Located at roughly equal distances from Nashville, Gallatin, Hartsville, and Carthage, Lebanon was an important commercial crossroads for the Cumberland Valley. A small battle in may 1862 took place around the square with General Ebenezer Dumont surprised the forces of Confederate cavalry leader John hunt Morgan. By 1863, the square was both a center of Union occupation and a haven for Confederate spies and smugglers. The worst destruction to hit the square, however, came a month after Lee’s surrender at Appomattox when a flood on may 26, 1865, left the square covered with six feet of water. The square also has a monument to General Robert H. Hatton who organized the 7th Tennessee (CSA) Infantry and died at the Battle of Seven Pines in 1862. (Hatton) was buried in Cedar Grove Cemetery (on U.S. 231 south of the square) in 1866. The cemetery also includes the graves of soldiers who died in the Battle of Lebanon.
