field across the street was empty, and if you stand on the museum steps, you can just imagine the men standing across the street. 

Tennesseans experienced unprecedented death and destruction during the Civil War. In Cumberland County, guerilla warfare and foraging had taken a heavy toll. Legend has it that in 1865 only three houses remained along the road from Crossville to Sparta. Recovery was slow; by 1870 there had been a net increase of just one person in the county since 1860. 

Veterans of both sides struggled to return to everyday life. William A. Hamby, who had enlisted in the summer of 1861, fell early in the war and fractured his hip. During the postwar years, he tried to find a climate where he could be more comfortable, even living briefly in New Mexico. Despite permanent injury, Hamby served as a county judge and later as postmaster. He was also active in the United Confederate Veterans.

Some Unionists in Cumberland County received compensation after the war for losses they had suffered at the hands of the Union Army. Congress established the Southern Claims Commission in 1871 to reimburse loyal Southerners for their effort to the war effort. Union veterans in the county gathered for fellowship at the Grand Army of the Republic post in Crossville.

There was no compensation given to Confederates for their losses during the war. The state of Tennessee gave state pensions to Confederate soldiers in 1891, to Confederate widows in 1905, and to Black Confederates in 1921.

The saltpeter cave in Grassy Cove gave explorers a scare several years after the war when they found a petrified, uniformed Confederate soldier there. First buried in the local Methodist cemetery, the remains were later re-interred at an undisclosed place because of the commotion they caused.