The Bledsoe County Courthouse in front of you stands on the site of the first courthouse, which was completed by 1821. During the Civil War, in August 1862, Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg led his Army of Tennessee north from Chattanooga to invade Kentucky. A Confederate veteran later stated that “General Bragg and his army used the … courthouse as a hospital” in August and September. To your left is the John Bridgman House, the home of a civic and business leader who constructed the Federal-style dwelling about 1830. In 1861, his son, John M. Bridgman, organized a company of Confederate infantry in Bledsoe County called the Tulloss Rangers. Federal troops occupied the house in 1863.
