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Title: The loyal mountaineers of Tennessee
Author: Thomas William Humes
Release date: December 15, 2025 [eBook #77471]
Language: English
Original publication: Knoxville: Ogden Brothers & Company, 1888
Credits: Carla Foust, John Campbell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)
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[Illustration: ASSAULT ON FORT SANDERS.
LLOYD BRANSON, DEL.]
THE
LOYAL MOUNTAINEERS
OF
TENNESSEE
BY
THOMAS WILLIAM HUMES, S. T. D.
“The noblest word in the catalogue of social virtues
is Loyalty”--JOHN RUSKIN.
KNOXVILLE, TENN.
OGDEN BROTHERS & COMPANY
1888.
Copyright, 1888,
BY THOMAS WILLIAM HUMES.
_Ogden Bros. & Co.
Printers and Stationers,
Knoxville, Tenn._
DEDICATED
IN
LOVE AND GRATITUDE
TO
The Memory
OF
LLOYD P. SMITH AND EDWARD EVERETT,
FRIENDS AND HELPERS
OF A
SUFFERING PEOPLE.
PREFACE.
The attitude which a large majority of the people of East Tennessee
deliberately assumed and persistently maintained in the Civil War
of 1861-’65, was remarkable. It had no precise parallel within the
limits of the ten seceded States, and there was no distinctive and
numerous population in any one of the loyal States whose surroundings
were so greatly unfavorable to a like attitude of devotion to the
Union.
The majority of citizens in each of the border slave States of
Maryland, Kentucky and Missouri adhered to the United States, and
their respective governments were administered accordingly. But their
territorial and other important relations were altogether different
from those of East Tennessee. Maryland lay contiguous to the district
and capital, where the Federal Government must and did especially
defend itself. It is separated from Virginia not only by the District
of Columbia but by the Potomac River and Chesapeake Bay, and it had
no nearness to any other seceded State; while Pennsylvania stretched
all along its northern border, and the other loyal States of New
Jersey, New York and Ohio were not far distant. Kentucky was bordered
by the States of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. And Missouri was almost
surrounded by Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas. A majority of
the people of West Virginia were steadfast in their friendship for
the Union, notwithstanding the State, of which they were citizens,
seceded. But West Virginia bordered chiefly upon Pennsylvania, Ohio
and Kentucky. It was easy of access to influences favorable to the
Union. At the same time the armies of the United States could without
great difficulties enter and occupy its territory, and this fact
helped to confirm the loyalty of its people.
East Tennessee was entirely removed from thoroughly loyal States.
The only contiguous one that did not join in the work of secession
was Kentucky, which was held to its place in the Union against the
will of a considerable minority of its citizens. Otherwise, East
Tennessee was bounded on the north and east by Virginia, on the east
by North Carolina (lying between Virginia and South Carolina), and on
the south by North Carolina and Georgia. High mountains surrounded
it on every side, and on the west separated it from the other grand
divisions of Tennessee, where prevailed a spirit of disunion that
found sympathy and support in the adjoining Gulf States of Alabama
and Mississippi.
The wonder is that the people of East Tennessee, situated as they
were--far removed from States and populations where slavery did not
exist; having railway connections and water communications only with
those States that were hostile to the United States--should yet have
set their faces as a flint against secession. The wonder is, not
only that they sprung quickly with uplifted hands to the defence
of the Union at the very beginning of the assaults upon its life,
but were also its active or suffering friends to the close of the
strife. Difficulties and dangers on that behalf, they encountered
without flinching. Reproaches, and severities that in some instances
were cruel persecutions, they endured with fortitude. Under the
influence of an ardent patriotism, most of their able-bodied men,
in order to save their personal liberty or life, or to escape being
forced to fight against the Nation, left home and family and fled, as
they then called it, to “God’s Country”; crossing difficult rivers
and mountains by day, and snatching at night short sleep in the
dark forests through which they passed; suffering from hunger and
fatigue, from drenching rains and alarms from foes, until at length,
where the star-spangled banner was floating securely in the air,
they enlisted by tens of thousands, to help with arms in saving the
Nation’s life.
During the War period, in more than two years of which the Southern
Confederacy ruled over East Tennessee, the property of these refugees
and that of Union people who remained at home, was seized and used
or destroyed, until impoverishment and want prevailed to an alarming
extent. In numerous instances, starvation, like a gaunt wolf,
threatened the door, and the hearts of many were sickened by hope of
succor long deferred; but the fire of devotion to the Union still
lived and glowed within them strong and bright until the end came.
The scene in a momentous tragedy, thus presented in a region of
country so isolated from the great world that its actors could
have no stimulus to their constancy in the heard applause of
admiring spectators, was phenomenal, even in that time of heroic
deeds. It was the reproduction, upon the same stage, after nearly
a vanished century, of the same broad patriotism--to some extent
inherited--which sent a thousand riflemen from Sycamore Shoals on
the Watauga River, to win for the American colonies a victory
at King’s Mountain; and which afterwards triumphed over a spirit
of revolutionary separation, in retaining the allegiance of the
people of Frankland to the mother State of North Carolina. Without
doubt, the chief sentiment that animated the hearts of loyal East
Tennesseeans in 1861-’65 was one of duty. “The duty of preserving
the liberty which their ancestors, through God’s blessing, won,
established and handed down” to them--a duty which has been said to
be “no less imperative than any commandment in the second table; if
it be not the concentration of the whole.”[1] To whatever causes
their conduct may be attributed, it at least conveys the impression
of their strong individuality as a people and invites the closer
observation and study of the political philosopher.
It is certain, also, that the steadfast attachment of East Tennessee
to the Union and the efficient aid it gave to its preservation,
formed an important factor in the war and contributed in no small
degree to its final result. Had its territory been friendly ground
for the encampment, sustenance and transit of Southern armies, and
had the ranks of those armies been recruited with the thirty thousand
East Tennesseeans who volunteered in the service of the United
States, the course of events might have been seriously deflected and
the war been prolonged, to the hurt of the whole country.
It is of occurrences during the conflict in that territory, shut
in by rock-ribbed mountains, and chiefly in its central town, that
these pages will tell. The purpose of the narrative is to instruct
as well as to interest the general reader, and it may afford a help,
however slight, to some gifted mind that shall in the future attempt
the history of the War of 1861-’65 in the spirit of a sound Christian
philosophy.
It is also the hope of the author that this volume will serve to
confirm the reader’s patriotism, or to quicken the sentiment into
life, if it only slumber within him. The love of country has justly
been extolled by the tongue of the eloquent orator and the pen of
the gifted poet. Both the philosopher and the religious teacher
commend it, and it is profoundly interesting to know that the Author
of Christianity cherished that sentiment in its purity, and in full
harmony with his wide-reaching love for other nations than His own
of Israel. Some of His countrymen once interceded for His favor in
behalf of a Roman centurion, with the reason, “he loveth our nation.”
The plea was not rebuked by Him, and as the petition which it aimed
to strengthen was quickly granted, we may infer that it influenced
Him.
Every one will probably admit that the spirit of patriotism is
praiseworthy, but it is well to consider that it is sometimes liable
to slip from the guidance of wisdom and to be narrowed down in its
range of working to a section or a party. On the contrary, it should
be as broad as it is ardent; its boundaries those of the Nation;
and while it rises immeasurably above the base greed for office, it
should equally rise above the bitterness and contentions of partisan
zeal into the pure and serene atmosphere of fellow-citizenship. It
may be blindly perverted, but a true love of country can never be
intelligently applied to the uses of an inordinate ambition, or
to supply the necessities of a huge wrong. “History,” it is often
repeated, “is Philosophy teaching by example.” If so, then it would
be wrong to let the splendid example of unadulterated patriotism
given by the Union people of East Tennessee in the War of 1861-’65,
go unchronicled. No popular leaders induced it. The courage and
fortitude it presents sprang from deep and strong love for the Union
of the States in one Nation--deep and strong love for their _whole
country_.
Impressive also are the lessons of true and far-reaching patriotism
given by the heroic Rhode Islander and his fellow-soldiers, in
rescuing East Tennessee, at great pains, danger and loss, from
a usurped power; and by the generous people of Massachusetts,
Pennsylvania, New York, Maine and other States, in relieving it
from impending famine. These interpositions, not to destroy, but to
save its people, should teach Americans, as long as the Republic
lasts, that, in the words of Mr. Edward Everett: “If the Union means
anything, it means not merely political connection and commercial
intercourse, but to bear each other’s burdens and to share each
other’s sacrifices; it means active sympathy and efficient aid.”
CONTENTS.
INTRODUCTION.
PAGE.
FIRST SETTLEMENT IN EAST TENNESSEE--NATURAL FEATURES OF
THE REGION--ITS PEOPLE--ITS CENTRAL TOWN. 19
CHAPTER I.
EARLY HISTORY--THE FRONTIER--PATRIOTIC SPIRIT--CALL TO
ARMS--MARCH TO BATTLE. 37
CHAPTER II.
EARLY HISTORY--THE PURSUIT--THE BATTLE--THE VICTORY. 49
CHAPTER III.
EARLY HISTORY--MOUNTAINEERS DISSATISFIED--AN INDEPENDENT
STATE--CONFLICT OF AUTHORITIES. 57
CHAPTER IV.
EARLY HISTORY--FRANKLAND’S CORRESPONDENCE--ITS STRIFES--ITS
DEATH, UPON DEFEAT OF ITS CHIEF--HIS ESCAPE. 67
CHAPTER V.
SHADOWS OF COMING EVENTS--POLITICAL HARANGUES--A SUSPECTED
“INCENDIARY”--BIBLE SOCIETY COLPORTEUR IN
SCOTT COUNTY. 77
CHAPTER VI.
THE STATE FOR THE UNION--A STRANGER IN TOWN--SECESSION
OF TENNESSEE PRE-ARRANGED--BIBLICAL CO-INCIDENCE--UNION
ORATORS--AN ASSASSINATION. 90
CHAPTER VII.
THE UNION CONVENTION AT KNOXVILLE--THE UNION CONVENTION
AT GREENEVILLE. 103
CHAPTER VIII.
GROWING WRATH--JOY OVER VICTORY--GEN. ZOLICOFFER--A
YANKEE BOY’S PASSPORT--LIGHTS AND SHADOWS--ESCAPE
OF CONGRESSMEN--FORGED LETTERS TO BOSTON--A MILITARY
ZEALOT--BRIDGE-BURNING. 120
CHAPTER IX.
SEVERE TREATMENT OF UNION MEN--OATHS OF ALLEGIANCE
--IMPRISONMENTS--EXECUTIONS. 138
CHAPTER X.
REIGN OF TERROR--A NOTED PATRIOT--HIS PAINFUL EXPERIENCES
AND FINAL DELIVERANCE--A REFUGEE’S PERILOUS
JOURNEY--CONSCRIPTION--CAPTURE OF FLEEING MEN. 152
CHAPTER XI.
GENERALS KIRBY SMITH, J. E. JOHNSON AND BRAGG--REFUGEES
INVITED HOME BY PROCLAMATION--MRS. BROWNLOW, HER
CHILDREN AND MRS. MAYNARD EXILED--GENERAL CONDITION
OF THINGS RESULTING FROM SECESSION. 169
CHAPTER XII.
NEWS AND LITERATURE IN THE CONFEDERACY--A MIXED DINNER
PARTY AND ITS CONVERSATION--CARTER’S RAID AND
WHAT BEFELL A RECRUITING OFFICER--AN UNTERRIFIED
YANKEE CITIZEN OF GEORGIA--SANDERS’ RAID--DEATH OF
PLEASANT MCCLUNG. 188
CHAPTER XIII.
GEN. BUCKNER’S RETREAT--A CITIZEN’S ADVENTURE--GENERAL
BURNSIDE; HIS WELCOME; HIS EXPEDITION--CUMBERLAND
GAP; ITS SURRENDER--AN ECCENTRIC FARMER--MILITARY
MOVEMENTS IN EAST TENNESSEE--FIGHT AT BLUE SPRINGS--AFFAIRS
AT AND NEAR LOUDON--BURNSIDE AND THE
PEOPLE. 208
CHAPTER XIV.
GRANT AT CHATTANOOGA--PERIL OF BURNSIDE--THEIR CO-OPERATION
--LONGSTREET AT LOUDON--BURNSIDE RETREATS AND IS PURSUED
--BATTLE OF CAMPBELL’S STATION--MILITARY CONDITIONS AT
KNOXVILLE--ESCAPE OF LEADING UNIONISTS. 234
CHAPTER XV.
SIEGE OF KNOXVILLE--ITS DEFENDERS AND DEFENCES--COLONEL
SANDERS--HIS DEATH AND FUNERAL--PROGRESS OF THE
SIEGE--BURNING OF NORTH KNOXVILLE. 250
CHAPTER XVI.
HOSPITAL NEEDS--A SCENE AT HEADQUARTERS--INCREASED
DESTITUTION--ASSAULT ON FORT SANDERS--LONGSTREET
RETREATS--SHERMAN’S APPROACH--BURNSIDE GIVES HONOR
TO HIS ARMY. 268
CHAPTER XVII.
CAPT. POE’S CONCLUSIONS--PRESIDENT LINCOLN’S PROCLAMATION
--GENERALS SHERMAN AND GRANT--INTERCESSIONS WITH GEN. FOSTER
--BATTLE OF RESACA--INFLUX OF REFUGEES TO KNOXVILLE. 285
CHAPTER XVIII.
DEPLORABLE CONDITION OF EAST TENNESSEE--WATAUGA
SCENERY--LANDON C. HAYNES AT A DINNER PARTY--NATHANIEL
G. TAYLOR--HIS WRONGS--HIS FEARS FOR THE PEOPLE--HIS MISSION
TO THE NORTH AND WORK AT PHILADELPHIA--EDWARD EVERETT’S
SPEECH AT FANEUIL HALL. 301
CHAPTER XIX.
FUND FOR RELIEF OF EAST TENNESSEE AT BOSTON, PORTLAND
AND NEW YORK--MR. TAYLOR AND FAMILY IN GREAT
TROUBLE--THEIR TIMELY RELIEF--KNOXVILLE EAST TENNESSEE
RELIEF SOCIETY--PENNSYLVANIA COMMITTEE--EFFECTIVE
WORK IN RELIEVING DESTITUTION--SUMMARY OF
RESULTS. 316
APPENDICES 337
ILLUSTRATIONS.
ASSAULT ON FORT SANDERS _Frontispiece._
PORTRAIT OF HON. EDWARD EVERETT 22
PORTRAIT OF MR. LLOYD P. SMITH 34
PORTRAIT OF REV. WM. G. BROWNLOW 77
PORTRAIT OF HON. THOMAS A. R. NELSON 90
PORTRAIT OF HON. JOHN BAXTER 108
PORTRAIT OF HON. ANDREW JOHNSON 129
PORTRAIT OF HON. CONNELLY F. TRIGG 153
PORTRAIT OF HON. HORACE MAYNARD 174
PORTRAIT OF GEN. A. E. BURNSIDE 208
PORTRAIT OF GEN. S. P. CARTER 245
PORTRAIT OF GEN. JOSEPH A. COOPER 294
PORTRAIT OF REV. NATHANIEL G. TAYLOR 313
INTRODUCTION.
FIRST SETTLEMENT IN EAST TENNESSEE--NATURAL FEATURES OF THE
REGION--ITS PEOPLE--ITS CENTRAL TOWN.
“With gold and gems if Chilian mountains glow;
If bleak and barren Scotia’s hills arise;
There plague and poison, lust and rapine grow;
Here peaceful are the vales, and pure the skies,
And freedom fires the soul, and sparkles in the eyes.”
BEATTIE.
The first English fort built in Eastern Tennessee was that of Loudon,
in 1757, so called for the Earl of Loudon, at the time Governor
of Virginia. It stood at the junction of the Tellico and Little
Tennessee rivers, now in Monroe County, and 35 miles southwest of
Knoxville. Its garrison of from two to three hundred men was, with
three exceptions, massacred by the Indians in 1760, and with it a
number of women and children.
The first permanent settlement of Anglo-Americans in the region was
made on the Watauga River, not far from the present northwestern
border of North Carolina. As early as 1748, explorers, traders and
hunters from Virginia had visited that part of the land. Thirteen
years afterwards, nineteen men were attracted to it from the same
State by the abundance of its game and were employed as sportsmen on
Clinch and Powell’s rivers for eighteen months. Another company went
towards it from North Carolina, but with the exception of the famous
Indian hunter and fighter Daniel Boone, they halted at the spot where
now is Abingdon, Virginia. Probably he had before been on the waters
of the Watauga, for a beech tree, that stands on Boone’s creek, a
tributary of that river, not far from Jonesboro, still bears this
inscription,
“_D. Boon cilled a Bar on tree in the year 1760._”
These visits were followed by others from companies of hunting
pioneers. In 1764 Boone returned to the same region from his home
on the Yadkin River, North Carolina. Another pioneer gave him a
glowing description of the country which is now Kentucky, and in
1771 he endeavored with a party of eighty persons--forty of whom
were hunters--to pass into it through Cumberland Gap. They were
waylaid and fiercely assailed by Indians and were forced to abandon
the enterprise. Some four years later it was successfully renewed,
and Boone, passing over the Clinch and Cumberland mountains from
East Tennessee, led in the establishment beyond them of a great
Commonwealth.
An eminent historian of the United States, after relating the wrongs
to which the people of North Carolina were subjected in 1770-71,
under the provincial Governor, Tryon, proceeds to tell how and where
they fled from oppression.
“Without concert--instinctively impelled by discontent and the
wearisomeness of life exposed to bondage--men crossed the Alleghanies
and descending into the basin of the Tennessee, made their homes in
the valley of the Watauga. There no lawyer followed them; there no
King’s Governor came to be their Lord; there the flag of England
never waved. They rapidly extended their settlements. By degrees they
took possession of the more romantic banks of the broader Nolachucky,
whose sparkling waters spring out of the tallest mountains in the
range. The climate was invigorating; the health-giving westerly wind
blew at all seasons; in spring the wild crab-apple filled the air
with the sweetest perfumes. A fertile soil gave to industry good
crops of maize; the clear streams flowed pleasantly, without tearing
floods; where the closest thickets of spruce and rhododendron flung
the cooling shade furthest over the river, trout abounded. The elk
and the red deer were not wanting in the natural parks of oak and
hickory, of maple, elm, black oak and buckeye. Of quails and turkeys
and pigeons there was no end. The golden eagle built its nest on the
topmost ledge of the mountain, and might be seen wheeling in wide
circles high above the pines, or dropping like a meteor upon its
prey. The black bear, whose flesh was held to be the most delicate
of meats, grew so fat upon the abundant acorns and chestnuts that he
could be run down in a chase of a hundred yards; and sometimes the
hunters gave chase to the coward panther, strong enough to beat off
twenty dogs, yet flying from one.”[2]
The entire valley of East Tennessee, extending from the southwestern
border of Virginia to Northern Georgia, embedded in the mountains,
offers peculiar attractions. Nearly fifty years ago an English
gentleman, who had lived there several years, published a pamphlet in
London,[3] in which he said:
“To one who has resided some years in the valley of East Tennessee,
breathing the pure air from its mountains and drinking of its crystal
springs, enjoying the sunny smile of its temperature and the cooling
shade of its noble forests, delighting the eye and the heart with its
fields of fruitfulness which at every turn present a new aspect, it
is not ‘England’s laughing meads,’ nor ‘her flowering orchard trees,’
nor yet Lomond and the Trosachs, with all their beauty and historical
associations and the magic thrown around them by the exuberant
imagination of the poet, that could tempt him again to quit the
peaceful solitude, the clear blue sky, the song of the mocking-bird,
the note of the dove, the hum of the humming-bird, and the silence of
nature where all is echo.”
[Illustration: HON. EDWARD EVERETT.]
The Hon. Edward Everett, in an address he delivered in Faneuil
Hall, Boston, February, 1864, which was called forth by the then
suffering condition of the people of East Tennessee in consequence of
the war, said of it:
“A more interesting region, or one more entitled to our most active
sympathy, is not to be found within the limits of the United States.
Forming a part of the noble State of Tennessee, it is in many
respects a State in itself, and not a small one either. It consists
of the broad valley of the magnificent river, which traverses it from
northeast to southwest, three hundred miles in length, and with a
varying width of from fifty to seventy-five miles--and of the slopes
of the mountains, which separate it on the north from Kentucky, on
the southwest from Middle Tennessee, and on the southeast from North
Carolina and Georgia: a beautiful valley, between beautiful enclosing
hills, fertile many of them to their summits, sparkling with a
hundred tributaries to the noble stream which forms its principal
feature.
“That river is in some respects one of the most remarkable on the
continent. Its northern affluents rise in the State of Virginia, but,
as if to read a lesson of patriotism in the very face of the soil,
as if to prop the fabric of the Union by the eternal buttresses of
the hills, instead of flowing to the Atlantic like the other rivers
of Virginia, it gathers up the waters of its tributary streams,
Holston and Clinch and French Broad, and connecting Virginia and
the Carolinas with East Tennessee, flows southward down to the
northwestern corner of Georgia. There, after kissing the feet of the
glorious hills of Chattanooga, instead of flowing to the Gulf, its
seeming natural direction, it coquets with Northern Alabama, breaks
into the Muscle Shoals, plants Decatur at their head and Florence at
their feet, and then sweeping back to its native North, traverses
the entire width of Tennessee a second time, apparently running up
hill--for while it is flowing northward, the Mississippi, parallel to
it, and at no great distance, is rolling its floods southward--enters
the State of Kentucky, and empties into the Ohio, fifty miles above
the junction of that river with the Mississippi, thus binding seven
States in its silver circuit, and connecting them all with the great
central basin of the continent.
“The soil of Eastern Tennessee is rich; the mountains are filled
with coal and almost every variety of ore; their slopes bubble
with mineral springs; the climate is temperate and healthful; the
territory divided into farms of a moderate size, for the most part
tilled by frugal, industrious men, who own the soil, which yields
them its well-earned abundance. In no part of the State are there so
few slaves; in none is there a more substantial population; in no
part of the South is the slave interest so feeble. East Tennessee
greatly resembles the lower ranges and fertile valleys of the Alps,
and it has been often called the American Switzerland. It is divided
into thirty counties, and its population does not, I think, fall
short of 300,000 souls.[4]
“But this grand valley, with the hills that enclose it, possesses an
interest for us far beyond that which attaches to their geographical
features, merely as such. It is one of the most important links in
that chain of valley and mountain which traverses the entire North
American continent, from northeast to southwest, separating the
streams which flow into the Atlantic from those which seek the St.
Lawrence, the Ohio and the Mississippi. Forcing its way down into
the heart of the region whose alluvial plains are devoted to the
culture of tobacco, cotton, rice and sugar by slave labor, this ridge
of highlands, with the valleys embosomed in them, from the time
you begin to leave the State of Pennsylvania, begins to assume the
highest political importance in reference to the present stupendous
struggle. Extending to the southwest as far as Northern Alabama, this
noble mountain tract, and the valleys enclosed in its parallel and
transverse ridges, is, by the character of its climate, soil, and
natural productions, the natural ally of the North. Here, if nowhere
else, we may truly say, with the German poet:
‘Auf den Bergen ist Freiheit; der Hauch der Grüfte
Steigt nicht hinauf, in die reinen Lüfte.’
That means--
‘On the mountain is Freedom; the breath of the vales
Rises not up to the pure mountain gales.’”
East Tennessee has been sometimes called the Switzerland of America,
and certainly there are strong resemblances between the two
countries. They are unlike in that the former is wanting in the lake
feature that distinguishes Switzerland. East Tennessee, however,
abounds wonderfully in natural springs of pure and limpid water,
and has a multitude of creeks and rivers. Some of these last bear
euphonious names, as Watauga, Nolachucky, Tellico, Hiwassee and
Tennessee. The climatic advantages of the region result, partly,
at least, from its having a Southern location and a Northern
elevation--peculiarities which a Swiss gentleman who visited it
thirty years ago, in fulfillment of his long-cherished desire, was
quick to observe.
Following the first immigrants to the region, who were from Virginia
and North Carolina, and among whom were some of Scotch-Irish
ancestry, others came, particularly to the county seats, directly
from the north of Ireland; but the great majority of the settlers
were of American birth--hardy and adventurous spirits, in great
variety, such as are apt to seek a frontier life.
In the valleys and along the highways and rivers have always been
much intelligence and moral worth, with admixtures, as elsewhere
found, of ignorance and vice. Sufficient public schools have been
sadly wanting in former years; yet education, by which comparatively
few profited, has been esteemed and promoted in the Commonwealth from
its beginning. Three colleges were established in East Tennessee
before the Territory became a State: one each in Washington, Greene
and Knox counties; and soon after this century began, county
academies were chartered throughout the State.
At first the Presbyterian Church existed almost if not altogether
alone, but before long it was succeeded by Methodist and Baptist
churches.[5]
Accustomed as have been the people of the more mountainous counties
to ruder modes of living and narrower means of education, their
social condition is freer, even from healthy restraints. They are
gifted with good natural qualities, but these have not been always
cultivated to the repression of other traits and tendencies. They
are brave, but many of them are liable to needless tests of personal
valor; independent, but prone to notions of individual liberty
inconsistent with right ideas of law and order; social, but inclined
to promote good cheer by artificial means of excitement.
In 1848 a recent diplomatic agent of the United States in India[6]
found his way to this very secluded region, seeking, under the
pressure of severe domestic bereavement, to “get rid of himself.”
He succeeded in doing so by dwelling for the winter at the southern
base of the Cumberland Mountains. Afterwards he ascribed to the
highlanders among whom he hibernated, three favorite sources
of excitement, namely, political stump-speakings, religious
camp-meetings, and home-made liquors. An unlearned population, far
removed from the world and its thoroughfares, they highly prize
their right of suffrage to make legislatures and judges, members of
congress, governors and presidents. Their religious instinct, once
awakened, is quick to respond to fervent preaching that is sustained
by stirring devotional songs. Their animal spirits are apt to be
depressed by the monotony of their daily life, and the juice of
Indian corn gives relief.[7] That corn is the grain that is chiefly
grown in the highlands. Its meal and the salted flesh of hogs are
principally their food. Eager candidates for office supply them with
mental aliment at heated discussions pending the elections, and
the result is that although many of them are without the knowledge
acquired at school, all of them are informed concerning questions
of public policy. Probably no people of equal numbers can be found
in the land who excel those of East Tennessee in acquaintance with
current politics. It is to be confessed that more than a few of the
mountaineers are deficient in historical lore. Certain great events
of the Nation’s earlier life, whose results they have exaggerated,
have a firm lodgment in their minds, but lie there unqualified by
knowledge of later occurrences. An anecdote related by John Mitchell
will illustrate.
Scarcely had the United States diplomatic agent just now spoken of,
departed upon an Oriental mission, when the weary Irish patriot
arrived from Australia, in this isolated region. He, too, sought
retirement, and in Tuckaleechee Cove, near the Smoky Mountains,
he found it, with his family. One day some of the neighbors met
together, after the not unfrequent idling custom of men in the
mountains--perhaps for friendly gossip, or to shoot at a mark in
rivalry of skill for a prize. One said:
“Who is this stranger, anyhow? He don’t do nuthin’ only him and his
son go fishin’ and shootin’.”
“O,” another replied, “don’t you know who that is? That’s John
Mitchell, the exile of the British Government.”
“British Government indeed!” said the first speaker. “I thought we
had whipp’d that consarn out long ago.”[8]
One virtue obtains almost universally among the people of East
Tennessee--that of hospitality. It has to some extent diminished in
the valleys, where the inhabitants live as did their ancestors from
plentiful tables and various dishes, but where, since the war ended,
the increase of travel and of commercial intercourse with other parts
of the country have checked generosity and enlarged prudence. Yet it
has lost none of its olden-time proportions in the mountains, where
the table lacks nothing in abundance but a good deal in variety;
where the narrow range of habitual diet affords small opportunity for
skill in cookery, and even that opportunity has not been improved.
There the signs of an advanced civilization--the steam-engine, the
telegraph and the telephone--have never invaded the air with whistle
or wires; but the stranger will be kindly entertained for the night
at little or no charge, and probably when he departs in the morning,
will be cheered on his way by the expressed hope of his host that he
will come again. Not that the landlord thinks money is worthless. For
he and his countrymen are sharp traders. Without adventuring at the
start upon fixed sums, they “beat about the bush” to find out how
much can be had or how little be paid by them, and both buyer and
seller are wide awake to “get the best of the bargain.” They also
know points of law, and are unduly given to litigation in defense of
their real or supposed rights.
Slavery, even in the modified, domestic garb it wore among them, had
a depressing, degrading influence upon the white common laborers.
This was more obviously so with the several thousands of inert,
improvident people, such as are to be found more or less in all
regions, but who are apt to be more numerous where the climate is
genial and a few acres of land with a poor tenement can be cheaply
rented. These led an Arab sort of life, living in a log cabin and
growing a crop of corn, then, not “folding their tents,” but packing
up their “plunder”--the synonym for household goods--and flitting
away with their children and dogs to a cabin of another proprietor.
For this class, who lived “from hand to mouth,” and whose contentment
was partly due to the fact that their covetousness had no incitements
to indulgence, the negroes of substantial families had an unconcealed
contempt. Another and better class consisted more numerously of
diligent and thrifty farming people. In them slavery induced, by some
subtle, indefinable influence, an industrial languor. It approximated
them to the slaves, despite their difference in color and personal
relation to the masters; and it barred their way to improvement of
condition, by pushing them as tenants from the more fertile acres
which the slaves tilled, to the thin soil of the hillsides. Now,
under the reign of freedom, these small but industrious farmers have
access by lease to the richer lands.
The mountaineers, strictly speaking, felt no concern about the
institution of slavery itself, and knew but little. Here and there
among them were men of competent means, some of whom owned a few
negroes. Generally they looked upon slavery as something foreign
to their social life, but they had no imperative, philanthropic
impulses to contend against it. They would have been displeased at
its coming near their homes in the imperious majesty it wore in the
cotton States. At the same time they were satisfied to let men of
the South keep serfs at pleasure, but they counted it no business of
theirs to help in the work. If the perpetuity of the Union or that of
slavery were the question at issue, they would have no hesitation in
deciding. Let slavery perish and the Union live. Yes! the Union--the
Government handed down to them from Washington and his compatriots!
_It_ must survive. For it they would fight, and, if necessary, die.
While the men high up on the hills had no philosophic reflections
nor any humanitarian hate towards slavery, a strong aversion to
it had been manifested from an early period by some men of the
valleys. “A powerful appeal for the abolition of slavery” was
published as a communication in the _Knoxville Gazette_, 1797. It
called a meeting of the citizens of East Tennessee at a town in
Washington County, March, 1797, to form a Manumission Society. The
communication bears internal evidence of having been written by a
member of the Society of Friends. Not then, but in 1815 the proposed
society was organized.[9] The Rev. John Rankin, born February 4,
1793, Jefferson County, East Tennessee, graduated at Washington
College, was ordained a Presbyterian minister, but having imbibed
anti-slavery sentiments from his mother in Rockbridge County,
Virginia, he removed his residence from Tennessee to a free State
and became a leading abolitionist. Before his recent death at the
advanced age of nearly ninety years, at Ironton, Ohio, he gave
authority to the statement that “the sentiment of abolitionism
originated in Tennessee about 1814, there being then an anti-slavery
society in Jefferson County, East Tennessee.”[10] The Manumission
Society first mentioned, prosecuted its work diligently for years. In
March, 1819, “_The Manumission Intelligencer_,” a weekly newspaper,
was issued at Jonesboro, and its publication gave place, the year
following, to “_The Emancipator_,” monthly, by Elijah Embree, one
of two brothers, Friends, from Pennsylvania, who manufactured iron
near Elizabethton. On his death, it was succeeded by “_The Genius
of Universal Emancipation_,” at Greeneville, published by Benjamin
Lundy, a Friend, from New Jersey. It lived until 1824.
After that date, the sentiment of aversion to slavery survived and
in various ways was manifested, and although it was eventually
counteracted by the political strife which grew out of the subject,
it never ceased to exist firmly in many minds. A home in the great
valley of East Tennessee was not formerly adapted to the cultivation
of pro-slavery sympathies in persons of humane disposition and
healthy sensibilities. For along the highway through that valley,
slave-dealers transported negroes whom they had bought in Virginia
and intended to sell in Southwestern States. The sales of these
unfortunates, often because of their masters’ necessities, had
in some instances separated families: and lest the men, moved by
sorrow over the disruption, by aversion to their destined market,
or by desire for freedom, should escape on the way, the dealers
fettered them two and two to a strong chain running lengthwise
between. It was pathetic to see them march, thus bound, through the
towns, and to hear their melodious voices in plaintive singing as
they went. By-standers then saw slavery without the disguise, with
which Laurence Sterne pronounced it “still a bitter draught,” and
the spectacle was apt to create or strengthen antipathy to the
institution in unbiased minds.
Knoxville, the central town of this entire region, stands on the
northern bank of the Tennessee River, four miles below the junction
of the Holston and French Broad rivers, which rise, the first in
Virginia and the second in North Carolina. From 1792 to 1796 it was
the capital of the “Territory south of the river Ohio,” and from 1796
to 1816, that of the State of Tennessee. Its society had at that
time a relative distinction for character and influence which it has
never lost In 1865 the town received a strong impulse to growth, from
which its population in 1870 was 8,682, in 1880 it was 9,693, and
in 1886 it was about 30,000. The great, and of late, rapid increase
is largely owing to immigration from Northern States. Thrifty and
enterprising new-comers have added in a marked degree to the trade
and prosperity of the place. Like results have followed more or less
throughout East Tennessee, especially at Chattanooga, since the war
disclosed the natural advantages of the whole region to the knowledge
of the world outside of it. So obvious are the benefits that will
accrue to it from worthy immigrants, that even the most zealous
sectionalists have yielded their prejudices so far as to give even
“Yankees” not only a welcome, but an invitation to dwell in the land.
[Illustration: LLOYD P. SMITH.]
Lloyd P. Smith and Frederick Collins, of Philadelphia, visited the
region in March, 1864, upon a benevolent errand. In their published
report of the visit they said: “The existing war is clearly
destined to introduce Northern men, Northern ideas and Northern
enterprise into the border States, and, as our military lines
advance, throughout the whole South.... East Tennessee, with its
fertile lands, its rich mines and valuable water-power, presents a
fine field for the application of Northern labor and capital; and
when this calamity is overpast, and a direct railroad communication
with the North is secured, it will prosper as never before.
Especially will this be the case when the incubus of slavery is
thrown off.” These words are now in a measure fulfilled prophecy.
Topographically, East Tennessee is at the very heart of the
Atlantic States. It has been observed that “Knoxville is the
exact-geographical center of the eastern half of the United States:
the corners of the eastern half being Eastport in Maine, Key West
in Florida, the mouth of the Rio Grande in Texas, and a point in
Lake Superior on the northwest boundary (water or lake) line of
Michigan. The point is north of Isle Royal in the lake. The opposite
sides of the figure formed by lines drawn from and to these corners
are respectively parallel and equal, and its diagonals intersect at
Knoxville. The more exact the map, the more exactly is Knoxville
found to be at the point of intersection.”[11]
THE LOYAL MOUNTAINEERS OF TENNESSEE.
CHAPTER I.
EARLY HISTORY--THE FRONTIER--PATRIOTIC SPIRIT--CALL TO
ARMS--MARCH TO BATTLE.
“Men who their duties know,
But know their rights, and knowing, dare maintain;
* * * * *
These constitute a State.”
SIR WILLIAM JONES.
The hardy and brave settlers on the Watauga, Holston and Nolachucky
rivers, among lofty mountains, dwelt in such peace as their savage
neighbors permitted, and in contentment with their great distance
from the busy world. Having leased the territory from the Indians,
they proceeded to organize the
FIRST REPUBLIC EVER FORMED IN AMERICA.
There was no established government of any kind within their reach,
whose protection they could enjoy while they owned its authority.
Therefore, under the pressure of a civil necessity, they met in
convention, entered into a written association, prescribed laws and
elected commissioners for the administration of justice and the
conduct of public affairs. Their commonwealth existed for several
years.
In 1774 the Shawnees and other Indian tribes assailed the western
frontier of Virginia. Lord Dunmore, Governor of that State, called
for volunteers to resist the invasion, and of those enlisted from
southwestern counties of the colony, a regiment under Col. Christian
assembled at New River. To it a company of more than fifty men from
Sullivan and Carter counties (East Tennessee), commanded by Capt.
Evan Shelby, joined themselves, and with it went to Greenbrier, where
Gen. Lewis, commander in chief, assembled his forces. From there
the army marched with difficulty for twenty-five days through the
wilderness, along the rugged banks of the Kanawha River, to Point
Pleasant on the Ohio. Two of Capt. Shelby’s men were instrumental
in preventing the Indians, before day on the 10th of October, from
surprising and probably overthrowing the army of Gen. Lewis. In the
hotly contested battle which immediately followed, some of the same
company dislodged a body of the savages from an important vantage
ground, and thus ensured victory to the Americans. The defeat of
the Indians was so complete that they were subdued into a peace
which lasted for two years. Judge Haywood, in commenting upon the
unexpected discovery of the enemy by men from East Tennessee, to the
salvation of the whole army of the provincials, remarks: “Thus it has
happened that East Tennessee, in the earliest stages of her infancy,
has been called on to contribute all in her power to the common
defense, and seems to have been made much less for herself than for
the protection of her neighbors.”
In the resistance made by the American Colonies to the Government
of Great Britain, these settlers early expressed their sympathy.
Important events touching the welfare of a people may be remotely
separated in space while they are closely related in time. On
the fifth day of September, 1774, when the army of Gen. Lewis at
Greenbrier was about starting on its hard march down the Kanawha
River, to win a victory that would compel the Indians into peace, the
first Continental Congress met in Philadelphia, to deliberate for the
liberty and welfare of the American people. The King of Great Britain
rejected the offers of that Congress. The British Parliament met in
November, and again after the holidays. The twentieth day of January
was the first day of the session in the House of Lords. On the very
same day the men of the settlements beyond the Alleghanies, where
the Watauga and the Holston flow to the Tennessee, united with the
men of the southwestern corner of Virginia in council near Abingdon.
On hearing what Congress had done, they unanimously declared their
adhesion to it. To the Virginia delegates in Congress they wrote:
“We explored our uncultivated wilderness, bordering on many nations
of savages, and surrounded by mountains almost inaccessible to any
but these savages. But even to these remote regions the hand of power
hath pursued us, to strip us of that liberty and property with which
God, nature and the rights of humanity have vested us. We are willing
to contribute all in our power, if applied to constitutionally, but
cannot think of submitting our liberty or property to a venal British
Parliament or a corrupt ministry. We are deliberately and resolutely
determined never to surrender any of our inestimable privileges to
any power upon earth, but at the expense of our lives. These are our
real though unpolished sentiments of liberty and loyalty, and in them
we are resolved to live and die.”
The War of the American Revolution began at Lexington and Concord
April 19, 1775 (on the anniversary of which day, eighty-six years
afterwards, was the fight at Baltimore). In describing the swift
travel of the war message from Massachusetts throughout the Colonies,
the historian Bancroft represents it as overleaping bays and rivers
and the Dismal Swamp, passing through pines and palmettoes, and
transcending hills and mountains. “The Blue Ridge took up the
voice and made it heard from one end to the other of the valley of
Virginia.” And westward still: “The Alleghanies, as they listened,
opened their barriers that the ‘loud call’ might pass through to the
hardy riflemen on the Holston, the Watauga and the French Broad,”
who, for some years after the beginning of the war, knew that it
was going on, but the scenes of its battles were far removed from
their secluded homes. The echoes of their wooded hills were now
and then awakened by the notes of the “spirit-stirring drum and
ear-piercing fife,” but never by any martial sounds from conflicts
with arms in the American Revolution. Georgia, in 1779, was brought
into subjection to the King. About a hundred patriots, led by Col.
Clarke, had fled to the mountaineers for refuge, and obtained
helpers in their conflict with the British, in order to renew which,
they returned home. Refugee Whigs had also come from east of the
Alleghanies to the Washington District, into which North Carolina in
1777 organized the Watauga and adjacent settlements. The accounts
given by all these of the persecutions and cruelties inflicted by the
British and Tories, had moved the frontier men to friendly sympathy
with the sufferers, and to slumbering wrath against the oppressors,
and they only needed opportunity to actively join their brethren in
the struggle of the Colonies for independence. The summer of 1780 had
opened, and that opportunity was soon offered.
On the 11th of May, Charleston was surrendered by General Lincoln
to Sir Henry Clinton. Shortly afterwards the British power was so
triumphantly extended over South Carolina as to rally to its support
all timid, wavering and disaffected people. North Carolina was in
danger of being conquered. Col. Ferguson, of the British army,
was marching towards it and threatening it with invasion. Col.
Charles McDowell, temporarily chief commander of the Whig forces in
North Carolina, called on Colonels John Sevier and Isaac Shelby,
of Washington District, for help, “as soon as possible,” against
the invader. They promptly responded, and in July, Sevier, with
two hundred mounted riflemen from Washington County, and Shelby,
with an equal number from Sullivan County, joined McDowell’s camp
on Broad River, South Carolina. They did good service in several
conflicts with the enemy, in capturing the fort held by Col. Moore
on the Pacolet River and its garrison, and in winning the battle at
Musgrove’s Mill, where more than two hundred British prisoners were
taken. Upon the heels of this victory came news to McDowell of Gen.
Gates’ defeat at Camden and Sumter’s disaster. This disheartened
the army; it was in a position of danger and could only withdraw. So
great indeed were its apprehensions and sense of inability to hold
its own in the field, that it fairly dissolved. Shelby and Sevier,
with their regiments, returned at once to their distant homes, yet
ready of mind soon to renew the warfare. Not long after, McDowell,
with a company of several hundred men, sought refuge in the same
hospitable region.
Meanwhile, Cornwallis, flushed with his victory over Gates (August
16) at Camden, was eager for other triumphs, and by his direction
Ferguson and his troops pressed their way up to the present
Rutherfordton, North Carolina. The result was to encourage the
Tory inhabitants and rally them to his support. Already, to his
displeasure, the mountaineers had given him lessons of their prowess
in battle. In September he sent a message to the officers on the
western rivers that “if they did not quit their opposition to the
British Government, he would march over the mountains, hang their
leaders, and lay their country waste with fire and sword.” This
fierce missive did not frighten or deter those to whom it went.
It rather incited them to hostile action. The presence in their
country of refugee Whigs, some of whom had but recently arrived,
was a constant reminder of the bitter and relentless hate of their
enemies, that provoked them to sturdy resistance. Their patriotic
spirits only needed an incentive to go forth to war, and Ferguson’s
threat furnished it. Col. Shelby, on receiving it, immediately rode
fifty miles to confer with Col. Sevier. They determined to anticipate
Ferguson, to call their riflemen to arms and march unexpectedly upon
his camp. Col. Wm. Campbell, of Washington County, Virginia, near
by, was asked and consented to join the expedition. Sycamore Shoals,
Carter County, Tennessee, was chosen as the place, and September 25,
as the time, for assembling the forces. On the appointed day, one
thousand and forty men met at the Watauga River, armed with Deckard
rifles--many of them with their feet in moccasins. Officers and men
wore hunting-shirts; every soldier had a shot-pouch, knife, tomahawk,
knapsack and blanket. Four hundred men under Campbell were from
Washington County, Virginia, two hundred and forty under Shelby were
from Sullivan County, North Carolina, and the same number under
Sevier, from Washington County, North Carolina. One hundred and more,
under Col. McDowell, were exiles from east of the Alleghanies.
The scene was picturesque in its natural features. In the valley and
on the surrounding hills the thick woods were no longer dressed in
summer green. Their leaves, touched by the first frosts, had begun
to put on their autumnal coats of yellow, orange and red, mingled
with the perpetual verdure of cedars and pines. In the midst stood a
thousand men in simple, homely attire. They were healthy, because of
the pure, tonic air they breathed--strong, by physical exercise among
the hills--alert, by living in dangers from savage foes--equipped
with guns, which their sharp eyes and skillful fingers made sure of
aim and deadly in effect. Altogether, there were plentiful materials
present for the pencil of an artist. The patriotic enthusiasm that
filled the hearts of the gathered mountaineers, in harmony with the
natural surroundings, gave a nobility to the scene that could not be
portrayed on canvas or described but imperfectly in verse.
They who led in the enterprise had reverence of mind. It was a
bold undertaking for a body of raw militia to encounter trained
and tried soldiers in deadly fray, but their trust was not chiefly
in themselves. There were Scotch-Irish Presbyterians among them
who had strong faith in God, and the influence of their teaching
and life had been felt by other settlers. Before the march began,
prayer was offered by the Rev. Samuel Doak to Him who is supreme
in heaven and earth. The minister associated the occasion and its
purpose with the wars of Israel, under a departed dispensation of
religion. One historian relates that the petitions were “accompanied
with a few stirring remarks befitting the occasion, closing with
the Bible quotation, ‘the sword of the Lord and of Gideon,’ when
the sturdy Scotch-Irish Presbyterians around him, clothed in their
tidy hunting-shirts and leaning upon their rifles in an attitude of
respectful attention, shouted in patriotic acclaim: ‘The sword of the
Lord and of our Gideons!’”[12]
Buoyant with hope of triumph they went forward: on over the Little
Doe and Big Doe rivers,--then through a gap between the Yellow and
the Roan mountains,--then down along Roaring Creek and Big Toe River,
following ravines, over stony ground. All around them from the start,
the mountains stood, sublime in grandeur,--one, not far distant,
higher than any other in the Atlantic States,--and mountains were
ahead of them. On they went,--through the Blue Ridge at Gillespie’s
Gap,--then over Silver and Linville mountains to the Catawba
River,--along its bank and across Linville River to Quaker Meadows.
There Col. Cleveland and Maj. Winston, with three hundred and fifty
North Carolinians, joined them.
When encamped in the gap at South Mountain, they supposed Ferguson
to be at Gilbert-town, about eighteen miles distant, and for the
impending conflict with him, it was needful they should have a
commander. Who should it be? Their choice fell upon Col. Campbell,
who had the largest regiment. Cleveland, McDowell and Shelby
encouraged the men in brief and pithy words, and every one unwilling
to go into battle was allowed to withdraw, but no one left. The march
was resumed. They soon learned that the enemy had retreated.
On top of the Yellow Mountain, the second night after leaving Watauga
River, two men had deserted from Sevier’s regiment, and carried word
to Ferguson that the mountaineers were advancing. He was alarmed,
because, not only that he knew their mettle in fight, but that he
had furloughed many Tory soldiers to visit their homes. Three days
before, he had changed his camp a short distance (from Gilbert-town
to Green River), in the hope of capturing Col. Clarke and his men,
on their way from Georgia to Nolachucky. Quickly, upon learning
that “the Back-water men,” as he called them, were on the way to
assail him, he sent word (September 30) to Lord Cornwallis, sixty
miles distant, whom the message did not reach for a week. To the
British commander at Ninety-Six he also wrote for reinforcements,
which could not be given. In beginning to retreat, he went, not
towards Charlotte, Cornwallis’ headquarters, but southward, as if his
destination were, as he said it was, Ninety-Six; and by this attempt
to deceive, revealed his sense of danger.
Military prudence required that he should call the Tories to his
help. Accordingly, on the second day of the retreat, there went out
from his camp a circular to “the inhabitants of North Carolina,” in
which he described the on-coming descent of Whigs from the hills
as “an inundation of barbarians.” “If you wish,” he said, “to be
pinioned, robbed, and murdered ... by the dregs of mankind; ... if
you wish or deserve to live and bear the name of men, grasp your arms
in a moment and run to camp. The Back-water men have crossed the
mountains. McDowell, Hampton, Shelby and Cleveland are at their head,
so that you know what you have to depend upon. If you choose to be
degraded forever and ever by a set of mongrels, say so at once, and
let your women turn their backs upon you and look out for real men to
protect them.”
The next day, changing the direction of retreat, he went a few miles,
watched all night for an attack, then marched twenty miles and
halted forty-eight hours, with only thirty-five miles between him
and Cornwallis. In a dispatch to that General, he spoke of his enemy
as “of some consequence” by reinforcements, and of his hopefulness,
yet doubt, of success. “Three or four hundred good soldiers--part
dragoons,” he said, “would finish the business. Something must be
done soon.” Sixteen miles more of travel brought him to King’s
Mountain, a ridge sixty feet high, six hundred yards long by
two hundred and fifty wide at its base, and from sixty to one
hundred yards wide on top. Upon it he encamped, October the sixth.
Without fortifying the position, he expressed entire confidence in
maintaining it. Several Whig leaders in their narratives attribute
sayings to him on the subject that are boastful and blasphemous.
CHAPTER II.
EARLY HISTORY--THE PURSUIT--THE BATTLE--THE VICTORY.
“Hark to the trump and the drum,
And the mournful sound of the barbarous horn,
And the flap of the banners that flit as they’re borne,
And the neigh of the steed, and the multitude’s hum,
And the clash, and the shout, ‘They come! they come!’”
LORD BYRON.
Ferguson’s foes heard, on October 4, of his retreat, but were
doubtful of its direction. Following his footsteps, they made little
progress that day, for men and horses were weary. Maj. Candler, with
thirty of Clarke’s refugees from Georgia, joined them; also, in the
march on the 5th, Maj. Chronicle, with twenty men from the Catawba
River. Col. Lacey arrived that night at their camp on Green River,
from an encampment of four hundred and thirty Whigs, in Rutherford
County, two hundred and seventy of whom were South Carolinians
under Colonels Lacey and Hill, and one hundred and sixty were North
Carolinians--one hundred commanded by Col. Williams, and sixty by
Colonels Graham and Hambright. Lacey gave the mountaineers definite
information concerning Ferguson, and it was agreed that they and the
forces Lacey represented should meet at the Cowpens and combine.
The same night, about seven hundred of the troops commanded by Col.
Campbell and his compatriots, whose horses were in condition for
rapid movement were selected, and on the next day they marched to the
Cowpens, leaving seven hundred men under command of Maj. Herndon to
follow more slowly.
At the Cowpens, a junction of forces as pre-arranged was made. The
four hundred and thirty soldiers commanded by Lacey and others, were
reduced by selection to two hundred and ten. These made the whole
body of chosen cavalry, nine hundred and ten. At 9 P. M. October
6, they started and rode all night in a drizzling rain to overtake
Ferguson, whose army, as a spy informed them, numbered fifteen
hundred men. With the return of daylight, they made better speed,
but still the rain fell and they could scarcely keep their guns dry.
They forded the deep waters of Broad River at sunrise, halted a few
minutes to breakfast from the scanty food they carried, and would
have halted at noon, because of the stormy weather and their fatigue.
Campbell, Sevier and Cleveland proposed to do so, but Shelby, with
profane words, refused. He would brook no delay until night fell or
Ferguson was found. A scout who had visited a Tory family, disguised
as “a true King’s man,” brought them word that the British army
was posted on King’s Mountain. When within a few miles of it, they
captured from a courier a dispatch sent by Ferguson to Cornwallis,
calling for help by reinforcement and declaring his purpose against
the rebels in very uncourteous and profane language. It was told to
the American troops, and only quickened their speed. With galloping
horses they went forward in sight of the enemy’s camp.
It was early in the afternoon of the seventh of October, 1780. The
rain had ceased and the clouds were rolling away before the bright
shining of the sun. This was auspicious. These plain men from west of
the Alleghanies may not have understood how critical was that hour
of the American Revolution, even as well as did the harried Whigs
from the Carolinas who were their companions in arms; but they were
wide awake to the value of the rights for which their countrymen
contended, and of the opportunity at hand to help them. Not one of
those who were about to go into battle for the Colonies saw, as the
men of to-day can see, along with the greatness of the danger to the
struggle for American independence, the important consequences of
their own heroic conduct. Men engaged in war are intent upon present
deeds rather than thoughtful of future results.
That day’s conflict would roll away the clouds that filled the
civil and political sky of the Colonies, or would make them darker
and thicker. As that day went, would go the destiny, not only of
the infant Republic, but with it, that of hundreds of millions of
the human race. The battle might close the door or open it to “a
Government of the people, by the people, and for the people,” on
a mighty continent, where families of every nation and language
should dwell in the faith of Christ and brotherly love. O, men of the
hills, where freedom always has a home, be brave of heart and firm of
hand, in the presence of such a grand possibility! And those plain,
hunting-shirted riflemen were not afraid. Therefore they shall be
honored by all people of right mind and true heart until time ends.
Dismounted from their horses, they formed for battle in four
columns around the mountain. Two columns were on the right--one,
Campbell’s regiment of Virginians, and the other, Sevier’s regiment,
with McDowell’s and Winston’s battalions. Two columns were on the
left--one composed of Shelby’s regiment and Williams’ command; the
other of North Carolinians, under Cleveland, Chronicle and Hambright,
and of South Carolinians, under Lacey and others. The chief officers
briefly exhorted their men to do valiantly. Campbell, addressing each
corps in turn, told those who were afraid to stand back, but no one
moved. Instead, men threw their hats into the air and wrapped their
heads tightly in handkerchiefs, that their quick step through the
woods might be easier. Up the mountain sides they went, in the face
of an equal and boastful foe.
And now, the red-haired Campbell begins the attack, moving over the
roughest ground. The shouts of his men swell on the air. Shelby’s
troops respond, and then others, until the whole mountain is
enveloped in sound. Ferguson and his second, Capt. De Peyster,[13]
hear the outcries. Ferguson’s mind is touched with fear of defeat.
De Peyster says, “These things are ominous.” Soon, Campbell, nearly
at the hill-top, opens a deadly fire, and quickly the shrill notes of
Ferguson’s whistle, inciting the British to battle, mingle with the
roll of his drums. Campbell is forced to retreat down the mountain
to its very foot, so fierce is the bayonet charge of regulars and
Tories. But he rallies his men and again they ascend, driving back
their enemy. Lacey and Hill, with their troops, join in the conflict.
The left center, under Shelby, is almost to the summit, and pours
hot volleys through the slight defences, putting Ferguson’s person
in danger. De Peyster confronts the assailants, charges them with
bayonets, and Shelby also is compelled down the mountain. Back from
successful repulse of his foes, De Peyster returns to repel the
“brave and gentle Cleveland,” Chronicle and Hambright. Chronicle is
slain, and Williams dies, fighting bravely. Meanwhile, Campbell,
McDowell and Shelby, on the other side of the mountain are again
ascending, in conflict with Tory riflemen, shouting, “Huzza, boys!”
as they advance. Sevier has gained the hill-top. He presses the
British center, and is charged by the regulars but holds his ground.
As the combat deepens about him, Campbell and Shelby have won to the
summit. Then all the contending forces are face to face, and there
is a general _melee_--firing with guns and charging with bayonets.
Bailie Peyton says that at the first of the conflict “the mountain
appeared volcanic; there flashed along its summit and around its
base and up its sides one long sulphurous blaze.” Judge Haywood says
that at a later moment “the mountain was covered with flame and
smoke, and seemed to thunder.”
Soon the end of the battle is at hand, and all is a more violent
storm of strife and tumult, freighted with wounds and death. Ferguson
is in the midst of it, calmly courageous but restlessly active. He
is here and there all over the field--wounded in his right hand,
but heedless of personal danger--giving courage to others as he
goes, and bearing the silver whistle, whose sharp sound quickens his
men’s pulses to the fray. He orders the cavalry into action and his
regulars to charge, but at last, in vain. The Americans press him
on all sides into ever narrowing limits. A white flag goes up from
the Tories and he pulls it down. Another is raised at a distance,
and quickly he is there to level it with the dust. A surrender is
suggested to him by friends, repeatedly, but he will not listen to
it. He _will not_ give up his sword to men whom, with a curse, he
calls “banditti”: but he will escape by cutting his way through the
hostile ranks with a sword in his left hand. Two officers join him in
the attempt. Dashing at a weaker point in the Whig lines, he strikes
with his sword until it is broken, and falls, pierced with bullets.
Instantly De Peyster surrenders. The battle is finished. It was about
an hour long.
In the confusion that followed, the Whigs ceased not at once from
firing. The British called for quarter, but kept their weapons. The
fearless Shelby galloped up to their lines and commanded, if they
wanted quarter, to lay down their arms. Perhaps animosity against
the Tories would not die in some Whigs as soon as white flags were
raised, for wars between neighbors are apt to be next in bitterness
to religious wars. Some allowance also is to be made for the
difficulty of self-restraint common to men in the heat of passion and
strife. Their destructive zeal is slow to abate. Col. Campbell had
to cry out to his men, “Don’t shoot!” “Cease firing!” and actively
to promote mercy; but when De Peyster profanely complained to him
of the unfairness, he declined with dignity, to reply, except by
ordering the prisoners into position. The victory was complete. Of
the soldiers composing Ferguson’s army, two-thirds were prisoners and
the other third were killed and wounded in nearly equal numbers. Of
the Americans, twenty-eight were killed and sixty-two wounded. Eight
days after the battle the conquerors began their march westward.
They had received information, which proved untrue, that Tarleton, a
bold, skillful and ruthless British officer, was advancing upon them.
On the contrary, Cornwallis and Tarleton were fleeing at the time
from Charlotte to South Carolina, in fear that the mountaineers by
thousands were about to assail them. The intention and hope of the
British commander to bring North Carolina, and then Virginia, into
like subjection with South Carolina and Georgia, were frustrated by
the defeat of Ferguson. It disheartened Tories who had openly taken
sides with the British, and deterred others from following their
example. At the same time the victory of the Whigs inspirited their
friends everywhere. Their revived faith in the final success of the
Colonies, moved them to more hopeful effort in its behalf.
The uprising of the mountaineers--so spontaneous and yet so
deliberate--their cheerful march over natural difficulties,
their eager and persevering pursuit of a formidable enemy, their
well-planned and swiftly executed attack on his chosen ground--all
these combined, give their enterprise a high place in military
annals. Add to them the great need at that time to the struggling
Colonies of the victory they won and its important good results, and
its title to the niche of fame it fills in the temple of American
history, cannot be impeached. It turned the tide of battle. It led
the way to the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown, and then to
peace with Great Britain. The king and his counselors were already
discouraged by military reverses and tired of their vain efforts
for seven years to conquer. They were compelled to acknowledge the
independence of the United States.
CHAPTER III.
EARLY HISTORY--MOUNTAINEERS DISSATISFIED--AN INDEPENDENT
STATE--CONFLICT OF AUTHORITIES.
“Hail sacred Polity, by Freedom rear’d!
Hail sacred Freedom, when by Law restrain’d!
Without you what were man? A grovelling herd,
In darkness, wretchedness and want enchain’d.”
BEATTIE.
The early history of East Tennessee, like that of all frontier
regions of the United States in their westward march to wider empire,
has its romantic and thrilling incidents of war with savages. Those
may here be fitly omitted, but there is one episode in that history
that should be briefly told. For it throws light upon the character
of the first inhabitants, and so upon that, not only of their
descendants, but also of the newer population, which it is reasonable
to suppose has been more or less assimilated to the strong original
type.
The State of Frankland or Franklin, as it is differently called by
the two historians of Tennessee, Haywood and Ramsey, had a brief and
troubled life. Several causes co-operated to bring it into being.
One was the uncertain legislation of North Carolina concerning
its western lands, and its insufficient regard, apparent or real,
for the welfare of their inhabitants. A second cause lay in the
triumphant spirit of freedom and independence cherished by the
mountaineers when the war of the American Revolution was over, and
their quickness to assert natural rights in the face of presumed
governmental neglect.
The people of North Carolina west of the Alleghanies were in frequent
conflicts with the Indians, but there was a difference in opinion
as to the payment by the State of the expenses incurred. Mutual
jealousies arose between the eastern and western counties, followed
by contention.
At length in May, 1783, North Carolina ceded its western lands
to the United States, _provided_ that Congress should accept the
cession within two years: until such acceptance the sovereignty of
the State in the premises being reserved. The North Carolina Bill
of Rights contained provision for the formation of a new State from
that territory; and if its people, as they supposed, were to be left
during two years to depend upon themselves for their protection and
well-being, they considered it a propitious time to establish an
independent State Government. The necessities of their civil society
seemed to demand it, for the District of Washington was as yet
without a Superior Court, and there was no existing law authorizing
a call of the militia by its general to resist the Indians, whose
hostilities continued. In this emergency a convention of delegates
chosen by the people of Sullivan, Washington and Greene Counties,
was held at Jonesboro, August 23, 1784, and formed an Association.
It also declared the disadvantages to those counties from union
with others more numerous and powerful east of the mountains, and
the benefits they would derive from a separation. It provided for
a delegate and memorial to Congress, and for the detention of all
moneys collected by public officers “until some mode be adopted and
prescribed to have accounts fairly and properly liquidated with the
State of North Carolina.” The convention finally adjourned to meet
again at Jonesboro, which it did in December of the same year, but
before then the Legislature of North Carolina met and repealed the
Act ceding its western lands to the United States, organized the
counties established on those lands into a new District, for which
a Superior Court should be held in Washington County, and provided
for it judicial officers, formed the militia of the District into
a brigade and appointed Col. Sevier its general. These acts were
thought by that officer sufficient to redress the grievances of
the offended counties, and both by speech and letter he endeavored
to influence the electors to desist from further measures looking
to a separation from North Carolina, but shortly he was persuaded
to a different mind. The election of new delegates to a convention
was completed, and when assembled in December, it adopted a State
Constitution, subject to the will of its successor, to assemble in
November, 1785; and also ordered the election of a Legislature,
which should hold its first session early in the same year. The
Legislature, upon convening, elected John Sevier Governor, and other
State officials, and through the Speakers of its two Houses informed
Governor Martin of North Carolina that the inhabitants of Sullivan,
Washington and Greene Counties had declared themselves independent of
the authority and government of the parent State.
To this communication Governor Martin replied courteously but
firmly, and at length. He argued the fallacy or insufficiency of
the reasons given by the western people for their conduct. He
emphasized the facts, that the sovereignty of North Carolina over
the ceded territory had been reserved until Congress should accept
the gift, and that the Legislature had subsequently repealed the
Act of cession. He affirmed that the good will of the State to the
disaffected counties, had been shown by its recent ample provision
for the regular administration of justice and the authoritative use
of the militia. He denied that goods to compensate the Indians for
their lands had been stopped by the State on the way and that in
consequence murders had been committed by the savages. The goods, he
averred, had only been delayed, that should the cession be accepted
by Congress, they might go under its regulations. With some eloquence
of words he exhorted all loyal citizens of the western counties to
be firm in their adherence to the State he represented, and warned
all persons concerned in the revolt who “had probably been seduced
from their just allegiance by ambitious and designing men,” to refuse
obedience any longer to “the self-created power and authority
unknown to the Constitution of the State and unsanctioned by the
Legislature.” The lessons which history teaches concerning needless
revolutions were referred to by him, and the reflection advised that
“there is a national pride in all kingdoms and states which inspires
every citizen and subject with importance--the grand cement and
support of government which must not be insulted.” That insult he
felt had been inflicted by the western counties; “the honor of the
State had been especially wounded” in their “premature seizure by
violence of that independence which in time no doubt would have been
granted by consent.” And he besought them “not to tarnish the laurels
they had won at King’s Mountain in supporting the independence of the
United States, by supporting a black and traitorous revolt.”
The circulation of this document strengthened the wills of the
friends of North Carolina and increased their number among the
western people, but the majority in the new State were unmoved from
their previous purpose, and the work of governmental organization
went forward. Courts and Magistrates were appointed and new counties
formed. Salaries were allotted to State officials, to be paid in
current money of Frankland, (six shillings to the dollar) or in
specified articles received from the people in payment of taxes and
at like rates of value. These miscellaneous articles included “flax
and tow linen, woolen and cotton linsey, beaver, otter, raccoon, fox
and deer skins, bacon, tallow and bees-wax, rye whisky, peach and
apple brandy, home-made sugar and good tobacco.”
The inchoate State gave due attention to its relations with the
Indians, and conducted all its affairs without serious difficulty
until near the close of the year 1785. Before that time an attempt
was made in Washington County, Virginia, to use the privilege
accorded to its citizens by the original Association of western
counties, to join the new Commonwealth, but the movement was
speedily prevented by Patrick Henry, then Governor of Virginia. The
Convention of Frankland appointed to be held in November 1785, met
at Greeneville in that month, adopted a Constitution like that of
North Carolina, and sent a memorial to Congress by William Cocke,
Esq., which was fruitless. Five days later the Legislature of North
Carolina convened and passed an Act declarative of its desire
“to extend the blessings of civil government to citizens of the
western counties until such time as they might be separated with
advantage and convenience to themselves,” and “to hear and redress
their grievances.” It offered amnesty to all persons concerned in
establishing the State of Frankland who should renew their allegiance
to the State of North Carolina. It provided for an election of
members of the General Assembly next succeeding, to be held in the
revolted counties, and also appointed civil and military officers
for those counties, who should supersede like officers of the
State of Frankland. Ever since the repeal by North Carolina of the
Act ceding its western lands to the United States, there had been
opposition to the new State among its citizens. The two parties were
now brought into closer antagonism. Under the authority of both rival
governments, courts were held in the same counties, different laws
were enforced, taxes levied and the militia called into service. Of
course it followed that mutual animosities grew more intense, and
practical collisions were frequent. On several occasions armed men
of the respective parties visited rooms where courts were held by
their adversaries; violent seizures were made of public records,
and officers of the courts turned out of doors. In one instance the
papers of a Frankland clerk having been forcibly abducted by partisan
friends of the parent State, they were afterwards recaptured, and
their official owner, to secure their future safety, hid them in a
cave. These spoliations on both sides were more or less disastrous to
litigants and owners of real estate. They also excited contentious
followers of the two governments beyond self-control, and their
exasperated feelings found vent at public meetings in pugilistic
encounters. The combatants did not so far forget that they were
neighbors, as do men at this period of more advanced civilization,
and resort to the use of deadly weapons. They contented themselves
with fisticuffs as means of drawing blood.
Gen. John Sevier, Governor of Frankland, and Col. John Tipton,
Judge, by appointment of North Carolina, were universally recognized
as chief champions of the two State sovereignties that struggled for
the supremacy. Even they were once betrayed into a trial of personal
prowess after a primitive and comparatively harmless method. In
colloquy they were led into discussion upon the exciting questions
of the day and locality, then into an exchange of angry words, and
finally to engage in pommeling each other with clenched and ungloved
hands, without important results. The encounter, however, occurring
as it did early in the history of social alienations, served
hurtfully as an example that was abundantly imitated by members of
the chieftains’ families and by their adherents.
Col. Tipton, at the election in Washington County to the North
Carolina General Assembly, was elected Senator. At the same time
many of the people manifested the change wrought in their political
sentiments by enrolling their names, in token that they accepted the
amnesty offered by North Carolina in 1785, and returned to their
allegiance. It was evident that hostility to the revolution in
government had become strong enough within its own orbit of movement
to endanger the ultimate success of the new State. In 1786 disorder
prevailed in the disputed territory concerning ordinary revenues from
the people. For, on the plea of uncertainty as to the validity of
taxation by either government, no payment would be made to either;
and both governments feared to enforce collections from delinquents,
lest they might lose the taxpayers’ allegiance.
In November of the same year, the three western counties of Sullivan,
Washington and Greene had representatives in the North Carolina
Legislature. Not of their number, but on a special mission from those
counties, Wm. Cocke appeared before the North Carolina House of
Commons, and made a long and able speech on their behalf. He told how
the Act ceding them to the United States had led to their separation.
Left, as they then were, without any certain authority over or vested
in them, without means of defense against frequent attacks from
Indians, and with no protection or aid from any human power, they
were compelled by the necessities of the case to provide for their
own welfare and safety. To be sure, in the winter following the Act
of Cession, it was repealed by North Carolina, but the repeal found
them penniless and defenseless, with even more urgent reasons than
before to care for themselves. North Carolina sent them no help in
money or supplies, nor a single soldier, while their savage foes were
angered and threatening, because of the stoppage of goods for them
by the way. He represented the condition of the western people to be
one of distraction, suffering and poverty,--such as should move a
magnanimous State to banish its animosity, to bury the past with its
differences and errors, and to extend friendly sympathy and relief.
“If,” said he, “the mother should judge the expense of adhesion too
heavy to be borne, let us remain as we are and support ourselves by
our own exertions: if otherwise, let the means for the continuance of
our connection be supplied with the degree of liberality which will
demonstrate seriousness on the one hand and will secure affection on
the other.”
The address was well received by the House of Commons, and influenced
the General Assembly to a spirit of moderation in dealing with the
estranged counties. It proceeded to pardon all offenders who had
returned to their allegiance and restore them to civic rights; being
careful at the same time, by further legislation to maintain the
authority of the State and provide for the due administration of
justice under its laws. The effect of its temperate conduct was to
increase the number of its friends in the west.
CHAPTER IV.
EARLY HISTORY--FRANKLAND’S CORRESPONDENCE--ITS STRIFES--ITS DEATH,
UPON DEFEAT OF ITS CHIEF--HIS ESCAPE.
“Contention, like a horse
Full of high feeding, madly hath broke loose,
And bears all down before him.”
SHAKS.; _Henry IV_.
“How just soever
Our reasons are to remedy our wrongs,
We’re yet to leave them to their will and pow’r,
That to that purpose have authority.”
MASSINGER.
The State of Frankland, although weakened by defections of its former
friends at home, still stood with unbroken frame, but over it hung
portentous signs of more deadly strife among its citizens and of
disaster to itself that might be fatal. In view of them, all aid and
support that could properly be had, were important to it. As early
as 1784, at Gov. Sevier’s suggestion, the General Assembly had, by
a competent diplomatic agent, expressed to the Governor of Georgia,
its willingness to unite with that State in a war which threatened
to become necessary against the Creek Indians. The Legislature of
Georgia gave respectful consideration to the letters, and friendly
communications were interchanged in 1787; but the Governor of
Georgia, while acknowledging gratefully the readiness of the
Frankland government to co-operate as desired, was prudent to limit
his assurances of reciprocal service to his power, and to consistency
with the interests of the State of Georgia and its paramount duty to
the United States. Less reserve of sentiment was shown by prominent
citizens of Georgia. They spoke in warm praise of the zeal for
liberty manifested by the Franks, and of the independent State they
had organized. Sevier was addressed by letter as its Governor, and
in social circles men drank “success to the State of Frankland, His
Excellency, Governor Sevier and his virtuous citizens.”
Dr. Benjamin Franklin had a wide reputation for great wisdom
concerning public affairs, and Gov. Sevier wrote to him for advice
as to the new State. He replied from Philadelphia, June 30, 1787,
acknowledging the honor done him by “His Excellency and Council.”
“There are two things,” he said, “which humanity induces me to wish
you may succeed in: the accommodating your misunderstanding with
the government of North Carolina, and the avoiding an Indian war by
preventing encroachments on their lands. Such encroachments are the
more unjustifiable, as these people in the fair way of purchase,
usually give very good bargains, and in one year’s war with them
you may suffer a loss of property and be put to an expense vastly
exceeding in value what would have contented them perfectly in
fairly buying the lands they can spare.... I have no doubt of the
good disposition of your government to prevent their receiving such
injuries; but I know the strongest governments are hardly able to
restrain the disorderly people who are generally on the frontiers,
from excesses of various kinds, and possibly yours has not as yet
acquired sufficient strength for that purpose. It may be well,
however, to acquaint those encroachers that the Congress will not
justify them in the breach of a solemn treaty; and that if they bring
upon themselves an Indian war, they will not be supported in it. I
will endeavor to inform myself more perfectly of your affairs by
enquiry and searching the records of Congress; and if anything should
occur to me that I think may be useful to you, you shall hear from me
thereupon.
“I conclude with repeating my wish that you may amicably settle your
difficulty with North Carolina. The inconvenience to your people
of attending so remote a seat of government, and the difficulty to
that government in ruling well so remote a people, would, I think,
be powerful inducements to it to accede to any fair and reasonable
propositions it may receive from you, if the Cession Act had now
passed.”
The course of events in the last months of 1787 moved rapidly towards
their definite conclusion. John Sevier was still addressed in letters
by Dr. Franklin and the Governor of Georgia as Governor of Frankland.
While the eminent, philanthropic statesman persuaded to a policy of
peace,--the fruit of fair dealing with the Indians; the Legislature
of Georgia passed an Act to levy three thousand of its own citizens
for war with the Creeks as irreconcilable enemies, and Gov. Mathews
sent a copy of that Act to Gov. Sevier with the request for fifteen
hundred men from Frankland to assist in the campaign. Gov. Sevier
yielded to this solicitation, and about the end of the year gave
orders for arraying his militia.
Meanwhile the rival Governments proceeded with their respective
affairs in the disputed territory. The Legislature of Frankland
met at Greeneville in September, 1787. It appointed two prominent
citizens to represent it before the North Carolina General Assembly,
to which members were elected from all the western counties. That
Assembly met in November, offered anew to all who had departed from
their allegiance full pardon and restoration to citizenship, and
passed other lenient measures relating to non-compliance with the
State revenue laws and delay in reporting taxable property. A proof
of the waning fortunes of Frankland was given in the acceptance of
a Superior Court Judgeship for the West by David Campbell under an
appointment from the North Carolina Legislature at that session.
He had been a member of the Convention of 1784 that led to the
formation of the new State, and of the Convention in 1785 to frame
a Constitution, and had also been a Judge of its Superior Court by
election of the Legislature in 1785: and his consent to serve its
adversary at such a juncture, though it brought upon him severe
reproach for desertion, in one instance directly from Gen. White, a
fast friend of Frankland, nevertheless tended to convince some that
he had left “a sinking ship.”
At the same time the internal dissension drew near its crisis. Late
in the year 1787, a writ of _fieri facias_ had been issued, and early
in 1788, the sheriff, under authority of North Carolina, executed it
against the estate of Gov. Sevier; visited his farm on the Nolachucky
River, carried off his negroes and lodged them securely at the house
of his principal foe, Col. John Tipton. Sevier, at the time, was
absent from home and near Greene County, providing for defence of
the people against a threatened attack by Indians. Hearing of the
sheriff’s procedure, he at once rallied to him one hundred and fifty
men from the Counties of Greene and Sevier and what is now Blount
County, and went with them to the house of Tipton, against whom the
fuel of his wrath had but a short time before been freshly kindled
by his adversary’s attempt, foiled by Sevier’s absence, to seize his
person. Tipton had but fifteen men in his dwelling when the Governor
arrived with his militia and a small piece of artillery. It was in
the afternoon. Sevier demanded an unconditional surrender, and was
answered defiantly, with an expletive. The oral summons to yield was
then followed by one in writing. To it Tipton made no reply, but sent
it to Col. Maxwell of Sullivan County, with a call for help. Several
days passed, but Sevier forbore to make an assault. Messengers
successfully escaped from the house to gather recruits, some of whom
afterwards made their way into it. The third night a reinforcement
of one hundred and eighty men under Col. Maxwell arrived, awaited
the break of day and then approached the beleaguered dwelling
simultaneously with an attack upon its defenders by the Governor. The
recruits fired their guns and dashed forward with a ringing shout
that was answered by another from the besieged, and followed by a
sally. The united forces triumphed. Sevier’s men were thrown into a
panic and fled. Some of them and their one unused piece of artillery
were captured. Among the prisoners were two of Sevier’s sons, whom
two brothers Webb would have killed in revenge for the death of their
brother in the fight, but Tipton prevented them. According to a more
dramatic account, Tipton himself was determined to hang the two
youths, but was dissuaded by friends, who drew an imaginary picture
of his own sons as captives and about to be slain in enmity to their
father. He was melted to tears, and with strong self-reproach for his
weakness, gave the young men their liberty. Indeed the two parties
appear to have been animated throughout the affair by a spirit not
altogether unneighborly. Sevier, from the beginning of the troubles,
had been disposed to moderation. He sought on this occasion the
recovery of his slaves, but delayed, although urged by others, to
make an assault. Many of the men on both sides were unarmed, and some
having weapons did not load them, or loading them, fired into the
air. One of them said: “We did not go there to fight. The men did
not try to hit anybody. Most of us went to prevent mischief, and did
not intend to let the neighbors kill one another.”
Account is given of only two persons who were killed during the whole
encounter, and but two or three were wounded. Right royal citizens
were these in carrying on a civil war! Their example of mutual
forbearance deserves at least historical transmission. A fatal blow
had been received by the Government of Frankland. In May, 1788, the
authority of North Carolina was established without dispute over
the western counties. Sevier, after his defeat, devoted himself
unreservedly to the service of the people against the Indians, and
collecting troops led them victoriously into that enemy’s country.
While employed in military duties on the frontier, a bench warrant
was issued from the Superior Court of North Carolina, at Jonesboro,
against him for the crime of high treason. His seizure, arraignment
for trial and perhaps his punishment were therefore from that date,
reasonably certain; but the time of their occurrence was to be
determined by circumstances. His eminence among the men of his day
was partly owing to solid and brilliant qualities, which under proper
culture would have given him distinction in much less rude society
and more peaceful surroundings than those in which he lived. The
facts that he served as first Governor of Tennessee three successive
terms, and after an interval of a few years, three other terms by
election of the people biennially and was then twice chosen a
Representative in Congress, are weighty evidences of his ability,
as well as his popularity. Judge Haywood, who was the Governor’s
contemporary during the latter part of his public life, says that
John Sevier “had by nature a talent for acquiring popular favor, ...
a friendly demeanor, a captivating address, ... was generous, liberal
and hospitable, ... and to crown all, was a soldier. To him it was no
secret that in republican government, where the democratic principle
is a main ingredient in its composition, the love of the people is
substantial power. The frontier people adored him. They called him
familiarly ‘Nolachucky Jack.’ Whenever at future elections that name
was pronounced, it had the effect of electrical power in prostrating
the pretensions of every opposing candidate.”[14]
The State of Frankland was numbered among the things that were and
are not. All that remains in this brief narrative is to tell what
afterwards befell him who was its faithful head while it survived, in
consequence of his official connection with it.
In October, 1788, Sevier returned home from the frontier and appeared
openly among the people. At Jonesboro in company with some personal
followers, he was charged by a returned soldier with failing to
prevent, when he had the power, the murder of certain friendly
Indians, and there was a quarrel, followed soon afterwards by
another in the vicinity. A door was thus opened to the revival of
animosities and to violent procedures against him for grave reasons
of State. He was pursued during the night by armed men, was sought
for at several houses, and found about sunrise, when he surrendered
without resistance. After running the risk of injury from his enemies
in the first flush of their wrath, he was led a prisoner to the
county town and from there was sent under guard to Morganton, North
Carolina. In the journey, his hands were unbound, and he attempted
to escape. The earliest historian of Tennessee has been followed
by the second in stating that Sevier failed in that attempt and in
representing that he was rescued by a few of his friends from the
custody of the sheriff, in the presence of the judge, at Morganton:
but according to an oral tradition which has been recently published
and appears to be authentic, Sevier succeeded in escaping while on
the way to that town. The narrative heretofore accepted as accurate
beyond doubt, is, in substance, appended, and also, the statement
lately made, in contradiction of it.[15]
In November of the same year, the Legislature of North Carolina
excluded Sevier from its amnesty to political offenders and from
all State offices, but he was elected with great unanimity to the
State Senate in August, 1789. Of that body he was admitted as a
member--not without a brief delay after his appearance at the
capital; and subsequently he was appointed to his former office of
Brigadier General of the western counties, now included in East
Tennessee.
[Illustration: WILLIAM G. BROWNLOW.]
CHAPTER V.
SHADOWS OF COMING EVENTS--POLITICAL HARANGUES--A SUSPECTED
“INCENDIARY”--BIBLE SOCIETY COLPORTEUR IN SCOTT COUNTY.
“When clouds are seen, wise men put on their cloaks;
When great leaves fall, then winter is at hand;
When the sun sets, who doth not look for night?
Untimely storms make men expect a dearth:
All may be well; but if God sort it so,
’Tis more than we deserve, or I expect.”
SHAKS., _Richard III_.
The Civil War begun in 1861 had for years its premonitions even in
so retired a portion of the United States as East Tennessee then
was; but they were not understood by the wisest of observers. The
increased alarm among friends of the institution of slavery for its
safety, would alone have been ominous; for strong fear of losing
possessions tempts to rash and violent means of relief. There were
other signs of coming evils:--the growing desire, especially of
politicians in the South who were extremists, not only to preserve
slavery within its existing limits but to fortify its perpetuity by
extending its area; and also the widened direction of an intense and
long-cherished animosity against abolitionists, so as to include
in it all “Yankees” or “the North” in general. These sectional
sentiments were not shared by the great body of East Tennesseeans.
The large majority of them were not slave-holders. Cotton was not
grown in the region, except that a very few farmers had small
“patches” for domestic use. Even where slaves were owned, “the
peculiar institution” most often wore a homely aspect. The negroes
after a patriarchal fashion, were part of one household--the white
and black children played together without fastidious reserve, and
mutual kindly affections prevailed throughout the whole family. In
1860 the slaves were about one-tenth only of the population, and
in over one-third of the counties less than one-seventeenth. The
unlikeness of the mountainous region which is located centrally in
the Atlantic States, to that of the planting States, is positive,
and the dissimilarity in social and other conditions between their
respective inhabitants could scarcely have escaped the observation
of sagacious minds at the period named, when contemplating the
political future. It may have been not without reference to possible
coming emergencies, and to the promotion of sympathy with sectional
sentiments among these mountaineers that one of the “Southern
Commercial Conventions” which were feeders to disunion, was held in
1857 at the central town of East Tennessee. For its population then
was only something over four thousand and its commercial vitality
was small. Conspicuously apparent in the deliberations of that
Convention was a spirit of sectional zeal, which once fairly excited
and diffused, might easily upon opportunity or need be turned into a
political dissolving temper. It would be interesting to know how many
of those who were prominent in that and other “Southern Commercial
Conventions” were also not long afterwards, active in the work of
secession. Of the _lawyers_ who figured in the Knoxville mercantile
assembly was a Virginia “Hotspur.” A few years later he told the
South Carolinians who stood ready, if possible, to dissolve the
Union; “strike a blow and Virginia will go out!” The blow was struck,
Fort Sumter fell, and Virginia went out.
As the _ante-bellum_ decade drew nigh its close, a South Carolina
gentleman of distinction visited the same very interior town.
Currently told, he was father of the saying that “the Yankees know
nothing of government; their only idea of it is that the majority
shall rule.” To this sentiment a ready-witted editor responded,
that its author “differed from the Yankees in but one particular,
his only idea of government being that the minority shall rule.”
This gentleman was of an aristocratic turn of mind. Evidently he
considered the countrymen among whom he dwelt for the time fit
subjects for a study, the precise nature and conclusions of which
others could only conjecture. One day at his hotel he was wrapped in
long and quiet but intent contemplation of the people on the street.
A citizen-friend who had looked on him as he mused, fancied in the
light thrown back on memory by the flames of war shortly afterwards
kindled, that the silent reflections of the stranger had reference to
the impending conflict; not as an emissary from a disaffected State,
much less bent individually upon unfriendly espionage of the land,
but as a political philosopher, forming an estimate of the capacity
of the people before him for sharing in a life and death national
struggle, and weighing in the scales of his judgment the relative
probabilities of their inclining to favor one or the other of the
antagonists in that struggle.
In 1860, late in the canvass for the Presidency of the United States,
a political discussion took place at Knoxville between three of the
candidates for Elector from the State at large: Mr. W. C. Whitthorne
on the Breckenridge ticket, Mr. Nathaniel G. Taylor on the ticket
for Bell, and Mr. Hopkins on that for Douglass. Mr. Whitthorne spoke
respectably well. Mr. Taylor was truly eloquent. His description of
the civil war, which he declared the friends of Mr. Breckenridge
were contriving to bring upon the country in the event of their
party being defeated and the Republican candidate’s election to the
Presidency, was vivid and powerful. Few, if any, of his hearers,
however, had a real expectation that the calamity he so graphically
depicted would shortly befall the land. He said that the people of
East Tennessee were “determined to maintain the Union by force of
arms against any movement from the South throughout their region of
country to assail the Government at Washington with violence, and
that the secessionists of the cotton States in attempting to carry
out their nefarious design to destroy the Republic, would have to
march over his dead body and the dead bodies of thousands of East
Tennessee mountaineers slain in battle.”
The speech of Mr. Hopkins was lucid and logical, and reflected
much credit upon his skill and power in debate. His antagonism was
especially to the followers of Mr. Breckenridge as the authors of a
ruinous breach in the unity of the Democratic party that had so long
ruled the nation and dispensed its offices and emoluments.
Shortly before the Presidential election in the autumn of 1860,
William L. Yancey of Alabama, came to Knoxville by pre-arrangement
with resident extremists on the subject of “Southern rights,” and
spoke to a popular assembly in the open air. He labored to show that
the South did not receive justice at the hands of the North, that the
negro was never intended by the Federal Constitution and its authors
as anything more than property, that it was the interest of the white
man of the South to perpetuate slavery, because it gave the South a
political power in Congress it would not otherwise have, and also for
other reasons which he stated.
Among those who then heard him for the first time some were
disappointed that they did not find in him the able orator whom Fame
had heralded. His voice, without being disagreeable, had no special
good qualities, and was too monotonous of tone. He showed, however,
great earnestness, and now and then rose to eloquence. Evidently he
had a quick, high and imperious temper, a bold and determined will,
superior readiness and skill in debate, and the disposition to
domineer over opponents. His determination seemed to be not to heal
existing dissensions but to maintain by strife the South’s rival
powder in the nation.
His speech was not well received by many of those who heard it.
At one time being rudely interrupted by a man in the crowd, he
peremptorily silenced the intruder. Before concluding his discourse,
a note was handed to him. Having read it, he asked the writer to
come upon the platform. The note conveyed a desire to know, if, in
the event of Mr. Lincoln’s election to the Presidency, Mr. Yancey
would favor the secession of the Southern States from the Union
and forcible resistance to the Federal Government? The person so
unexpectedly elevated to the side of the orator was Mr. Maney, from
Pennsylvania, but for some years a citizen of Tennessee; endowed
with much good sense, large acquaintance with public affairs and
considerable readiness of speech. A brief colloquy ensued, in
which Mr. Yancey endeavored without success to bring Mr. Maney
into ridicule. At length it came to light that the latter was the
representative of others in the assembly whose names were signed to
the note, and which were then called aloud by Mr. Yancey, with a
request that the persons bearing them should ascend to the platform.
They complied accordingly: Rev. William G. Brownlow, Judge Samuel R.
Rodgers, O. P. Temple, John M. Fleming, and Wm. R. Rodgers, M.D.
The orator proceeded to read an extract from a published speech or
letter of the Hon. John Bell of Tennessee, declaring his mind as
to the course of conduct the slave States ought to adopt, should
Mr. Lincoln be elected. He then desired to know severally from the
gentlemen before him, whether they endorsed Mr. Bell’s sentiments?
Mr. Temple answered that he approved them, if the words in which they
were expressed were taken with their context and rightly interpreted:
at the same time adding, that in his own opinion, any forcible
resistance to the Federal Government would be improper. Of like
purport in general, was the reply made by each of his companions,
except that of Mr. Brownlow. When called on to answer he said “that
not only would he refuse to join in any secession or armed opposition
to the authority of the National Government because of Mr. Lincoln’s
election, but that any body of men attempting to march on Washington
City with hostile purpose through East Tennessee, would find there
thousands of men ready to prevent them by force of arms. Among those
defenders of the Union, he,” Mr. Brownlow, “would take his stand,
and that over their dead bodies they who sought to overthrow the
Government would have to make their way.”
Mr. Yancey replied. He gave it as his opinion that the statement from
Mr. Bell that had been read, favored the idea of resistance under
certain circumstances. Declining to answer at once and in few words
the inquiry first propounded, he went into a historical statement of
the question of secession as it had been agitated in Alabama, and
of his connection with it. Finally he said, that as a loyal son of
that State, he would abide by its decision in the case and go as it
might go. “As for this man,” he said, turning to Mr. Brownlow, “who
talks of confronting the sons of the South in a contest for their
rights, with the armed opposition of East Tennesseeans,--if his
(Mr. Yancey’s) State determined upon resistance, he would meet Mr.
Brownlow in the bloody strife, and” making a violent gesture towards
Mr. B.’s person, “would give him the bayonet up to the muzzle.” At
this utterance and action, a strong sensation passed through the
assembly. The orator went on to reproach his opponent, that being
by profession a minister of the Gospel, he should be a fomenter
of strife, and counseled him to amend his conduct. Mr. Brownlow
replied in his peculiar style with pungent words, and soon the people
dispersed.
The Alabamian’s friends seemed to be jubilant over the victory they
claimed to have won in the wordy encounter. The other party were less
demonstrative but more determined than before, and were moved to
various degrees of wrath by the disunion sentiments to which they had
listened. Some, while stirred to indignation by the sentiments, which
they considered atrocious, and at the speaker’s audacity in uttering
them, had yet a feeling of regret that their own champions were
put on the platform at disadvantage; had been subjected in turn to
questioning by their adversary, as witnesses might be in court by an
adroit attorney; and were compelled to relative silence, while he, on
the point at issue, fully delivered his mind with an air of triumph
to the exhilaration of his friends.
When the result of the Presidential election was known, the political
excitement greatly increased. There had been no electoral ticket in
Tennessee for the Republican candidates: and had any citizen of the
State openly advocated Mr. Lincoln’s election, he would have had to
suffer indignity and injury, or to flee from his home. The general
public sentiment was hostile to the Republican party and at the same
time friendly to the continuance of slavery where it existed, without
interference from abroad. As between secession and the preservation
of the Union, opinions differed both in kind and degree of strength.
A single incident will illustrate the situation:
A citizen of Ohio, selling fruit-tree scions arrived at Knoxville
from Asheville, North Carolina. He was closely followed by the
newspaper of that village, fixing strong suspicion upon him from
slight evidence, as a peregrinating Abolitionist with a sinister
purpose. Meanwhile he with his chattels personal, had found temporary
lodgment on the Deaf and Dumb Asylum grounds. Some medical students
at Philadelphia from Mississippi and Alabama, influenced by political
fervor, when the work of secession began, incontinently abandoned
their professional studies, and departed homewards. Arriving at
Knoxville on their way, and hearing of the alleged anti-slavery
Ohioan, they went without delay and demanded his expulsion from the
community. But because of the Asylum’s Principal, they failed in
their errand, and as rumor told, were humorously rebuked by him for
their impertinent wrath and intolerance.
Their visit was soon succeeded by one of more formidable proportions
from indignant citizens, with a local office-holder of the United
States at their head. The suspected political “incendiary” was
arrested and led a prisoner to the court-house. There excited people
gathered, until the room was filled to its utmost capacity. Nor could
this fact justly occasion surprise. Slaves bore the fatal stigma in
public estimation, generally, of being not _persons_, but _things_.
Their classification therefore, in common with houses, goods and
whatever else could, like them, be bought and sold, was under the
head of property. And any alarm raised that peaceful possession of
them was endangered, naturally enough assembled a crowd. A citizen,
attracted to the meeting by its understood object, entered the
court-room, as Parson Brownlow in concluding a speech, gave no
opinion _pro_ or _con_ about the stranger, but advised the people to
watch, for that fomenters of trouble with the negroes were abroad in
the country.
Afterwards, the committee of citizens appointed to consider and
determine the extent of grievance inflicted upon the community and
what should be its redress, reported through its chairman,--who
had led in making the arrest,--that the stranger was guilty of
Abolitionism and should be ordered to leave the town which his
presence put in danger. But further proceedings in the direct line
of a vote upon the proposition, were halted by the courageous
interposition of the Deaf Mutes’ Asylum Principal in behalf of the
prisoner, with whom he had conversed, and who, he averred, was not an
extreme and dangerous anti-slavery man. This reduction of the guilt
of the accused, was promptly and hotly resented by the committee’s
chairman as a denial of his personal veracity, not to be borne. The
Principal, without disputing the logical sequence of that deduction,
stoutly maintained the truth of his statement, and an altercation
ensued that threatened to end in a general row. The assembly became
tumultuous. Men ready for fight with sticks and pistols sprang upon
the platform, where stood the disputants, between whom a third
person, urged on by others, had interposed himself and essayed
to speak. But he could not be heard because of the great clamor,
accompanied by violent gesticulations, of the assembly. At length a
few words from the _tertium quid_, minimizing the difficulty into a
mere difference of opinion between two gentlemen, were listened to,
and the excitement subsided.
As for the troubled Ohioan, he “stood not upon the order of his
going” from a locality inhospitable and dangerous to strangers who
felt free to say that they did not find their Bibles and human
slavery altogether harmonious. It is to this day, however, an
unsolved question, whether as he went, righteous indignation at the
treatment he had received or sincere joy at his escape from worse
ills, prevailed in his soul.
The mental agitations of people living in towns and in less remote
parts of the country, caused by the work of secession as it
progressed, were painfully shared by many older and conservative
persons. They could not bear the thought of a dissolution of the
Union, and in some instances were moved by it to tears, alternating
with anger. As the possibility of so dire an event grew in their
apprehensions, they shrank back from witnessing its occurrence, as
one might do from looking on at the death of a beloved kinsman.[16]
But the dwellers in the more mountainous parts of East Tennessee,
“far from the madding crowd,” were comparatively free from all such
agitations and griefs.
In the autumn of 1860 a Colporteur of the Knoxville Bible Society[17]
distributed the Book among the people of Scott County, Tennessee,
a very elevated region near the Kentucky border line. On returning
home, he made a report of his labors to Mr. C.,--Depositary of the
society,--who greatly deplored the possible destruction of the Union.
The Colporteur soon afterwards met another Unionist, and said:
“Do you know that Mr. C. is going to Scott County to live?” The
other, knowing Mr. C. to be a person of wealth, who would by such an
exchange lose comfortable surroundings, answered:
“No! how is that?”
“O,” said the Colporteur, “I told him that I asked the people over
in Scott County ‘how were times with them,’ and they said, ‘not very
good.’ I inquired if that was because of the troubles in the country?
They asked, ‘what troubles?’ I said: ‘Troubles to the Union. Haven’t
you heard that South Carolina has seceded?’ They answered, ‘no!’”
“Now,” the Colporteur added, “I told this to Mr. C. and he says he is
going to Scott County to live: for if the Union should be dissolved,
_he will never hear of it over there_.”
CHAPTER VI.
THE STATE FOR THE UNION--A STRANGER IN TOWN--SECESSION OF
TENNESSEE PRE-ARRANGED--BIBLICAL CO-INCIDENCE--UNION ORATORS--AN
ASSASSINATION.
“Between the acting of a dreadful thing
And the first motion, all the interim is
Like a phantasma, or a hideous dream;
The genius and the mortal instruments
Are then in council; and the state of a man,
Like to a little kingdom, suffers then
The nature of an insurrection.”
SHAKS.; _Julius Cæsar_.
Tennessee was unwilling to depart from her wise sisters in the Union
and join the others in committing what one of her adopted sons,--a
General of the Confederate army,--said to his friend after the
war had ended, “was one of the greatest blunders in history.” The
Legislature of the State proposed a convention to decide what the
State should do concerning its national relations. Governor Isham
G. Harris and his sympathizers, no doubt considered the secession
of Tennessee could be most conveniently accomplished through that
instrumentality: and it was ordered that the question of holding such
a convention should be determined by the people at the ballot-box,
February 9, 1861.
[Illustration: HON. T. A. R. NELSON.]
Love for the Union had not yet weakened in many persons throughout
the State, who at later points of time could not withstand the
accumulated force of motives to give it up,--some of whom in finally
surrendering it, hushed their lingering objections with the plea of
necessity. The majority of people were used to think of the Union
as a precious heritage from their ancestors, and they were unable
to see that they ought to throw that inheritance away, because the
Republican candidate for Chief Magistrate of the Nation had been
elected. Even at the city of Memphis an enlightened public sentiment
in favor of maintaining the Union widely existed in the fall of
1860, and found expression at a large public meeting, called and
participated in by more than a few of the best citizens. Before the
February election the question of secession was often discussed,
not only by politicians before assemblies, but by citizens in
conversation. While enthusiastic disputants threw arguments thick and
fast without convincing one another, they still parted in friendship,
that was sometimes abated by the controversy. The time had not then
come for the wrathfulness of the political atmosphere and excitement
of men’s passions, to prevent colloquial and peaceful interchange
of opinions. As a general rule, secessionists and the disaffected
towards the newly-chosen Government at Washington, were more numerous
in East Tennessee among the rich and persons of best social position,
and were greatly out-numbered among the middle and poorer classes.
The election in February resulted in a majority of more than sixty
thousand voters for Tennessee continuing in the United States, and
also in a decided majority against holding the proposed convention.
It was clearly to be seen that the people were content to continue in
old and tried paths, and did not think it wise or expedient even to
send delegates of their own choosing to discuss the vital questions
that agitated and threatened the country. Many of them looked upon
the convention with apprehension as a contrivance for mischief. What
if the enemies of the United States intended and should use it as a
hot-bed to mature an ordinance of secession, which, like the gourd
over the head of the displeased and murmuring Hebrew prophet at
Nineveh, quickly grown, would quickly perish? Has not experience any
lesson to teach on the subject of unusual gatherings of inflammable
materials, which a spark may kindle into a great fire, when the air
is very dry from intense heats?
With the advent of spring, in 1861, the muttering of the storm
gathering in the national heavens became louder and longer. The
inauguration of Mr. Lincoln on the fourth of March, was affirmed
by men in Tennessee with others in the South, who were bent upon
separation, to be an ample reason in itself for a dissolution of
the Union. His words when he took the oath of office,--so full of
friendship and good will to the South, fell idly on their ears, and
his abstinence from any act to disturb its peace, did not abate their
hostility a fraction.
During the month of March a young New Yorker arrived at Knoxville,
returning home from Havana, where he had dwelt in the winter for the
sake of health. He found New Orleans, through which his journey lay,
all in a ferment over the cauldron of political troubles in the land.
Not being versed in State-craft nor fully impressed by the gravity of
the national situation, he was disposed to look with a lenient eye
upon the insubordination to the Federal Government prevailing in the
Queen City of the South. Louisiana desired to have a government of
its own, and with great generosity, he said it might be well to let
its people make the experiment. He, at least, was not inclined to
coerce them into obedience. Now and then in his leisure at Knoxville,
as the times were ominous, he kept on the alert for news. One day,
being told of the fall of Fort Sumter, he inquired of an ardent
secessionist standing near:
“Was the attack upon the Fort without provocation?”
The citizen addressed, took the question, not as it was intended,
merely to learn how the fight began, but as a provocation. At once
he spoke with stern manner and strong words of Southern rights and
as his sectional zeal grew more fervid with its venting, he asserted
that “one Southern man could whip five or six Yankees.” He himself
“could whip three or four.”
“My friend,” was the reply, “you are mistaken. We are all of one
Anglo-Saxon blood and Northern men can fight, as well as Southern.”
A few hot-bloods not far off, overheard the conversation. One of
them told his companions he knew the stranger by his peculiar speech
to be a Yankee, whom the party at once talked of subjecting to the
indignity of “a ride on a rail.” He caught enough of their words to
learn the hostile meaning, and obeying the instinct of his courage,
to which his strength looked unequal, he calmly walked up to the
company and stood, waiting their pleasure. They kept silence, being
discomfited by his composed bearing and shortly went their way.
This boastful estimate of the greatly superior fighting capacity
of Southern men, compared with Northern, was widely entertained
and expressed in terms not much less exaggerated. It had its root
in the idea that Northern people were not “chivalric,” and were so
devoted to money-making that they would not go to war for the sake
of any principles involved in the attempt to dissolve the Union. The
two notions helped no little to embolden the secessionists in their
purpose of disintegration.
The experience of the young stranger with the effervescence of
warlike feelings on the street, did not end with the above incident.
Not many days afterwards, the town postmaster was seen emerging from
his office with an unnatural paleness of face, that indicated intense
mental excitement. The cause was soon explained by his mounting a
goods’-box on the principal business street, for want of a better
rostrum, and reading aloud to the crowd which immediately gathered.
President Lincoln’s Proclamation calling for seventy-five thousand
men. A copy of it had just arrived by mail. The reading was followed
by enthusiastic and martial oratory that stimulated to greater heat
the temper of hearers whom the Proclamation offended. At that moment
the New Yorker appeared on the scene and desired to see the document.
Having no opportunity, he passed along the street with a friend to
a distant point where the postmaster was about to read it from a
door-step to another audience, which they joined.
Profound attention was given by all listeners, until the words “loyal
citizens” were read, when a strong voice cried out:
“If there is a loyal citizen present, let him now speak!”
No one made reply. The call came from one of a company of young men
who were exceedingly zealous, and had it moved the inoffensive Yankee
to speak indiscreetly in the surroundings, it may easily be inferred
that he would have been handled with severity. When the reading was
concluded, he and his friend joined in a subdued laugh over escaped
mischief and joyfully departed.[18]
Governor Isham G. Harris, fired with increased zeal by the beginnings
of actual hostilities, called an extra session of the Legislature
for May, 1861. The certainty of war determined some minds to
favor resistance to the Federal Government by force, which had
before adhered to the Union without reference to such an ordeal. A
conservative regard for institutions derived from the past, had
influenced them at first to cherish Union sentiments, but their
intimate personal and social relations were more with men who were
already enlisted in sympathy with the intended revolution. They
had resisted the influence of these associates while the peace was
unbroken, yet they had combative temperaments and the President’s
Proclamation roused their slumbering pugnacity. Their own passions
being loosed from bit and bridle, as they must have a share in the
contention, on whose side should it be but on that of nearest kith
and kin. The cause they had deemed unrighteous and against which
they had argued and voted, became righteous in their eyes, when seen
through the red and lurid atmosphere of Mars.
Others there were who had little strength of character, and had
been opposed to secession chiefly because it threatened to disturb
the even tenor of their lives. The noise of war in the air did not
stir their blood or change their minds: but the same easy-going
disposition--the same aversion to be disquieted which had made them
Unionists at first, led them to fall into the current of popular
feeling in their vicinity, which the entrance upon bloody strife
made stronger and swifter for secession. Some for the first time,
then heartily responded to the pleas they heard for sympathy and
co-operation from Tennessee with the Southern States, as more nearly
its sisters, and needing its help. Others yielded to those pleas,
because they feared the reproach of their communities for want
of right affection and just conduct, or worse still, to be called
“scalawags” and “Lincolnites.”
The material interests which were affirmed, and by many believed
to be at stake in the conflict for “Southern rights,” had their
influence to increase the number of secessionists in parts of
Tennessee after the appeal to arms. The growth of disunion
sentiments, like their germination, depended more or less upon the
climate and soil. In West Tennessee, where cotton is the chief
product and slaves were very numerous, the friends of the Union
eventually, were few and far between. At the city of Memphis, a
large cotton port, where a strong Union sentiment existed in the
autumn of 1860, the voters against secession four months later,
could be counted on the fingers of one hand. In Middle Tennessee the
secessionists increased in numbers, less in proportion to population,
than in West Tennessee: but in East Tennessee, there was no
important change in the relative strength of parties produced by the
commencement of hostilities. During April, the political excitement
in the chief town of the latter region, rapidly waxed strong as it
did elsewhere in the land: but it differed then and afterwards in
the bitterness mixed with it growing out of the close and sharp
divisions among neighbors. The near prospect of a general civil war
increased the disposition of the revolutionary party to vigorous
proceedings and added something to its confidence. The friends of the
United States were put more on the defensive against the charge of
disloyalty to their own section of country, and found it necessary
to use discretion as well as firmness. Sometimes the adverse parties
came near to collisions on the streets.
Tidings of “the fight at Baltimore” vibrated on men’s nerves like a
shock of electricity. It was on Friday, April 19. On Sunday, people
went to church with the exciting news yet ringing in their ears.
Singularly enough, as a co-incidence, widely observed, and thought
by some to be prophetic, the first lesson for the day (third Sunday
after Easter) read in the worship of God in many churches of the
land, began with the ninth verse of the third chapter of the prophet
Joel, in these words:
“Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; prepare war, wake up the mighty
men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up; beat your
plough-shares into swords, and your pruning-hooks into spears: let
the weak say, I am strong.”
Universally the worshippers were unprepared to hear a portion of
God’s Word, long before prescribed, but so well suited to the
particular time that it might have been selected that morning, and
they were impressed or startled. Another portion of Holy Scripture
read on the same occasion by like prescription, and which had special
fitness to existing circumstances, breathed no martial strains, and
therefore received less attention as a co-incidence. It was in the
Epistle for the Sunday, from St. Peter’s first Epistle:
“Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake:
whether it be to the king as supreme; or unto governors, as unto them
that are sent by him for the punishment of evil doers, and for the
praise of them that do well. For so is the will of God.”
Aiming to promote a spirit of order and peace, the minister who
conducted these religious services at Knoxville preached that morning
upon the importance of right government and obedience to it--of using
freedom, not in the service of evil passions, but of neighborly, kind
affections, from the apposite words:
“For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not
liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.”
As if, however, the hour for discord had come, and its footsteps
would not tarry, the result of the day was the loss to the church of
several leading families whose sympathies were strongly with “the
South,” including that of a church warden. He was a worthy citizen
and sincere christian, but he “could no longer attend as a worshipper
and listen to the ‘prayer for the President of the United States and
all in authority,’” as set forth in the Book of Common Prayer. The
prayer dates back to the year 1789.
The agitations and mutual wrath of parties at the locality, each
of them being strong, were sensibly increased by the secession
of Virginia and the forcible seizures of Harper’s Ferry and the
Portsmouth Navy Yard, which followed not long after the Baltimore
fight. Notwithstanding the people of Tennessee had voted against
secession in February, 1861, by a majority of 60,000, now, in the
absence of any later expression of their will on the subject through
an authorized channel, the State Government entered into a military
league with the Southern Confederacy and passed an ordinance of
secession subject to the ratification of the people at the polls on
the eighth of June. Under that league troops were enlisted throughout
the State, and so without having seceded or become a member of the
Confederacy, Tennessee was placed independently in actual rebellion
against the United States. Some eight hundred of these soldiers were
stationed in camp near Knoxville. One day Andrew Johnson and Thomas
A. R. Nelson addressed the people on the principal business street
of the town, the court-room being too small to receive them. The
meeting was disturbed by the loud music of a Confederate band from
a neighboring hotel, and by the threatening demeanor of armed men
who had just been addressed by secession orators and were parading
the streets. A bloody collision was only prevented by the friendly
interposition of peaceably disposed men from both parties. The same
two Union leaders were soon afterwards stopped in addressing the
people at Blountville in the strong Democratic county of Sullivan,
and compelled to desist.
On the twelfth of May the United States flag was raised by some
Unionists to the top of a liberty pole fixed near a spot of public
resort in the town, and a stirring speech in keeping with the
occasion was made by Connelly F. Trigg, Esq. Among his sympathizing
hearers was Charles Douglass, a citizen of violent disposition and
addicted to the use of strong drink, which without detaining him at
home, tended to increase his contentiousness. Being a democrat and
an ardent admirer of Andrew Johnson, he followed that distinguished
politician into the Union party. Between him and a Major of the
Military League State troops--Wash. Morgan--a few angry words were
spoken after the flag raising, and Douglass was subsequently fired
upon by his adversary and a military companion, when not expecting an
assault.
He escaped with slight hurt, but the shots aimed at him mortally
wounded a harmless countryman entering a store door. The soldiers in
camp were excited upon being informed at once of the affair by Major
Morgan, and some hundreds of them under his leading, intent upon
Douglass’s death were intercepted on their way to town by a discreet
Colonel of their army--with help from influential citizens, and
persuaded to return to their tents.[19]
The offending Unionist was not however to escape from his enemies.
While seated before a front window of the second story of his house
he was shot from a hotel upper window, a hundred yards distant. After
a few days of suffering he expired. His murderer was unknown, but
was thought to be either the Major or some one of that antagonist’s
fellow-soldiers procured for the purpose. The circumstances of his
death excited wide regret in the community, except among a few
extremists whose over-heated passions had so beclouded their moral
sense, that they could hear of the assassination with the same
indifference they would hear of a man being slain in battle. By many
of the Union men he was looked upon as a martyr in their cause.
The eighth of June, on which day the people were to vote upon the
ordinance of secession adopted by the General Assembly, was drawing
nigh, and as East Tennesseeans in a majority of cases were averse to
it, special efforts seemed advisable at Nashville to influence them
in its favor. Certain persons therefore, Hon. John Bell among them,
visited Knoxville and other places in the eastern division of the
State, but their addresses and labors were of little or no avail.
Mr. Bell would not advocate secession, being still hostile to it
as a political doctrine, but he was understood to declare himself
“a rebel.” Other visitors from Middle and West Tennessee were less
reserved in advocating the doctrine, and in commending the ordinance
to the people for their suffrages. Meanwhile Andrew Johnson, Horace
Maynard and Thomas A. R. Nelson were active in making public speeches
for the Union. This they did at imminent risk of injury or death from
soldiers of the Confederacy (who were transported at that time from
the Southwest through East Tennessee to the defence of Virginia), or
from the State allied troops
CHAPTER VII.
THE EAST TENNESSEE UNION CONVENTION AT KNOXVILLE. THE EAST
TENNESSEE UNION CONVENTION AT GREENEVILLE.
“You must not think
That we are made of stuff so flat and dull
That we can let our beard be shook with danger,
And think it pastime.”
HAMLET.
“True fortitude is seen in great exploits
That justice warrants and that wisdom guides;
All else is tow’ring, frenzy and distraction.”
ADDISON’S _Cato_.
To a thoughtful observer at that time, Tennessee’s condition was
novel--unlike that of any other State. For while its people had
not called for or ratified any Act declaring it no longer a member
of the Union, its Governor and Legislature had formed a military
league with the enemies of the Union, and in doing this appeared to
have done several wrongs. They had exercised a right of sovereignty
expressly denied to the several States by the Constitution of the
United States, to which the State was certainly subject while in
the Union, as it must be allowed to have then been, even upon the
admission that an Act of secession when ratified by the people would
be valid. And in forming an alliance between Tennessee and the
Southern Confederacy and levying troops from the citizens of the
State to promote the objects of the Confederacy, they had assumed
authority and power not delegated to them by the people, and had
also anticipated in effect the very action of the people upon the
question of secession, which they professed to admit depended on
the will of the people as it might be expressed on the following
eighth of June. For by placing the State in military league with the
Southern Confederacy and by levying Tennessee troops to carry out
the purposes of that league, they had not only put the State into
an attitude of _de facto_ hostility to the United States, but also
placed the voters in surroundings which would secure a majority of
them at the polls for secession; so that the popular will in the
matter was practically pushed as far into the back-ground, as if the
Governor and Legislature in passing an ordinance of secession, had
altogether ignored the existence of the people. The popular vote in
the ensuing June--considering all the appliances procured and brought
to bear upon it--would not be an election between alternatives, but
could only be decided in conformity with the already known will of
the Governor and Legislature. In a word, the people were made a mere
figure-head in the whole transaction.
Such were the views of many intelligent and patriotic East
Tennesseeans. They thought that a bold attempt had been made
to over-ride the free will and real mind of the people through
the usurpation of power and in defiance of State and National
constitutions; and by contrivance and force to array Tennessee in
line with the States armed against the United States. Should they
tamely submit to the usurpation without protest, while yet its
purpose was not fully accomplished? The revolutionary scheme that had
prevailed in other Commonwealths had now come by means of new devices
to darken their very doors with its baleful presence and premature
forces--ere long to be followed by many and dire ills. What should
be done? In time of trouble and danger it is wise for men to counsel
with one another. Let the people be invited to meet together by
newly-chosen representatives, well informed of the serious political
situation, who shall calmly deliberate and determine. This conclusion
was expressed by the publication of the following notice:
“EAST TENNESSEE CONVENTION.”
“The undersigned, a portion of the people of East Tennessee,
disapproving the hasty and inconsiderate action of our General
Assembly, and sincerely desirous to do in the midst of the
troubles which surround us what will be best for our country
and for all classes of our citizens, respectfully appoint a
convention to be held in Knoxville on Thursday, the thirtieth of
May, and we urge every county in East Tennessee to send delegates
to this convention, that the conservative element of our whole
section may be represented, and that wise, prudent and judicious
counsels may prevail, looking to peace and harmony among
ourselves.
“(Signed by), F. S. Heiskell, C. H. Baker, S. R. Rodgers, W.
Rodgers, M.D., John Baxter, C. F. Trigg, David Burnett, John
Williams, John J. Craig, W. H. Rogers, O. P. Temple, John
Tunnell, W. G. Brownlow and others.”
These were citizens whose names commended the appointment they made
to general attention and to the co-operation of all who sympathised
in its object: and at the time proposed, being Thursday, the
Convention assembled at Temperance Hall, Knoxville. The delegates
present numbered four hundred and sixty-nine, representing twenty-six
counties, which with two other counties represented by two resident
proxies, constituted nearly the whole of East Tennessee. As the
meeting was held in Knox County, and therefore was more easy of
access to its delegates, they were much more numerously appointed
and in attendance than were those from any other county. Still there
were three hundred and twenty-seven present from other counties.
Contiguity to the place of assembling, would of course affect
more or less the relative attendance from all parts of the region
included in the convention, but so too would the degrees of Union
sentiment existing in them. Accordingly, of counties immediately
adjacent to Knoxville and strongly devoted to the Union, there
were delegates from Anderson, Blount, Jefferson, Union, Roane and
Sevier, aggregating one hundred and fifty-eight; Roane sending the
largest number and Jefferson the smallest. Among delegates from
other counties lying in the great valley, there were twenty-eight
from Greene and twenty-four from McMinn: Hamilton, at the extreme
southwest, equalled McMinn in numbers, and Sullivan, at the
extreme northeast, had a sufficient Union element to send six
representatives. Distance lessened attendance from the mountain
counties: but Johnson sent thirteen delegates from the far east,
and Carter five; and although travel on horseback was difficult at
a time so troubled, ten were present from Campbell County on the
north, and six from Morgan on the west. In Scott County, east of
Morgan, the mountains pierce the clouds, the scenery is grand and
the slaves were only one in forty-five of the population. It was its
people in their high and peaceful homes who did not hear that South
Carolina had seceded until the event lost all its freshness as news:
and possibly tidings of the convention at Knoxville had not gone to
them with enough fleetness of wing to give timely information. Yet
they were alive and awake to the worth of “Liberty and Union,--one
and inseparable,--now and forever!” and the time would come to them
for action. The tidal wave of battle would ere long toss its foam
and spray upon the foundations of the everlasting hills among which
they dwelt; and they would do their part in saving the ship of state
from being wrecked in the storm. Rhea County and Sequatchie, a little
county embedded in the mountains north of Chattanooga, were the only
ones in East Tennessee unrepresented in the convention; but why, does
not appear.[20]
The deliberative body assembled on the 30th of May, was composed of
intelligent, patriotic citizens, who were deeply impressed with the
gravity of the political and civil condition and of the questions at
issue: and they were mindful to turn, in that hour of perplexity and
peril, to God, “the Governor among the nations,” and to supplicate
Him in faith for guidance and help. Prayer to Him was offered, upon
request, by a Christian minister, and then the meeting was organized.
The Hon. John Baxter was appointed President temporarily, and upon
nomination of a committee of his selection, permanent officers were
chosen by acclamation, as follows:
President, Hon. Thos. A. R. Nelson, of Washington County; Vice
President, Col. J. G. Spears, of Bledsoe; Assistant Vice Presidents,
R. D. Wheeler, of Campbell, J. C. Murphy, of Sevier, M. R. May,
M.D., of McMinn, John Williams, of Knox, and William Heiskell, of
Monroe. Secretary, John M. Fleming, of Knox; Assistant Secretaries,
A. L. Greene, of Roane, S. P. Doss, of Bledsoe, and J. M. Meek, of
Jefferson.
[Illustration: HON. JOHN BAXTER.]
Before taking his seat, the President elect addressed the convention
for above an hour, with more than his usual powers of argument
and oratory. As described at the time, “he forcibly reviewed
the history of the revolutionary movement that was convulsing
the country,--exposed with masterly ability the usurpations of
the Governor of Tennessee and the unconstitutional acts of the
Legislature at its recent extra session, and closed with an
earnest, eloquent appeal to the members of the convention to
discharge their responsible duties with calmness and firmness;--to
submit to no wanton tyranny, and to acquiesce in the will of the
people, if constitutionally and legally expressed.”
On motion, the President then appointed a general committee to
prepare and report business for the convention. It consisted as
follows:
Connelly F. Trigg, of Knox; Alexander E. Smith, of Johnson; J. T. P.
Carter, of Carter; S. T. Logan, of Washington; James P. McDowell,
of Greene; William Mullenix, of Sullivan; Wm. C. Kyle, of Hawkins;
William McFarland, of Jefferson; Samuel Pickens, of Sevier; Rev. W.
T. Dowell, of Blount; Daniel Heiskell, of Monroe; John W. Wester, of
Roane; Daniel C. Trewhitt, of Hamilton; R. M. Edwards, of Bradley;
B. F. Staples, of Morgan; David K. Young, of Anderson; David Hart,
of Campbell; George W. Bridges, of McMinn; T. J. Matthews, of Meigs;
A. C. Yates, of Cumberland; J. M. McCleary, of Polk; S. P. Doss, of
Bledsoe; E. E. Jones, of Claiborne; Isaac Bayless, of Union; Harmon
G. Lea, of Grainger, and P. H. Easterly of Cocke. Marion County was
represented on the committee by Wm. G. Brownlow, proxy; and he,
with Wm. C. Kyle, as proxies, represented Hancock County of the
distinctive mountain region.
While this committee was absent for deliberation, Gen. Thomas D.
Arnold, of Greene County, a veteran in politics as well as the law,
was introduced to the convention. He spoke at considerable length
in opposition to “the schemes of the Governor and Legislature of
Tennessee to plunge the people against their own will into a ruinous
and unwarranted revolution.” His speech was “bold, pointed, earnest
and eloquent.”
On the morning of the second day of the convention, the general
committee submitted their report, which after discussion by various
members and amendment, was unanimously adopted. It was as follows:
“In the enumeration of rights of citizens which have been declared
under the solemn sanction of the people of Tennessee, there are none
which should be more warmly cherished or more highly estimated than
that which declares that ‘the citizens have a right in a peaceable
manner to assemble together for their common good.’ And at no time
since the organization of our Government has there been an occasion
which called so loudly for the exercise of that inestimable right, as
that upon which we are now assembled.
“Our country is at this moment in a most deplorable condition. The
Constitution of the United States has been openly contemned and set
at defiance, while that of our own State has shared no better fate
and by the sworn representatives of the people has been utterly
disregarded.
“Constitutions, which in other days were wont to control, and give
direction to our public councils and to those in authority by the
fiat of the people, have been wholly supplanted; and fanaticism,
passion and prejudice have assumed an arbitrary sway. Law and Order
seem to have yielded their beneficent offices for the safety of
the country and the welfare of the people: and in their stead,
Revolution, despite its attendant horrors, has raised its hideous
head. The condition of the country is most perilous,--the present
crisis most fearful.
“In this calamitous state of affairs,--when the liberties of the
people are so imperilled and their most valued rights endangered,
it behooves them in their primary meeting and in all their other
accustomed modes, to assemble, consult calmly as to their safety, and
with firmness to give expression to their opinions and convictions of
right.
“We, therefore, the delegates here assembled, representing and
reflecting, as we verily believe, the opinions and wishes of a very
large majority of the people of East Tennessee, do resolve and
declare:
“That the evils which now afflict our beloved country, in our
opinion, are the legitimate offspring of the ruinous and heretical
doctrine of secession; and that the people of East Tennessee have
ever been and we believe still are opposed to it by a very large
majority.
“That while the country is now upon the very threshold of a most
ruinous and desolating civil war, it may with truth be said, and we
protest before God, that the people so far as we can see, have done
nothing to produce it.
“That the people of Tennessee, when the question was submitted to
them in February last, decided by an overwhelming majority that the
relations of the State towards the Federal Government should not
be changed;--thereby expressing their preference for the Union and
Constitution under which they had lived prosperously and happily,
and ignoring in the most emphatic manner the idea that they had been
oppressed by the General Government in any of its Acts,--legislative,
executive or judicial.
“That in view of so decided an expression of the will of the people,
in whom ‘all power is inherent and on whose authority all free
governments are founded;’ and in the honest conviction that nothing
has transpired since that time which should change that deliberate
judgment of the people; we have contemplated with peculiar emotions
the pertinacity with which those in authority have labored to
over-ride the judgment of the people and to bring about the very
result which the people themselves had so overwhelmingly condemned.
“That the Legislative Assembly is but the creature of the
Constitution of the State, and has no power to pass any law or to
perform any act of sovereignty, except such as may be authorized
by that instrument: and believing as we do, that in their recent
legislation the General Assembly have disregarded the rights of
the people and transcended their own legitimate powers; we feel
constrained,--and we invoke the people throughout the State as they
value their liberties,--to visit that hasty, inconsiderate and
unconstitutional legislation with a decided rebuke, by voting on the
eighth day of next month against both the Act of Secession and that
of Union with the ‘Confederate States.’
“That the Legislature of the State, without having first obtained the
consent of the people, had no authority to enter into a ‘Military
League’ with the ‘Confederate States’ against the General Government,
and by so doing to put the State of Tennessee in hostile array
against the Government of which it then was and still is a member.
Such legislation in advance of the expressed will of the people to
change their governmental relations, was an act of usurpation, and
should be visited with the severest condemnation of the people.
“That the forming of such Military League, and thus practically
assuming the attitude of an enemy towards the General
Government,--this too in the absence of any hostile demonstration
against this State,--has afforded the pretext of raising, arming and
equipping a large military force, the expense of which is enormous
and will have to be paid by the people. And to do this, the taxes,
already onerous enough, will necessarily have to be very greatly
increased, and probably to an extent beyond the ability of the people
to pay.
“That the General Assembly, by passing a Law authorizing
the volunteers to vote wherever they may be on the day of
election,--whether in or out of the State;--in offering to the
‘Confederate States’ the Capitol of Tennessee, together with other
acts, have exercised powers and stretched their authority to an
extent not within their constitutional limits and not justified by
the usages of the country.
“That Government ‘being instituted for the common benefit, the
doctrine of non-resistance to arbitrary power and oppression is
absurd, slavish and destructive of the good and happiness of mankind.’
“That the position which the people of our sister State of Kentucky
have assumed in this momentous crisis, commands our highest
admiration:--their interests are our interests:--their policy is the
true policy, as we believe, of Tennessee and all the border States.
And in the spirit of freemen, with an anxious desire to avoid the
waste of the blood and treasure of our State, we appeal to the people
of Tennessee, while it is yet in their power, to come up in the
majesty of their strength and restore Tennessee to her true position.”
The declaration concluded:--“We shall await with the utmost anxiety
the decision of the people of Tennessee on the eighth day of next
month, and sincerely trust that wiser counsels will pervade the great
fountain of freedom,--the People,--than seem to have actuated their
constituted agents.”
Hon. Andrew Johnson, who had begun an address to the convention
before the committee made their report, afterwards proceeded with it.
According to the official record of the convention, “he spoke three
hours and commanded earnest attention throughout his entire speech,”
which “was masterly in argument” and carried “conviction to every
honest mind that heard it.” During the two days’ session, there
was much friendly debate upon the report, &c. The set addresses of
Messrs. Nelson, Arnold and Johnson were the conspicuous oratorical
features of the occasion and made strong impressions; but whatever
others said touching the subjects that had brought the delegates
together, was listened to with the ready minds of men who felt
profoundly.
It should be remembered that these things were spoken and done, not
in a corner, but in the broad light and open air, and under the
intimidating influence of hostile soldiers close at hand. They rode
along the highway in sight of the convention and shouted at it their
defiance and scoffs; but without otherwise molesting it.
THE CONVENTION IN GREENEVILLE
Was held nine days after the election, which was declared to be
in favor of secession. It met on the 17th of June, according to
adjournment from Knoxville on the 31st of May. The delegates present
numbered two hundred and ninety-two, from twenty-six counties: four
other counties being represented by proxies. The change of place
greatly diminished the attendance from some counties and increased
it from others.[21] The general committee appointed at Knoxville
was continued with some changes, chiefly to supply absences; its
new members being W. B. Carter, of Carter; Jas. W. Deaderick,
of Washington; R. L. Stanford, of Sullivan; John Netherland, of
Hawkins; Jas. P. Swann, of Jefferson; Charles F. Barton, of
Hancock; W. B. Staley, of Roane; J. Stonecipher, of Morgan; L. C.
Houk, of Anderson; J. A. Cooper, of Campbell; R. K. Byrd, proxy for
Cumberland; Wm. M. Biggs, of Polk; J. G. Spears, of Bledsoe; S. C.
Honeycutt, proxy for Scott; and E. S. Langley, for Fentress.
On the second day the committee recommended to the convention, a
Declaration of Grievances with Resolutions, which were discussed
and finally adopted. In these were set forth at greater length
their sentiments and the reasons for them, than were in the similar
document at Knoxville.
The Declaration affirmed that so far as the convention could learn,
the election held in Tennessee on the eighth of June “was free
with but few exceptions, in no part of the State other than East
Tennessee. In the larger parts of Middle and West Tennessee, no
speeches or discussions in favor of the Union were permitted. Union
papers were not allowed to circulate. Measures were taken in some
parts of West Tennessee, in defiance of the Constitution and laws
which allow folded tickets, to have the ballots numbered in such
manner as to mark and expose the Union votes.... Disunionists in
many places had charge of the polls, and Union men when voting were
denounced as Lincolnites and Abolitionists. The unanimity of the
votes in many large counties, where but a few weeks ago the Union
sentiment was so strong, proves beyond doubt that Union men were
overawed by the tyranny of the military power and the still greater
tyranny of a corrupt and subsidized press.... For these and other
causes we do not regard the result of the election as expressive of
the will of a majority of the freemen of Tennessee. Had the election
been conducted as it was in East Tennessee, we would entertain a
different opinion.”
The convention, in its “Declaration of Grievances,” testified with
emphasis to its love for the Union, whose virtues and benefits it
extolled; and its hate of secession, whose “treacheries, falsehoods,
violences and evil results,” it arraigned in detail and condemned.
Yet manifestly, it was averse to angry strife with fellow-citizens
of the State who differed from it in opinion, and it was inclined
to cultivate forbearance and peace with them. At first it had even
contemplated standing aloof from any conflict with arms that might
take place without and beyond the State. But it complained that its
political opponents had shown a self-willed, intolerant and severe
temper towards Union men. The Declaration said, in speaking of
secession:
“Its bigoted, overbearing and intolerant spirit has already subjected
the people of East Tennessee to many petty grievances.”--They “have
been insulted; our flags have been fired at and torn down; our houses
have been rudely entered; our families treated with insult; our
peaceable meetings interrupted; our women and children shot at by a
merciless soldiery; our towns pillaged; our citizens robbed and some
of them assassinated or murdered.”
“No attempt has been spared to deter the Union men of East Tennessee
from the expression of their free thoughts. The penalties of treason
have been threatened against them, and murder and assassination have
been openly encouraged by leading secession journals. As secession
has been thus overbearing and intolerant while in the minority in
East Tennessee, nothing better can be expected of the pretended
majority, than wild, unconstitutional and oppressive legislation; an
utter contempt and disregard of Law;--a determination to force every
Union man in the State to swear to the support of a Constitution he
abhors, to yield his money and property to aid a cause he detests,
and to become an object of scorn and derision, as well as a victim of
intolerable and relentless oppression.”
“In view of these considerations and of the fact that the people
of East Tennessee have declared their fidelity to the Union by a
majority of about twenty thousand votes,” the convention appointed
three of its members to prepare and present a memorial to the State
Legislature, asking its consent to the formation of a new State to be
composed of East Tennessee and such counties in Middle Tennessee as
desired to co-operate to that end. Other resolutions were adopted,
which provided for a convention of delegates, duly elected at the
polls by the constituency of the new State, to be held at Kingston.
Unanimity prevailed, except that two of the Hawkins county delegates
protested against the action of the convention.
It was in session four days, during which time the “Louisiana
Tigers” of the Confederate army halted at Greeneville on their way to
Richmond. Their commander embraced the occasion to make a speech, and
his soldiers expressed their ill-will to the convention by derisions
and small indignities, but there was no blood shed. Unterrified
and unmoved to acts of resentment, the delegates persevered in
their work, fully persuaded of the honesty of their purpose and the
righteousness of their cause. Because they felt the need of superior
counsel and help, and trusted in Him who only is wise and powerful
to bestow these, the daily proceedings of the convention were opened
with prayer by various Christian ministers.
Enthusiastic delegates were in favor of forming at once a Provisional
Government and organizing an army, with John Baxter for its General.
But he, assisted by James W. Deaderick, A. H. Maxwell and others,
advocated less hasty action, and moderate counsels prevailed. He
advised that instead of hopeless war on the spot, all who chose
should join the United States army in Kentucky. Spears, Byrd, Cooper,
Houk, Clift and others did so speedily.
If the request to the Legislature for a new State should not be
granted, it was expected by some delegates that an independent
government would still be formed at the Kingston convention, but the
adverse military occupation of the region, and the progress of events
prevented further action.
CHAPTER VIII.
GROWING WRATH--JOY OVER VICTORY--GEN. ZOLICOFFER--A YANKEE BOY’S
PASSPORT--LIGHTS AND SHADOWS--ESCAPE OF CONGRESSMEN--FORGED
LETTERS TO BOSTON--A MILITARY ZEALOT--BRIDGE-BURNING.
“The days of the nations bear no trace
Of all the sunshine so far foretold;
The cannon speaks in the teacher’s place--
The age is weary with work and gold,
And high hopes wither, and memories wane;
On hearths and altars the fires are dead;
But that brave faith hath not lived in vain--
And this is all that our watcher said.”
FRANCES BROWN.
The indignation of the Union men and the intolerance of the
Secessionists were obviously increased by the election of the 8th
of June and its announced result. The first declared the vote was
fraudulent; the second exulted, that by it the State became a member
of the Southern Confederacy. The railroads were busy much of the
time, as they had been for a short time before, in the transportation
of troops from the Southwest through East Tennessee to Virginia.
This transit of soldiers was witnessed by people loyal to the Union
with feelings of strong dissatisfaction, which sometimes grew
into great animosity and wrath. Once a mass-meeting of Unionists
was in progress at Strawberry Plains, Jefferson County, during
the excitement over the election, when a regiment from the South
passed by on the railway. A conflict with fire-arms between members
of the two hostile parties took place, but no life was lost. The
incident tended to exasperate the public temper. It was exceptional,
however. Generally the people repressed their grief and pain at such
scenes--enough, at least, to avoid all violent demonstrations towards
their adversaries. They vented them to one another, sometimes with
bated breath.
The United States flag had been lifted up and displayed from liberty
poles without a rival, at the beginning of the dissensions. Then
it had for months contested supremacy in the air with the flag of
the Southern Confederacy. At length the United States flags were
taken down under compulsion, except in a few instances, where, being
private property, their removal was prevented for a time by the
boldness and firmness of the owners.
News of the first battle of Manassas in July, 1861, was hailed with
gushing delight by the friends of the Confederacy. In the town they
were not so strong numerically as in actual ascendency, and tidings
of that victory encouraged the manifestation of their special
sympathies in the war more freely and defiantly. In the overflow of
their elation of spirits, various means of noisily celebrating the
recent triumph were adopted. Even the bells of churches, innocent as
they were of all connection with bloody fields of conflict between
brethren, were joyfully rung. Zealous citizens, who never before
had shown any particular interest in the musical instruments whose
business it is to call Christian people to the house of prayer,
were active in making them contribute their voices to the general
Jubilee.[22] Words of bitterness and wrath against “the Yankees,”
and against Union men under several opprobrious names, were more
freely used. Alienations of close kinsmen and ruptures of friendly
relations, were widened and deepened. Other swords there are besides
those of steel, wielded in civil wars. Quite as sharp and effective
are they in wounding feelings and cutting through social ties, as are
metallic blades in severing limbs and piercing bodies.
About this time Gen. Felix K. Zolicoffer, of Nashville, was appointed
to the supreme command in East Tennessee, and with his military
staff, he went into camp at Knoxville. Years before, he had been a
journeyman printer in the town, and his friendships then formed among
its citizens, had subsequently been increased in number. He seemed
disposed to exercise authority over the people with a lenient hand,
and to abstain from needless severities. At the beginning of the
Southern Confederacy, complaint was made at some localities, that
in filling offices under the new Government, Democrats were chiefly
appointed to the rejection of Whigs, who were equally or more
competent. This may have been done, because Democrats were known as a
party, to have had stronger sympathy with the secession movement at
its initiation, and were believed to be worthy of fuller confidence
in its interests. Zolicoffer, while the Whig party survived, was
prominent in its ranks, and some of those who affiliated with him
at that time, were in 1861 devoted to the Union. With them, after
entering upon his military duties, he chose to continue friendly
intercourse. This caused jealousy and ill-feeling towards him among
intolerant observers, and the _Register_, a small daily newspaper
of the town, blamed him in its editorial columns, for too mild use
of his power. These censures did not seriously affect his mind. He
still permitted the _Whig_ newspaper edited by William G. Brownlow to
continue its weekly issues, although its sentiments were in obvious
sympathy with the United States, and its submission to the Southern
Confederacy was clearly the result of necessity. At the same time he
had the editor’s son, John Bell Brownlow, arraigned before him upon
accusation by Gen. Lane, of McMinn County, of circulating a copy of
Helper’s book, entitled “Impending Crisis of the South.” The youth
accidentally found a copy of the book which had been sent to the
editor by mail, and loaned it upon urgent request to a friend. He was
speedily acquitted of the alleged offence: but, under an order before
issued concerning arrested civilians, he was, after three days’
detention as a prisoner in camp, handed over to the Confederate
Court. Judge Humphreys repeated the acquittal, but suggested the
administration to the youth of the specific for doubtful loyalty,
_i. e._ an oath of allegiance, which he refused to take, and was
released. Altogether, Gen. Zolicoffer manifested sufficient official
zeal, and a few months later he was severe in sending his cavalry
abroad to disarm peaceable Union men in Anderson, Campbell, Scott and
Fentress Counties.
People are apt to suppose that in time of war the authority of a
General, like that of a Judge or Governor in time of peace, will be
respected by his civilian allies, and that a wrong done by them in
despite of it, is easily remedied. On the contrary, the excessive
ardor of the allies sometimes blinds their respect for the authority,
which then fails to redress the wrong. The sign manual of Gen.
Zolicoffer proved of no avail to a young man from Connecticut, who
had been a student of the University at Knoxville for two years. In
1861 a few of his fellow-students, catching the spirit of intolerance
from their elders, annoyed and angered him with reproachful words
because of his nativity. He decided to return home, and Gen.
Zolicoffer gave an official letter that should permit him to travel
without interruption into Kentucky by way of Nashville. But when
about to leave that city by railroad, he was arrested without cause
and taken before a committee of citizens, the chairman of which was
also from Connecticut, and illustrated the opinion that “Northern
men with Southern principles” not unfrequently during the war
exceeded Southerners in their sectional zeal. The student’s letter
of safe conduct through the State was adjudged insufficient, and the
committee required him to take an oath of their dictation in order to
prosecute his journey. Gen. Zolicoffer, when informed of the facts,
promised an inquiry. The student, on reaching Connecticut, joined
a company of United States volunteers, was repeatedly promoted for
gallant conduct, left the army at the end of the war a Major, and is
now a worthy, prosperous citizen of Los Angeles, California.
Gen. Zolicoffer had a pleasant military family at his encampment,
where visitors were kindly received. Every circle of personal
associates, composed of men who are in the front of the strife at
such stormy periods, is liable to quick and fatal disruption. In this
instance the speedy mortality was impressive.
On the bright, delightful morning of the second of September, 1861, a
civilian from the town was conducted to the tent of Gen. Zolicoffer,
with whom were Gen. William R. Caswell, Commander of Tennessee
Provisional soldiers, and Major F. B. Fogg, only son of the eminent
lawyer and excellent man, Francis B. Fogg, Esq., of Nashville, who
was a steadfast friend of the Union. Major Fogg and other young
men--members of the Chief’s staff--talked with lively interest of
the news they found in the mail just then brought to camp, that
General Albert Sidney Johnston had arrived in the Atlantic States
from California. The visiting citizen, having but a small stock of
knowledge on hand concerning military men, asked: “And who is Albert
Sidney Johnston?” The prompt reply was: “O, he is the greatest of all
the Confederate Generals.”
The annals of events in the succeeding twelve months, cast sombre
shadows upon the remembrance of that scene:--the cheerful company,
holding pleasant converse,--the fresh and sunny autumnal air, and the
mingled light and shade of the forest playing among the tents. For
during that short period, the principal persons in the scene were no
more! General Zolicoffer was killed at the battle of Mill Springs,
Kentucky, in January, 1862. Major Fogg was there mortally wounded.
In August, General Caswell was murdered in the woods near Knoxville,
as was believed by a fugitive slave whom he was endeavoring to
arrest. And General Albert Sidney Johnston, the object of their
special admiration, and around whom clustered thickly the confidence
and hopes of friends of the Southern Confederacy, fell heroically
contending for it on the battle-field of Shiloh.
Early in August the usual bi-ennial elections in Tennessee for
Governor, the Legislature and members of Congress took place.
The Union candidates for Congress were elected by overwhelming
majorities. They held that they were properly members elect of the
_United_ States Congress, and accordingly they were quickly furnished
by the sheriffs of the counties with authenticated returns of the
voting, that they might proceed at once to Washington, leaving
vacant the seats in the Confederate Congress at Richmond which East
Tennessee was entitled to fill. Had their purpose fully succeeded,
a humorist might have found in the result a grim joke, to which
considerations of even-handed justice would have lent a flavor. For
the electors were friends of the United States, and if represented in
any Congress, should have been so in that of the United States.
The result was not wholly successful with the three gentlemen chosen.
The only route any one of them could take to Washington without
certain arrest, led through the Cumberland Mountains which divide
East Tennessee from Kentucky, and over the rough, hilly country that
lies on both sides of those mountains. Ridge after ridge and river
after river would have to be crossed and the journey be made on
horseback.
The Hon. Horace Maynard, Representative from the second or Knoxville
District, in order to avoid armed arrest, was already on the way from
his home to the Kentucky border when the election occurred, and soon
after was safely beyond it. A sort of consternation among friends
of the South in the town followed upon tidings of his adventurous
exodus. And although he was an esteemed ruling elder in one of the
Presbyterian Churches, some of the public petitions provoked by the
unwelcome news were scarcely in harmony with the Spirit of the Lord,
for they savored more of anathema than of benediction. Fortunately
for the intended victim, as one may fairly conclude from subsequent
events, the petitions did not ascend as high as the ceiling of the
house.
The Hon. Thos. A. R. Nelson was less fortunate than Mr. Maynard. He
attempted to pass from his home at Jonesboro through the southwestern
corner of Virginia into Kentucky. At Cumberland Gap the lines of
Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee converge to a point. It was already
occupied by Confederate troops, and a small body of them intercepted
him on the road at night. He was taken by way of Abingdon, Va., to
Richmond a prisoner, and had to run the gauntlet of infuriated and
threatening people at the various railway stations. After a short
detention in custody, he was released upon giving a written promise
to the President of the Confederacy to abstain from overt acts of
hostility against it, and returned to dwell peaceably in Tennessee.
The Hon. George W. Bridges, of the Third or Athens District,
contrived to effect his escape into Kentucky through the Cumberland
Mountains in Fentress County, Tennessee. It was pre-arranged that
his wife and children should immediately follow him, but they were
made the means of ensnaring his feet. The Confederate commander of a
post on the border detained his family, decoyed him to return by a
message of his wife’s illness, and then placed him in arrest. Another
instance was thus added to the many furnished by history, teaching
that in all important and dangerous enterprises it is wise to “look
not back,” even for the sake of cherished objects of natural
affection, lest through the adroit use of them by enemies, they
become fatal impediments. Mr. Bridges was carried to Knoxville, where
he signed a pledge or took an oath of submission to the Confederacy.
In a short time he obtained permission to pass into Kentucky to
transact a matter of business, and improved that opportunity to
extend his journey to Washington, where he served a term in Congress.
[Illustration: HON. ANDREW JOHNSON.]
Hon. Andrew Johnson had preceded Mr. Maynard to that city. In June
the _Richmond_ (Va.) _Enquirer_ had made publication concerning a
recent transaction at Knoxville which, if Mr. Johnson were indeed
a party to it, seriously involved him; but the facts went to show
that an attempt had been made to obtain money for political uses by
the forgery of his name. On the 30th of that month he published from
Washington a statement, “in order,” to use his own words, “to expose
the dishonorable and wicked means resorted to by ‘Secession’ to carry
out its nefarious and corrupt designs in attempting to overthrow and
break up the best Government the world ever saw.”
Mr. Amos A. Lawrence, of Boston, received a forged letter, marked
PRIVATE, and dated “Knoxville, Tenn., May 15, 1861”--on which day
Andrew Johnson, whose signature it bore, was addressing a Union
Convention at Elizabethton, one hundred and eighteen miles from
Knoxville. It read:
DEAR SIR: I received your kind favor on yesterday and hasten
to reply. Thank you for the high regard you seem to have for my
patriotism and my devotion to my country.
What assurances can I have from you and your people of _material
aid_ in the way of money, men and arms, if I can succeed in
arousing my people to resistance to this damnable treason in the
South? This is very important. We have a formidable Union element
in East Tennessee, which can be judiciously managed, if we can
obtain the aid alluded to. Harris, Governor of the State, will
not let us have arms nor money: therefore we _must appeal_ to
you. Let me hear from you forthwith.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
(Signed) ANDREW JOHNSON.
To the above, this answer was sent:
BOSTON, May 18, 1861.
DEAR SIR: If your note to me were printed in our newspapers, it
would be good for ten thousand dollars in three days’ time. But
of course I must only use it as a private letter. In order that
you may be sure of something at once, I write below this a draft,
which some of your Union bankers or merchants may be willing to
cash at the usual premium for East exchange. Probably Gardner &
Co., Evans & Co., Douglass & Co., of Nashville, will know it. The
Government will soon exhibit a power which will astonish even
you. The Nullifiers have been playing into Scott’s hand for three
weeks, and now they have lost the game.
Yours with regard,
AMOS A. LAWRENCE.
If you cannot use the draft, return it and tell me what to send.
The draft was as follows:
BOSTON, May 18, 1861.
At sight, without grace, pay to Andrew Johnson or order. One
Thousand Dollars, for value received, and charge to my account.
AMOS A. LAWRENCE.
To MASON, LAWRENCE & CO., Boston.
The acceptance of Mason, Lawrence & Co., was on the face of the draft.
Mr. Lawrence received the following in reply:
KNOXVILLE, TENN., June 6, 1861.
_Amos A. Lawrence, Esq., near Boston, Mass._:
MY DEAR SIR: I have received your two letters to-day. Thank
you most sincerely for your proffered aid. We need it,--need it
badly. As yet I have not been able to use your draft; I am afraid
to do so. Send me, if you can, $5,000 or $10,000 in New England
currency, in large bills, by mail, _via_ Cincinnati. Be sure to
do it promptly. Don’t delay. I can now purchase a lot of arms if
I had the means.
How do you propose to introduce aid or arms into East Tennessee?
By what route and by what method? Answer soon.
Respectfully, your obedient servant,
(Signed) ANDREW JOHNSON.
To this communication no response was made. Mr. Lawrence, by
some means or other, had his eyes opened to the game which the
conspirators were attempting, and gave them no further attention.
Later in the autumn Gen. Zolicoffer moved his forces towards the
Kentucky border. He even passed beyond Cumberland Gap and established
his camp north of Cumberland (river) Ford, near Barbourville,
Kentucky. After his departure there was a succession of officers in
command at Knoxville. First, Col. Wm. B. Wood, of Alabama, whose
zeal was intense and did not leave room enough in his mind for the
exercise of that discretion, which is said to be the better part
of valor. On the 28th of October, his want of self-control, and
therefore, unfitness to command others, was signally shown. An affray
occurred in the town between a few citizens and some of his men,
growing out of an attempt by the police to subject the disorderly
soldiers to the civil authority, and their resistance. He represented
that the joy of Union men over the news that Gen. Zolicoffer with his
army had fallen back on Cumberland Ford, became so irrepressible
that “some eight or ten of the bullies or leaders made an attack
on some of (his) men near the Lamar House and seriously wounded
several.” He immediately marched a company of cavalry and one hundred
infantry into the town. In an overflow of wrath he slighted the
proposal of the Mayor to unite with him in restoring and preserving
order, and proceeded to search actively for the frightened guardians
of the municipality. They, meanwhile, had made their escape. Entering
the store-house of a leading mercantile firm, he demanded in a lordly
style that the building should be thoroughly examined, and sternly
threatened that if he found one of the alleged culprits secreted
in the house, he would burn it down. The quiet and brave head of
the firm assented to the demand, but as it resulted in no discovery
there was no conflagration! The general bearing on the occasion
of the wrathful officer may be inferred from this incident. It is
manifest from the correspondence between Gen. Zolicoffer, Col. Wood
and others, that the angry disaffection of friends of the Union in
East Tennessee under Confederate domination made them restless. Col.
Wood, writing from Knoxville on the first day of the month, to Hon.
J. P. Benjamin, Secretary of War, at Richmond, said: “There can be
no doubt of the fact that large parties, numbering from twenty to a
hundred, are every day passing through the narrow and unfrequented
gaps of the mountain into Kentucky to join the army. My courier, just
in from Jamestown, informs me that a few nights since, one hundred
and seventy men passed from Roane County into Kentucky. I do not
believe that the Unionists are in the least reconciled to the (C. S.)
Government, but on the contrary are as hostile to it as the people of
Ohio, and will be ready to take up arms as soon as they believe the
Lincoln forces are near enough to sustain them.”
On November 8th, an organized plan was partially carried out, by
parties of Union men, to burn the bridges of the two railways
from Knoxville, one eastward to the Virginia line and the other
westward to Chattanooga, and Dalton, Georgia. The bridges over the
Hiwassee River, Lick Creek, Greene County, and three other streams,
were destroyed. That over the Holston River at Strawberry Plains,
Jefferson County, was saved by the bravery of its watchman. These
violences created great excitement and alarm. They were the first
overt acts of resistance from among the people to the power by which
they were subjected; and were committed, no doubt, not in a spirit of
mere wanton mischief, but of war upon an enemy and for the purpose of
seriously interrupting the military communications of the Southern
Confederacy. Some political friends of the destructive workers
justified the burnings as acts of war. Others, while not dissenting
from that opinion, yet thought them inexpedient,--hurtful to public
convenience, and as a military movement, conducive to no important
practical results, because unsupported by a sufficient armed force
from outside the region.
The Confederate States authorities had apprehended an outbreak of
the slumbering discontent of the people; but they could not at first
measure the import of this particular aggression. They were therefore
liable to suppose it was the forerunner of a general uprising against
them, which would be sustained by United States soldiers from
Kentucky. The circulation of the news concerning it was quick and
general and bred universal agitation, especially among friends of
the Confederacy. Citizens gathered in towns and soldiers in camps,
to hear declamations. Everywhere, these assaults and the danger of
others, were their topics of conversation. Telegrams flew on the
wires and letters went by mail to Knoxville, increasing the alarm. A
dispatch from Charleston, Tenn., said, “Seventy-five Union soldiers
were to-day near Harrison. They had knapsacks.” And again, “Jeff
Mathes is within twelve miles of this place: has one hundred men.”
From Chattanooga: “About nine hundred men, part of them from Bradley
County, leave Clift’s in this county to-day in squads, either to
organize for operations against this place and Loudon bridge, or to
meet Union forces from Kentucky. The regiment is formidable.” A later
message said, “They have formed a camp at Bower’s, near Smith’s Cross
Roads. They may return to this place or to Loudon. They calculate to
organize one thousand men.” From Athens it was written that “some
fifteen hundred Lincoln men are under arms in Hamilton County,
ostensibly for Jamestown. Their destination is more probably Loudon
bridge.” The Major in command at Loudon, on the Tennessee River,
thirty miles west of Knoxville, wrote: “The Union feeling in this
county is exceedingly bitter, and all they want, in my opinion, to
induce a general uprising, is encouragement from the Lincoln armies.
They have a great many arms, and are actually manufacturing Union
flags to receive the refugee Tennesseeans when they return. They are
getting bold enough.” Col. Wood wrote: “The whole country is now in a
state of rebellion. A thousand men are within six miles of Strawberry
Plains and an attack is contemplated to-morrow” (November 12).
“They (the Unionists) are gathering in large force and may secure
(Washington bridge) in a day or two.” “About two miles from here in
Sevier County, already three hundred in camp, are being reinforced.”
Knoxville was at once put under martial law. The people’s houses were
arbitrarily entered day and night by military direction and their
guns and pistols demanded. Even weapons intended only for sporting
uses or for rivalry in marksmanship were included in the exaction.
In but few instances was the requisition evaded by timely secretion
of the implements. In others, they were indignantly surrendered,
carried off to the armory, and some of them never restored. No one
was allowed to depart from the town without a passport signed by a
committee of three leading secessionists from among the select few
citizens, whom Editor Sperry, of the town newspaper, compared, not
facetiously but seriously, to the few righteous men who might have
saved Sodom and Gomorrah if they could have been found. At first no
one was permitted to enter the town without a paper of that kind,
which could only be procured from the committee centrally located.
Church-going people from the vicinity were surprised on Sunday
morning to find armed men in the way who refused them ingress until
a messenger, sent by some friend known to be loyal to “the South,”
went and returned with the requisite passes. An old citizen of the
county who had a mind of his own and stoutly adhered in sentiment
to the Union, went to town without interruption, probably through
oversight of the guard, but on returning homeward, his passport
was demanded. He had none to show, for to procure such a document,
it was necessary by order of the Committee of Three to take an
oath of allegiance to the Southern Confederacy, and _that_ he had
predetermined he would not do. He was arrested, led back, arraigned
before the committee, and refusing to take the prescribed oath, he
was placed on confinement to the limits of the town until his case
should be tried before the Confederate States Commissioner. Whether
he was sent to jail, into which many were then being cast for what
was called “Union talk,” does not appear. Col. Wood, writing from
Knoxville to Adjutant General Cooper at Richmond, said: “I feel it to
be my duty to place this city under martial law, as there was a large
majority of the people sympathizing and communicating with them by
the unfrequented mountain paths, and to prevent surprises and the
destruction of public property. I need not say that great alarm is
felt by the few Southern men here. They are finding places of safety
for their families and would gladly enlist if we had arms for them.”
CHAPTER IX.
SEVERE TREATMENT OF UNION MEN--OATHS OF
ALLEGIANCE--IMPRISONMENTS--EXECUTIONS.
“Patience, my lord; why ’tis the soul of peace:
Of all the virtues ’tis the nearest kin to heaven;
It makes men look like gods: the best of men
That e’er wore earth about him, was a sufferer,
A soft, meek, patient, humble, tranquil spirit,
The first true gentleman that ever breathed.”
DECKER.
The attacks from armed Unionists upon different points that were
expected and feared by the Confederate authorities just after the
bridge-burnings, did not occur. Previously, disaffected people
in some instances and at various localities had been violently
treated by over-zealous neighbors or by lawless soldiers in small
squads--whipped with hickories or arrested for their Union sentiments
and forced to pay money for their release. It was not considered the
business of officials to redress such wrongs, even when brought to
their attention; for to be a Union man was regarded in their minds as
itself a crime, and injustices suffered on that account outside the
operation of the law, could not rightfully be appealed into court.
Besides, to interpose for their repression would tend to cool the
ardor and check the activity of Southern partisans, and that would
be bad policy.
Now that the Union people had grown restive under a power which they
felt to be alien and hostile to their Government and Country, and
a few adventurous spirits among them had assailed that power, it
was concluded that the whole population was blameable, and should
be dealt with more severely by the Confederate Government. General
Zolicoffer wrote from his headquarters at Jacksboro, Nov. 12th, to
Col. Wood, at Knoxville:
I will to-morrow send dispatches to the forces near Jamestown,
the cavalry near Huntsville, that near Oliver’s, and start out
the cavalry here, to commence simultaneously disarming the Union
population. You will please simultaneously send orders to all
detachments under your command to inaugurate the same movement at
the same time in their various localities. Their leaders should
be seized and held as prisoners. The leniency shown them has been
unavailing. They have acted with duplicity and should no longer
be trusted.[23]
On the 20th of November Col. Wood wrote from Knoxville to Hon. J. P.
Benjamin, Secretary of War, Confederate States, at Richmond:
SIR: The rebellion in East Tennessee has been put down in some
of the counties, and will be effectually suppressed in less than
two weeks in all the counties. Their camps in Sevier and Hamilton
counties have been broken up and a large number of them made
prisoners. Some are confined in this place and others sent to
Nashville. In a former communication I inquired of the Department
what I should do. It is a mere farce to arrest them and turn
them over to the Courts. Instead of having the desired effect to
intimidate them, it really gives encouragement and emboldens them
in their traitorous conduct. Patterson, the son-in-law of Andrew
Johnson, State Senator Pickens and several other members of the
Legislature, besides others of influence and distinction in their
counties,--these men have encouraged the rebellion, but have
so managed as not to be found in arms. Nevertheless all their
actions and words have been unfriendly to the Government of the
Confederate States. Their wealth and influence have been exerted
in favor of the Lincoln Government and they are the parties most
to blame.
They really deserve the gallows, and if consistent with the laws,
ought speedily to receive their deserts. But there is such a
gentle spirit of conciliation in the South, and especially here,
that I have no idea that one of them will receive such a sentence
at the hands of any jury. I have been here at this station for
three months, half the time in command of this Post; and I (have)
had a good opportunity of learning the feeling pervading this
country. It is hostile to the Confederate Government. They will
take the oath of allegiance with no intention to observe it. They
are the slaves of Johnson and Maynard and never intend to be
otherwise. When arrested, they suddenly become very submissive
and declare they are for peace and not supporters of the Lincoln
Government, but yet claim to be Union men. At one time, while
our forces were at Knoxville, they gave it out that a great
change had taken place in East Tennessee and that the people were
becoming loyal.
At the withdrawal of the army from here to the (Cumberland) Gap
and the first intimation of the approach of the Lincoln army,
they were in arms and scarcely a man but was ready to join it
and make war upon us. The prisoners we have, all tell us that
they had every assurance that the enemy was already in the State
and would join them in a few days. I have requested at least
that the prisoners I have taken be held, if not as traitors, as
prisoners of war. To convict them before a Court is next to an
impossibility. But if they are kept in prison for six months it
will have a good effect. The bridge-burners and spies ought to be
tried at once.
To this communication was replied:
WAR DEPARTMENT, RICHMOND, November 25, 1861.
_Col. W. B. Wood_:
SIR--Your report of the 20th instant is received, and I now
proceed to give you the desired instruction in relation to
the prisoners of war taken by you among the traitors of East
Tennessee.
First. All such as can be identified in having been engaged
in bridge-burning are to be tried summarily by drum-head
court-martial, and, if found guilty, executed on the spot by
hanging. It would be well to leave their bodies hanging in the
vicinity of the burned bridges.
Second. All such as have not been so engaged are to be treated
as prisoners of war, and sent with an armed guard to Tuscaloosa,
Alabama, there to be kept imprisoned at the depot selected by the
Government for prisoners of war.
Whenever you can discover that arms are concentrated by these
traitors, you will send out detachments, search for and seize the
arms. In no case is one of the men, known to have been up in arms
against the Government to be released on any pledge or oath of
allegiance. The time for such measures is past. They are all to
be held as prisoners of war, and held in jail to the end of the
war. Such as come in voluntarily, take the oath of allegiance and
surrender their arms, are alone to be treated with leniency.
Your vigilant execution of these orders is earnestly urged by the
Government.
Your obedient servant,
(Signed) J. P. BENJAMIN,
Secretary of War.
COL. W. B. WOOD, Knoxville, Tenn.
P. S.--Judge Patterson Andy Johnson’s son-in-law, (Rem.
Corresp.), Col. Pickens and other ring-leaders of the same class,
must be sent at once to Tuscaloosa to jail as prisoners of war.
The Hon. W. H. Humphreys had been on the Bench of the United States
District Court before Tennessee seceded. He had warmly espoused
the cause of the Southern Confederacy and was appointed by it to
a similar office under its Government. As preliminary to his new
duties, he announced from the Bench his determination to punish all
treason and rebellion against the authority he represented. Union
men were arraigned before him upon various charges. The only crime
of a majority of them was love of the Union. For their political
purgation, an oath of allegiance was thought to be sufficient, and
upon taking it they were summarily released.
The compulsory swearing of fealty during the progress of the war
had in many instances a demoralizing effect. It made familiar to
men the idea of an oath as having in itself no binding force, and
therefore tended to increase the lenient regard which was before too
prevalent for the crime of perjury. No doubt an oath of allegiance
was administered to many men on both sides of the conflict, under
compulsion of their wills, who in their hearts considered it null and
void. They felt as Hudibras puts it:
“He that imposes an oath, makes it,
Not he that for convenience takes it:
Then how can any man be said
To break an oath he never made.”
Said a Union man, when rumor was current that everybody would soon
be made to swear loyalty to the Confederacy, he would take such an
enforced oath “from the teeth out.” And so too, an ex-Confederate
soldier, made to swear loyalty to the United States, muttered to his
friend the words of Galileo when compelled to abjure the Copernican
system: “It still moves!” Yet both the Unionist and the Confederate
were conscientious, worthy citizens, who alike in times of peace,
would esteem the oath before a court of justice as “a recognizance to
heaven,” and again, to quote pithy lines from Hudibras, as--
Being “not purposed more than Law
To keep the good and just in awe.
But to confine the bad and sinful,
Like moral cattle in a pinfold.”
However, despite all ethical objections to the miscellaneous
administration of the oath of allegiance, and the numerous instances
of its futility in the war, its reputation still held good as a
specific for curing disloyalty; or at least, as a certain preventive
of ill consequences from that political sickness through men
afflicted with it. Therefore the extensive use of it by Judge
Humphreys in his court-room with Union citizens indicated no lower
degree of intelligence in him, although in the opinion of some it
might show his lack of judicial wisdom. Instances were not wholly
wanting in which the use of that requirement was denied him, because
the patient thought the prescribed dose too astringent for health of
conscience, as may be seen by the following from the _Knoxville Whig_
of that period:
“On Saturday evening, Mr. Perez Dickinson, for the last thirty
years a successful merchant of Knoxville, returned from the North
whither he had gone with a written permit from Governor Harris,
to attend to business connected with the two firms of which he is
a member. On Monday morning he was arrested upon a warrant based
upon an affidavit by Attorney Ramsey, setting forth that said
Dickinson was born in the State of Massachusetts, and that he had
been to the North and held intercourse with the Northern people.
This was the charge, and this affidavit was all the proof offered
against him. His Honor Judge Humphreys, bore testimony to the
good character and high standing of Mr. Dickinson, and proposed
to him that he should at once and without any investigation
(by the court), take an oath of allegiance and fidelity to the
Confederate States. Mr. Dickinson rose and responded in a brief
address--spoke of his coming here when a boy some thirty years
ago--of his being an orderly and law-abiding citizen--of his
all being here, and of the bones of his mother, sisters and
brother being here--denied that he had held any intercourse with
the people of the North in violation of his parole to Governor
Harris, and declined, under the circumstances of compulsion
surrounding him, to take the oath. His Honor then instructed him
that he would have to give a bond of ten thousand dollars for his
good behavior during the few days allotted him to remain in the
State.”
The reputable merchant refused to give the bond, and was prepared
to depart. Notwithstanding that refusal, the Judge, upon advice of
political friends, permitted him to remain.
Arraignment of prisoners before the Judge sometimes rested on no
foundation whatever. Rev. W. H. Duggan, a Methodist minister, of
McMinn County, was charged in the indictment with having prayed
for the United States Government: but the evidence showed that the
praying had been done before Tennessee seceded from the Union. The
manner in which he was treated was described at the time in the
_Whig_ newspaper, under the eyes of the authorities. It illustrated
the condition of things in the region:
“Some twenty-five persons, citizens of McMinn County, were
brought before Judge Humphreys on Monday, about twenty of whom
were released on the ground that there was nothing against them.
The truth is, they had voted the Union ticket and they had voted
for years against certain men: and this explained their arrest.
They were taxed with small fees to pay costs and required to take
the oath, although they had committed no offense. The other five
were retained for further hearing and sent into camps under a
military escort for the night. Among these was Rev. W. Duggan,
a member of the Holston Annual Conference, and the preacher in
charge of the Athens Circuit, ... a man of truth and integrity.
“He was arrested at a quarterly meeting on Friday night, and
marched on foot on Saturday nine miles, being refused the
privilege of riding his own horse: and on Sabbath he was landed
at Knoxville. He is a large, fleshy man, weighs two hundred
and eighty-one pounds, and was recovering from a long spell of
fever. He gave out at a spring some seven miles from where he
started. The day was warm, and his feet were sorely blistered. He
begged permission to ride; he was refused, cursed, denounced and
threatened with bayonets! His horse was led after him as if to
aggravate him. They even refused him water to drink or anything
to eat until Sunday.”
He is represented in the same editorial to have had “the confidence
of men of other denominations.”
That he was “a very poor man, with a wife and six helpless children”
could have availed him nothing had he been guilty, but the absence
of all evidence that he had done anything for which he should be
punished, induced his discharge after three days custody in camp,
“without entering into bonds or taking any oath.”
Some of the Union men arraigned before Judge Humphreys were
temporarily imprisoned. It was not, however, until his departure from
the scene and after the bridge-burnings, that more severe measures
were adopted against that class of citizens.
Commissioner Robert B. Reynolds presided over these stringent
proceedings at first and for some time. He was a native Tennesseean,
had “the courage of his opinions” and had been conspicuous as one
of the few and faithful, who at the home of Hugh Lawson White,
adhered to Martin Van Buren as Andrew Jackson’s lineal successor.
Afterwards he was a Paymaster in the United States Army. Probably
his appointment to the office of Confederate States Commissioner was
more due to two of his qualifications than to anything else. These
were, his great zeal for “the South,” according to a current phrase,
“in its contest for its rights,” and his understood inflexibility of
will. There were members of the Bar who thought his knowledge of the
Law to be deficient, and his adversaries attributed brusqeness and
austerity to his judicial manner. On the other hand, his political
friends commended his performance of duty to the Government he served
with such full and ardent sympathy. No one could complain of him for
want of diligence and energy as a worker.
A large number of political offenders were arrested. “Union talk”
became a more serious misdemeanor. The common jail was filled up
rapidly. Some prisoners were sent to Alabama for confinement. One
of these was the Hon. Mr. Pickens, State Senator from the counties
of Blount and Sevier. He had been already designated by name as a
victim, in a postscript from Secretary of War, J. P. Benjamin, to
Col. Wood. His son had been of the party that unsuccessfully assailed
Strawberry Plains bridge, and was there wounded, but not mortally,
evaded the soldiers who pursued him until his injury was healed, then
escaped into Kentucky and joined the Federal army. Senator Pickens
was a person of superior character and greatly esteemed by the
people. He did not long survive, a captive and exile at Tuscaloosa,
Alabama; and when death had released him at one and the same moment
from “this prison of the body” and from a Confederate jail, his wife,
too, sickened and went to the higher freedom into which his spirit
passed.
A number of persons had been arrested at different places, who were
accused of having shared in the assaults upon bridges or their
destruction. Col. Ledbetter, in command of the Post at Greeneville
(reputed to be a native of the State of Maine), “stuck in the letter”
of Secretary Benjamin’s instructions that “all such (prisoners) as
can be identified in having been engaged in bridge-burning are to
be tried summarily by drum-head court-martial, and if found guilty,
executed on the spot by hanging,” and also “to leave their bodies
hanging in the vicinity of the burned bridges.” In consequence, two
men--Hensie and Fry--were hung at Greeneville by Col. Ledbetter’s
immediate authority and without delay. Their bodies, instead of
being quartered and distributed abroad after an old English custom,
were left suspended for four days near the railroad track. In that
exposure, they seem to have been less of a terror to Union men of the
vicinity, than objects of merry observation to railway passengers.
Had not the executions been so hasty, it might have been discovered,
in time to save Fry’s life, that not he, but another person of the
same surname, was the real offender in the case.
Among the many prisoners at Knoxville, were some under like
accusation with the two hung at Greeneville: but proceedings against
them were more deliberate. They were tried by a court-martial,
organized under Gen. Carroll, of Middle Tennessee, successor of Col.
Wood at the Post, and by common repute of dissipated habits. For
nearly one month, Wm. G. Brownlow was an in-mate of the jail. He
states that at the time he was cast into it, the prisoners numbered
about one hundred and fifty; that on the lower floor where he was
kept, there was not room for all to lie down at one time, and
therefore they stood on their feet and rested alternately; that the
only article of furniture in the building was a dirty wooden bucket,
from which the prisoners drank water with a tin cup; and that their
food consisted of meat and bread, scantily supplied, sometimes half
raw, sometimes burned. To the truth of his description, in the main,
there is extant, corroborative testimony. Some prisoners shook his
hand silently with tears; some faces lighted with joy to see him;
some manifested a sense of humiliation wrought by their condition,
and many were depressed in spirits. A few notes taken from his diary
in jail will show the nature and extent of the work carried on by the
military towards suspected and convicted Union people:
SATURDAY, DEC. 7.--This morning forty of our number under a heavy
military escort, were sent off to Tuscaloosa. Thirty-one others
arrived to take their places from Cocke, Greene and Jefferson
Counties. They bring us tales of woe from their respective
counties as to the treatment of Union men and Union families,
by the ... cavalry in the rebellion. They are taking all the
fine horses they can find and appropriating them to their own
use; they are entering houses, breaking open drawers and chests,
seizing money, blankets and whatever they can use.
MONDAY, DEC. 9.--More prisoners arrived this evening.
Twenty-eight are in from Jefferson and Cocke counties.
WEDNESDAY, DEC. 11.--Fifteen more prisoners came in to-day from
Greene and Hancock counties, charged with having been armed as
Union men and accustomed to drill.
THURSDAY, DEC. 12.--Fifteen of our prisoners were started to
Tuscaloosa this morning to remain there as prisoners of war. They
had no trial, but were sent upon their admission that they had
been found in arms as Union men, preparing to defend themselves
against the assaults and robberies of the so-called Confederate
cavalry. Poor fellows! They hated to go.
FRIDAY, DEC. 13.--Three more prisoners in to-day from Hancock
and Hawkins Counties. Charge as usual--Union men, attached to a
company of Home Guards.
SATURDAY, DEC. 14.--Three more prisoners from the upper counties
were brought in to-day. They speak of the outrages perpetrated by
these rebel troops, and of their murderous spirit.
SUNDAY, DEC. 15.--Started thirty-five of our lot to Tuscaloosa
to be held during the war. Levi Trewhitt, an able lawyer, but an
old man, will never get back.[24] His sons came up to see him,
but were denied the privilege. Dr. Hunt, from the same county of
Bradley, has also gone. His wife came sixty miles to see him, and
came to the jail door, but was refused admittance.
MONDAY, DEC. 16.--Brought in Dr. Wells and Col. Morris, of Knox
County, two clever men and good citizens. Their offence is that
they are Union men, first, and next they voted and electioneered
as old Whigs, ... years ago.
TUESDAY, DEC. 17.--Brought in a Union man from Campbell County
to-day, leaving behind six small children, and their mother dead.
This man’s offence is holding out for the Union. To-night two
brothers named Walker, came in from Hawkins County, charged with
having “talked Union talk.”
WEDNESDAY, DEC. 18.--Discharged sixty prisoners to-day who
had been in prison from three to five weeks--taken through
mistake, as was said, there being nothing against them. Business
suffering at home--unlawfully seized upon and thrust into this
uncomfortable jail--they are now turned out.
THURSDAY, DEC. 19.--To-night twelve more Union prisoners were
brought in from lower East Tennessee, charged with belonging to
Col. Cliffs regiment of Union men, arming and drilling to go over
to Kentucky and join the Federal army.
SATURDAY, DEC. 21.--Took out five of the prisoners brought here
from the Clift expedition--liberated them by their agreeing to go
into the rebel army. Their dread of Tuscaloosa induced them to
go into service. They (the Confederate authorities) have offered
this chance to all, and only sent off those who stubbornly
refused.
SUNDAY, DEC. 22.--Brought in old man Wampler, a Dutchman seventy
years of age, from Greene County, charged with being an “Andrew
Johnson man and talking Union talk.”
FRIDAY, DEC. 27.--Harrison Self, an industrious, honest and
heretofore peaceable man, a citizen of Greene County, was
notified this morning that he was to be hanged at four o’clock,
P. M. His daughter, a noble girl, modest and neatly attired, came
in this morning to see him. Heart-broken and bowed down under a
fearful weight of sorrow, she entered his iron cage and they
embraced each other most affectionately. My God, what a sight!
What an affecting scene! (The prisoners looking on were moved to
tears.) But her short limit to remain with her father expired,
and she came out weeping bitterly--shedding burning tears.
Requesting me to write a dispatch for her and sign her name
to it, I took out my pencil and a slip of paper and wrote the
following:
KNOXVILLE, Dec. 27, 1861.
_Hon. Jefferson Davis_:
My father, Harrison Self, is sentenced to hang at four o’clock
this evening, on a charge of bridge-burning. As he remains my
earthly all and all my hopes of happiness centre in him, I
implore you to pardon him.
ELIZABETH SELF.
With this dispatch the poor girl hurried off to the office two
or three hundred yards from the jail; and about two o’clock in
the afternoon the answer came to General Carroll telling him
not to allow Self to be hung. Self was turned out of the cage
into the jail with the rest of us, and looks as if he had gone
through a long spell of sickness. But what a thrill of joy ran
through the heart of that noble girl! Self is to be confined, as
I understand, during the war. This is hard upon an innocent man;
but it is preferable to hanging.
There follows in the diary an account of an interview--at first
refused, and finally granted for twenty minutes--between a small
farmer from Sevier County, bearing the name of Madison Cate, and his
wife--she with a babe in her arms, and the prisoner too ill with a
fever to stand on his feet, but lying on the floor in one corner of
the jail with “a bit of old carpeting” for a bed and “some sort of
bundle as a pillow.”
During the month of December three of the prisoners, having been
convicted by court-martial of bridge-burning, were executed by
hanging. One of these, C. A. Haun, was a young man, but the head of a
small family. He was hanged alone on the eleventh day, and maintained
a courageous spirit on the scaffold. The other two, whose name was
Harmon, were father and son. They died after the same method six days
later, and protested their innocence to the end. Whether for the sake
of economy or for some other unknown reason, the military authorities
had not provided for the solemn occasion suitable means for ushering
more than one of the two souls into eternity at a time. The omission
is to be deplored, as it left room for imputing to the managers of
the pitiful spectacle a singular want of humanity in compelling the
father to witness his son’s ignominious death, while awaiting his
own.[25]
CHAPTER X.
REIGN OF TERROR--A NOTED PATRIOT--HIS PAINFUL
EXPERIENCES AND FINAL DELIVERANCE--A REFUGEE’S PERILOUS
JOURNEY--CONSCRIPTION--CAPTURE OF FLEEING MEN.
“Go, say, I sent thee forth to purchase honor;
And not the king exiled thee. Or suppose
Devouring pestilence hangs in our air,
And thou art flying to a fresher clime.
Look, what thy soul holds dear, imagine it
To lie that way thou goest, not whence thou comest.”
SHAKSPEARE, _Richard II._
For a considerable time, including that in which these trials,
imprisonments and executions occurred, there was a reign of terror
over Union people. The vigilance of the party in power subjected
even citizens of better social position to arraignment for slight
or insufficient reasons. To have been born in a Northern State
was _prima facie_ a ground of suspicion, unless the person were
a pronounced friend of the rebellion. Equally so was the fact
that one had been a conspicuous Unionist before the secession of
Tennessee, more especially if his position in reference to public
affairs generally, was prominent. Dr. R. H. Hodsden, of Sevier, and
Representative of that county and Knox, was hunted for, but evaded
the search until he was induced to believe that he would not
be harshly treated. He then surrendered himself to his pursuers,
and upon giving security for his good conduct and declaring his
submission to the Confederate Government, he was released from
custody. Col. Connelly F. Trigg, chairman of the chief committee in
the Union Convention at Knoxville and Greeneville, of May and June,
feared with good reason that he would be arrested. He therefore made
his escape speedily but with difficulty through the mountains into
Kentucky. Other lawyers, known to have been friends of the Union,
were admitted to the practice of their profession before Judge
Humphreys, upon their submission to the Confederate Government.
[Illustration: HON. C. F. TRIGG.]
During this time, General Zolicoffer, whose camp was on the
Kentucky border, made a visit to Knoxville, and by his direction,
as it was understood, the soldiers who guarded the town and also
the requirement of an oath of allegiance for ingress and egress,
were withdrawn. The general condition of things, however, was so
disturbing and offensive to Union men throughout East Tennessee
that their departure from the country became more frequent. Among
their leaders who had not yet gone away, the person most obnoxious
to the Confederate authorities was the Rev. Wm. G. Brownlow. He had
been from the beginning of their _de facto_ government in the State
a thorn in their flesh. Through his weekly journal, the _Whig_, he
had annoyed them with complaints of acts of oppression and violence,
and a bold use of the freedom of the press, which left no room for
doubt of his loyalty at heart to the United States, yet gave no
occasion for his arrest and punishment. These ills threatened him
so strongly about the middle of October, that he felt compelled to
suspend the publication of his newspaper. In the number issued on
the 21st of that month, he informed its readers of the indictment
impending over him before the grand jury of the Confederate court at
Nashville, and that he could probably “go free by taking the oath”
which the authorities were “administering to other Union men,” but
his “settled purpose” was “not to do any such thing.” He spoke of
“the wanton outrages upon right and liberty” suffered by the people
of East Tennessee “for their devotion to the Constitution and laws of
the Government handed down to them by their fathers and the liberties
secured to them by a war of seven long years of gloom, poverty and
trial;” and concluded with his expectation of “exchanging with proud
satisfaction the editorial chair and the sweet endearments of home
for a cell in the prison or the lot of an exile.” Both these were not
far distant from him. Entreated by friends to be absent for a time,
he went with Rev. Jas. Cumming, an aged Methodist minister, into
Blount County.
Informed that Confederate cavalry were searching for him with deadly
intent, he and others--members of the Legislature, preachers and
farmers--fled into the Smoky Mountains that separate North Carolina
and East Tennessee. There, in Tuckaleeche and Wear’s coves, they
were encamped for days in concealment, but were at length driven by
close pursuit to disperse in pairs, and he, with Rev. W. T. Dowell,
went to a friend’s house six miles from Knoxville. From thence
Brownlow addressed a letter on November 22, by Col. John Williams
to Gen. W. H. Carroll, asserting his innocence of all complicity
in the bridge-burnings; that he had kept the pledge he with other
leading Union men had given Gen. Zolicoffer, “to counsel peace,” and
he claimed protection under the civil law. To this. Gen. Carroll, on
November 28, replied that Mr. Brownlow should meet with no personal
violence by returning to his home, and if he could establish what he
had said by letter, he should have every opportunity to do so before
the civil tribunal, were it necessary: _Provided_, he had committed
no act that would make it necessary for the military law to take
cognizance. Gen. Crittenden had succeeded to the chief command at
Knoxville, and to him, eight days before the above named letter of
Gen. Carroll, the following was written:
CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA,
WAR DEPARTMENT, RICHMOND, Nov. 20, 1861.
_To Major General Crittenden_:
DEAR SIR--I have been asked to grant a passport for Brownlow
to leave the State of Tennessee. He is said to have secreted
himself, fearing violence to his person, and to be anxious to
depart from the State.
I cannot give him a formal passport, though I would greatly
prefer seeing him on the other side of our lines as an avowed
enemy. I wish, however, to say that I would be glad to learn that
he has left Tennessee; and I have no objection to interpose to
his leaving if you are willing to let him pass.
Yours, truly,
J. P. BENJAMIN,
Secretary of War.
This advice was obeyed by the transmission of the following:
HEADQUARTERS, KNOXVILLE, TENN., Dec. 4, 1861.
W. G. BROWNLOW, ESQ.: The Major General commanding directs me
to say that upon calling at his headquarters within twenty-four
hours, you can get a passport into Kentucky, accompanied by a
military escort, the route to be designated by Gen. Crittenden.
I am, Sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
A. S. CUNNINGHAM,
Acting Adj’t General.
Before the expiration of the allotted time, Mr. Brownlow, accompanied
by the Hon. John Baxter--who had originally applied at Richmond to
Secretary Benjamin, for the passport--reported in person to General
Crittenden. It was then arranged that he should depart for Kentucky
on the 7th, in charge of Capt. Gillespie and cavalry company. But
on the 6th he was arrested by the marshal upon a warrant issued by
Commissioner Reynolds, and based upon the affidavit of District
Attorney Ramsey, that Brownlow was a traitor to the Confederate
States. Application to bail the prisoner was made by his friends and
a large sum in good bond was offered, but these were refused, and he
was sent to jail. In it he was confined until the last of December,
when upon representation of his dangerous illness to Capt. Monserrat,
then Commandant of the Post, made by his family physician. Dr. O. F.
Hill, he was removed to his own house. The District Attorney had the
case of the prisoner taken up in court, and read to the Commissioner
a letter from Secretary Benjamin to the Attorney of some length,
personally historical and explanatory, concerning the promise of a
passport to the offender, upon his surrender. It concluded with the
words:
Under all the circumstances, therefore, if Brownlow is exposed to
harm from his arrest, I shall deem the honor of the Government
so far compromitted as to consider it my duty to urge on the
President a pardon for any offense of which he may be found
guilty; and I repeat the expression of my regret that he was
prosecuted, however evident may be his guilt.
Thereupon the District Attorney entered a _nolle-prosequi_ in the
case, and Commissioner Reynolds ordered the prisoner’s discharge. He
was instantly arrested by the military authorities, and a guard of
soldiers placed around his house day and night. For the greater part
of January and February his bodily illness continued, partly owing
no doubt to mental anxiety and troubles in the midst of enemies,
some of whom cordially hated and annoyed him. From the threatenings
that surrounded him, the apprehensions they naturally awakened,
and the vexations of his life in custody, he was delivered by the
obedience of Major Monserrat to an order by telegraph from the
Richmond Secretary of War, authorizing him “to send Brownlow out of
Tennessee.” On the third of March, the irrepressible friend of the
Union departed on his journey for another and, certainly for him a
better country, than that in which he sojourned and where he had with
singular determination and zeal waged an angry contest against odds.
Defeated at home, he left it with strong hope of the coming time when
the cause which he had deeply at heart should be there victorious
and he among the victors. His departure at the time, and in the
manner adopted, could not do otherwise than afford a sense of relief
not only to him and his friends, but also to many of his enemies. In
this latter class were some who would have been gratified had he been
sent to jail at Tuscaloosa or even to the gallows, for their passions
against him as the persistent “very head and front” of offence to
them, were kindled to white heat. And the _Register_ of the town
expressed their mind, in declaring the action of the Secretary of
War as “worse than a crime--a blunder,” and that the authorities had
“been outwitted and over-reached diplomatically” by giving a “pledge
to convey Brownlow within the Hessian lines.” Besides, they feared
that the results to the Confederate supremacy in East Tennessee of
his influence and work north of the State, would be as that journal
predicted, disastrous. It was with delays and difficulties he reached
Nashville; but after a journey of two hundred miles, requiring twelve
days, on the fifteenth of March he was delivered by his military
Confederate escort within the Federal lines at that city. There he
was heartily welcomed. Among those who greeted him were his former
East Tennessee compatriots, Andrew Johnson, then Military Governor
of the State, Horace Maynard and Connelly F. Trigg. They and he were
glad to meet again on soil of the United States where, under its
protection, they were free.
For along time previous, less conspicuous Union men had been leaving
East Tennessee for Kentucky in smaller or larger companies. The
stream of departure was sometimes feeble, at others strong, but
always continuous. Among those who left in the earlier part of that
time was R. L. Stanford, M.D., of Sullivan County. His compulsory
expatriation resembled that of many that occurred. On his return to
East Tennessee, a Surgeon of the United States Army under General
Burnside, in September, 1863, he gave substantially a narrative of
his escape that shows the dangers to single refugees:
In 1861 his Union sentiments made him very obnoxious to many of his
neighbors. One day, returning home from visits to patients, he found
on approaching it, that he had to pass through an array of armed men
on both sides of the way. He braced up his nerves and rode between
the threatening lines with his hat off and bowing to the right and
left as he proceeded. No one of his enemies, who were also his
neighbors, was willing to take the responsibility of being the first
to fire upon him; and unhurt, he passed the gauntlet. That night
he concluded, from written warnings, that it was prudent he should
obey the order given him to leave the country. In his journey next
day to Kentucky by way of Cumberland Gap, he was accompanied by Rev.
Mr. M., a Methodist minister. At night they halted at a wayside inn,
north of the Clinch Mountains, where a few Confederate officers soon
arrived. One of them (Col. David Cummings) and Dr. Stanford being
acquaintances, they held a friendly conversation while imbibing
moderately of the drink, stronger than water, set before them by the
landlord.
“Doctor,” said the Colonel, “let me ask where you are going?”
“To tell you the truth, Colonel,” replied the Doctor, “I am going
over the mountains to buy some cattle of these Kentuckians to feed
our people.”
During the colloquy Colonel C. made a significant motion to his
fellow-officer, not unobserved by the watchful refugee. The Methodist
minister being of a timid nature, had meanwhile taken a seat at the
farther end of the long front porch, with his hat pulled over his
ears to avoid recognition. Soon night fell, supper was announced, and
while it went forward Dr. Stanford, feigning illness, rose from the
table and went down the road he had just traveled until a covert of
bushes was reached. He knew that the two Confederate officers would
shortly pass by on their way from Cumberland Gap to Bean’s Station
in the great valley of East Tennessee, and from weary waiting in
concealment he was at length relieved by the sound of their horses’
feet approaching. When arrived opposite the spot where he hid, they
halted, and the owner of a cabin across the way obeyed their summons
to its door. Frightened at first by the thought that he was about to
be discovered, he soon dismissed all anxiety upon over-hearing the
conversation that ensued between Col. Cummings and the man of the
house, to whom the former gave a letter for delivery to the army
messenger who would pass by the next morning to Cumberland Gap.
At a very early hour the next day, the two refugees resumed their
journey. When they were entirely beyond hearing upon the road, the
physician said to the minister: “I think it probable that Col.
Cummings has left a letter to be sent to the Gap for our arrest
there. If the messenger carrying it overtakes us on the way, I
shall instantly shoot him.” At that early period of the war, people
generally were unaccustomed to the pre-meditated destruction of human
life, and some of them at least were slow to think of it as wearing
any complexion but that of bloody murder. It is not surprising,
therefore, that the face of the Christian minister, on hearing the
deadly intention of his companion, should have lost its usual color.
“He turned as white as a sheet.”
Arrived at Cumberland Gap without adventure, Dr. Stanford met with a
Confederate Lieutenant--his personal friend--who had joined the army
under constraint. The young man, knowing the mind of the refugee,
gave him in conversation without the camp and under the pledge of
secrecy, the word and sign by which he might pass the sentries on
the road over the Gap.[26] The minister earnestly dissuaded him
from attempting to cross the mountain, and failing in this effort,
lay sleepless throughout the night, tossed with fears of ills that
would befall them on the morrow. Breakfast over, the Doctor rode
unconcernedly on his way without any interference from the sentinels,
while the minister, abandoning the enterprise, stood and watched his
companion’s progress in ascending the mountain gap.
Once safely beyond interruption, the refugee put spurs to his horse
and rode swiftly forward. By and by, with the mountain fairly left
behind, he checked his horse and fell into reflections upon his
home--his wife--his children. Should he ever see them again? Perhaps
not--certainly not soon--probably not for years. And then, what would
be his personal future? The perils which ordinarily attend human life
are doubly increased to one adventuring as he was among strangers
at a time when the whole country was involved in violent conflict.
Gathering together the reins that hung loosely on his horse’s neck,
and lifting up his head he saw just before him a company of armed
men. “Ah, then,” was his thought, “I am to be foiled after all, and
taken back a prisoner to the Gap.” Rallying courage, he rode forward,
asked for a drink of water, and was told to help himself with a gourd
from the spring near by. The men looked at him with curious and
suspicious eyes. One of them said to him bluntly:
“What are you: Union man or Confederate?”
“Now, gentlemen,” said he, “that’s hardly a fair question. As you are
decidedly in the majority, it seems only right that you should first
tell me what you are.”
He was answered with a smile, but was also assured that their
question could not be met with such evasion. He then boldly said he
was for the Union.
“So are we,” they replied. “These rebels have come and taken
possession of the Gap, and we Kentuckians have met here to see what
they are after.”
From that friendly encounter the refugee went forward without
molestation to his journey’s end, volunteered in the service of the
United States army and was appointed a surgeon.
On the 20th of January, 1862, the battle of Fishing Creek, or Mill’s
Springs, Kentucky, was fought and the victory won by General Thomas,
of the United States army, produced a strong, disturbing sensation
among the Confederates at Knoxville. For this there were good
reasons. The battle-field was not far distant; it was the first fight
of any importance that was at all near the town; the Confederate
chief Zolicoffer and his subordinate Generals, Crittenden and
Carroll, had been successively in command at Knoxville, and many of
their troops had been stationed there at different times. Upon their
defeat, they went according to the rule with Buonaparte’s soldiers
upon their defeat at Waterloo: _sauve qui peut_; and some of them in
the pell-mell flight were not slow in reaching Knoxville. The tidings
they carried created intense excitement, anger and fear. At first the
blame of the defeat was attributed chiefly to Gen. Crittenden and his
inferior in office, Gen. Carroll, both of whom, it was alleged, were
drunk on the eve of the occasion. The story ran, that Zolicoffer,
who was slain in the fight, had opposed the attack upon the Federal
army, and that being over-ruled, he had entered on it reluctantly.
All the reproaches visited upon Crittenden and Carroll grew out of,
or were plausibly justified by, their reputation for using spirituous
liquors to excess. When the agitation subsided, the Fishing Creek
tales were found to be untrue. Gen. Crittenden, from being cursed as
an inebriate and almost suspected as a traitor, became an object of
friendly sympathy as a victim of ill luck in war. Popular opinion
is always capricious and prone to undue elation or depression in
prosperous or adverse circumstances. The wrath to which calamities
move the thoughtless and passionate must be vented upon somebody,
and it is apt to turn upon him through whose well known frailty the
calamity may easily have been incurred. The intemperate man has to
suffer for a time at least, on occasions of ill to which he is a
party, from the quick presumption in people’s minds that his vicious
indulgence stands as an open door to all blunder and disaster.
The fall of Fort Donelson on February 1, 1862, had been followed by
a panic at Nashville that was ludicrous in some of its scenes and
incidents. It spread, feebler and with less extravagant display, to
other places in Tennessee. The small migration of families to Georgia
from Knoxville immediately on the heels of the disaster was really
needless, for the Fort was more than two hundred miles distant, with
the Cumberland Mountains intervening. Governor Isham G. Harris and
the Legislature felt compelled to flee from Nashville. He took up his
residence at Memphis and assembled there a quorum of the Legislature,
which passed an act calling the State militia between the ages of
eighteen and forty-five into active military service. The Governor
took steps promptly to enforce the law, but in East Tennessee the
preliminary measures were not very effective. In many instances the
people refused to attend muster at their regimental parade grounds,
where, indeed, they had not been used for many years to assemble for
military training. It was not long before many men sought refuge in
Kentucky from the conscription. They left their homes in companies
of ten, fifty or a hundred, starting at night, sometimes concealing
themselves during the day and resuming their journey under cover
of the darkness, and at length passed over the border, rejoicing
that they were free from the strong hand that would force them to
fight against the United States. With the joy they felt at their
deliverance was mingled an earnest purpose to return, attended by
powerful friends, to their beloved land and restore it to the nation.
A body of refugees numbering six or seven hundred, assembled early
one day at Blain’s Cross Roads, Grainger County, and took up their
line of march for the mountains on the northern frontier. More than
half safely escaped from the Confederate cavalry which pursued them,
but over three hundred, who had in the morning been unintentionally
separated from their companions, were taken prisoners. Cowardice
was imputed to them by ready censors for surrendering at once to
a force numerically inferior. But they were surrounded by their
enemies in an open field--they were comparatively unarmed--had no
able and efficient leader nor any military training--and were mostly
of immature age. As these young men, with weary eyes and feet, were
marched under guard through the streets of Knoxville on their way
to jail in the South, for the crime of trying to escape enforced
service in arms against the United States, an observer who loved the
Union might be pardoned if his throat choked with a throb of pity
from his heart and his cheek flushed hot with righteous indignation
at the violence. How many of the prisoners, most of whom were only
just old enough to be included in the conscript law, ever saw their
homes again it is impossible to say. Probably some died in a Georgia
prison or on the way to it. Some probably in utter hopelessness were
persuaded to wear the grey, and died in the Confederate service. Some
may have escaped at one time or another to within the Union lines. It
is doubtful if more than a few of them ever returned.
“Parson Brownlow,” as he was often called, made this entry in his
Diary for 1862, while he was in prison:
SATURDAY, MARCH 1.--Thirty Union men, well dressed, were arrested
by the cavalry who found them leaving for Kentucky to avoid the
draft ordered by Governor Harris. Seventeen of them agreed to
join the Confederate army to keep out of jail.
But a Sabbath past they brought twenty Union men out of jail,
arms tied behind them with strong ropes, and marched them with
bayonets to the depot, cursing and insulting them, and sent them
off to Tuscaloosa to be held as prisoners of war.... To have seen
them coming out of the jail yard and entering the street would
have brought tears from the eyes.
Brownlow, two days afterwards, started for Nashville, and the work of
arresting refugees had then only begun.
Mr. Edward J. Sanford, at the time a young man, was, as he is
now, a citizen of Knoxville. His narrative of the escape made by
him and others through the mountains, from the conscript law, is
interesting in itself.[27] It is still more so, as illustrating
the privations, dangers and sufferings through which men of like
principles and decision with him, had to pass at that time, in going
from East Tennessee to a land of liberty, under law and in harmony
with their conscience and will. There did not appear to be any
hope of deliverance coming to them from without. It is true that
early in March, 1862, the 2nd Regiment of East Tennessee Infantry,
accompanied by one company each of the 1st Regiment, East Tennessee
Infantry, and Monday’s Kentucky Cavalry, all commanded by Col. J.
P. T. Carter, adventured from Kentucky through Big Creek Gap in the
Cumberland Mountains into Campbell County, East Tennessee. They
found the Gap blockaded by the Confederate troops, but managed to
pass it, attacked a force at Sharp’s Church in the neighborhood and
routed it, wounding, killing and capturing a considerable number of
the men. The raiders’ cavalry went down the valley to Jacksborough,
where they encountered the scouting party of Capt. James Gibson. In
the fight that ensued, Capt. Gibson was slain and Capt. Winstead, of
the Sappers and Miners, was taken prisoner, but no important results
followed the adventure. Col. Carter without delay retreated into
Kentucky, and at that date no other like military expedition was even
expected.
CHAPTER XI.
GENERALS KIRBY SMITH, J. E. JOHNSON AND BRAGG--REFUGEES INVITED
HOME BY PROCLAMATION--MRS. BROWNLOW, HER CHILDREN AND MRS.
MAYNARD EXILED--GENERAL CONDITION OF THINGS RESULTING FROM
SECESSION.
“Faults are easier look’d in, than redress’d:
Men running with eager violence,
At the first view of errors, fresh in quest;
As they, to rid an inconvenience,
Stick not to raise a mischief in the stead,
Which after mocks their weak improvidence.
And therefore do not make your own sides bleed,
To pick at others.”
DANIEL.
In the spring of 1862, the authority and power of the United States
throughout East Tennessee, were thoroughly supplanted by those of the
Confederate States. Any benefits, however, which might result from
the substitution to that region and all its people did not presently
appear. There was no violence going on within its borders, except
that inflicted by Confederate soldiers; and the actual strife between
hostile armies was far away. The general condition of things was most
deplorable. As a large majority of the able-bodied men had fled or
were fleeing under the impulse of patriotism and duty to another
State, that they might stand beneath the folds and uphold the staff
of the American flag, many fields were left untilled. The fruits and
grains gathered in by farmers from their labors in 1861, had been or
were being consumed by the military who occupied the country, and
no just expectations were indulged of an ordinary harvest in 1862.
The outlook, indeed, in every respect of the people’s welfare was
discouraging. One conclusion it favored--that secession, as a remedy
for real or imaginary ills, resulted for the time in greater evils.
About this date Gen. E. Kirby Smith was appointed to the supreme
command at Knoxville. He had been at the battle of Manassas, and
was reported as wounded, but not seriously. He was reputed to have
firmness, decision of will and other qualities of character required
by his office, and also of as great humanity and kindness as consist
with the vigorous conduct of war. A marked contrast in his favor
was observed between his general bearing at the town and that of
some Confederate officers who had chief command there. In scholarly
attainments he surpassed them all, in personal morals he was without
reproach, and his manners were quiet and unpretentious.
It will bear mention in this connection that two distinguished
Generals of the Confederate army--Joseph E. Johnson and Braxton
Bragg--briefly tarried on their way at different times in the
town. There were little incidents in their respective visits that
afterwards entered into the talk of the citizens and were thought to
be characteristic.
Gen. Johnson ranked very high in people’s esteem for both
modesty and ability, and had the credit of being a natural, as
contra-distinguished from an artificial, man. During his stay he was
called on by an aged colored woman who had nursed him in childhood.
Some men would have been indifferent or repellent to the hearty
greetings she gave him in presence of stern warriors: but her words
of love and blessing made way through his coat of mail, and to the
surprise of by-standers, filled his eyes with tears.
Gen. Bragg, from his hotel, summoned a Swiss tailor, who was of like
political sympathies, to come and take his measure for a new suit of
clothes. The civilian, perhaps thinking the call too peremptory, or
desiring to honor his own vocation, declined to obey. The officer’s
demand for the tailor’s attendance was then repeated, accompanied
with the statement that “General Bragg never went out to be measured
for clothing.” The undismayed citizen again refused, and bade
the messenger say that he “never went out to measure people for
clothing.” And the warrior who commanded regiments and brigades of
soldiers was compelled to surrender to one man, whose only weapons
were a pair of shears, a needle and a tailor’s goose! _“Inter arma,
leges silent,” sed non sartori._
Gen. Kirby Smith had too clear intelligence not to see that it was
expedient or even necessary to do whatever was possible to recover
the losses already incurred and to prevent any further losses in the
able-bodied male population of East Tennessee, and to promote the
greater cultivation of lands. Therefore, on April 18th, 1862, was
published from headquarters, Knoxville, this
PROCLAMATION.
The Major General commanding this Department, charged with the
enforcement of martial law, believing that many of its citizens
have been misled into the commission of treasonable acts through
ignorance of their duties and obligations to their State, and
that many have actually fled across the mountains and joined our
enemies under the persuasion and misguidance of supposed friends,
but designing enemies, hereby proclaims:
First. That no person so misled, who comes forward, declares
his error, and takes the oath to support the Constitution of
the State and of the Confederate States, shall be molested or
punished on account of past acts or words.
Second. That no person so persuaded and misguided as to leave
his home and join the enemy, who shall return within thirty days
of the date of this proclamation, acknowledge his error, and
take an oath to support the Constitution of the State and of the
Confederate States, shall be molested or punished on account of
past acts or words.
After thus announcing his disposition to treat with the utmost
clemency those who have been led away from the true path of
patriotic duty, the Major General commanding furthermore declares
his determination henceforth to employ all the elements at his
disposal for the protection of the lives and property of the
citizens of East Tennessee--whether from the incursions of the
enemy or the irregularities of his own troops--and for the
suppression of all treasonable practices.
He assures all citizens engaged in cultivating their farms, that
he will protect them in their rights, and that he will suspend
the militia draft under the State laws, that they may raise
crops for consumption in the coming year. He invokes the zealous
co-operation of the authorities and of all good people, to aid
him in his endeavors.
The courts of criminal jurisdiction will continue to exercise
their functions, save the issuance of writs of _habeas corpus_.
Their writs will be served and their decrees executed by the aid
of the military, when necessary.
When the courts fail to preserve the peace or punish offenders
against the laws, those objects will be attained through the
action of military tribunals and the exercise of the force of his
command.
(Signed) E. KIRBY SMITH,
Maj. Gen. Comm’dg Dep’t E. T.
Five days after the issuance of the above proclamation there was
published as follows:
TO THE DISAFFECTED PEOPLE OF EAST TENNESSEE.
HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF EAST TENNESSEE,
OFFICE PROVOST MARSHAL, April 23, 1862.
The undersigned, in executing martial law in this Department,
assures those interested who have fled to the enemy’s lines, and
who are actually in their army, that he will welcome their return
to their homes and their families: they are offered amnesty and
protection, if they come to lay down their arms and act as loyal
citizens, within the thirty days given them by Major General E.
Kirby Smith to do so.
At the end of that time, those failing to return to their homes
and accept the amnesty thus offered, and provide for and protect
their wives and children in East Tennessee, will have them sent
to their care in Kentucky, or beyond the Confederate States’
line, at their own expense.
All that leave after this date, with a knowledge of the above
acts, their families will be sent after them.
The women and children must be taken care of by husbands and
fathers, either in East Tennessee or in the Lincoln Government.
(Signed) W. M. CHURCHWELL,
Col. and Provost Marshal.
It is obvious from the preceding documents, that the Confederate
authorities were uneasy over the prospect of a diminished harvest
from the soil the ensuing season; and not only for political reasons,
but to avoid a scarcity of food because of the departure of many
farmers, they would be glad to have them return home.
The men thus invited to return, made no answer from beyond the
mountains which walled in their beloved land on the north. It was
like whistling to the winds to call them back. And they continued
to go until they were thirty thousand strong--wearing the blue.
As to the threat that after thirty days, unless they recanted
their faith in the Union, came home and swore to be loyal to the
Confederate States, their wives and children should be sent after
them at their own expense, it was a mere _brutum fulmen_ and if it
ever reached their ears they treated it with indifference or perhaps
with derision. Its fulfillment belonged to the category of human
impossibilities. The expulsion and march of an army of women and
children from East Tennessee over mountains and rivers into Kentucky
who could be counted by tens of thousands, would have sent a thrill
of amazement akin to horror throughout enlightened Christendom. It
is not to be supposed, however, that the Confederate authorities
intended to carry into effect the threat of such retaliation. Nor
does it appear that the threat emanated from or was approved by
the Major General commanding the Department of East Tennessee. He
did, however, authorize the order of the Provost Marshal for the
compulsory removal from Knoxville _via_ Norfolk, Virginia, beyond the
Confederate lines of the wives and families of two prominent Union
men--Hon. Horace Maynard and Rev. William G. Brownlow. In those cases
special reason for the harsh measure was assigned. The following
letter was sent from headquarters addressed to--
_Mrs. W. G. Brownlow, Knoxville_:
MADAM--By Major General E. Kirby Smith I am directed most
respectfully to inform you that you and your children are not
held as hostages for the good behavior of your husband, as
represented by him in a speech at Cincinnati recently, and
that yourself and family will be required to pass beyond the
Confederate States’ line in thirty-six hours from this date.
Passports will be granted you from this office.
Very respectfully,
W. M. CHURCHWELL,
Colonel and Provost Marshal.
April 21, 1862.
[Illustration: HON. HORACE MAYNARD.]
At Mrs. Brownlow’s immediate written request the time of departure
was extended a few days, and on April 25th, she and her family, being
a party of four adults and four children, were conducted by way of
Norfolk out of the Confederacy. With these exiles were sent Mrs.
Horace Maynard and family, whose expatriation could not of course be
covered by the plea of Mr. Brownlow’s utterances in Cincinnati: but
although Mr. Maynard was not inculpated by that alleged offence, or a
like one from his own lips, he was highly obnoxious as a Union leader
who had gone to the enemy.
Mrs. Brownlow was a native Tennesseean, and Mrs. Maynard, born in
Massachusetts, had resided in the town for some twenty years. In
the pending conflict their sympathies were naturally and properly
with their husbands, but they had stood entirely aloof from active
politics, and no charge of misdemeanor in word or deed was made
against them. Mrs. Maynard, a lady of superior culture and fine
sensibilities, was sickened in the enforced departure from her home
by its excitement and worry, and a hemorrhage of her lungs ensued:
but her spirit was bravely equal to the emergency, and when the
appointed hour came she was ready for the journey under military
escort.
As the war advanced, shops and mercantile houses in some instances
were closed, but as a rule, they kept open doors with diminished
stocks. A few new shops were established and traders found employment
not unprofitable. Prices gradually increased until they became
very high. Many articles in frequent or habitual use by the people
could not be had at any price, or if at all, only in the smallest
quantities. Coffee, which formerly could be bought at from 14 to 16
cents a pound, became scarce soon after hostilities began, and before
long sold at one dollar a pound. Salt, almost a necessary of life,
could only be obtained with difficulty, and its price of 2½ and 3
cents a pound, rose to 30 cents and more. Brown sugar advanced from
12½ cents to 75 cents a pound. Common calicoes, before sold at 12½
cents a yard, increased eight fold in price by retail. Men’s ordinary
apparel shared in the upward movement of values, especially shoes of
all kinds, which sold by and by, for from ten to twenty dollars a
pair, and boots, which went up to twenty dollars and more.
The great increase in prices of dry goods and groceries induced a
corresponding advance by producers in those of grain, meat, poultry,
vegetables and fruits. Provision for their own maintenance demanded
of the farming class that what they had to sell should be valued
higher.
At the beginning of the troubles gold and silver passed out of
general circulation. Next the notes of the various banks chartered
by the State gradually disappeared. Numbers of people hoarded these
notes as a provision for possible exigencies, and they were valued in
exchange at twenty-five per cent. more than Confederate notes. The
banks themselves were ready enough to pay out the latter notes to
customers, and by doing this withdrew much of their own paper from
circulation. Gold was sold for Confederate notes at a premium of one
hundred per cent. or more.
By the necessities of the times the question of sustenance was of
general consideration. As the rate of interest and salaries of
civilians continued the same, they who depended for maintenance upon
income from loans or upon stipends for regular services, suffered
from the derangement in all affairs. Debtors who before had such
strong reluctance to pay their just obligations, that their hearts
fainted in the endeavor, became wholly metamorphosed. They manifested
a cheerful zeal to settle their debts, which would not let them await
the coming of the creditor. For they could pay in depreciated bank
notes, or better still, Confederate notes were plentiful and could be
used in liquidation. A citizen of well known loyalty to “the South,”
especially one of prominence, could probably refuse them in payment
of debts, but such a refusal by others might lead to unpleasant
consequences. It might diminish one’s reputation as a friend of
the Confederacy, or worse still, if that reputation were already
damaged, subject him to the reproach visited upon all “Lincolnites,
tories and traitors.” Nevertheless, the pecuniary disadvantage of
taking a depreciated currency, which was going down all the time,
as a valid tender, was too plain to fail of its influence. The
unwillingness and refusals of people to be paid in Confederate notes,
at length attracted the attention of the authorities, and it was
ordered, in the spring of 1862, that persons refusing to receive such
notes should be held guilty of political offense and be punished
accordingly. The order sufficed to correct the growing tendency, as
no instance of an arraignment for violating it was publicly known.
The civil law courts were still held, but with imperfect sessions,
except the County Court, which met regularly on the first Monday of
each month. Justice, in a capacious robe, with bandaged eyes and a
pair of balances in hand, had been thrust into the back-ground. And
its imitation, dressed in regimentals, with stern visage and wielding
a sharp sword, stood in the front. In the sphere of ordinary legal
proceedings dullness reigned, but the Confederate tribunals and the
courts martial derived a stiff business look, without any pleasant
animation, from the trial of offenders for disloyalty or treasonable
practices.
From an early period of the troubled conditions, the State Deaf Mute
Asylum was appropriated to use as a hospital for sick soldiers. The
climate in winter was too cold for those who came from Alabama and
other Gulf States, and they suffered much from the inclemency of the
weather in 1861 and 1862. The mortality in hospitals that winter was
great--two or three patients dying daily for a considerable time.
After the battle of Fishing Creek, January, 1862, the buildings of
East Tennessee University were taken by the military for the lodging
of wounded men, and afterwards the Male Academy was turned by them
into a guard house. These diversions of school property to uses of
the army, seriously interfered of course with the work of educating
boys and young men. And yet the loss incurred in that way was not
very serious, because the number of students in the disordered state
of things had severely diminished. The army had absorbed some of the
older youth into its ranks, some borne on the fierce currents of
excitement, drifted off one way or another, and many were demoralized
from study by the abnormal social conditions. One of the University
professors had been for years a most successful teacher of boys. He
hailed from north of Mason and Dixon’s line, and before the secession
of Tennessee in June, 1861, had expressed his Union sentiments in
letters to friends who dwelt in the _taboo-ed_ region beyond the Ohio
River. As the State was then still in the Union, all letters from it
by mail should have been transmitted to their destination without
previous disclosure of their contents, but this was forbidden by
patriotic zeal for the Confederacy, to which the State was bound by
a military league. Of the intercepted communications to a distance
written by Union citizens, were some by the professor. Then there
went to him in writing anonymous threats of personal indignity and
injury, and the circumstances of the case appeared to justify the
fears they excited in him. After seeking judicious advice and not
being willing to contend with the wrath of his enemies, he shortly
departed for Ohio and left goods and chattels behind him, which were
afterwards seized and confiscated.
Another of the professors--a clergyman of the Presbyterian
Church--became an officer in the Confederate army. Another, who was
a native of the county, moved with fear of being forced to serve
in that army, and loving the Union, fled the country to Washington
and only returned upon the advent of Gen. Burnside into Knoxville.
The President of the University--a clergyman of the Protestant
Episcopal Church--thought that some such unwelcome advent would
occur in 1862. In the earlier part of that year, therefore, he made
a prudent arrangement with his associates to teach the few students
who remained until the session’s end, and departed for a quiet home
in North Carolina. Not long afterwards the doors of the institution
were closed to the work of education for four years. Schools for the
instruction of children continued in the town to a limited extent,
but their usefulness and success were lessened by the prevailing
anxieties and excitements.
The public worship in the several Christian Churches was conducted
without interruption. In several of them politics were introduced
into the prayers to God or in the preaching to men from the pulpit,
or in both. After Confederate troops occupied the place, the chaplain
of a regiment would now and then preach in a church that was strongly
in sympathy with the Confederacy. The pastor of one of the churches
kept aloof in his sermons from the chief topic of the day, but
often made the success of the Confederacy a subject of petition in
his public devotions. The pastor of another was less reticent, and
expressed his political sentiments with much warmth and frequency
from the pulpit, in both prayers and sermons. The minister of a third
church, in 1861 became involved in local strife connected with the
great conflict of the time, to the partial hurt of his usefulness.
His successor was a stranger, and adhered more closely to the usual
line of clerical duty, but it was understood that he heartily
sympathized with the friends of secession. They were largely in the
majority among church-goers, and all these ministers were esteemed
and beloved by the great body of their respective peoples. The war
therefore, occasioned no break in the substantial unity of their
churches, nor any material decrease in the attendance of worshippers.
Than these, another church was less fortunate. Its rector entertained
Union sentiments, to which some of its more influential families were
strongly opposed. He was also in disagreement with the bishop of the
diocese, not personally, but officially, as the latter had set forth
in July, 1861, by request of the Diocesan Convention, a form of
prayer for the success of the Confederacy which the rector felt he
could not in good conscience use. The bishop, while manifesting all
fatherly kindness to the non-conforming minister, decided that he
could make no exception to the rule of obedience. He was then asked
for and gave the rector a letter dimissory to Bishop Smith, of the
Diocese of Kentucky, which was forwarded and accepted. The minister
was disabled by an accident from following the letter in person
as he intended, and the rectorship, which he had before resigned,
was filled by a clergyman from the neighboring town of Loudon. The
priest of the Roman Catholic Church was unknown in connection with
the troubles. His successor at a later period, “Father Ryan,” was
quite a young man, of delicate physique, but of a ready mind, lively
imagination and rhetorical power. He had espoused the cause of the
Confederacy with fervid enthusiasm, and used his talents zealously
in its behalf. His published poetical effusions were often inspired
by devotion to the “Sunny South” and its flag. Sometimes they were
filled with his thoughts of the wrongs it had suffered, and have
been no little admired and praised by many of its friends. It showed
the mastery of political over religious as well as other sympathies
in the war, that among those who attended upon his discourses were
men who in times of peace would not, because of their religious
prejudices, enter the door of a Roman Catholic Church.
Many citizens, because of their political sympathy or distrust of
the outcome, abstained from keeping actively along with the current
of affairs through 1862 into 1863, under the reign at the locality
of the Confederate Government. They merely subsided into quiet and
retirement. Deploring the country’s condition and observing the
progress of events with more or less interest, they yet gave their
thoughts and time to ordinary duties, content to await whatever
the future might develop. To people of truly Christian character,
the habitual surroundings of pageantry, clamors and clashes of war
were disagreeable: and for the promotion of a higher life in the
soul, they turned to seek “water out of the rock of flint.” Their
religious principles became firmer and stronger, and they themselves
more like their Master in the spirit of His mind. On the other hand,
the vicious and profane were emboldened to greater wickedness, and
the wicked dispositions of some could only be checked by military
discipline. It is not to be disputed also, that some professed
Christians were demoralized by the war and fell away from their
uprightness. History repeats itself. The results just named are like
those which have followed all great calamities to human society in
the form of civil wars, pestilences and famines.
Evidently a revolution had not only been attempted politically, but
was actually progressing in other respects. Its fruits thus far were
so ill and sour as to confirm the opinion of some that it had better
have been unborn or stifled in its birth; better that the evils
which it was proposed to remedy had been patiently borne with, and
so far as they really existed, peacefully removed. In the time to
come, its life might be short or long, and its consequences prove it
for better or worse, but one thing was certain: a most disagreeable
change of present conditions had occurred. Old things had been
displaced and new ones substituted. Citizens who preferred that the
former order were restored, found their hopefulness to that end beset
with discouragements. These very differently affected the minds of
Union men. All along the way since the spring of 1861, they had been
like an unorganized army retreating before a closely pursuing foe.
Sooner or later, some had weakened and fallen; some had turned aside
and lain down to sleep; some still trudged on, but lagged behind
their companions. And all these had previously made up their minds to
be captured. At length the number of staunch friends of the United
States left by refugees through the mountains was largely diminished.
Among the country people there had been absolutely little submission
of mind to the power over them as a _de jure_ government, and
the spirit of patriotic adventure was strong. In more than a few
instances it incited them to toilsome and hazardous ridings over the
mountains into Kentucky, and back again with news concerning the war
which could not otherwise be had, except as it might be stintedly
published from Richmond after being distilled in Confederate
alembics. The presumption is, that as opportunity served, not
only was general news carried by these messengers, but also
valuable information relative to military situations and movements.
Among Union women there were heroines in action, equal to their
grandmothers in the first settlement of the land when the Indians
were a terror.[28]
In April, 1862, tidings brought to East Tennessee of the battle of
Corinth, like those elsewhere circulated at first in the South,
were exaggerated. “The slaughter of the Yankees,” as reported, “was
enormous,” and the number of Confederates killed and wounded was
very small. Great rejoicings followed over the victory said to have
been won by Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston, but these soon abated, for
what reason Union citizens could not tell. They had their suspicions
that the actual results differed materially from the extravagant
statements that had been boastingly made, but their incredulity did
not rest upon knowledge of any facts. Former experience had taught
them not to give credence to such statements, but to discount them
largely on the score of military policy in time of war, and even more
on account of the intense party bias which prevailed in Confederate
circles. After the evacuation of Corinth by Gen. Beauregard, the
demonstrations of the Federal forces towards East Tennessee, which
had begun before, became more threatening. They compelled the
Confederate troops at Bridgeport to retire, made indecisive attacks
upon them at Chattanooga and Cumberland Gap, and harassed them in
East Tennessee into frequent and forced marches. Finally General
Kirby Smith evacuated Cumberland Gap under military necessity, and
the Federal army under Gen. G. W. Morgan occupied his fortifications.
In July, 1862, Gen. John H. Morgan, of Kentucky, who had considerable
fame as a partisan Confederate officer, having been defeated at
Lebanon, Tenn., reorganized his command and made Knoxville his
starting point for a new expedition. He passed into Kentucky,
capturing and destroying, engaged the Federals in battle at
Cynthiana, and at length withdrew from that State before a superior
force. One year later he again entered Kentucky from Sparta, Tenn.,
just west of the Cumberland Mountains, and went upon his well
known raid into Ohio and Indiana. Afterwards he again appeared in
East Tennessee, and one night, when asleep in a private dwelling,
exceptionally well provided, at Greeneville, he was surprised by a
party of United States soldiers. They had been informed as to where
he lodged, and in his attempt, partially dressed, to escape through
the garden of his hostess, a soldier fired upon and killed him.
The ordinary routine of things at Knoxville was enlivened in
the summer of 1862, by the arrival of some forty United States
soldiers who had been taken prisoners by Col. Forest, in the
military adventure and surprise he accomplished at Murfreesboro.
They bore their adversity with fortitude and unlessened devotion
to their country. Horses and wagons captured at the same time,
accompanied them and with the prisoners presented a spectacle of
military trophies that drew a crowd of triumphant beholders. Some of
these spectators made then their safe and nearest approach to the
destructive war, which they had rejoiced that others should carry
on with danger and hurt. The captured men were sent to Georgia. An
exhibition by authority--less creditable than the show of prisoners
and horses--was that of the private correspondence seized at
Murfreesboro, which was distributed the next day among soldiers and
citizens and read on the streets.
About the middle of August, 1862, Gen. Kirby Smith, having collected
forces sufficient for the purpose, made a forward movement into
Kentucky, crossing the mountains at a gap considerably west of that
named Cumberland. Soon after he departed, Col. W. M. Churchwell,
Provost Marshal, died of disease that was probably contracted through
exposure the previous winter at Cumberland Gap.
CHAPTER XII.
NEWS AND LITERATURE IN THE CONFEDERACY--A MIXED DINNER PARTY AND
ITS CONVERSATION--CARTER’S RAID AND WHAT BEFELL A RECRUITING
OFFICER--AN UNTERRIFIED YANKEE CITIZEN OF GEORGIA--SANDERS’
RAID--DEATH OF PLEASANT MCCLUNG.
“Young men soon give, and soon forget affronts;
Old age is slow in both.”
ADDISON’S _Cato_.
“A wise man ... examines if those accidents
Which common fame calls injuries, happen to him
Deservedly or no. Come they deservedly?
They are no wrongs then, but punishments:
If undeservedly and he not guilty,
The doer of them first should blush--not he.”
JONSON.
It is not advisable to follow closely the course of events at the
locality during the next winter and spring, for the most of them were
not important or interesting enough to be chronicled. Men and things
settled down into a state of comparative quiescence under the new
Government. While with some there was glad acceptance of the existing
power, others, silently submitting to it, looked out, hopeful of soul
for its overthrow, and secretly listened for news of victories to
the United States armies at a distance. Tidings of all occurrences
beyond the limits of the seceded States were meagre in quantity and
obtained with difficulty, except so far as the few newspapers still
published in the South, gave them. These papers had dwindled away
in size, and of course had little room in their columns for news
from the United States and from foreign lands, after printing matter
of local interest. If any news from outside were published, which
was thought to bear seriously upon the fortunes of the war, its
proportions had to be shorn and its color changed to suit politic
requirements. The _Richmond_ (Va.) _Examiner_ with its very able
editorials by Mr. Daniel, was more in circulation than any other
journal from a distance, and some persons counted themselves happy in
the opportunity to peruse it. There was an independence in its tone
that reminded Union men of former days of the Republic, and its zest
was enhanced to their mental palates by its occasional fault-finding
with those in authority. At length its dimensions were reduced by the
necessities of the times to one-half sheet of very indifferent paper.
If, as was sometimes the case, a few newspapers were smuggled into
the town from the North by the underground railway _via_ Kentucky,
and came into the hands of a Union citizen, they were counted as
worth their weight in gold. He first devoured their contents in
secret, then passed them covertly to a friend, and so they would
continue their rounds among hungry readers. In like manner would be
circulated any important news received by the “grapevine telegraph.”
Such eagerness among Union men for information from without, was no
doubt largely due to their hope of deliverance, but it was partly
owing to their desire to know something of what was going on in the
great world beyond the limits of the Confederacy. They felt like men
in a prison, and to this day many of the current events in that world
for more than two years are blank in the knowledge of persons in the
South, who had been accustomed to keep pace with journalistic columns.
As for current literature and science, periodicals and new books,
they found no access at all to the place from abroad. The only
volumes recently published, copies of which had circulation were,
“A Strange Story,” by Bulwer, and a translation of Victor Hugo’s
“Les Miserables.” These had been re-printed at Richmond, and were
remarkably inferior in their mechanical execution. The paper on
which they were printed and the typography vied in poverty and
unhappiness. The covering was of wall-paper with very large figures,
the mutilation of which, in adapting the binding to its use, added to
the grotesque appearance of the books.
News was still given by authority. The community would be told of a
battle somewhere, in which many “Yankees” were killed, wounded and
taken prisoners, and the Confederate losses were relatively small.
These reported victories, with their great disparities in results,
occasioned, as did the news from Corinth, much open joy on the one
hand and secret incredulity on the other. They who doubted and
still clung to the Union, although reduced in numbers, were not so
crushed in spirit as to sulk, Achilles like, in their tents, but
they sought one another’s company, listened to news from the United
States, brought in by adventurous runners, discussed the situation
and probabilities, and encouraged each other to steadfastness.
Sometimes the national heavens wore to them an intense gloom,
relieved by but few dim rays of hope. But at one time their hope
grew very bright, only to suffer a fatal eclipse. No occurrence of
the war gave the Union people of East Tennessee such disappointment
as the failure of General McClellan’s Peninsular campaign. In their
imaginations, “Little Mack” was the hero of the epoch, the Alexander
who would cut the Gordian knot of the rebellion, the American Cæsar
who would shortly capture the insurgents’ capital and proclaim to the
nation, “_Veni, vidi, vici_.” And when they learned the campaign’s
result, they did so with more grief and discouragement than was felt
elsewhere in the land, because of their isolation from sympathy and
their unfriendly environment.
In the great majority of instances, friendly social intercourse
between people of hostile opinions had ceased, but there were
exceptions to the rule. Early in May, 1863, a civilian who was firm
in his devotion to the Union, but strong also in his attachment to
personal kinsmen, and equally free in manifesting both, had a number
of invited guests to dine with him one day. News of the death of
Gen. Stonewall Jackson had but just arrived, and the sorrowful
event was a topic of conversation at the table. The hero who had
recently departed, has been since the war ended, an object of
reverent admiration to some people who cared nothing for or detested
secession, as well as to all who sympathized with it. While the
bloody conflict was going on, the godliness which was a strong trait
in his character, seemed to sanctify altogether in the view of some
minds, the cause for which he fought so bravely and skillfully.
They would, no doubt, have stoutly rejected the dogma of works of
supererogation. But the religious merits of General Jackson appeared
to more than counterbalance with them all religious demerits of
others who sought with him to dissolve the Union. In the conversation
just mentioned, pertinent expressions were given of esteem for the
deceased and of regret for his death. After these had been spoken a
young man at the table exclaimed:
“I have no doubt that General Jackson is now commanding a legion of
angels in heaven!”
This sentimental climax to the panegyrics before uttered, somewhat
startled its hearers, and seemed to forbid any remark that might
even imply dissent. The prevailing silence was broken by one of the
company relating an anecdote of the Rev. David Nelson, who had been
for years a doctor of medicine. From being a downright religious
sceptic, he had been converted to the Christian faith, had become a
prominent Presbyterian minister in East Tennessee, and was the author
of a book entitled, “The Cause and Cure of Infidelity,” which once
had a very extensive circulation. He was in Washington City during
the presidency of Andrew Jackson, who, hearing of his presence in the
city, sent him an oral invitation to visit him at the White House.
The two had been well known to each other in former years and were
personal friends, but Dr. Nelson said, in narrating the incident,
he had found after becoming a Christian minister, little or no
benefit to result from his social visits to men in high places of
the State or Nation. He therefore did not make the proposed visit.
The President then sent him a written request to go and see him, and
Dr. Nelson went. General Jackson had lost his wife by death, and the
affliction had been the means of leading him to serious reflection
and to faith in Christ--to baptism and membership in the Presbyterian
Church. As a consequence, the conversation that ensued between him
and his reverend visitor, was of a religious nature. Dr. Nelson, in
speaking afterwards of the interview, said:
“I talked with General Jackson. I think he is a true Christian.
Yes, I think when he dies he will go to heaven. But he will be no
bigger than a rat! There’s my old colored man--a preacher. He will
be soaring away up in heaven, while General Jackson will be crawling
along on the floor like a rat.”
This recital was followed at the table by a silence as deep and
universal as that which went before it. Whether the guests highly
valued Dr. Nelson’s opinions that degrees of blessedness obtain in
heaven and that high and low positions will in some instances be
reversed up there, is by no means certain. But they appeared to think
that the story entailed a moral which lay in its application, that
the subject was exhausted and the conversation might be discreetly
diverted to another topic.
In December, 1862, Gen. Samuel P. Carter made a military raid into
that portion of East Tennessee lying nearest Virginia. He was a
native of one of the most eastern counties of Tennessee, which bears
his surname, and he belonged to a prominent and influential family.
He had been for years an esteemed officer of the United States Navy,
but in 1862, was detached from it and assigned to duty with the land
forces in Kentucky which might operate in East Tennessee. There, it
was probably thought, his nativity and name would prove collateral
aids to his services. This particular enterprise was brilliantly
executed, but he was compelled by the gathering of superior hostile
forces to withdraw from it speedily. A compend of his report of the
expedition is appended.[29]
A very young man, son of Wm. Harris, a worthy merchant of Dandridge,
Jefferson County, fled to Kentucky in the summer of 1862, from the
conscription. He became a volunteer in the United States Army and was
made captain in the East Tennessee troops, was sent by the Colonel
of his regiment to obtain recruits in Sevier County, East Tennessee,
crossed the mountains for that purpose with General Carter’s command
on its raid, left it at Union Railroad depot, and was betrayed and
captured in Washington County. From there he was brought to Knoxville
and tried by court martial as a deserter from the Confederate army,
was found guilty and sentenced to death. Gen. Burnside communicated
from Kentucky to the Confederate Government that Captain Shade T.
Harris was an officer of his army, for whom he held Captain Battle,
of the Confederate States Army, as hostage, but no exchange of
the men was effected. Subsequently Captain Battle was released at
Nashville through some misunderstanding or mal-administration, Harris
being still detained. His friends claimed that he was a United States
soldier. Perhaps prompted by the feeling that a Christian minister
who was a Union man would more heartily advise with and prepare him
for approaching death, his father requested a minister who bore that
reputation to visit the prisoner. Authority to do so was promptly
granted upon application, but the reverend man was rather surprised
to be attended on his errand by two soldiers “armed to the teeth,”
as though he had not only dangerous propensities but Sampsonian
strength. This formidable guard, with its superfluous watchfulness,
kept close to the minister’s person while he read the Word of God to
the prisoner, prayed with and counselled him. The jail was crowded
with inmates and the miserable food that waited to be scantily
dished out to them lay thrown together in a box on the way from the
main door. One result of the visit was, that with consent of the
authorities, a quantity of good, wholesome bread from the baker’s
went that day to regale the prisoners. The ministerial visit, with a
reduced military escort, was now and then repeated, and the condemned
youth was exhorted to cherish a spirit of forgiveness to his enemies,
as a duty because of God’s forgiveness through Christ. He professed
to do this. The fatal day drew near. A coffin was prepared for the
body of the alleged culprit. His father learned from Richmond that
a reprieve had been granted, and visited the recently appointed
Commandant of the Post at Knoxville, who in reply to an inquiry
concerning the respite from President Davis, said he did not know,
and told an Aid to look and see. Several pigeon holes were examined,
and the official document was at length found! No doubt King David
was right when he said to the prophet Gad, “I am in a great strait:
let us fall now into the hand of the Lord: for his mercies are great:
and let us not fall into the hand of man.”[30]
Throughout the winter of 1862-3, and the next spring, the current
of life in the community, with its mingled civil and military
elements, flowed on in wonted channels. The occupancy of the town by
Confederate troops and the conduct of their affairs made the most
prominent and engrossing feature on the face of things. There were
soldiers on the streets, and sick or dying soldiers in the hospitals.
Courts martial were held, and stories, true or false, of military
movements and skirmishes, of battles, victories and defeats, were
frequent topics of conversation. Men bought and sold, Confederate
notes and bonds went down in value, and gold went up. Purchases of
different commodities in trade and of real estate, were made in
sums of money, nominally large and really small. Some men seemed
to prosper in their financial operations, in like manner with the
speculator, of whom an admiring friend said, “He is rich--that is to
say, he is not rich, but he has all the sensations.” But there was no
firm foundation in pecuniary affairs and many of the superstructures
were chaffy.
In general, things appeared to be permanently settled. There was
so much of ordinary routine in their daily movement, so little
of jarring or eruption about it, that men, if disposed, might
easily think that the Government under which they lived had a
long, indefinite future before it. To some observers, however, the
uniformity in the movement, like that in the soldiers’ dress and
march, had too much the look of being imposed by mere power and of
wanting in healthy freedom. After all that might be said favorably
of the social condition, one had to admit that it was too dull
and monotonous to suit rational beings, and needed an infusion of
vitality from some source or other. To observers whose spirits
revolted against their surroundings, and were fed with the hope that
“Springs eternal in the human breast,”
the state of society suggested its comparison to that of the
inhabitants of a remote locality in a great empire, where
insurrectionists temporarily held power and things went on among the
people under a prevailing sense of suppression. They were compelled
to silence but were still resistful of mind to the power that held
them down. They had faith that the surrounding night would sooner or
later disappear before the light of day, bringing
“Stern and imperious Nemesis,
Daughter of Justice, most severe;
* * * * *
Whose swift, sure hand is ever near.”
During this period of a more quiet Confederate rule over the
region, there was an occasional escapade of persons from the Gulf
States through East Tennessee to the North. Secretly a system had
been perfected by which they and other refugees were directed from
point to point and supplied with means of conveyance by resident
citizens--well known to each other and their special friends--whose
names were never exposed as helpers in such a work. One of this class
of travellers was Mr. B., a native of Connecticut, but for many
recent years a respectable, peaceable citizen of a State south of
Tennessee.
At the advent of the war, knowing that he had the esteem generally
of his neighbors, he did not think of being disturbed during its
progress, in the quiet pursuit of his lawful business. After the
conflict had fairly begun, the passions of men made them sharply
sensitive to the presence of one, whose antecedents formed a ground
of suspicion that he was not “loyal to the South.” He belonged by
birth to the hated race of “Yankees,” and although he was discreet
of speech and well behaved, it was supposed that he could not well
enough love the production of cotton by slave labor, to be allowed in
the town at such a critical time. Therefore he received in writing an
anonymous warning to leave the country, but he refused to heed it.
Another was sent to him with the same result, and yet another. At
length he was threatened in an open and positive way, that forced him
to answer with emphasis, “They told me,” said Mr. B., speaking with a
decided nasal twang, “they told me I must leave or forfeit my life,
and I told them _I would forfeit my life!_”
He was evidently such a man as Hosea Biglow would admire. George
Borrow says, “When threatened by danger, the best policy is to fix
your eye steadily upon it and it will in general vanish like the
morning mist before the rising sun; whereas, if you quail before it,
it is sure to become more imminent.”
The result of that policy by Mr. B., was that without further
molestation, he was permitted to continue his residence in the town.
Long afterwards, he chose to depart with a young man as companion,
and passed through Knoxville to Morristown, where Mr. N. would
provide them conveyance over the mountains into Kentucky.
One afternoon in June, 1863, agitating news spread from the military
to the people. Col. Wm. P. Sanders, of the United States Army, was
said to be marching upon the town with a formidable force, to be
already not far away from it, and would arrive on the morrow. The
cry, “To arms!” went everywhere. Messengers upon the streets summoned
citizens to shoulder their guns and aid the military in resisting
the invader. “To the front! to the front!” And away men sped under
a strong sense of duty. The tradesman left his store, the laborer
his toil, the mechanic his shop, the lawyer his office and even the
clergyman his study. Young and more mature men, and boys, obeyed the
call, in some instances as if eager for the fray.
A noble spirit is that of patriotism. Who is there of such base
metal, as not to be prompt in defending his home, his city, his
native or adopted land? That arrant coward, John Falstaff, thrice
pronounced “a plague upon all cowards!” And the sentiment, put into
rude or elegant phrase, has the common consent of mankind. There is
“a common and indeterminate courage,” which Edmondo De Amicis says
“in Europe is considered with chivalric reciprocity, the property of
all armies.” Bishop Stephen H. Elliot (eminent scholar and gentleman)
said that the late civil war proved one thing--that there are few men
not brave enough to fight. Much rarer is _moral_ courage, as it is
immeasurably superior in kind. Physical courage has more of its roots
in the animal nature and is liable to great heats and fury. Moral
courage, having its roots in the conscience and being trained by the
reason, has firmness and composure. Nor is all patriotism alike.
It differs in scope and expression. That which is narrow and tied
down to a section is apt to have a concentration of energy, which
gives a certain fire and dash to its courage. The patriotism that
includes the whole country in its arms, may because of breadth, have
less flaming intensity, but has more substantial capacity for calm
endurance in heroic action.
On June 14th, 1863, by order of Maj. General Burnside, then
commanding the Department of the Ohio, Col. Sanders (Fifth Kentucky
Cavalry), started from Mount Vernon, Kentucky, for East Tennessee,
with a party of fifteen hundred men, which included the First
East Tennessee Regiment under Col. R. K. Byrd. He passed _via_
the neighborhood of Huntsville, Scott County, East Tennessee, and
Montgomery, Morgan County, and leaving Kingston and Loudon in
succession to his right, made some captures at Lenoir’s, and moved
up to Knoxville at daylight on the 20th. General Buckner was in
command of the Confederate Army in East Tennessee. He was absent
that day, having gone the previous morning to concentrate his forces
at Clinton, but all possible preparations were made to repel Col.
Sanders. Afterwards it was stated that he had no intention to assault
the town, which if he had taken he could not have held. He himself
officially reported that he “made demonstrations against Knoxville
so as to have their (Confederate) troops brought from above.” An
engagement followed upon his appearance before the town between the
two hostile parties, chiefly with a Confederate battery planted on
Summit Hill, southwest of and overlooking the railroad depot, and a
United States battery on elevated ground opposite, near the junction
of Fifth Avenue and Crozier streets, North Knoxville. Few injuries
resulted to either side. Most of the shells thrown by Col. Sanders’
guns, missing their mark, flew over the town harmlessly enough,
except in frightening the women and children with their whizzing
through the air. But the casualties from one of the shrieking
missiles were serious to the Confederates. It first mortally wounded
the captain of a company of citizen volunteers, then struck and
killed a sergeant who on higher ground was nearly prone with the
earth to avoid harm, and finally exploded, killing a Lieutenant from
Florida, who with other convalescents from the army hospital in the
Deaf Mute Asylum close by, sat on a fence to see the fight.
The Captain of Volunteers was a young man of specially amiable and
genial qualities. His bravery and vivacity of spirits led him into
heedlessness of danger. As he stood upon the hill-top that morning,
nigh to the Confederate earthworks and artillery, and saw his
fellow-soldiers drop for safety into the ditch at the same moment
with the flash of Sanders’ guns, he exclaimed, standing upright:
“Don’t be afraid; there’s no danger!” Instantly a shell hit him, and
his mutilated body was tenderly borne to a kinsman’s house in town.
Surgical aid was summoned and could mitigate his sufferings, but not
save his life.
A non-combatant minister of the gospel, having removed his invalid
wife to a friend’s house less exposed to the flying shells, was
seeking the same refuge for his infant child. As he walked, he met a
brother minister, who had just taken part in the fight. The contrast,
one bearing in his arms a musket and the other a child, was almost
comical, and provoked a smile from the Quaker-like professional. He
repressed it in presence of the grief he quickly encountered, as he
met the wounded Captain’s wife and children.
“O, Mr. ----,” she cried aloud, throwing her arms aloft into the
unsympathizing air, “they have killed my husband! Come and see him!”
This he did, and administered such consolation as our holy religion
affords for sufferers. The dying young man was a sincere Christian
believer. It was noted that only the Sunday evening before, with
his family around him at home in the country, he had sung, with a
heavenward aspiration of spirit, the grand old hymn, on whose winged
words of divine promise and human faith many a devout heart has often
risen into the Christian empyrean:
“How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord.”
As his life ebbed fast away, his right hand now and then pressed that
of the kneeling minister, in sympathy with the supplications offered
to God. Soon the end came, and his dying breath went forth in prayer.
Among his petitions to the King invisible, was one of “forgiveness to
those who killed him.”
No doubt he meant the enemies with whom he did battle that morning;
but were there not others, positively, although remotely in time,
accountable for his death? Who inaugurated that bloody war--whether
it were rightly named civil or infernal? Did it come down from the
sky above or leap up from the deep beneath, fully matured, as Minerva
sprung forth from the head of Jupiter, in complete armor, with lifted
spear and clashing weapons? Or was there some gigantic national wrong
against humanity, that clamored for righteous adjustment, and would
not sleep until it found redress? Was it begotten of enthusiastic
philanthropy? Or of an unholy love of lordship? Of zeal for freedom
and hate of oppression? Or of ambition to cut the Nation in two and
create one with slavery for its corner-stone? Was it evolved from the
heart and brain of William Lloyd Garrison and Wendell Phillips? Or
from those of Jefferson Davis and Robert Toombs? Did the first gun
fired on Fort Sumter, whose echoes went sounding through the land and
sent the patriotic pulses of the people bounding to the quickstep of
marching battalions, begin the biggest strife the world has known? Or
were its seeds sown in earlier decades, when men, women and children
of barbaric Africa, cruelly crowded in slave-ships, were freely
imported to American Colonies and States, to be forever an inherited
“bone of contention?”
“_Forgiveness to those who killed him?_” Let the question in all its
bearings of responsibility for his death, be referred for answer to
the Son of Man, whom God has appointed to judge the quick and dead!
Meanwhile, let thy dismembered body, O, Pleasant Miller McClung,
sleep on in the quiet grave of thy early manhood, until the morning
of the resurrection of the dead! Then shalt thou meet those for whom
thou didst pray forgiveness. And surely, thy unstudied petition was
so like one that passed from the pale lips of the Man of Sorrows
when expiring on the cross, that it must have gone up through Him
to the throne of eternal grace. Sleep on, then, until that coming
day! Multitudes, equally brave--wearing the blue or the gray--fell
on sleep in the same mighty conflict. In many and crowded cemeteries
the grass grows on lowly mounds over them, the white and pulseless
marble glints in the shine of the sun as it rises and sets, and the
birds sing their peaceful requiem in the air. And shall they not--a
grand army, hundreds of thousands strong--come again to life? What if
some are in unmarked graves? What if some graves have headstones that
bear the sorrowful word, “Unknown?” _God knoweth!_ And they shall
rise again, for He has said it. But if, in the generations hereafter,
“Columbia” is indeed “to glory arise,” O ye, her sons, heed well
the lesson taught by the war between her children in ’61-65. “The
beginning of strife is as when one letteth out water, therefore leave
off contention, before there be quarreling.”
In this Republic the avenues to employment are so many and wide
open, that some measure of success awaits all who have capacity and
diligence. Justly enough, a poor and obscure lineage does not prevent
the rise to eminence or wealth of him who is worthy, nor are they to
be attained by the son of rich or notable parents, who has no merit
of his own. “Parson Brownlow,” in writing once for the public about
some of his enemies to whom he attributed aristocratic pretensions,
compared them to “turnips, the better part of which is under
ground.” Still, wisely enough, men generally even under Democratic
institutions, count an honest and industrious ancestry of some worth.
By common consent, sons are to be commended who copy the virtues and
good conduct of their fathers. One of the guests at a dinner party
in Knoxville given to Gen. Burnside, said to him: “Andrew Johnson
deserves great credit for having risen from poverty and obscurity to
honorable distinction in the country.” The General was expected to
reply in just the same strain of sentiment. His answer was: “Yes!
but so does every man who inherits superior advantages and uses them
wisely and faithfully.” And there are strong temptations to idleness
and improvidence besetting the young man who is born to affluence and
favorable opportunities, which it is meritorious in him to overcome,
and with which the poor boy has never to struggle.
The genealogical facts concerning the young Captain who met his
death on Summit Hill during the “Sanders raid” are interesting,
for he was the only living man in whom met lines of descent from
two persons distinguished in the earliest history of Tennessee and
Knoxville. He was the great grandson of William Blount, Governor
of the Territory south of the Ohio, from 1792 to 1796, and also of
James White, founder of Knoxville, (the capital of the Territory) and
fellow-worker of Blount in the organization of Tennessee.
Col. Sanders, after one hour’s passage at arms with the Confederates
under the command _pro tem._ of Col. R. C. Trigg, took up his line
of march eastward and burned the bridges at Strawberry Plains and
Mossy Creek. He captured stores and prisoners at several places, and
was finally compelled to withdraw hastily to Kentucky. His enemy
pressed him closely on all sides, and to avoid capture, he had to
pass the mountain by an unfrequented gap, (Smith’s) through which
there was no road, but only a bridle path, to follow. Reports made by
the respective parties in the conflict, are appended in a condensed
form.[31]
When the excitement occasioned by Sanders’s visit had passed away,
Knoxville returned to its former quiet condition and remained so for
two months.
Meanwhile, the United States forces which held Cumberland Gap were
in turn compelled by their adversaries to evacuate it, because of
insufficient supplies.
CHAPTER XIII.
GEN. BUCKNER’S RETREAT--A CITIZEN’S ADVENTURE--GEN. BURNSIDE;
HIS WELCOME; HIS EXPEDITION--CUMBERLAND GAP; ITS SURRENDER--AN
ECCENTRIC FARMER--MILITARY MOVEMENTS IN EAST TENNESSEE--FIGHT AT
BLUE SPRINGS--AFFAIRS AT AND NEAR LOUDON--BURNSIDE AND THE PEOPLE.
“Now is the winter of our discontent
Made glorious summer by this sun of York;
And all the clouds that lowered upon our house,
In the deep bosom of the ocean buried.”
SHAKS.: _Richard III._
Gen. Buckner had been for some time at Knoxville in command of the
military department of Kentucky, Middle and East Tennessee, North
Alabama and Southwest Virginia. His personal presence was commanding
and adapted to fill the popular notion of a grand army officer. The
attention of citizens was attracted and their criticism challenged by
his imposing appearance, as he rode without escort upon a splendid
charger through the principal street. His reputation was that of a
true gentleman and a soldier of superior merit. The public esteem had
been drawn to him, by his conduct at the fall of Fort Donelson, in
comparison with that of his companion-generals, especially Floyd.
Late in August, to the surprise of civilians, he departed westward
with his troops, crossed the Tennessee River, twenty-nine miles
distant and burned the railway bridge behind him. Something important
had happened or was expected, but the people in their ignorance could
only wonder as to its nature. The retreat left them unprotected from
roving, lawless bands, which the war had spawned. One of these came
into the town at night and despoiled stables of horses. A citizen was
roused from sleep by their near prowling. Hastening to his stable,
he came upon thieves who quickly decamped. They had brought to the
spot a valuable horse just stolen by them from a near stall. They
left it behind in the hurry of flight, but took away the horse whose
owner had alarmed them. Without intending a deed of disinterested
benevolence by interfering with the rogues’ work, he had saved his
neighbor’s property, losing his own. The next day steps were taken
to form companies of armed townsmen for defence against marauders.
Before any thorough organization to that end was made, an unexpected
event occurred.
[Illustration: MAJ. GEN. A. E. BURNSIDE.]
It was the 2nd of September, 1863. A worthy Swiss immigrant of the
town at the beginning of the war espoused the side of “the South”
with all the fervor of his naturally ardent disposition. His friend,
“native and ... to the manner born,” was a decided Union man, and
because of his sentiments, met with various troubles during the
Confederate supremacy at the place, but the true-hearted Switzer was
steadfast in his friendship, at the risk of losing _caste_ with his
own party. In the afternoon of the day, he had concluded a visit
to the Unionist and was walking homeward, when to his astonishment
he saw three men on horseback and in blue uniforms, four hundred
yards distant, galloping towards him as if for life. “Halt!” they
shouted. But not heeding their call, he turned and ran to the room of
his friend, crying out as he entered it, “The Yankees are coming!”
Instantly the family assembled, and as quickly the soldiers in blue
were at the door. They were advance riders of the army under Maj.
Gen. Burnside, and being on the lookout for hostile soldiers in the
town, they had pursued the Switzer in the belief that he was one.
Through an upper window his friend looked out upon the troopers in
the yard, but they saw in the company gathered above, the man whom
they had followed, and immediately one of them, with face white from
excitement, raised his pistol and pointing it upward at the group
exclaimed, “There he is now! Stand out of the way, ladies!” The
native citizen stepped forward and said. “Don’t shoot! I am a Union
man.” The pistol was at once lowered, but the soldiers kept their
ground and must needs be talked with. The Switzer bravely said in
his imperfect English, that he would go down stairs and give himself
up, but his companion would go before, and opening the front door,
he assured the eager troopers that the man they supposed to be a
Confederate soldier, was only a citizen at the house as a visitor.
They were at once pacified, made apologies and rode away.
The United States army had indeed arrived, and to look upon it, the
delighted Union man sought without delay the principal street. At the
end of two squares he found the way barred by a sentinel. In the halt
thus imposed upon all persons, he was entertained by the outspoken
displeasure of the company--chiefly ladies of the neighborhood--at
the incoming of the “Yankees.” One of them--a truly amiable, but
for the time deeply offended matron--gave free vent to her feelings
until the current of her thoughts was diverted at the suggestion of
a bystander, that the town might well be thankful for the protection
the United States army afforded it from robbers. Only a few nights
before they had stolen from her a valuable pony. This recollection
turned her resentment from “Lincoln and his hordes” to the source, as
she thought, of all present woes to the country. “If it had not been
for South Carolina,” she complained, “we should not have had all this
trouble!”
Gen. Burnside, on his arrival, established his headquarters in a
large mansion recently vacated by its owner, which stood near the
principal street and had a spacious front yard. From its covered
porch a large United States flag was lifted up, and in its drooping
folds the welcoming crowd wrapped themselves with beaming faces.
Expressions of joy from the people rung upon the air. They hailed the
General as their deliverer from a hated power and the oppression it
inflicted; and also as the representative of their beloved nation,
clothed with its authority and armed with its sword. Some of them
were so glad that they scarcely knew what to do with themselves. In
the overflow of their emotions they could have clasped him in their
arms, or, if opportunity had served, have drawn him in a carriage
with their own hands all over the town, that everybody, men, women
and children, might look upon him. Meanwhile he bore himself with
dignity and gentleness. Briefly he addressed them with words suited
to the occasion and full of friendly sympathy. Then, his attentive
hearers, elated with joy as with new wine, were eager for more
discourse. An adjournment was made to the court-house, and from its
front several citizens addressed the assembly in the open air.
The expedition of Gen. Burnside into East Tennessee had been
conceived in his mind at least six months before it was made. He
took command of the department of the Ohio, at Cincinnati, March
25, 1863. It included Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Kentucky
(excepting west of the Tennessee River), and “all of East Tennessee
that he might at any time occupy.” At that date Gen. Pegram, with a
formidable cavalry force, had marched from East Tennessee across the
Cumberland River, had driven the United States forces to the north
of Kentucky River, and had taken possession of Danville and its
vicinity. In a few days, by direction of Gen. Burnside, Gen. Gilmore
compelled Gen. Pegram to retreat; and afterwards at Somerset, with
the co-operation of Gen. Manson, commanding a part of Gen. Boyle’s
forces, completely defeated Pegram, and made the Cumberland River
again the dividing line. Central Kentucky was for the next month
free from hostile forces. Early in May, upon the organization of the
troops in that State into the Twenty-third army corps, under Gen. G.
L. Hartsuff, Gen. Burnside at once commenced to make preparations
for moving into East Tennessee. On June 3d he left Cincinnati to
take command in person of the troops which were organizing for that
movement, and which consisted of the two divisions of the Ninth army
corps under Gen. Wilcox and a portion of the Twenty-third corps
under Gen. Hartsuff. On arriving at Lexington, Ky., he received an
order to send the Ninth corps to Gen. Grant, and in consequence,
the expedition to East Tennessee had to be deferred. After Col.
Sanders returned to Kentucky from his raid, “preparations were still
continued” by the General, “in the hope of being able to spare
sufficient force to go into East Tennessee.” But they were disturbed
by the approach of the rebel General, John H. Morgan, with a large
cavalry force, about the 1st of July, on his memorable raid through
Kentucky and Indiana into Ohio, which resulted in his surrender near
Steubenville, and the capture altogether of 3,000 men--three-fourths
of the troops with which he had entered Kentucky. While the United
States soldiers were absent in pursuit of Morgan, a considerable
force of rebel cavalry under Col. John S. Scott, went from East
Tennessee, crossed the Kentucky River and approached the Ohio,
evidently with the view of assisting Morgan on his expected return.
They were soon driven out of Kentucky with heavy loss, by Col.
Sanders’ cavalry after it came back from the pursuit of Morgan.
Then preparations were again begun by Gen. Burnside for a movement
into East Tennessee. As the troops were worn and scattered by their
recent fatiguing services, it required much labor and time to perfect
the organization necessary for that purpose. He appointed Gen. J.
D. Cox to take charge in his absence of the District of Ohio, Gen.
Wilcox of the District of Indiana, and Gen. Boyle of Kentucky, all
of whom he considered “officers of great skill and determination.”
On August 10th, he left his headquarters at Cincinnati to join the
column that was to march into East Tennessee. It consisted of the
Twenty-third army corps, commanded by Gen. Hartsuff, and on the 20th
was located as follows, viz.: White’s division at Columbia, Ky.;
Hascall’s division at Stamford; Carter’s division at Crab Orchard;
Graham’s cavalry at Glasgow; and Woolford’s cavalry at Somerset.
As ordered, Gen. Hartsuff moved his commands as follows: Hascall’s
division to Kingston, Tenn., by way of Somerset, Chitwood, Huntsville
and Montgomery; White’s division from Columbia to Montgomery, Tenn.,
by way of Creelsboro and Albany, Ky., and Jamestown, Tenn.; Graham’s
cavalry to join White by way of Burksville, Albany and Jamestown; and
Woolford’s cavalry brigade to guard the supply and ammunition trains
that were with Hascall’s division. Carter’s cavalry brigade, which
Gen. Burnside’s headquarters accompanied, was to move by way of Mt.
Vernon, London and Williamsburg, Ky., over the Jellico Mountains
to Chitwood, Huntsville, Montgomery and Kingston, Tenn., except
such portions as might be detached. These forces were directed to
meet at such times and places as not to interfere with each other’s
movements; and the whole work was performed with wonderful promptness
and accuracy, considering the great difficulties in the way, of
steep, rugged mountains, bad roads and short forage.
At Williamsburg, a cavalry force under Col. Byrd, of the 1st
Tennessee Regiment, was detached for the purpose of making a
demonstration on Knoxville, by way of Big Creek Gap, and at
Montgomery a cavalry force was detached with orders to pass through
Winter’s Gap and occupy Knoxville. The main body of the command moved
on the direct road to Kingston, which point the advance reached on
the 1st of September. Col. Foster arrived at Knoxville September 2nd,
captured several engines and cars, which he sent up the railroad
to Morristown, Greeneville and near Jonesboro, and took also large
quantities of supplies. Little resistance was met with by the Federal
troops, throughout their entire march from Kentucky--the enemy in all
cases retreating before them. Their main body, with Gen. Burnside
in person, moved forward from Kingston and reached Knoxville on the
3rd. In his opinion, “nothing could be better than the conduct of
the officers and men of the Twenty-third corps; from the time it
left Kentucky, their labors were most difficult, but were performed
with the greatest accuracy and efficiency.” The mountainous route
by which the army traveled was long and fatiguing, but it was the
only one possible. At the end of the journey the army was, he said,
“in the midst of friends;” it “found the people generally loyal and
disposed to do all in their power for its comfort and welfare.” At
the same time it was more than two hundred miles from the Ohio River,
and one hundred and fifty miles from the nearest point where the
mountains and ridges that traverse Southeastern Kentucky give place
to the fertile and garden-like “blue-grass region.” From beyond those
highlands, supplies for the army must be transported in wagons drawn
by mules, whose mongrel nature, hardy as it is, was so unequal to
the roughness and toil it had to bear in the work of transportation,
that the number of their dead bodies lying on sides of the road over
the mountains might be named Legion. It was currently estimated,
as aggregating from first to last, ten thousand. Although the army
occupied Knoxville and other important points in East Tennessee, it
had not exclusive possession of that region. The great body of the
population was friendly, but there were hostile troops in several
directions.
Before leaving Kentucky, Gen. Burnside had organized a division of
new troops under Col. De Courcy, to move down upon the north side of
Cumberland Gap, and if possible, occupy that position. On his own
arrival at Knoxville, he learned that the Gap was still occupied by
the enemy. He directed Gen. Shackelford to proceed to its south side,
and if within his power, capture the garrison. Gen. Shackelford on
arriving there, communicated with Col. De Courcy on the north side
by courier, and ascertained that the position was too strong to be
carried by the small force under his command. Gen. Burnside, upon
being informed of this fact, started at once for the Gap, with Col.
Gilbert’s brigade, and after a march of 60 miles in 53 hours, reached
it on September 9th. Dispositions were made to assault the place,
but before the next morning, he demanded of Col. Frazer, who was in
command of the garrison, that he should surrender. The demand was
complied with, and nearly 2,500 men were delivered over to the United
States, together with all the material and armament of the fort.
Shackelford’s and Gilbert’s brigades returned to Knoxville, and Col.
De Courcy’s division (then under command of Col. Lemert) was left as
a garrison at the Gap.
As the Commander-in-chief was drawing nigh to that place on the
9th, with Gilbert’s brigade, he was given an illustration, somewhat
extravagant in its manner, of the joy inspired among the loyal people
of East Tennessee by his coming, and of the respectful affection they
had for him personally.
An eccentric farmer, son of a learned judge at Knoxville, resided in
the autumn of 1863, near the Gap. Amusing stories are yet current
of his unaffected oddities. He was a man of much simplicity of
character, of high, impulsive temper, of great frankness, a warm and
steadfast friend, a strong hater, quick to speak his mind, and in his
earlier mature years, a ready fighter. It is related of him, that
having once quarreled with a neighbor who bore the not uncommon name
of John Smith, he contracted sometime afterwards a bodily illness
that brought him nigh to death’s door. Some of his friends advised,
in view of the probability that his end was at hand, that he should
be reconciled with his enemy. To this he consented, and accordingly
John Smith was sent for, and without delay, arrived. The two
adversaries “made friends”--shook hands and parted in strong doubt
of another meeting between them on earth. But the sick man reflected
that he might get well, and in his great candor, he called out from
the bed to his former enemy, who was about leaving the room: “I say.
Smith! you understand. This is all very well if I die; but if I get
well, it goes for nothing!”
He was a Union man during the war, from the crown of his head to
the soles of his feet. Nothing else could have been expected of one
who was accustomed to espouse a cause with his whole soul, who had
always been an intense Whig in politics, and whose love of country
was both unalloyed and fervent. Hearing that the Commander-in-chief
of the United States army was drawing near Cumberland Gap, he went
forth to meet him, and falling down upon his knees in the highway,
he expressed aloud to the General, by words and gestures, his
thankfulness, love and joy. It was with some astonishment, mingled
with gratification, that Gen. Burnside witnessed this exhibition
of patriotic feeling, to which he made a kindly response. And
afterwards, whenever others told of the incident, his amused memory
would light up his face with a broad smile, which was instantly
restrained, as if by a feeling of respect for the honest enthusiasm
that had expressed itself so oddly at the Gap. He seemed to think
that the occurrence had its serious as well as its funny side.
Before leaving Cumberland Gap, he received the following dispatch:
HEADQUARTERS 21ST ARMY CORPS,
CHATTANOOGA, Sept. 10, 1863, 2 A. M.
MAJ. GEN. A. E. BURNSIDE,
Commanding Department of Ohio--Tennessee River:
SIR--I am directed by the General commanding the Department of
the Cumberland to inform you that I am in full possession of this
place, having entered it yesterday at 12 M. without resistance.
The enemy has retreated in the direction of Rome, Ga., the last
of his force, cavalry, having left a few hours before my arrival.
At daylight I made a rapid pursuit with my corps, and hope that
he will be intercepted by the center and right, the latter of
which was at Rome. The General commanding department requests
that you will move down your cavalry and occupy the country
recently covered by Col. Minty, who will report particulars to
you, and who has been ordered to cross the river.
(Signed) T. L. CRITTENDEN,
For Maj. Gen. Commanding.
This information relieved Gen. Burnside from all apprehension
concerning Gen. Rosecrans. It also fixed his determination to occupy
all the important points above Knoxville, and if possible, reach the
Salt Works near Abingdon, Va. Sufficient forces were left at Kingston
and Loudon. Col. Byrd, who was stationed at Kingston, was ordered to
occupy Athens, and if possible, Cleveland, thus communicating with
the cavalry of Gen. Rosecrans, as requested in the above dispatch,
and as directed in another soon afterwards received from Gen. Halleck
at Washington, as follows:
Hold the gaps of the North Carolina mountains, the line of the
Holston River, or some point (if there be one) to prevent access
from Virginia; and connect with Gen. Rosecrans, at least with
your cavalry.
A heavy force under the Confederate General Jones, was then holding
points in the upper part of East Tennessee Valley, which, by the
above order, Gen. Burnside was to occupy. Col. Foster’s brigade
had been doing excellent service in keeping that force in check.
Gen. Hartsuff was directed to send at once all his infantry (except
Gilbert’s brigade), and also Woolford’s cavalry up the valley. Col.
Carter’s cavalry brigade was already well advanced in that direction.
On the 16th, at night, Gen. Burnside received another dispatch from
Gen. Halleck, sent on the 13th. It read:
It is important that all the available forces at your command be
pushed forward into East Tennessee; all your scattered forces
should be concentrated there; move down your infantry as rapidly
as possible towards Chattanooga to connect with Rosecrans.
Early on the morning of the 17th, Burnside sent orders by telegraph
for the Ninth corps and all other available troops then in Kentucky,
to join him at once. He also gave instructions for all the troops
then in upper East Tennessee and not in presence of the enemy, to
retrace their steps down the valley towards Rosecrans. The same
day he received another telegram from Halleck, dated the 14th, as
follows:
There are several reasons why you should reinforce Rosecrans with
all possible dispatch. It is believed the enemy will concentrate
to give him battle; you must be there to help him.
Burnside then repeated his order concerning the troops up the valley.
Having already started to take command of them in person, and
efficiently to promote the purpose of their movement, he proceeded
beyond Jonesboro to near the Watauga River. When arrived at the
extreme advance of his command, he saw no way of extricating it from
its situation, except by attacking the enemy’s position at Watauga
bridge. A cavalry brigade under Col. Foster was sent around on the
morning of the 23rd, to threaten the enemy’s rear, who on that night
burnt the bridge and evacuated the position. Immediately Burnside set
in motion all the United States troops, except a small portion of
cavalry, on the way to aid and relieve Rosecrans. The following day
he returned to Knoxville.
His movements were watched from Richmond. On the day when he received
Halleck’s telegram of the 14th, a close observer at that city wrote:
“It is said the enemy is evacuating East Tennessee, concentrating, I
suspect, for battle with Bragg.”[32]
It may easily be seen that it was impossible that the obedience
promptly given by Burnside to Halleck’s order, could avail in helping
Rosecrans, as intended. The United States troops, which were in
the upper country of East Tennessee, according to instructions
before given to Burnside, were from 150 to 200 miles distant from
Chicamauga, where Rosecrans was to do battle, and they could not
travel so far in the very short time before that battle began,
even if they were moved towards the spot as rapidly as possible.
Afterwards, when Rosecrans had established himself in Chattanooga,
many dispatches passed between Halleck and Burnside, in reference
to the latter’s going to strengthen and assist Rosecrans, and
some misunderstandings occurred in regard to the purport of those
dispatches. Gen. Burnside, in his report to the War Department, gives
the underlying reason. He says: “I was averse to doing what would
in any way weaken our hold in East Tennessee, and he (Halleck) was
anxious lest Rosecrans should not be able to hold Chattanooga. He
(Rosecrans) was not disturbed at Chattanooga, and we held our ground
in East Tennessee, so that what occurred in no way affected the
result.”
By the 30th of September, the whole of the Ninth army corps
arrived, numbering about 6,000 men. Previous to that date, Gen.
White’s division had been sent to Loudon, Col. Woolford’s cavalry
had reinforced Col. Byrd, and they were instructed to connect with
Rosecrans’ cavalry; Gen. Carter held Bull’s Gap, which was then the
most advanced position of the United States troops up the valley,
and Col. Haskell was in support at Morristown. Many of the men were
suffering from want of clothing, for there was great difficulty
in getting sufficient supplies across the mountains, and the
temperature of the air was frosty. On October 5th, Gen. Wilcox
arrived at Cumberland Gap with four new regiments of Indiana troops.
He was ordered to Morristown, and thence to Bull’s Gap, and to him
Col. Haskin’s brigade was directed to report from Morristown. Gen.
Burnside had determined to push his advance farther up the valley,
and with this purpose he sent the Ninth corps, under Brig. Gen., R.
B. Potter, in that direction, together with all the cavalry under
Gen. Shackelford, except Byrd’s and Woolford’s brigades. A junction
of all these forces was made at Bull’s Gap, where Gen. Burnside
arrived in person on the 9th, and on the following morning an
advance movement was ordered. At Blue Springs, between Bull’s Gap
and Greeneville, the enemy was found in heavy force and in a strong
position between the wagon road and the railway to Greeneville. The
United States cavalry occupied him in skirmishing until late in the
afternoon. Col. Foster was sent, with instructions to establish
his brigade in the rear of the enemy, on the line over which the
latter would be obliged to cross in retreating, and at a point near
Rheatown. An attack from the front was delayed until sufficient time
had passed, probably for those instructions to be fulfilled. After
5 P. M., Gen. Ferrero’s division of Gen. Potter’s command, moved
forward in the most dashing manner, driving the enemy from his first
line, and compelled him to retreat that night. Gen. Burnside pursued
early in the morning, driving his foes again beyond the Watauga
River, where he directed the United States cavalry to hold them.
Col. Foster’s brigade met with serious difficulties upon its special
errand, chiefly in rough roads, and did not reach its intended point
of establishment in the rear ground and check the enemy in his
retreat by night on the 9th, but it joined the pursuing forces next
morning.[33] The cavalry was left in the advance, supported by Col.
Raskin’s brigade of infantry at Jonesboro, Gen. Wilcox was left at
Greeneville, and the Ninth corps returned to Knoxville.
Nothing of importance occurred in the region of this fight until the
1st of November, when the outposts at Kingsport and Blountville were
driven in, and in consequence the road from Kingsport to Rogersville
was left unguarded. A heavy force of the enemy under Gen. S. Jones
moved down that road, surprised a brigade of United States cavalry
under Col. K. Garrard at Rogersville, and completely routed it. Col.
Garrard, with his shattered forces, retreated to Morristown, and as
the strength of the force which attacked him was unknown to Gen.
Burnside, he prudently directed Gen. Wilcox to fall back to Bull’s
Gap and hold that position. From that time until the 17th of the
month, operations were confined to cavalry fighting, skirmishing and
foraging.
West of Knoxville, on the south side of the Tennessee River, below
Loudon, the enemy were very active during the early part of October.
On the 19th of that month, Gen. Burnside had directions to report
to Gen. Grant, commanding Division of Mississippi, concerning the
situation and operations of his forces. This he did, and at the
same time sent a flag of truce through Col. Woolford’s lines,
whose headquarters were at Philadelphia, Tenn. The enemy’s cavalry
took advantage of the flag, made an attack upon Col. Woolford, and
captured from 300 to 400 of his men and some mountain howitzers. On
the 28th, the forces at Loudon were moved to the north side of the
Tennessee River, and the pontoon bridge was taken up and transported
to Knoxville. There it was thrown across the Tennessee, and proved of
immense service during the siege. The indications at that date were
that Bragg was sending a considerable force against Burnside. The
latter reinforced Kingston with Col. Mott’s brigade of infantry, left
Gen. White and his command at Loudon, and posted Gen. Potter with the
Ninth corps at Lenoir’s, about five miles east of Loudon. All the
available cavalry force at Knoxville was thrown on the south side
of the Tennessee River, with instructions to guard it down to the
junction of Little Tennessee and Tennessee rivers opposite Lenoir’s.
And in order to enable the United States forces to communicate with
each other, Gen. Potter was instructed to build a pontoon bridge
over the Tennessee just above the mouth of the Little Tennessee.
That was done with great expedition, under superintendence of Col.
O. E. Babcock. Some correspondence was carried on between Generals
Grant, Halleck and Burnside as to the proper points to be occupied in
East Tennessee, and a visit to Burnside’s headquarters followed from
Col. Wilson, of Grant’s staff, by order of his chief, accompanied by
Hon. Chas. A. Dana, Assistant Secretary of War. Burnside gave them
his reasons in full for desiring to hold Knoxville in preference
to Kingston. They concurred with him in that conclusion. They all
agreed it would be proper to recommend that both places be held, if
possible, but certainly Knoxville. At that date it was definitely
known that Longstreet was moving against Burnside.
Sometime before. Gen. Shackelford had been ordered to report from
upper East Tennessee at Knoxville, to take command there of all the
United States cavalry, and on the approach of Longstreet, Haskin’s
brigade was ordered to that place. This left Gen. Wilcox, with his
new division, with some newly recruited North Carolinians, and also
Foster’s division of cavalry, composed of Graham’s and Garrard’s
brigades, in the country above Knoxville. The whole command in that
region, though it consisted of good men, was in bad condition, for
want of almost everything that was needful. Burnside, when he learned
certainly that Longstreet was advancing towards him, directed Wilcox
to arrange for the march of his command to Cumberland Gap, in the
event telegraphic communication between him and Gen. Burnside’s
headquarters should be broken. On that night, November 16, it was
cut off, at the same time that the siege of Knoxville was about to
begin.
The United States Army under Gen. Rosecrans had been saved on the
20th of September by the firmness of Gen. Thomas. It was then shut
up in Chattanooga by Gen. Bragg, who reported to Richmond that he
expected its “speedy evacuation” of that place, “for want of food and
forage.” Whether Bragg thought that, as he said, he held his enemy
at his mercy, and therefore could weaken his own force for a distant
purpose, or whether, as Gen. Grant thought probable, the movement
of troops to that end was ordered by Jefferson Davis, in default of
his endeavor to reconcile a serious difference between Bragg and
Longstreet, a heavy force, including cavalry, was detached from
Bragg’s army and sent under Longstreet to capture Burnside.[34]
The United States General who was the intended victim of that
undertaking was not blind to the possibility that his military
occupation of East Tennessee would shortly be brought to an end by
a hostile force from the southwest. The bare thought of such an
event deeply grieved him, not only as a disaster to the Federal
Government, but also as a great calamity to the Union people of East
Tennessee. A short time before Longstreet’s march upon Knoxville
began, Burnside in private conversation with a citizen-friend, spoke
with strong feeling of the possibility that he would not be able
to continue to those people his protection. Had they known that not
without reason he thought such a contingency existed, they would
have been as deeply pained as he was, at the idea of his departure.
He had been among them only about ten weeks, but in that brief time
he had won their hearts. He had made good use of his opportunities
to establish the military supremacy of the United States, to extend
its area in East Tennessee and to hold it in possession against
enemies. He had also, without putting aside the dignity becoming his
official position, manifested the kindly sympathy he sincerely felt
for the Union people who had suffered for more than two years under
Confederate rule, he had permitted a healthy freedom of approach
to his presence, had listened when at leisure to their griefs and
wrongs, had now and then, as his public duties permitted, partaken
of their hospitalities, and in a word, had in various ways showed
that he was their friend. Everywhere he was looked upon with respect
and affection. Even among citizens, at heart hostile to the flag he
defended, were some who admired and liked him. They could not well be
otherwise than content with him, for he visited them with no needless
severities and his judgments were reasonable. His native magnanimity
of soul would have lifted him above seeking revenge for his private
wrongs suffered from the conflict, but he had no such wrongs. The
bitterness and animosities which he found the war had produced among
neighbors in East Tennessee, met with no favorable response from his
own heart. He could not fully understand them, and spoke of their
existence with mingled surprise and regret.
In the same connection he related that in his recent march from
Kentucky, he pitched his tent at the base of the mountain on the
Tennessee side. By and by, a number of the mountaineer Unionists
gathered not far off, and soon, a few of them stepped out from the
company and approached the General as a committee. They said to him,
“General, we want you to give us authority to go down here into
the valley, and carry off the hogs and cattle we find there.” This
request the General refused in few words. “But,” they said, “that is
the way they have treated us. And we will not make any mistakes. We
will carry off only the cattle and hogs of the rebels.” The General
replied, “That is not my way of carrying on war;” and the petitioners
withdrew very much disappointed.
General Burnside was buoyant with hope that the Union of the States
would not only be preserved, but be stronger and better from the
triumphant conclusion of the war in its behalf. He once expressed
an opinion, which did not show great sagacity as a worldly-wise
politician. It was the reflection, at the moment, of his own
generous, magnanimous spirit, rather than a deliberate conclusion
of his judgment from careful weighing of future possibilities. In
conversation with a few friends concerning the ruinous losses by
citizens generally of personal property, he ventured the prediction
that “when the war is over, everybody will be paid.”
Business at headquarters was necessarily alive and active. Gen.
Samuel P. Carter was Provost Marshal General. His office was a place
of many affairs, and was visited by various applicants and their
friends. There were citizens from near at hand and from a distance,
who wanted to take the oath of allegiance to the United States,
some of whom had been before of doubtful loyalty, and who desired,
when they had passed through that process of political purgation,
to carry home with them an official certificate of their title to
the protection by the United States Government, of their persons and
property. There were men from town and country who wanted to “go
North” on business, or to get away from the strife, its turmoils,
uncertainties and troubles, or to leave for Europe. There were men
under arrest to be dealt with, or recusant citizens to be allowed
the freedom of the town on parole or to be held as hostages, and
others still who invited by their belligerent and dangerous speech
a compulsory trip for themselves to Camp Chase or preferably into
the Confederate lines. Then there were men of known loyalty, who
had complaints to make, or claims to be adjusted, or this, that
or something else done or prevented or remedied. Citizens who had
influence with the military authorities, were kept busy in the
service of their Confederate friends and neighbors. To some of such
workers it was a labor of love, but probably not to all. Instances
occurred, if rumor were true, of ten dollars each being charged for
introducing people to General Carter. There were also orders to
issue, official reports to receive, and troops to be sent here and
there. Sometimes Union citizens, overflowing with patriotic zeal, had
news to tell at headquarters, which they thought to be important.
If now and then their zeal outstripped their discretion, it was
little wonder that the information they carried should be lacking
in accuracy. No doubt such instances of unintentional but hurtful
mistakes were rare, for military life and discipline forbade their
repetition even by civilians. One case was visited with a reprimand
to the offender that was justly severe upon him and amusing to others.
Late one night a strong partisan interrupted the serenity at
headquarters with the exciting statement that the Confederates had
marched upon Maryville, in Blount County, 17 miles distant, where
were only a few United States soldiers. Quickly a sufficient body
of cavalry were summoned from their beds into their saddles and
dispatched to repel the invading force. The alarm proved to be false;
no Confederate troops were found in or near Maryville. The next day.
General Burnside, on meeting his deceived and deceiving informant,
said to him, “Mr. ----, you bring me a great deal of news. Now, I
don’t want you to bring me any more, for _the average is bad_!”
It has been said that all religion springs from a sense of
dependence upon the Supreme Being. We may doubt the truth of the
postulate, but certainly all true religion includes that sense,
and it had its proper place in the mind of Gen. Burnside. While
his personal and social conduct in East Tennessee was upright and
blameless, he was not forgetful of Him who “doeth according to His
will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth,”
and to thoughts of whom, the responsibilities of his position, its
difficulties and dangers tended to move him more actively. He once
said to a friend during that period, that he “loved sometimes to
retire to his own room, there to lift up his mind and heart to God,
and to give himself to quiet meditation.” The impression made by his
conversations, his reverent participation in the worship of God and
hearing of the gospel, was that without much knowledge of religious
doctrine, he accepted in faith the truth of Christianity.
Immediately after his first arrival at Knoxville, Burnside sent to a
certain Christian minister, who because of his Union sentiments had
been excluded for precisely two years from his pastoral charge, a
written invitation to fill the unoccupied pulpit of his own church
on the next Sunday. The request was complied with--the day being
the 6th of September. By one of those curious coincidences which
have been noticed to occur at different times in similar religious
services, when the portion of the Psalms for that morning came to be
responsively read, the minister unexpectedly to himself and to the
surprised attention of some in the congregation who knew all the
facts of the case, began, as prescribed, with the words:
“I will magnify thee, O Lord; for thou hast set me up, and not made
my foes to triumph over me.”
CHAPTER XIV.
GRANT AT CHATTANOOGA--PERIL OF BURNSIDE--THEIR
CO-OPERATION--LONGSTREET AT LOUDON--BURNSIDE RETREATS AND IS
PURSUED--BATTLE OF CAMPBELL’S STATION--MILITARY CONDITIONS AT
KNOXVILLE--ESCAPE OF LEADING UNIONISTS.
“Once this soft turf, this rivulet’s sands,
Were trampled by a hurrying crowd,
And fiery hearts and armed hands
Encountered in the battle cloud.
Ah! never shall the land forget
How gushed the life-blood of her brave:--
Gushed, warm with hope and courage yet,
Upon the soil they sought to save.”
WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT.
The departure of Longstreet from Bragg against Burnside, taking
with him twenty thousand men, or more, including 5,000 cavalry
under Wheeler occurred on the 4th of November. It was very soon
known at the United States headquarters at Chattanooga and at the
White House in Washington. Grant was eagerly desirous to extend
relief to Burnside, but it was not in his power. That end would
have been gained by inflicting a defeat upon Bragg, against whom
he could not move until joined by Sherman, who was then on his way
with reinforcements from Memphis to Chattanooga. Before Longstreet
started on his expedition, dispatches were constantly coming to
Grant from the alarmed authorities at Washington, urging him to
“do something for Burnside’s relief;” calling attention to the
importance of holding East Tennessee, saying that the President
was much concerned for the protection of the loyal people in that
section, &c., &c. To this statement in Grant’s Personal Memoirs, he
adds: “We had not at Chattanooga animals to pull a single piece of
artillery, much less a supply train. Reinforcements could not help
Burnside, because he had neither supplies nor ammunition sufficient
for them: hardly, indeed, bread and meat for the men he had. There
was no relief possible for him, except by repelling the enemy from
Missionary Ridge and about Chattanooga.”
After Longstreet’s movements began, the Washington authorities were
still more solicitous for the safety of the United States army at
Knoxville, and were importunate by telegraph with Grant to “do
something” to succor it. He was disposed to do all he could for that
purpose. On November 7th, he ordered Gen. Thomas to make “an attack
on the northern end of Missionary Ridge with all the force” he could
“bring to bear upon it, and when that is carried, to threaten and
even attack, if possible, the enemy’s line of communication between
Dalton and Cleveland.” This was with a view to “force the return
of the (Longstreet’s) troops that had gone up the valley.” But
Thomas with his chief engineer, William Farrar Smith, and chief
of artillery, Brannan, looked carefully over the ground, on which
the proposed attack would have to be made. They became convinced
that it was not feasible, and Smith so reported to Grant at once,
and the order was countermanded. In his official report Grant says:
“After a thorough reconnoisance of the ground, it was deemed utterly
impracticable to make the move until Sherman could get up.... I was
forced to leave Burnside for the present to contend against superior
forces of the enemy.” Longstreet on November 13th was still at
Loudon, which he could reach by railroad. Grant thought that probably
he tarried so long at the latter place in obedience to orders, the
point being eligible for the reason, that if necessary, he could
speedily return to the support of Bragg, or otherwise proceed to
Knoxville, 29 miles distant, by the common highway. His presence at
Loudon was definitely known at the last named date.
On the morning of the 14th (Saturday), Gen. Burnside left Knoxville,
accompanied by his visitors, the Hon. Mr. Dana and Col. Wilson, by
the Hon. Horace Maynard and others, to Lenoir’s, five miles east of
Loudon, where they parted from him. He found that Longstreet was
building a bridge from the west to the east bank of the Tennessee
River, at Hough’s Ferry, just below Loudon, and had thrown a force
across in advance of the main body of his army. Burnside sent Gens.
Potter and White to drive it back, which by nightfall they did,
the day being consumed in skirmishing. He had previously proposed
by telegraph to Grant that he, Burnside, should draw Longstreet on
to Knoxville, so as to separate him at a greater distance from his
base, and prevent him from going as quickly as he might from Loudon,
to give help to Bragg, if needed. The suggestion was approved by
Grant, who in reply dispatched to Burnside on the 14th, that Sherman
would be ready to move from Bridgeport towards Chattanooga by the
following Tuesday, 17th, at furthest. Grant’s dispatch continued: “If
you can hold Longstreet in check until he, Sherman, gets up, or by
skirmishing and falling back, can avoid serious loss to yourself, and
gain time, I will be able to force the enemy back from here and place
a force between Longstreet and Bragg that must inevitably make the
former take to the mountain passes by every available road to get to
his supplies.”
General Grant estimated at its true worth the advantage he would
derive in his intended battle of Missionary Ridge, from the absence
of Longstreet and his veteran soldiers. He has written that “the
victory at Chattanooga was accomplished more easily than was expected
by reason of Bragg’s making several grave mistakes,” and the first of
the three, he proceeds to state, was “sending away his ablest corps
commander with over twenty thousand troops.”
General Burnside in his official report, says in connection with a
recital of his first encounter with Longstreet near Loudon: “Knowing
the purpose of Gen. Grant as I did, I decided that he could be
better served by drawing Longstreet farther away from Bragg than by
checking him at the river, and I accordingly decided to withdraw
my forces and retreat leisurely towards Knoxville, and soon after
daylight on the 15th the whole command was on the road.” His object
was attained. As he retired, his adversary pursued, except that
Longstreet sent Wheeler’s cavalry by way of Maryville to seize the
heights on the south side of the river, opposite and commanding
Knoxville. Wheeler surprised and captured at Maryville, the Eleventh
Kentucky. Gen. Parkes with a part of the 23rd corps, and a body of
cavalry under Gen. Sanders had been left at Knoxville to protect
it. Sanders checked the progress of Wheeler and fell back upon the
heights south of the river, where he and Parkes defeated Wheeler, who
retreated to join Longstreet by way of Louisville. To that village,
Longstreet had tried to have boats towed up the Tennessee River, but
the current was too rapid.
New life was given the United States troops at the front by
Burnside’s coming to them. As he went forward, he passed by a large
body of them, near Lenoir’s Station. “Under his slouched hat,” says
one of his observers, “there was a sterner look than there was wont
to be.” “There is trouble ahead,” said the men: but the cheers which
rose from regiment to regiment, as, with his staff and battle flag he
swept past, told the confidence which all felt in “old Burnie.” Their
strong trust in him was also shown when he arrived near Loudon and
took the chief command. One of them relates:
“Notwithstanding the continued rain and the heavy roads, the presence
of our commander produced a noticeable change in the spirit of the
troops. An hour before, the men were deliberately covering themselves
with mud, as if that were an appropriate mourning for their departed
hopes, and their guns seemed naturally to seek a reverse position.
But now they were all animation, and a slip here and a fall there,
was made the cause of laughing, notwithstanding the rain. I think the
secret of it was, that we reposed in our leader an almost perfect
confidence resulting from long and tried associations. Few corps
commanders have ever won the affection of their men as Burnside did.”
The retreating march on the 15th was made with difficulty. Clouded
heavens in the morning, soon gave forth heavy rain, followed by a
cold north wind. The roads were almost impassable. Regiments of
infantry had often to pull the artillery with ropes from out of
the deep, stiff mud in which it stuck. Now and then, horses were
held fast by the tough, clay soil, until a detail of men came to
their deliverance. Soldiers lost their shoes in it, and on running
back to recover them were greeted by the merry laughter of their
companions. At Lenoir’s, the army halted for the night of Sunday. The
air was bitter cold. To avoid observation only one fire was allowed
to each company. The hours of darkness passed away in broken rest
and petty alarms. In the early morning, one hundred wagons, whose
mules were needed to draw the artillery, and also as much of the
supplies--bacon, coffee, sugar--as the soldiers could not carry,
were burned. Officers’ baggage, books--everything that could not
well be transported--were destroyed. The trains were started for
Knoxville, guarded by the 79th New York Highlanders. Then a number of
military divisions and the artillery, moved forward to the village of
Campbell’s Station, eight miles distant. A brigade guarded the rear,
and at one time was severely pressed by its enemies, until it turned
and drove them back. In the struggle. Col. Smith of the 20th Michigan
was killed at the head of his regiment after most able conduct.
Not far west of Campbell’s Station another highway from Kingston
forms a junction with the road they traveled. It was believed
that Longstreet would try to reach that point first, in order to
cut Burnside off from Knoxville. Therefore, the latter sent Gen.
Hartraupt with his division and Col. Biddle’s cavalry, in advance to
the fork of the roads. They were successful in anticipating their
foes, and held the point of junction until all the United States
troops and their trains had passed, but not without some fighting.
Among their losses by death, was one specially lamented, that of
Lieut. P. Marion Holmes, of Charlestown, Mass., a member of the
Bunker Hill Club, who bore on his person its badge, engraved with the
line,
“_Dulce et decorum est, pro patria mori_,”
quoted by Warren just before the battle of Bunker Hill. He is
described as “frank, courteous, manly, brave; one who had won all
hearts.”
While that contest was going on, Col. Loring reconnoitered the ground
near Campbell’s Station and Gen. Potter planted his artillery there.
Gen. Burnside also proceeded to dispose his troops at the village for
battle, as he felt it to be necessary to check his enemy in order
that his own trains might get to Knoxville. His infantry was drawn
up in line between two ranges of hills nearly a mile apart. Gen.
Ferrero’s division. Ninth corps, was placed on the right of the road.
Gen. White’s division, Twenty-third corps, held the centre, and Gen.
Hartraupt’s division. Ninth corps, was on his left. The batteries
were chiefly on the right of the road, only one of the five being
on its left. At noon Longstreet’s troops advanced out of the woods
to the attack in two lines of battle, with a line of skirmishers
in front. As the whole field of action lay exposed, the panorama
was very interesting for its scenic effect. When the Confederate
troops had emerged from the forest, their heavy and well-dressed
ranks went forward rapidly with colors flying. Benjamin’s battery
on Burnside’s right and Roemer’s battery on his left, opened fire
upon them immediately with shot, which tore gaps in their ranks, but
their line closed up, and they still advanced. Then the batteries,
with accuracy, poured forth shell, which broke them up so badly
that nothing else could be done but to fall back, which they did in
confusion. The Confederate batteries were brought into service and
played with some precision upon the Union infantry, and an artillery
duel ensued that made the very hills tremble.[35]
Under cover of the smoke and the woods a strong column moved against
and pressed a brigade of Burnside’s right, which changed its front,
and by its resistance, with the aid of double charges of canister
shot from artillery at short range, his enemy’s column was checked,
and retreated.
Longstreet then maneuvred to turn the Federal left. As there was
some high ground on that hand, commanding Burnside’s position, which
he saw his enemy was endeavoring to occupy, and he could not, for
lack of men, extend his own line to prevent the threatened movement,
he moved his troops and established a new line upon a ridge nearly
three-fourths of a mile to the rear. This was done under a heavy
artillery fire from his enemy, but with no disorder. It was about
4 P. M. Quickly a fierce attack was made upon the new line, not in
front, but flank and rear, at the extreme left. That was handsomely
repulsed. His enemy went back in disorder, and did not renew the
fight. The United States troops were much elated by their success
against odds, Burnside having had only about five thousand men in
the battle, and his adversary from two to three times that number.
He states in his official report: “Our loss in killed, wounded and
missing was about three hundred, and that of the enemy must have
been very severe, as he was the attacking force.”[36] The “Rebellion
Record” extols the military maneuvres of both armies for skill and
beauty--as showing admirable discipline. Although comparatively an
insignificant fight, “it certainly will rank among those contests in
which real generalship was displayed. Every motion, every evolution,
was made with the precision and regularity of the precision on a
chess-board.” The result was decisive. Burnside’s line of retreat was
saved, and he was given the few precious hours that were absolutely
necessary to further fortify, and so, to hold Knoxville.
To that town, fifteen miles distant from Campbell’s Station, the
United States troops moved off silently, as soon as night fell.
During the night before at Lenoir’s, following upon a day of
weariness and anxiety, neither officers nor men had slept. No one
could speak to his fellow, and in the thick darkness through the
long, long night, they lay on their arms waiting for the morning,
which ushered in a day of hard fighting. When that was ended, their
soldierly patience and power of physical endurance were subjected to
the additional test of marching over very muddy roads for another
dark night. Some of them fell asleep from utter weariness as they
walked, but without losing their places in the ranks. About four
o’clock on the morning of Monday, November 17th, they reached
their destination. In the night, General Burnside arrived at his
headquarters.
In the afternoon of the preceding Saturday startling rumors were
circulated in Knoxville, that a considerable body of Confederate
cavalry had appeared on the south side of the river opposite the
town, and had attacked Col. Woolford with success, capturing a
portion of his regiment. It was said, “they are rapidly moving upon
the town,” “they are already at Rockford, only nine or ten miles away
and still coming.” At the same time Gen. Shackelford could be seen
with his staff upon Gay Street, riding towards the pontoon bridge,
which had been transferred from the Tennessee river at Loudon, and
thrown across it at Knoxville. Placed by Gen. Burnside in command
of all the cavalry, the reason of his then taking the field was the
arrival of Gen. Wheeler, sent by Gen. Longstreet from Loudon to take
possession of the heights on the south side of the river opposite
Knoxville. Considering the importance and peril of Gen. Shackelford’s
errand, he appeared to a citizen observer, cool and calm to the point
of indifference. Readers of romantic fiction and lovers of American
chivalry, are accustomed to associate with their ideas of the warrior
and hero a gay, prancing steed, of fiery temper and proud head. The
horse he rode was a gentle, well-conditioned pacer, with a short
tail, and the _tout ensemble_ of such a quadruped, capable of
serving equally well any and every member of a family. The chief of
cavalry himself, as he rode along the street, was composedly smoking
one of the short-stemmed pipes which were extensively used by the
soldiers. As the conflict on the south side ended in possession of
its hills being retained by the Federal troops, the unpleasant fears
Union citizens felt concerning the capture of the town were shortly
dispelled: but with the morrow similar apprehensions were aroused
among a few leading public men upon being informed of Longstreet’s
advance with his main army and of Burnside’s retreat upon Knoxville.
[Illustration: MAJ. GEN. S. P. CARTER.]
General Saml. P. Carter was of course advised of those movements
and was strongly impressed, as well he may have been, with the
imminent danger there was, that the United States army with only
12,000 men, would be unable to hold the town against 20,000 men
including cavalry. In his regard for the safety of certain prominent
Union citizens, he sent them word of the disastrous contingency
shortly ahead, and, if they chose to escape the consequences of its
occurrence, that he would provide them an escort as far as expedient
on their way to the more favored clime of Kentucky. At such a time,
men whose active locomotion may deliver them from imprisonment that
might end in death, are apt to
“Stand not upon the order of their going,
But go at once.”
Their dislike to travel night and day by wretched roads, over
mountains and unbridged rivers, and their sensitiveness to ridicule
for imputed cowardice, are not strong enough to overcome their love
of personal liberty and life. Many or all of them who received the
Provost Marshal General’s message--some of whom were of less note but
still liable to violent treatment if they were captured--speedily
took their leave of home and its comforts and were conducted by Capt.
A. J. Ricks, eight miles to the picket lines. Among the refugees were
John Baxter, William G. Brownlow, Samuel R. Rodgers, Thos. A. R.
Nelson, O. P. Temple, John M. Fleming, Samuel Morrow and M. M. Miller
of Knoxville, and John Netherland and Absalom A. Kyle of Rogersville.
It was after nightfall and raining heavily when they started, and
their transit on horseback through the darkness upon a road shortly
before traveled and reduced to mire by 6,000 or 7,000 hogs that
had been brought in to supply the army, could not fail to attract
attention from people of the country through which they passed.[37]
Despite all perils and difficulties the journey was at length safely
accomplished.
The company thus delivered from impending harm, might have been
joined at the start by some other citizens of less prominence, had
they been included in the message and given an opportunity to depart.
One of that description had been informed in succession by his
personal friends of both parties, that it was intended, if the town
fell into the hands of Longstreet, to seize and hold him as hostage
for a contumacious enemy of the United States whom Gen. Burnside had
found it necessary to send to Camp Chase. He gave no heed to the
warning, because he rested in his strong impression of the town’s
security from enemies, but this mental persuasion was disturbed on
the afternoon preceding the exodus of noted public men, as just
related. Passing along the street in utter ignorance of events then
transpiring between the hostile armies not far from Loudon, he met
a fellow-citizen of capricious loyalty, who had been known as a
“Southern man” during the Confederate _regime_, but was understood
to have publicly thanked the Lord upon the advent of Gen. Burnside’s
army, for “bringing in our friends.” In the conversation that ensued
on the street, the person of versatile opinions indulged in such
fault-finding with the United States Government, its policy, &c., as
to suggest a strong suspicion that he was adapting his sails to a
contrary wind. Acting upon this conjecture, the citizen who had been
forewarned of his danger if the town should change its masters, went
immediately to the house of Gen. Carter, and found his staff in a
state of unusual excitement. In reply to his question, “What is the
matter?” the visitor was told, “Longstreet is marching upon Knoxville
with, it is said, 20,000 men. Burnside is retreating from Loudon,
fighting as he comes. We do not know what is going to happen.” Said
the citizen, “I have been told that I had better get out of the town
in the event it is to be captured. Should anything more of importance
occur, I shall be glad to know it.” After night, a few hours later,
two gentlemen called on him. They were aides, one of whom said, “We
have been sent by Gen. Carter to say, that you must leave town for
Kentucky early to-morrow morning.”
After a night’s deliberation, though very loth to leave home, wife
and children, he decided that the direction of his military friend
called for some obedience, and with reluctant mind and slow hands
he made preparations for the journey. These were not completed
before the second morning, but when all was ready he decided, before
starting, to say “good-bye” to Gen. Burnside. Near a large gate that
opened from the street upon a wide yard in front of headquarters,
the Commander-in-chief was found about to mount his horse. His brows
were knit, stern determination sat upon his face, and his whole soul
seemed to be wrapped in earnest self-communion. The fighting had
begun west of the town between his troops and Longstreet’s and he was
on the eve of starting to the front. The citizen saw at once that
then was not the time to speak. He was content to keep at a distance
and thoughtfully contemplate the man to whom the moment was evidently
a supreme one. Perhaps it was a critical one in the destiny of many
people in the region for whose defence the General had been appointed.
The civilian may be forgiven, if as he stood and looked at the man
of war going forth to conflict, he should be reminded of Job’s words
descriptive of the war horse:
“He goeth on to meet the armed men,
He mocketh at fear and is not affrighted,
Neither turneth he back from the sword.”
As the citizen stood and looked, there came upon him the irresistible
conviction that Burnside would hold the town! Immediately turning
upon his heel, he went home and sent to the stable the horses which
were waiting to take him to Kentucky.
CHAPTER XV.
SIEGE OF KNOXVILLE--ITS DEFENDERS AND DEFENCES--COL. SANDERS--HIS
DEATH AND FUNERAL--PROGRESS OF THE SIEGE--BURNING OF NORTH
KNOXVILLE.
“Flag of the free hearts’ hope and home,
By angel hands to valor given;
Thy stars have lit the welkin dome,
And all thy hues were born in heaven;
Forever float that standard sheet!
Where breathes the foe but falls before us,
With Freedom’s soil beneath our feet,
And Freedom’s banner floating o’er us.”
JOSEPH RODMAN DRAKE.
From Campbell’s Station, Gen. Burnside, on November 16th, sent
instructions to Capt. Orlando M. Poe, chief engineer of the
Department of the Ohio, who was at Knoxville, to select lines
of defence for the town, in readiness for the troops to occupy
positions. This order Poe was able, from previous and frequent
examinations of the ground and his familiar knowledge of the army, to
fulfil quickly. Before leaving Kentucky he had organized an engineer
battalion from the 23d corps and by great efforts had brought over
the mountains engineering tools.
Knoxville is situated chiefly on a hill, about two hundred feet high
on the north bank of the Tennessee river. The hill, at its top, has
a wide table land, and is separated on the east and west by creeks
from even higher hills that rise up from the river. In the valley
immediately on the north, runs the road of the East Tennessee,
Virginia and Georgia Railway Company, beyond which the town was then
but partially extended.[38]
Capt. Sims’, 24th Indiana, and Henshaw’s battery (the first of
six and the second of two James’ rifle guns), and also four brass
six-pounders, occupied Temperance Hill on the east side of First
Creek, supported by Chapin’s Brigade of White’s Division, and Riley’s
Brigade of Hascall’s Division of the Twenty-third army corps.
Shield’s battery, six twelve-pound Napoleons, and part of Wilder’s,
occupied Mabry Hill, which is higher and farther east than Temperance
Hill. These were supported by the brigades of Cols. Hoskins and
Casement, extending from Bell’s house on the northern base of Mabry
Hill to the river south of it. One section of twelve-pound howitzers
was planted on Flint Hill, nigh to that point on the river manned by
soldiers of loyal Tennessee regiments. On the west of the main town
and Second Creek, Roemer’s battery of four three-inch rifle guns,
occupied College Hill near the river, supported by Morrison’s brigade
of the First Division, Ninth army corps. At the fort on the hill-top
northwest of College Hill, were placed Benjamin’s battery of four
twenty-pound Parrotts, and Buckley’s battery of six thirteen-pound
Napoleons, supported by Humphrey’s and Christ’s brigades, of the
First Division, Ninth army corps. The ground occupied by this
Division extended from the river near the mouth of Second Creek
around to the point where the East Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia
Railway crosses Second Creek, northwest of the older town, and was
under the command of Gen. Ferrero. Gitting’s battery was on Vine
street, overlooking the railroad depot on the north, and between it
and First Creek was the Fifteenth Indiana battery of three three-inch
rifle guns--these two batteries being supported by the Second
Division, Ninth army corps, (Gen. Hartraupt’s), extending from Second
to First Creek and parallel to the railroad.
On the south side of the river were Shackelford’s cavalry and
Cameron’s brigade of Hascall’s Division, Twenty-third army corps, the
latter supporting Koukle’s battery of four guns and two sections of
Wilder’s battery (all three-inch rifles). Riley’s brigade was held in
reserve in the streets of the town.
The defences at first raised by the troops were simply ditches four
feet wide and deep, with the excavated earth embanked on the outside;
except the more formidable structures on Temperance Hill and those
held by Lieut. Benjamin’s battery built by the engineer battalion.
Fatigued as were the soldiers who had been at Campbell’s Station,
they as well as others, labored with energy upon the entrenchments
throughout the whole day and night of November 17th, and would then
have been compelled to cease, had not Col. Sanders, with his cavalry
on the Kingston road, and Col. Pennybaker, with his mounted regiments
on the Clinton road, held Longstreet’s forces in check. Capt. Poe
says: “The hours in which to work, that the gallant conduct of our
cavalry secured us, were worth to us a thousand men each.” The next
morning two hours of rest were given them, and were used in sleep by
the men without delay on the ground where they stood. At the same
time Gen. Burnside, in consultation with Capt. Poe and Col. Sanders,
was informed by the first that the rifle pits would be ready for
defence before the end of many hours, and by the other, that with his
cavalry, “seven hundred strong and in good fighting trim,” he could
hold Longstreet at bay until that time had expired. For another day
and night the men persevered in labor with ready wills and hands. The
suggestion by one of their officers that the alternative of effective
resistance to the enemy would be a visit to Libby prison, served as
an incentive to both industry and heroism. Many of them had been
without rest but for two hours in a hundred, and it was necessary
for their relief that contrabands and citizens should be pressed
into service. The former did heartily the tasks assigned them, the
difficulty of which in some instances may be inferred from the fact
that places for the guns of Benjamin’s and Buckley’s batteries could
only be cleared by four hours diligent labor of two hundred men. Of
the citizens who had to work on the entrenchments, they who were
loyal to the United States did their duty cheerfully, but “many,”
according the Chief Engineer, “were rebels, and worked with a very
poor grace, which blistered hands did not tend to improve.”
In the afternoon of the 18th the skirmishing between Sanders’
dismounted cavalry and Longstreet’s advance, two miles west of the
town, was concluded by a fire of artillery upon Sanders, which
compelled him to retreat after he had successfully resisted--with
rail fences as shields--the charges of his powerful foe. At the close
of the contest he received a mortal wound, reeled upon his horse and
falling, was caught in the arms of his men and taken to a house in
town. In full possession of his mind, there was no disturbance of
its calmness by the answer of the surgeon to his question as to the
nature of his wound. Death had no terrors for him. “He had done his
duty and served his country as well as he could.” That was all in few
and simple words he had to say. The following day, being informed
that the end of his life was nigh at hand, he asked for a Christian
minister, and then that he should be baptized in the faith and name
of Jesus, the Son of God. The Rev. Mr. Hyder, chaplain of the post,
complied with this earnest desire, and a writer in the _Atlantic
Monthly_[39] relates that, “then the minister in prayer commended
the believing soul to God, General Burnside and his staff, who were
present, kneeling around the bed. When the prayer was ended, General
Sanders took General Burnside by the hand. Tears dropped down the
bronzed cheeks of the chief as he listened to the last words which
followed. The sacrament of the Lord’s Supper was now about to be
administered, but suddenly the strength of the dying soldier failed,
and like a child he gently fell asleep.” To this pathetic recital its
author appends the quotation from the sayings of Him who spake as
never man spake: “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay
down his life for his friends.”
It was found impossible to assemble the chief officers of the
United States army by day at the funeral of their slain companion.
Longstreet’s troops had advanced to the ridge for which they fought
and planted themselves within rifle range of the defences on the
northwest, and the town had become fairly besieged, north, from the
river above to the river below. Lines parallel with and in cannon
range of Burnside’s, had been established, and redoubts had been
thrown up for batteries, which on the third day opened a continuous
fire that met with prompt answer. There was need of constant
vigilance and alertness upon the long line of defences, and those in
command could not prudently leave their posts of duty in daylight.
In the afternoon, a resident minister of the Gospel was requested
by General Burnside to attend after nightfall the funeral of the
officer, whose wound unto death had signalized the beginning of the
siege and thrown a dark shadow upon the spirits of his companions.
They gathered together at their commander’s headquarters, and among
them was the Chief Engineer of the Department, who was a personal
friend of the deceased--his only class-mate at the siege--who spoke
of him as a “most gallant, chivalric soldier and noble gentleman.”
To Capt. Poe, Gen. Sanders had communicated the premonition he had,
that death awaited him in battle on the day he fell. And with the
Captain, he had left on going to the field, some personal treasures,
among which were a few letters from one who he had hoped would in the
future be his bride. He was yet young, his age being 28.
As the party of mourners passed down the street to the hotel where
the body lay, Gen. Burnside spoke of the extraordinary personal
daring of the departed man. With sad emphasis he said, “I told
Sanders not to expose himself, but he _would_ do it.” Upon reaching
the hotel, the company’s number was increased by waiting friends,
and after religious offices a procession was formed upon the silent
street. There was no plumed hearse, drawn by well-fed horses, but
kindly hands of brother-soldiers to bear the dead, at the end of
“The path of glory that leads but to the grave.”
A sort of weird solemnity invested the darkened scene. Its features
were in such strong contrast with those which might be expected in
the fitness of things it would wear. No funeral strains of martial
music floated on the air. Its quiet was not even disturbed by the
dull thumping of the solitary drum and the heavy tread of armed
soldiers. It seemed as if War, disrobed of its pomp and pageantry,
had taken its departure and its absence was supplied by heaven-born
Peace, clothed in plain and simple attire, disdaining through
profound grief all trappings of woe. An observer might fancy that the
army, which with dauntless courage refused to surrender to men in
superior force, had now surrendered to God, and that its chieftains,
having yielded up their swords, were marching along the way into
captivity.
But yet, not all is peaceful. For hark! there comes the sound of
booming cannon. And every little while it again peals forth upon
the hushed air. From the presence of these night obsequies, War is
gone, but he lingers near and bids defiance to the encroacher on
his domain. Little heed, though, do the mourners give to his hoarse
notes. And the heavens appear to sympathize in the grief, for their
face is covered with mist as with a veil, and hanging low in the
western sky, a young moon sheds her dimmed luster on the scene, and
from above all, the loving eye of One looks down, without whose
notice, although He rules the army of heaven, not a sparrow falls to
the ground.
At the head of the procession went the Commander-in-chief and the
minister. By their side walked the Medical Director of the army,[40]
bearing a lighted lantern in his hand. Said the clergyman:
“I am reminded of the lines on ‘The Burial of Sir John Moore.’”
Gen. Burnside quickly replied, striking his hand on his thigh, “I
have thought of them twenty times to-day.”
That lantern did duty at the grave, as the body was committed, “earth
to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust,” in hope of the resurrection
of the dead. When all was over, the General said to the minister a
thoughtful word concerning the event, inevitable, awaiting all men;
and then every one went his way, some to watch and some to sleep: but
probably few of the company could forget the burial of Gen. R. M.
Sanders, in the likeness of its circumstances to the “Burial of Sir
John Moore.”
“Not a drum was heard nor a funeral note
As his corse to the ramparts we hurried,
Not a soldier discharged his farewell shot
O’er the grave where our hero we buried.
We buried him darkly at dead of night,
The sod with our bayonets turning,
By the struggling moonbeams’ misty light,
And the lantern dimly burning.
Few and short were the prayers we said
And we spoke not a word of sorrow,
But we steadfastly gazed on the face of the dead
And we bitterly thought of the morrow.
* * * * *
But half of our heavy task was done,
When the clock struck the hour for retiring,
And we knew by the distant random gun
That the foe was sullenly firing.
Slowly and sadly we laid him down
From the field of his fame, fresh and gory,
We carved not a line, we raised not a stone
But we left him alone in his glory.”
On the morning of November 20th the defences were thought to be
capable of resisting any probable foe, but during that entire day
and night, the work of strengthening them was continued. Indeed such
labor was prosecuted for a considerable period of time, in which the
besiegers were also busy at work for a contrary purpose. All that
skill and toil could effect was done to hold the town. First Creek
was successfully dammed at the Vine Street bridge, and a dam that
made a strong obstacle was built across Second Creek where it passes
through a tunnel under the railroad. In front of the rifle pits, a
_chevaux de frise_ was formed of pointed stakes, bound together by
wire, and nearly five feet high, and at one place two thousand pikes,
captured at Cumberland Gap, were used for a like purpose. In front of
the stakes thick branches of trees were firmly set in the ground. The
besiegers occupied a large brick dwelling house a short distance west
of Fort Sanders, which the adult children of the Hon. Wm. B. Reese,
Sr., deceased, had been compelled to vacate. The sharp-shooting
carried on from it became at length so annoying that at night on
the 20th, the Seventeenth Michigan regiment was sent to destroy the
building. One might have supposed from the loud voice of the Colonel
in giving orders and the ringing cheers of his men, that a small
army was approaching the house, and in a great fright the inmates
ingloriously fled without firing a gun. The dwelling and barns were
burned to the ground. On that day, there was a repetition of the
firing from a battery Longstreet had planted upon the Tazewell road,
and which had thrown the first shells into the town--without harm at
either time. For several days there were constant sharp-shooting,
skirmishing and cannonading without important consequences.
It was believed by some that had Gen. Longstreet attempted with
concentrated forces to take the town upon his arrival, he would
have succeeded, but the judgment of mere civilians upon the subject
is of little or no account, and competent military strategists
would probably differ in opinion concerning it. There can be no
doubt that his delay in a vigorous and determined assault increased
the hazard of defeat, by giving Burnside time and opportunity,
which he took care to improve, for adding to the strength of his
defences. Perhaps Longstreet felt that he had Burnside in a trap
from which there was no reasonable hope of escape, and that instead
of sacrificing men in capturing him by violent conflict, he would
compel the surrender of the United States army by starvation. To all
appearances the Confederate commander had plenty of time to that end.
Armed help could not come to the besieged, except from Gen. Grant
at Chattanooga, whose predecessor had not long before sustained a
_quasi_ defeat at Chicamauga, who was confronted by a powerful foe,
and who, Gen. Bragg, from his own advantageous position, thought
was at his mercy. Could Longstreet have foreseen the complete rout
of Bragg at Missionary Ridge, no doubt he would more actively have
prosecuted his undertaking at Knoxville, but alas! for the shortness
of human prevision. Important events in the womb of the near future,
military as well as civil, are foreknown but by Him who only is
wise. As Longstreet could not anticipate the serious disaster to the
Confederate arms at the battle of Chattanooga, he sat down before
Knoxville with composure and wariness, and rather toyed with his
supposed victim than contended with him as an equal adversary.
And really, the investment of the town was so closely maintained,
that a surrender of the besieged army, because of starvation before
relief could be had from any quarter, seemed within the range of
probabilities. The amount of its supplies when the siege began was
very limited. Cattle and hogs were at once slaughtered and salted
down, but there were in the commissary department only one or two
days’ rations for the whole army. Only quarter rations were at first
issued. Within a few days these were wholly stopped, as all that
could be served were needed by the hospitals, and no sugar or coffee
could be had. Possession was taken of the mills for Government use.
Citizens were living upon plain food in reduced quantities, but these
were necessarily drawn upon to meet the army’s necessities. The
larders of people who sympathized with the Confederacy had especially
to suffer. In some cases Union families befriended their neighbors,
who in the exigency would otherwise have been put to great straits. A
Union man might be troubled by the thought that he was giving “aid
and comfort to the enemy,” by keeping under his bedstead a sack of
flour for a Secessionist who had a wife and five children to feed (of
which there was an instance), but his troubled mind would easily find
refuge in the thought that he was obeying the teachings of humanity.
A spirit of fear was widely diffused, under the influence of which
money as well as provisions, were temporarily transferred for safety
from one person to another. The fright was greatest in respect to
cash, at the beginning of the siege, when not only small sums thus
changed hands, but a place of secure deposit for large ones was
eagerly sought. A citizen was surprised by a night visit, the object
of which was to leave with him a hundred thousand dollars, belonging
to a stranger who the next morning had sufficient nerve to decamp to
Kentucky, carrying the money with him.
By the pontoon bridge over the river, free access was had by
Burnside’s troops to a portion of the country that was intensely
loyal to the United States, including the southern side of Knox
county and the whole of Sevier County. Some of the people of that
region voluntarily furnished supplies to the besieged; and foraging
parties from the army were sent out, who returned with corn, wheat,
&c. By these means, conducted by Capt. Doughty, spoken of by the
commander-in-chief as “a most excellent officer,” the commissary
department was enabled to issue during the siege after its first few
days, bread made of mixed flour, meal and bran, but then only in half
and quarter rations. Even for this bread, corn on the cob, eaten in
some instances unroasted, had to be substituted several times late in
the siege. Soldiers often ate at once the small piece of bread which
was their whole allowance of nourishment for twenty-four hours. Some
of them, whether from a prudent regard to the returning excesses of
hunger, or to keep up the fiction of three meals a day, divided their
bread into as many parts, which gave them a single mouthful for each
meal. This scanty fare was increased on occasional days by a piece of
fresh pork.
The besiegers wisely thought it important to deprive Burnside of his
supplies from south of the river, and for that purpose to destroy his
bridge. Therefore Confederate soldiers were sent a few miles up the
Tennessee to Boyd’s Ferry--a point near its junction with the French
Broad River, for the construction of a raft, which floating down
would carry away the pontoon. News of this intended feat was conveyed
to headquarters. Townsmen understood that one of the patriotic and
courageous women, who never failed in East Tennessee to serve the
United States upon opportunity, from her home in the country saw the
hewing down of timber and building of the raft, then adroitly she
made her way by night through the Confederate lines with information
to Knoxville, at the risk of liberty and life. In consequence, on
the 22d, at the General’s order, Lieut. Col. Babcock and Capt. Poe
constructed a boom, by stretching an iron cable 1,000 feet long
across the river above the bridge. Begun at 5 P. M., it was finished
at 9 A. M. the next day, and three days later upon renewed alarms,
a second boom was laid, of long timber fastened with chains, on the
surface of the water.
On the 23d, after night had fallen, the Second Division, Ninth
army corps, (Gen. Hartraupt), was attacked and forced to fall back
through that part of the town lying north of the railroad. In this
retreat, houses that were occupied, or in danger of being so, by
Confederate sharp-shooters, were set on fire and burned. For that
purpose the Federal troops made some gallant sorties. Among the
buildings destroyed in the course of the general battling in that
quarter, were dwellings of citizens. In a few instances families were
able to save some of their household goods, to which work officers
and men contributed help when it was possible, but on the night of
the 23d, little or nothing could be done in that way. The railroad
machine shops, numbering eighteen or twenty buildings, and a former
Confederate arsenal containing a large quantity of war material,
shared in the conflagration. The flames that with crackling noise
wrapped many houses in their glowing arms, the billows of smoke
brightly spotted with huge sparks and burning fragments of wood,
the crash of breaking timbers and falling roofs, the explosion of
shells in the arsenal, the firing of guns by the contending armies
which the light of the flames made conspicuous, and their defiant
shoutings at each other in tumultuous anger, altogether combined to
form a remarkable scene. To a lively imagination, it might seem a
panorama of the infernal region--that the roar of guns was the music
of its orchestra, and that evil spirits joined in the _melee_, were
struggling for the mastery in the smoky air above the blazing houses
and fighting men. The conflagration lasted nearly all night.
Next morning the ground from which the Union army had been driven was
recovered by Lieut. Colonel Hawkes of the Twenty-first Massachusetts.
The 24th witnessed a brave sally of the Second Michigan Volunteers
upon the enemy’s advanced rifle pits north of Fort Sanders. They were
at first successful, but not being properly supported, were finally
repulsed, with some loss. On the night of the same day, a pontoon
bridge was thrown across the river below the town, upon which a
portion of Longstreet’s forces passed over, and on the 25th they made
a desperate attempt to seize the heights commanding Knoxville, but
Gen. Shackelford, reinforced by Col. Riley’s brigade, encountered and
defeated them. Failing in that object, they planted a battery upon
a high bluff close to the river’s southern bank, more than a mile
distant from Fort Sanders, but partially commanding it and also the
nearer earthworks on College Hill.
The 26th was thanksgiving day, and Gen Burnside issued an order for
its observance, not in customary feasting, which was impossible, but
by gratitude to God; and he recalled to his men’s minds the trials
of those who established the Republic, as an encouragement to endure
their own hardships. And indeed they had need of fortitude, for not
only were they hungry, but the weather was cold--the overcoats and
blankets of many had been cast away at Campbell’s Station, with
their tents--and their resource for warmth was to crawl, when off
duty, into holes which they dug in the bank, back of the trenches.
Still as they ate their bits of bread, their thoughts were turned to
loved ones at home, and their hearts might be thankful. After dark,
important positions were made stronger in front with telegraph wires
stretched from stump to stump.
On the 27th Longstreet kept up active firing chiefly with artillery,
but Burnside’s army was silent. Early that evening there was much
cheering by the besiegers and music from their bands. In the night
men were employed in chopping down trees, clearing the way for a
battery on the south side river bluff, two thousand yards and more
from Fort Sanders. The signs of their taking positions in the front
for attack were so strong in the afternoon that the Federal soldiers
stood in the trenches awaiting it.
Both armies were hard at work on Saturday, the 28th. The battery of
six guns on the river bluff opened fire upon Roemer’s battery between
Fort Sanders and west of College Hill, but did no harm. About 11
o’clock at night, which was cloudy and very dark, the enemy attacked
and drove in the pickets in front of Fort Sanders, captured many of
them and occupied their lines about one hundred yards away from the
Fort. The fighting was hot, and lasted two hours. Capt. Buffum, with
a fresh detail, established a new line of pickets and by hard work,
new pits were thrown up before day. There was skirmishing all night
long, and a slow cannonading from the enemy’s guns, principally upon
Fort Sanders. The hours of darkness seemed long to Burnside’s men,
for they had to stand in the trenches, with no extra clothing to
protect them from the cold.
Evidently, Fort Sanders was to be assaulted. Longstreet had had
his arms around Knoxville for ten days, and had closed its doors
to all messages from Burnside’s friends. Grant had sought to send
encouraging words from Chattanooga to the besieged commander, but
could only dispatch them to Gen. Wilcox at Cumberland Gap, in the
hope that by some means or other they might be transmitted to
Knoxville. And now, the Confederate commander determined to come into
close wrestle with his adversary and bring the siege to a triumphant
conclusion.
CHAPTER XVI.
HOSPITAL NEEDS--A SCENE AT HEADQUARTERS--INCREASED
DESTITUTION--ASSAULT ON FORT SANDERS--LONGSTREET
RETREATS--SHERMAN’S APPROACH--BURNSIDE GIVES HONOR TO HIS ARMY.
“Hark! to the call of the bugle horn,
Or the quick rattle of mustering drum!
Swift to the summons at even or morn,
Bronzed and bearded the gallants come.
Balls from the rifle-pits _plug_ about,
Great guns boom from the big redoubt,
And the angry hiss of the burning shell
Screams through the fire of smoke and hell.
‘Who’s for the trenches? We must have it out;
Now is the time, lads, to try the redoubt.’
Belted with fire and shrouded with smoke,
Girdled with rifle-balls as with a wall,
Yet with a yell from the trenches they broke,
Plunging through rifle-balls, hell-fire and all.”
REV. WALTER C. SMITH,
_In “Hilda Among the Broken Gods.”_
To a peace-loving civilian, not enlisted in the fray, it seemed
on the 28th of November, that there had been enough of wounds and
blood-shed during the siege to have satisfied any but a very ruthless
soldier. Such were not those who engaged in strife at Knoxville, but
war has its inexorable demands, and the soldier cannot refuse them.
Therefore must sanguinary scenes be enacted on the morrow at Fort
Sanders, at the sight of which the cheek of such a civilian might
well grow pale with horror. All that happened on the preceding ten
days would not compare with it. It was shocking to hear, at the first
of the investment, the noise of musketry and artillery, knowing that
it came from fellow-countrymen engaged in killing each other, and
shocking to listen to the groans of wounded soldiers, borne along
the streets in ambulances from the field of battle, and one’s pity
was deeply moved at seeing strong men prostrate in hospitals, with
features sharpened by pain or pallid with the touch of death, but if
one would learn greatly more of the evils of war, let him wait for
the morrow and study the lesson it teaches.
At one time during the siege the hospitals in use became over-crowded
and others had to be provided. One afternoon a Union citizen who
was thought to have considerable influence with the United States
military authorities, was visited by Judge A., who said:
“Mr. B., they are about to take the house of the Rev. Mr. C. and use
it as a hospital.”
“I am very sorry to hear it,” replied B.
The Rev. Mr. C. had a wife and children, and might well be
commiserated, if he and they should be turned out of doors in such
sharply cold weather.
“I wish,” proceeded the Judge, “you would see Gen. Burnside, and if
possible, prevent it.”
“Certainly,” said B.; “will you not go with me?”
The Judge consented and they started for headquarters, but upon
reaching the first street corner, the Judge stopped.
“Mr. B.,” said he, “I have not much influence with the authorities. I
wish you would undertake this matter alone.”
“Very good,” was the reply; for B. knew that his companion, although
a worthy citizen and eminently learned in the law, was of doubtful
reputation for loyalty to the United States, and as a good name in
that last respect was of chief importance in the enterprise, he
concluded that the Judge might as well withdraw.
Upon being admitted to headquarters Mr. B. found the
Commander-in-chief engaged. Seizing the first good opportunity, he
said:
“General, I learn from Judge A. that the house of the Rev. Mr. C. is
about to be taken and used as a hospital.”
“We do not take the houses of ministers of the Gospel for army
purposes. Judge A. has been to us this morning and obtained exemption
of his own house from that use.” And then, calling with a loud voice
to his adjutant, who was at the other end of the large room, the
General said:
“Col. Richmond! send word to Dr. Jackson to take Judge A.’s house and
use it for a hospital.”
Mr. B., at this unexpected result of his interposition in behalf of
the clergyman, was secretly perturbed. If he had known that the Judge
had only a short time before applied successfully for the exemption
of his own house, he could have refrained from naming him. As it
was, the Judge had been brought to grief by the intercession.
General R. B. Potter stood near and listened to the colloquy. His
countenance wore an air of martial severity that was adapted more to
repel than encourage further mediation. Mr. B. had, however, a “happy
thought,” and summoning up courage, he said:
“General, Doctor Jackson, I know, has already taken possession of a
suitable building for a hospital and has never used it.”
Promptly the General called out again, “Col. Richmond! you need not
send that message to Dr. Jackson. Send him word to come and see me.”
Whatever passed in their interview, neither Judge A. nor the Rev. Mr.
C. was disturbed.
The sufferers in hospitals were all from the army. Few citizens
received injury from the besiegers, for Gen. Longstreet did not
bombard the town. It was said that he refrained from doing so through
the influence of citizens of Knoxville who accompanied his army. The
only death in the town caused by the fighting was that of a child on
the street, who was struck by a stray minnie ball. One death among
Longstreet’s men, which caused great grief to him and his military
family was that of a young sharp-shooter, who was occupying the tower
of the house[41] where Gen. Longstreet had his headquarters. Blood
flowed profusely from the wound as the body was carried down stairs,
and all efforts to remove the stains from the steps were unsuccessful.
The great scarcity of food was even more pinching for the horses and
mules than for the soldiers. So difficult was it to find sufficient
provender for them that many of them were taken across the river and
turned loose. A number of horses, left tied in an open field, fed
upon one another’s manes and tails, and were finally reclaimed in
a condition of ridiculous nudity. Towards the close of the siege,
among the reports of general officers made to headquarters at night,
was one from Gen. Manson of Indiana. In it was the statement that
“the mules had that day eaten up the fifth wheel of a caisson.”
The official report of this exploit of stubborn animals, whose
chief vivacity was supposed to be in their heels, lightened the
social atmosphere for a moment of its cares, and provoked a round
of laughter from the company, in which the Commander-in-chief
heartily joined. Habitually, a spirit of cheerfulness prevailed
at headquarters. At first they were established in a large and
commodious mansion on the principal street; but a hostile shell
struck near the house, and it was conjectured that his enemy had
learned of Burnside’s precise location from citizens of the town.
Therefore, upon advice of friends, his office was transferred to a
store-house, one hundred yards southward across the way. There, as
the siege progressed, when the work of the day was over, he relaxed
in pleasant conversation with his military family, the younger
members of which occasionally joined in vocal music with spirit and
effect. A favorite song of the party was Mrs. Howe’s Battle Hymn of
the Republic:
“Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.”
There, at night, Union citizens visited, to learn his mind concerning
the military situation and draw comfort and encouragement from
his frank and hopeful words. Nor were those known to have been
“Southern sympathizers,” but who gave no occasion of offense to
the authorities, excluded from his presence during the day, when
seeking it in their troubles. Men who indulged in open and persistent
contumacy, he visited with restraint, but more obnoxious cases of
that kind were chiefly sent by Gen. Foster after the siege within the
Confederate lines.
To the scarcity of food for man and beast was added that of fuel.
There was a general destruction of fences in the town to supply the
necessity, which was specially urgent in the hospitals, where the
cold hastened the death of more than one feeble patient. The celerity
with which a company of soldiers, acting under orders, could pull
down planks, wrest up posts, and carry them all away, was remarkable.
The spectators stood amazed. Unionist owners were contented over
their losses, knowing the army’s need, and friends of the South who
lost, grieved in silence.
Not the least trying quality in the existing condition to the minds
of Union people, was the uncertainty of the result, so full to
them of weal or woe. Their anxiety was lessened by emulating the
confidence of the soldiers in Burnside. As for any quiet reflection
upon probabilities, they had little or no opportunity to indulge in
it. Even the returning hours of darkness did not bring stillness. The
night of November 28th was especially disturbed. The noise from the
fighting near Fort Sanders for two hours about midnight, was followed
by cannonading from Longstreet, which shook the frailer houses of
citizens and broke their sleep into fragments. Before 6 o’clock next
morning, people looking westward from upper windows, could see the
flashing of artillery on the river bluff beyond College Hill, which
accompanied
THE ASSAULT UPON FORT SANDERS.
Its garrison consisted of Benjamin’s battery, part of Buckley’s, and
portions of both the 79th New York and the 2nd Michigan volunteer
infantry. The fort itself was a bastioned earthwork, built upon an
irregular quadrilateral, fronting 125 yards each, on the north and
south, 95 yards on the west and 85 yards on the east. The last named
front was left open--to be afterwards stockaded; the southern front
was about half and the northern nearly finished, and the one on the
west was entirely so, except cutting the embrasures. The bastion
angles were very heavy, the relief of the lightest one being 12 feet.
The ditch of the fort was 12 feet wide and from 7 to 8 feet deep. On
the parapet were laid bales of cotton, which a covering of wet hides
prevented from ignition by the cannon.
The whole command of Gen. Burnside were on the alert during the
night. Especially so was Lieut. Benjamin, with his two hundred
and twenty men under orders to keep strict silence. Just as the
sun rose, the National flag was unfurled above the fort, and as
the music of the “Star-spangled Banner” was poured forth at the
same moment by the Division band, the voices of the men also went
up in cheer after cheer. Then the enemy began a furious fire from
batteries on the north and west, 700 and 1500 yards distant, and
from the battery across the river. This cannonading lasted for
twenty minutes, injuring only one man, but it met with no reply from
Burnside’s batteries. Immediately a fire of musketry was opened by
Longstreet, and at the same time a heavy column of troops, which he
had concentrated in the night upon the ridge about 80 yards from the
bastions, charged on them under cover of a fog, at a run. His order,
issued after midnight, through Maj. Gen. McLaws, was as follows:
HEADQUARTERS, Nov. 29, 1863.
GENERAL: Please impress your officers and men with the importance
of making a rush when they once start to take a position as that
occupied by the enemy yesterday. If the troops once started rush
forward till the point is carried, the loss will be trifling;
whereas, if they hesitate, the enemy gets courage, or being
behind a comparatively sheltered position will fight the harder.
Besides, if the assaulting party once loses courage and falters,
he will not find courage, probably, to make a renewed effort. The
men should therefore be cautioned before they start at such a
work, and told what they are to do, and the importance and great
safety of doing it _with a rush_.
(Signed) J. LONGSTREET, Lieut. Gen’l.
The bastion against which the assault was specially directed, fronted
to the north and was almost finished. Its relief was about 13 feet,
which added to the depth of the ditch, say 7 feet, made a distance
of 20 feet from the bottom of the ditch to the interior crest. This
and the steepness of the slope presented grave difficulties to the
assailants. Add to them the dampness of the morning, the nature of
the soil, the obstacles placed in front of the ditch and the absence
of scaling ladders, and the success of the storming party was, in
advance, most uncertain. The columns formed by Longstreet were of his
best men, and consisted of three brigades of Gen. McLaw’s division:
one of Georgians under Gen. Wofford, one of Mississippians under Gen.
Humphrey, and the third composed of Generals Anderson’s and Bryant’s
brigades, South Carolinians and Georgians, with others. They went
forward as ordered, “with a rush”--impetuously, and with a yell.
First they encountered the abattis which broke their lines; then
the telegraph wires tripped up and threw headlong whole companies.
In their confusion, Lieut. Benjamin opened upon them with canister
from his triple-shotted guns, and at the same time, portions of Gen.
Hascall’s division, placed the night before by Gen. Ferrero on the
flanks of the fort, made a cross fire upon the assailants. Although
many of them fell because of the entanglements, the weight of the
column forced its advance forward. In two or three minutes a crowd
plunged into the ditch, and a few tried to reach the parapet. The
raking shot from the fort still poured swiftly down upon them. Shells
lighted in hand and tossed by Lieutenant Benjamin into the struggling
mass, helped in the work of its destruction.
A second brigade follows the first, to attack and be slaughtered,
but some of the men, escaping the ditch and surviving the tempest
of death, press on and upward. Some climb the embankment. Three
battle flags are planted on its top and are instantly pulled down.
An officer with his hand on the muzzle of a cannon demands surrender
of the fort and is immediately blown to pieces. Others also demand
it and are felled. A dozen courageous men get into the bastion, are
surrounded and disarmed. Two hundred prisoners are taken and sent
to the rear. The garrison has helpers in the defence and bravely
they stand or move on steady feet. They are sons of Michigan and
Massachusetts.[42] Hopeless of success the storming party retreat,
and the defenders shout, “Hurrah! hurrah! hurrah!” Distant soldiers
listen and are glad, for the Union is triumphant. The star-spangled
banner still floats in the air where it was unfurled when the sun
rose.[43]
The ground between the fort and the crest is strewn with the slain
and with wounded men crying for help. The ditch is filled with
them almost to the brim. Burnside tenders a flag of truce and it
is accepted. Now bury the dead and care for the wounded. Bring up
the empty ambulances and send them away full to the hospitals. See
to the bodies of Confederate soldiers piled one upon another. Some
are dead and some are dying. Others are injured but will survive.
Pull away the corpses--ruddy-faced in battle a little while ago, now
white-faced in death. Let the living men who are lying underneath
have fresh air. How glad they are to breathe freely again and to
be in the sunlight! Draw them forth, whether they are silent or
groaning. What is that? One of them speaks. “O God,” he cries, “this
is horrible.”[44] And so it is. Let us depart from the scene.
Finally, call the roll, and count the losses of the contending
parties. The difference in numbers of their killed and wounded
resembles that of the battle of New Orleans, between such losses in
the armies of Jackson and Packenham. Of the United States soldiers,
there were eight killed and five wounded.[45] Of the Confederate
officers and men, there were probably seven hundred killed and
wounded and three hundred taken prisoners. The stands of arms
captured were to be counted by the thousands.
On both sides the military conduct was heroic. Gen. Burnside said:
“The gallantry of this defence has not been excelled during the war.”
He congratulated the division of Gen. Ferrero, particularly Lieut.
Benjamin and the officers and men with him in the fort, upon “this
great achievement.” Pollard (Confederate) says: “Never, excepting at
Gettysburg, was there in the history of the war, a disaster adorned
with the glory of such devout courage as Longstreet’s repulse at
Knoxville.”
There was during the assault and for some time after, sharp fighting
on the south side of the river, but the Federal troops maintained
their lines of possession. The attack upon them was at first slightly
to their disadvantage, but it was finally repulsed with heavy loss to
their enemy. Longstreet’s defeat at Fort Sanders was discouraging.
Gen. B. R. Johnson, who had just joined him, asked permission to
renew the assault with two brigades he had brought with him from
Chattanooga. He was refused.[46] Gen. Longstreet gave orders to
withdraw his lines, for the purpose of returning to Chattanooga.
Just then he was informed _via_ Richmond of Bragg’s defeat by Grant
and he was ordered to retire from Knoxville and go to the succor of
Bragg. As an attempt to obey the order would be worse than useless,
with Grant’s victorious army between him and the retreating General
whom he was ordered to succor, Longstreet concluded to continue the
siege in the hope of drawing Grant to the relief of Burnside, and so
from the pursuit of Bragg.
For several days in the beginning of December, work was continued
upon the defences of the town by the Federal army, and constant
watchfulness was observed. Then, as well as previously, telegraphic
wires connected headquarters and all the forts. Gen. Burnside
observed constant personal vigilance; therefore an assault upon
any point would be quickly known and met by him. The greatest
precautions were taken. Skirmishers were supplied with cotton balls
soaked in turpentine, which thrown blazing into the air would expose
an attacking column. Rockets, to be used in like manner for the
same purpose, were placed along the lines. Locomotives and driving
wheels were fastened to the defences with ropes, by cutting which,
they could be sent rapidly down hill to repel an assault. By the
issuance of stored and captured arms, at least every other soldier
had two guns at his post; but their chief want was the means, not
of resistance to their enemies by force, but of sustaining life and
strength. Rations were smaller every day, and in their hunger a
single particle of food was so precious they were eager to adroitly
make it their own.[47] On December 2d, Burnside had tidings by a
courier from Grant of the battle of Chattanooga, and also a promise
that Sherman should come to raise the siege of Knoxville. At noon of
the same day a single gun was fired from Fort Noble which signalled
this news, and the brigade stood in the trenches and gave three
cheers for Grant and Chattanooga. The hope of early reinforcements
buoyed up the spirits of the soldiers, but as their nutriment
consisted of a little meal made of corn and cobs, with a bit of pork,
or of eight ounces of flour for each man, the hope could not wholly
disperse their gloomy thoughts about Libby prison and Andersonville.
On December 3rd, the enemy’s trains were seen moving eastward, and
at night Capt. Audenried, of Gen. Sherman’s staff, reached Gen.
Burnside’s headquarters. Relief was actually on the way, and the
movements of Longstreet’s trains on the 4th indicated an early
abandonment of the siege. In the afternoon, however, his skirmishers
were unusually active and their fire was easily provoked. The
besieged stood under arms all night in expectation of an attack, but
the zealous shooting which had led them to fear it, was intended to
cover another sort of movement. The next morning a profound silence
reigned all around the town outside its defences. The pickets of the
36th Massachusetts, under Capt. Ames, were the first to discover
that the besiegers had taken up the line of march. The First brigade
began to cheer over the discovery, and this cheering was echoed all
along the lines until the men almost lost their breath. Their hats
were thrown away as they shouted, and when every man’s head was
re-covered he shook hands with every other man he met, and there was
a general jubilee. Longstreet had moved off, as Burnside said, “in
remarkably good order,” and the few cavalry who could be mounted for
pursuit were unable to make any impression on him.
On that day a letter came to headquarters with congratulations from
Gen. Sherman, at Maryville, 17 miles distant, saying that he could
bring 30,000 men into Knoxville the next day, but as Longstreet had
retreated, unless Burnside specified that he wanted troops, Sherman
would let his men rest and he himself would ride to see him. On the
morrow, the distinguished visitor arrived in town and was hospitably
entertained by the Commander-in-chief.[48] Their conference resulted
in the agreement that Sherman’s forces, with the exception of Gen.
Granger’s corps, should return to Grant at Chattanooga.
On Monday, December 7th, all available infantry were sent in pursuit
of Longstreet and halted at Rutledge. The cavalry went to Bean’s
Station but refrained from attacking him at Red Bridge, for want of
sufficient strength. On the 11th, Gen. Burnside, in compliance with
his previous suggestion, was relieved by Maj. Gen. Foster in command
of the Department, and the following day he departed for Cincinnati.
There, a few days afterwards, in a public speech, he gave all the
honors he received, to his officers and soldiers. One of them has
said: “These kindly words” they “will ever cherish; and in all their
added years, as they recall the widely separated battle-fields, made
forever sacred by the blood of their fallen comrades, and forever
glorious by the victories there won, it will be their pride to say,
‘We fought with Burnside at Campbell’s Station and in the trenches at
Knoxville.’”[49]
Burnside’s departure from East Tennessee was witnessed generally
with sincere and in some instances profound regret. He had the
affectionate esteem of the people--which to every wise and good man,
is of more value than admiration of his talents. His conduct of
military affairs had been grandly heroic, and he was justly rejoiced
over the behavior of his men. He wrote:
“I shall ever remember with gratitude and pleasure, the co-operation,
devotion, courage and patient endurance of the brave officers and men
of the Ninth and Twenty-third corps, who have served so faithfully
and conspicuously in Kentucky and East Tennessee. During the whole
siege, and in the midst of the most arduous labor and greatest
privations I never heard a word of discontent or distrust from any
one of them. Each man seemed anxious to do his whole duty, and to
their perseverance and courage is due the ultimate success of the
defence of Knoxville.
“The loyal people of East Tennessee will always be gratefully
remembered by me for their hearty co-operation, efficient aid and
liberal hospitality.”
Chief Engineer, Captain Poe, has said:
“There is no language sufficiently strong which I can use to express
my admiration for the conduct of the troops. From the beginning of
the siege to the end, every man did his whole duty. The cheerful
looks and confident bearing which met us at every turn, made it seem
as though we were sure of victory from the first. It is doubtful
whether any man within our lines had at any time after the first
forty-eight hours, any fear of the result. All privations were borne,
all hardships undergone, with a spirit which indicated as plainly as
if written on the walls, that success would attend our efforts. The
troops of the Ninth and Twenty-third army corps were chivalric rivals
where duty was to be done. Never before had an engineer officer
less cause to complain of the manner in which his instructions and
directions were carried out.”
In the same connection, he testified to the great value of the
contrabands’ services, in many cases voluntarily offered. “Nearly two
hundred of them labored during the siege, and for the first week,
regularly eighteen hours in the twenty-four. The amount of their
work, performed both day and night, the whole time,” he said, “was
truly astonishing.”
CHAPTER XVII.
CAPTAIN POE’S CONCLUSIONS--PRESIDENT LINCOLN’S
PROCLAMATION--GENERALS SHERMAN AND GRANT--INTERCESSIONS WITH GEN.
FOSTER--BATTLE OF RESACA--INFLUX OF REFUGEES TO KNOXVILLE.
“What is the end of fame? ’Tis but to fill
A certain portion of uncertain paper.”
BYRON.
“No more shall the war-cry sever,
Or the winding rivers be red;
They banish our anger forever
When they laurel the graves of our dead!
Under the sod and the dew,
Waiting the judgment day;--
Love and tears for the Blue;
Tears and love for the Gray.”
F. M. FINCH.
Captain Poe, towards the conclusion of his official report to Gen.
Burnside, has given a judicious estimate of the events just narrated.
He says:
“The siege of Knoxville passed into history. If mistakes were made
in the defence, they were covered by the cloak of success. That many
were made in the attack was apparent to us all.[50] That the rebels
made a great error in besieging, is as evident as it now is, that to
accept siege at Knoxville was a great stroke of military policy. The
results of the successful defence are, the defeat of Bragg’s army
and consequent permanent establishment of our forces at Chattanooga,
with tolerably secure lines of communication; the confirmation of our
hold upon East Tennessee; the discomfiture and loss of prestige of
the choicest troops of the enemy’s service.... Is there any man of
that part of the army of the Ohio which was in Knoxville, who would
exchange his nineteen days of service there for any other of the
achievements of his life? Was there a regiment there which will not
put Knoxville on its banners as they now bear Roanoke or Newbern,
Williamsburg or Fair Oaks, Chantilly or South Mountain, Antietam or
Vicksburg?”
The news of Burnside’s successful defence carried joy to Washington
and to all friends of the United States everywhere. The President
issued a proclamation concerning it, in which he spoke of the retreat
of the enemy from before Knoxville “under the circumstances rendering
it probable that the Union forces” could not thereafter “be dislodged
from that important position.” He recommended that “all loyal people”
should “on receipt of this information, assemble at their places of
worship and render special homage and gratitude to Almighty God, for
this great advancement of the National cause.” Congress joyfully
thanked Burnside and his army.
Maj. Gen. John G. Foster, Gen. Burnside’s successor in command of the
Department, was a wholly different type of man, and could not have
sustained rivalry with Burnside in his characteristic lines of life
and conduct. Nor was Foster at all emulous to excel him in that way.
He sought to do his duty after his own fashion, and the fault-finding
to a limited extent, with which his administration met, was largely
due to the comparison civilians would silently make in their minds
between him and his predecessor, to his depreciation, as the lesser
of the two chief lights in their military firmament.
Gen. Sherman, who had arrived in town on December 6, remained only a
few days. His freely active temperament was a subject of observation.
He held himself in no severe restraint, such as a small official’s
sense of dignity would impose. A young Unionist who had been driven
from his home to take refuge in Knoxville, had some skill in portrait
painting, and desired to copy a portrait of the deceased Bishop Otey
of Tennessee that hung in the parlor of the house then occupied
as headquarters. When he applied to Gen. Foster for a loan of the
picture, Gen. Sherman heard the request and springing quickly to his
feet, said:
“Bishop Otey! I knew Bishop Otey. Let’s go and see it.”
When the company had gathered before the likeness, he added--
“I must have that picture. I shall present it to Bishop Otey’s
family.”
The young artist, looking intently at the speaker, said, with great
_sang froid_--
“What is your name?”
“Sherman,” was the reply.
“_General_ Sherman?” he persisted.
“Yes!” said the General: and asked,
“How long do you want the picture?”
Being told, he consented to the loan, and in all probability forgot
entirely that he had made it.[51]
Shortly after Gen. Sherman’s departure from the town, Gen. Grant
visited it, and his reputation for unaffected simplicity of manner,
was confirmed to those who formed his acquaintance. During an
interview with him by a citizen, the conversation turned upon the
siege. The visitor said:
“General, I understand that General Longstreet is loitering in upper
East Tennessee.”
“Yes,” he replied, “I wish now that I had ordered Gen. Sherman to
drive him out.”
This frank admission of a failure to do what ought to have been done,
showed at least, that his head was not turned by the laurels won at
Vicksburg and Mission Ridge, and that he was not morbidly sensitive
about the perfection of his military judgment. If he had then known
the full extent of the ills to the people of upper East Tennessee
which Longstreet’s stay among them would inflict, the omission of the
order to Sherman would have caused him greater regret; for that stay
was prolonged for months. It was instrumental of much annoyance to
the United States troops at various points, and Longstreet’s army,
by living upon the country, contributed largely to bring upon its
inhabitants the great destitution of food, from which they severely
suffered in 1864-’65.
Gen. Foster had received a wound during the Mexican war, from the
effects of which he still now and then suffered, and which furnished
a convenient reason for his being refused to unwelcome visitors. Upon
one very cold afternoon, two visits in quick succession were made to
a citizen, by persons who sought his mediation with General Foster.
First came a committee of Free Masons. A Kentuckian, who belonged
to a Texas regiment, had been unavoidably separated from it at the
time of Longstreet’s retreat from Knoxville, and he had endeavored to
rejoin it through the country south of the Tennessee river. In doing
this, he had unfortunately for himself, worn, in part at least, the
uniform of a Federal soldier, and had also entered in his diary that
he had represented himself as one, in conversation with a woman. He
was captured while hiding in a hay stack, was brought to Knoxville,
tried by court-martial and condemned to death as a spy. Strong
sympathy was felt for him by resident friends of the Confederacy,
and this was shared by the Free Masons, of which fraternity he was a
member. A committee of that order desired the citizen they visited
to intercede with Gen. Foster to reprieve the prisoner until further
proof of his innocence, which they believed to exist, could be
produced.
They had scarcely gone, when a regimental officer from Mississippi
made his appearance. Longstreet, in going eastward, had left in a
hospital at the paper mill three miles northwest of the town, a
number of wounded men, among whom were officers Moody and Smith. The
former was suffering from heart disease, which did not, however,
prevent his really distinguished presence upon the streets. His
remarkable stature and aristocratic physique crowned with a planter’s
broad-brimmed hat, and his lordly bearing, combined to embody the
idea which the natives entertained of “Southern chivalry,” and to
attract special attention. He was said to be withal, a cousin of the
Rev. Granville Moody, of the United States Army, and known as “the
fighting parson.” The other Confederate officer was Major Smith, who
because of his wounds, was still confined to his room in a private
dwelling. On that day some rebel soldiers at the town had broken
their parole, seized guns and absconded. In consequence. Gen. Foster
had ordered that all other Confederate prisoners on parole should be
arrested and sent to jail. This confinement Major Moody averred that
he and Major Smith were physically unable to endure in such severe
weather; and his request was that the citizen should intercede with
the Commander-in-chief to still allow them liberty in the town.
Equipped with this double errand, the citizen went on his way over
the sleety pavements to that officer’s dwelling and said to the
orderly who opened the door:
“I wish to see General Foster.”
“General Foster can’t be seen; he is sick.”
The citizen, at his own request, was then shown to the room of
another United States Officer in the same house. There another
visitor, General ----, had preceded him. He was evidently under the
influence of potations from a bottle of strong drink that stood on
the table near him, and soon the new comer’s refusal to partake of
his spirituous devotions was resented by him with maudlin freedom and
profanity. By and by came a knock at the door, and who should enter
but the veritable General, who just before had been announced as too
ill to receive a visitor.
Not long before, Gen. Foster had sent copies of a Proclamation by
President Lincoln, to be distributed among the soldiers of Gen.
Longstreet. The latter thereupon had forwarded a sharp letter to
Foster, rebuking him for discourtesy, and inviting him to transmit
such documents directly to the commander, instead of seeking to
circulate them privily among the soldiers of his command. To that
letter Gen. Foster had prepared an answer, and he proceeded to read
it to the owner of the room, not probably without expectation of the
high encomium which that gentleman gave it.
When a suitable opportunity occurred, the citizen sought to fulfill
his mission, first by repeating to Gen. Foster the statement of the
committee of Free Masons, and conveying their petition for a short
reprieve to the young Kentuckian.
“No!” was the General’s reply, with knit brows and emphatic
tone, “he must die.” And die he did the next day, on the gallows.
Afterwards it was said that the execution might not or would not have
taken place, had not Longstreet’s army, early in its retreat, hung
a Union man, and left on a tree by the wayside his lifeless body,
placarded with offensive words. Information of the young Kentuckian’s
death, and of the Christian faith and hope with which he met it, was
sent to Richmond, Ky., by a clergyman who was with him in his last
days.[52] Although it was conveyed to his aged father and mother by
their friend,[53] with all possible discretion, the sorrowful news
almost broke their hearts. “But,” the ruthless politician may ask,
“must not war as well as law, have both its just and unjust verdicts?
Must it not have its revenges as well as its wrath?” If so, then let
it stop altogether its destroying marches and strife, and cease from
breaking hundreds and thousands of good old loving hearts by the
untimely death of their sons? Why not?
Concerning the second subject of intercession with Gen. Foster, the
imprisonment of Majors Moody and Smith, he was so far lenient as to
consent that they should not go to the common prison, but be confined
in comfortable quarters. Meanwhile, however, Provost Marshal General
S. P. Carter, in consideration of their physical condition, placed
them again on parole.
Following upon the return of Generals Grant and Sherman to
Chattanooga, the defences of the town were still further
strengthened, and it remained without serious disturbances from
enemies until the end of the Confederacy. Once quite an alarm was
raised in consequence of a rapid movement of Wheeler’s cavalry
through the country and not far away from Knoxville, but the
excitement soon subsided and order and peace prevailed as before.
New conditions were attended by a hopeful vitality. Some of the
officers stationed at the post during 1864-5 mingled freely in social
intercourse with the citizens. Among these were Gen. Tilson of Maine
and his staff; Gen. S. P. Carter, among whose aides was Capt. Thomas;
Col. Gibson, Gen. Stoneman and Col. Ewing. Gen. J. D. Cox of Ohio
impressed all who made his acquaintance, by his fine character and
culture. An exhaustive list of officers worthy of mention would
include Captains Whitman and Chamberlain of the Quarter-master’s
Department, Medical Directors Jackson and Curtis, and Dr. S. H.
Horner.
General Schofield succeeded General Foster in chief command. He
administered affairs judiciously and impressed observers as a serious
person, who understood the value of method in conducting business,
whatever its relations to human life.
Late in April, 1864, Gen. Schofield was ordered from his post to join
Gen. Sherman’s army in its famous march. Therefore, the Twenty-third
army corps, under his command, leaving Strawberry Plains and
Knoxville, arrived after a hard march and was concentrated May 2 on
the Hiwassee River, near Charleston and Calhoun. That corps included
several Tennessee regiments, viz.: the Third infantry, Col. Wm.
Cross; the Fifth, Col. James T. Shelley; the Sixth, Col. Joseph A.
Cooper;[54] the Eighth regiment. Col. Felix A. Reeve; and, soon after
added, the first infantry, Col. R. K. Byrd.
[Illustration: GEN. JOSEPH A. COOPER.]
The “loyal mountaineers” of Tennessee who enlisted in the United
States army proved their courage upon various battle-fields. No
opportunity has heretofore occurred in this narrative, to say a
word on that subject. The commendation which Gen. Burnside gave his
troops, of course included the East Tennessee soldiers, who were a
part of his command before and during the siege of Knoxville. The
valor which animated them and their compatriots from the same region,
was signally illustrated by the conduct of the above named regiments
at the battle of Resaca. The army corps to which they belonged having
been united May 2d, on the Hiwassee River, proceeded to the vicinity
of Dalton, Georgia, before which place Gen. Sherman was arranging his
lines for the first of the series of encounters with the Confederate
army which he had on his way to the sea. Gen. Thomas on May 7th
had a successful engagement at Tunnel Hill. Schofield’s corps--of
which the Third and Sixth Tennessee regiments were a part--came
into position on Thomas’s left, and occupied a steep ridge. On its
side the men slept. The right wing and centre of Sherman’s army had
advanced so far that on the 9th Schofield was ordered to extend
his lines farther to the left. An East Tennesseean, who was then a
Union officer and an actor in the scene, relates that Gen. Schofield,
“forming his divisions in two lines of battle, with his right resting
at the base of the hills, moved down the valley in the direction
of the Confederate lines, entrenched behind earthworks. As these
two long blue lines moved forward under the eye of the soldiers who
covered the crest of the hills to the north, their hundreds of flags
floating in the breeze and their bayonets glistening in the bright
sunshine, a band began to play ‘The Star-spangled Banner,’ and cheers
rent the air from ten thousand voices. It was a most inspiriting
pageant and filled the men with the wildest enthusiasm.”[55]
Soon the skirmishing began, and was quickly followed by firing from
the Confederate artillery, which continued during the afternoon, but
did not prevent the Union column from moving slowly and steadily
onward until when night fell, it was within a few hundred yards of
the Confederate works. The losses of the day were not very heavy,
those of the Tennessee regiments being perhaps a score killed
and twice that number wounded. The men lay during the night with
their cartridge boxes belted around them, greatly anxious of mind
because of the nearness to each other of the hostile lines, and were
compelled to feed upon such rations as were possible without kindling
fires. The bayonet charge which they expected to make early the next
morning was not ordered, for Gen. Sherman determined to flank General
Johnson’s army and compel its surrender or retreat. To aid in that
movement, Schofield’s divisions were quietly withdrawn--a few troops,
horse and foot, taking their place--and were marched to the rear,
from thence to pass around the Union lines to the neighborhood of
Resaca.
Gen. McPherson had preceded Schofield and taken position, and on
the 13th the Second division of the latter’s corps, commanded by
Gen. H. M. Judah, and its Third division commanded by Gen. Jacob D.
Cox, were formed into two lines of battle. The Confederate works
were a few hundred yards distant, with a strip of woods intervening.
For two hours there was skirmishing between the hostile forces.
The Confederates, after being driven back, made a more stubborn
resistance. Then at the word, “Forward!” the main line of the Union
troops advanced with fixed bayonets. Soon they reached the crest of
a ridge, in full view of their entrenched enemy and within range of
his rifles. Twenty or more pieces of artillery opened fire upon them
with grape and canister shot. The minnie balls they encountered fell
thickly like hail-stones in a storm. Down the hillside to the assault
they went at a double quick step. Their cheers, as they went, rose
clear and strong above the din of the battle. At almost every step
one man in every ten of them dropped from the ranks, which still
pressed forward and at the base of the hill entered an open field.
There a creek, parallel with both army lines, stopped their way. The
trees upon its banks had been cut down, and presented a tangled mass
which forbid their progress. To attempt a passage through it under
their adversary’s heavy fire, would have been to incur a needless
sacrifice of human life. Therefore they were ordered to fall back,
and leaving many of their number up to their necks in the water of
the creek, until night fell to their release, the survivors retreated
across the ridge and re-formed.
The losses of the command were distressingly large. Of the two
thousand men, First brigade, Second division, Twenty-third army
corps, who went that day into action, between four hundred and
fifty and five hundred were killed and wounded in fifteen minutes.
In that brigade the Third regiment Tennessee lost one hundred and
twenty-five: the Sixth Tennessee regiment was strangely preserved,
its losses being only thirty.
The subsequent movements of Gen. Sherman’s army resulted in the
evacuation of Dalton by Gen. Johnson, and during the night of May
15th, his forces around Resaca were withdrawn. The Confederate army,
being forced from its first stronghold of resistance in the Georgia
campaign, on the next day moved southward. The bloody battle of
Resaca has been thought to be interesting to Tennesseeans from the
fact that in it “the valor of Tennessee soldiers on both sides was
displayed, was fully tested and found equal to the emergency.”[56]
At that date, the siege of Knoxville was fully numbered with
the things of the past, and the possession of East Tennessee by
the United States army had all the permanence possible in the
circumstances. The country however, was in a sad condition. It had
been the previous year, not only disquieted but impoverished, and in
the winter of 1863-’64 there began an unexampled flood of immigration
into the town from adjoining and eastern counties. It consisted not
only of needy white people. Everywhere the negroes upon obtaining
their freedom during the war, manifested a strong inclination for
town life. On this occasion that disposition was sharpened by the
hope of finding not only refuge from harm but necessary food. At
first the stream of new, homeless, hungry population was small, but
as confidence in the security and certainty of rest which Knoxville
offered and of finding there the sufficient nourishment which could
not be had at home increased, the tide of immigrants rose higher. It
filled vacant tenements, and flowed into the rooms of the University
buildings not already occupied by soldiers. The refugees came into
town on railroad trains and lay all night on the uncovered depot
platform, exposed to the inclemencies of the weather. The question
which humanity as well as Christianity prompted was, what should be
done with and for them. The calamity had many and deep sources, and
threatened to grow with the lapse of time. It would inevitably be fed
more and more from the large impoverishment that extended over a wide
region, and for which there seemed to be no remedy. Its evil results,
thus brought home to the very doors of the people of Knoxville, might
be overcome in their present magnitude; but how should they be met in
the future when full grown in size? The only feasible method was to
send forth supplies from there to meet and overcome it. The sole yet
fatal objection to such a plan was the absence of means to carry it
into effect.
But God is good, and His mercy is over all His works. He had already
put it into the heart of one of His servants to begin an enterprise
that would by His blessing bring help from a distance to the needy
people, more than a few of whom were ready to perish.
At that date war had wrought its ravages for more than three and
a-half years. For a large part of that period, in some regions of
the land, it had stayed the hand of the husbandman from industrious
toil and prevented the fruits of the earth. In many instances the
farmers’ barns were no longer, as formerly, filled with plenty, for
the words of Joel, so ominously read in churches on the Sunday after
the Baltimore fight in April 1861, had proved truly predictive, and
plough-shares had been turned into swords. Multitudes of hearts
everywhere from Maine to the Gulf, and from the Atlantic to the
far West, were now yearning for peace. Had not enough blood been
shed, enough human life sacrificed upon the altar of Mars? Might
not Americans cease now from destroying each other and brethren be
reconciled? Perhaps the night of desolation and sorrow was well-nigh
spent and the day of peace about to dawn! And so it was, but men did
not know it.
Soon kindly hands came in and healed where they could the wounds
war had inflicted. They fed the hungry and clothed the naked, until
by their industry they could feed and clothe themselves. It was a
Christ-like work in which any man might be thankful to be engaged.
CHAPTER XVIII.
DEPLORABLE CONDITION OF EAST TENNESSEE--WATAUGA SCENERY--LANDON
C. HAYNES AT A DINNER PARTY--NATHANIEL G. TAYLOR--HIS WRONGS--HIS
FEARS FOR THE PEOPLE--HIS MISSION TO THE NORTH AND WORK AT
PHILADELPHIA--EDWARD EVERETT’S SPEECH AT FANEUIL HALL.
“Alas, poor country;
Almost afraid to know thyself! It cannot
Be call’d our mother, but our grave; where nothing
But who knows nothing, is once seen to smile.”
MACBETH.
An intelligent observer of the condition of East Tennessee in the
spring of 1863, did not need any supernatural gift of prescience to
enable him to see that a dangerous scarcity of food would befall
its people at no very distant day. This evil especially impended
over counties where love for the Union was relatively strongest,
and from which means of sustenance for Confederate troops had been
more largely drawn. Twelve months had elapsed since Gen. E. Kirby
Smith, in chief command at Knoxville, had the sagacity to foresee the
ills that threatened the whole region because of the withdrawal of
nearly all its able-bodied men from agricultural pursuits, and had
thought it advisable to proclaim his promise that he would suspend
the operation of the conscript law until men should cultivate their
fields another season and raise crops of farm products.
Besides the more than thirty thousand men who were absentees
northward--nearly all of whom had enlisted in the Federal army--and
the unknown number who had been sent to the Southern prisons, some
thousands were in the Confederate army. So that probably more than
one-eighth of the entire population were withdrawn from all peaceful
labor and chiefly from tilling the soil. As long before as 1861 and
’62, the earth had very scantily yielded its fruits, because little
work had been done in cultivating it. Even that little had been
performed in the midst of excitements, agitations and disturbances,
and was therefore defective in quality. Many Confederate soldiers had
been quartered here and there throughout East Tennessee, or were in
active movement over it from point to point. They had to be fed, and
being imperfectly disciplined, they wasted much even of that they
bought of their friends, and still more of that they took from Union
people. The provisions and provender they ruthlessly seized, might
be transported by them elsewhere or be wantonly destroyed on the
spot. In the proclamation by Kirby Smith, April, 1862, was a clause
following the invitation to Union refugees, which testifies of his
good intentions to correct disorders committed by his own troops.
In doing this, it bears witness also to their wrong doings and the
need there was of protection from them being assured to all citizens.
He said: “The Major General commanding, furthermore declares his
determination henceforth to employ all the elements at his disposal
for the protection of the lives and property of the citizens of
East Tennessee, whether from the incursions of the enemy, or the
irregularities of his own troops.”
The depleting causes continued during the year 1863. One who had
good opportunity to be informed on the subject says, that in the
summer of that year; “East Tennessee was full of parties marching and
countermarching, skirmishing and battling, ravaging and devastating
the whole country, which was far distant from reliable bases of
supply. The young laboring men were in the armies; and what was
left of the people’s substance being wasted, the prevailing want
pressed upon the brink of starvation and was brought to the homes
of thousands who had never known hunger before. The present and
prospective victims of the extreme destitution were women and
children, old men and invalids.” When autumn came, to be followed
by winter, the outlook was ominous and distressing. Was there any
way possible of mitigating the growing calamity? If so, how and from
whence could help be had?
It will be remembered that the first permanent settlement in East
Tennessee was on the banks of the Watauga River near the present
Elizabethton; and that there, in 1780, the “Back-water men,” as the
British Colonel, Ferguson, called them, gathered under Shelby,
Sevier and Campbell for their patriotic military expedition to King’s
Mountain. The natural surroundings of the spot are now attractive in
summer. From the site of the Old Fort, which was built in early days
for defence against the Indians on an elevation 300 yards south of
the river, the eye may rest on the blue front of Holston Mountain,
seven or eight miles distant. To the east is Lynn Mountain, three
miles away; to the south is the blue outline of the Unaka and Roan
mountains; in the southwest is the bold and craggy front of the
Buffalo Mountain, that may easily be fancied to resemble an ancient
castle of massive strength, and standing in solitude, its brow
uplifted into the skies, impresses the mind of the spectator with
a feeling of awe for its grandeur and majesty. And among all these
mountains are pleasant vallies, through which flow the Doe River,
Buffalo Creek, the Watauga River, Indian Creek, and twenty miles
away, the Nolachucky River. The various features of the landscape
combine to form a sublime and beautiful panorama.
At a dinner party given at Memphis after the recent war ended, to
members of the Mississippi Bar, Gen. N. B. Forest, of Confederate
memory, intended, it is said, to administer in pleasantry a
sharp stimulus to the rhetorical powers of his friend. Col.
Landon C. Haynes, who was present and had the reputation of being
one of Tennessee’s most brilliant orators. It was the habit of
certain persons in 1861 and for some years afterwards, to speak
contemptuously of East Tennessee because of its devotion to the
Union. The habit seems not yet to have expired, seeing that not
long ago a leading journal at the metropolis of the State could
utter the historical solecism that the people of East Tennessee were
descendants of men who were friends of Great Britain in the War of
the American Revolution! Gen. Forest, merely to incite Col. Haynes
to make an eloquent response, adopted a reproachful phrase, current
among Secessionists, in giving this toast:
“Col. L. C. Haynes: our honored guest from East Tennessee--that
God-forsaken country.”
Col. Haynes was instantly on his feet, and in the spirit that
dictated the lines:
“Breathes there a man, with soul so dead,
Who never to himself hath said,
This is my own, my native land!”
spoke in his best style of voice and manner, as follows:
“Sir, I proudly plead guilty to the ‘soft impeachment.’ I was born
in East Tennessee--on the banks of the Watauga--which in the Indian
vernacular means ‘beautiful river:’ and beautiful river it is. I have
stood upon its banks in my childhood, and looking into its glassy
waters, beheld there mirrored, a heaven with moon and planets and
trembling stars, and looking upward, have beheld the heaven, which
the heaven below reflected. Away from its rocky borders, stretches a
vast line of cedar, pine and hemlock evergreens, back to the distant
mountains--more beautiful than the groves of Switzerland--reposing
on a back-ground as perfect in grandeur as the cloud-lands of the
Sierra Nevada of the far West.
“There stands the towering Roan, the Black, and the magnificent Smoky
mountains, upon whose summits the clouds gather of their own accord,
even on the brightest day. There I have seen the great spirit of
the storm lie down in his pavilion of clouds and darkness to quiet
slumbers. Then I have seen him awake at midnight and come forth like
a giant refreshed with repose, arouse the tempest, and let loose the
red lightnings that flash for hundreds of miles along the mountain
tops swifter than the eagle’s flight in heaven. Then I have seen
those lightnings stand and dance like angels of light to the music
of Nature’s grand organ, whose keys were touched by the fingers of
Jehovah, and responded in notes of thunder resounding through the
universe. Then I’ve seen the darkness drift away, and morning get
up from her saffron bed, and come forth like a queen robed in her
garments of light, and stand tip-toe on the misty mountain heights.
And while black night fled away to his bed-chamber at the pole, the
glorious sun burst forth upon the vale and river where I was born. O,
glorious land of the mountains and sun-painted cliffs! How can I ever
forget thee?”
On the same river whose surroundings were thus described, was also
born and still dwelt, Nathaniel G. Taylor--a near kinsman of the
post-prandial orator. He it was who in debate at Knoxville during
the Presidential canvass of 1860, spoke with almost prophetic tongue
of the civil war and its train of dreadful ills, which he alleged,
the malcontent politicians of a great party were preparing to bring
upon the country if Mr. Lincoln were elected. So vivid was the
picture which he then drew of those evils, that, as before related,
some of his hearers wept. But the tears they shed, compared with the
many that fell from the eyes of women and children during the war,
were as the few scattering drops that clouds in summer send down
to tell of the torrents of rain, with which the land is soon to be
drenched. The eloquent speaker on that occasion, had been, in 1863,
grieved for more than two years by seeing and hearing of the unjust
violences to which the Union people of East Tennessee were subjected.
It is impossible now to determine with strict accuracy the details
of wrongs they suffered from their enemies. To use his words, those
wrongs included:
“The confiscation of property, merciless conscription, arrest,
imprisonment, the execution of the death sentence by drum-head
court-martial, running the gauntlet of rebel bullets and bayonets for
great distances by 30,000 men to reach the United States flag and
join its army; the martyrdom of from 2,000 to 3,000 non-combatant,
unarmed Union people in thirty-one counties, by shooting, hanging or
slaughtering in cold blood;[57] the despoilment of personal property,
and consequent upon all these, a widespread destitution of the very
necessaries of life.”
Mr. Taylor was known to be a Union man, and therefore could not be
permitted to dwell peacefully at home with his wife and children. He
was arrested and tried by a drum-head court-martial as an accomplice
in the bridge-burnings of 1862, but was acquitted. Afterwards, being
threatened with arrest and imprisonment upon the charge of High
Treason against the Confederacy--to end, perhaps, in his death--he
sought refuge in secluded and very inaccessible gorges of the
mountains. His concealment there was attended with privations, but it
disconcerted enemies in their pursuit. Upon learning of Burnside’s
advent into East Tennessee, he became perplexed in mind as to his
personal duty. He could not remain in his hiding place without
danger of being discovered and hunted from it, if not seized. The
Confederate troops were between him and Burnside at Knoxville, and
he could reach there only with difficulty and risk. If he attempted
to do so and succeeded, in what way under the protection of friendly
power, could he best serve his country? He almost determined to seek
for a suitable position in the United States army, but postponing a
conclusion, he submitted the subject to God in prayer. Upon doing
this, he was persuaded that his petition for guidance and direction
was answered by the strong impression of a new idea upon his mind.
For some time he had been deeply moved at heart, in his daily and
nightly reflections, by a vision which the unhappy condition of East
Tennessee suggested; a vision of famine and death swiftly coming
upon its people. Prayer in faith had been the means of opening his
eyes as to what he should do in relation to those impending evils.
He thought that the Spirit of the Lord spoke to his own spirit:
“Your duty is to go and tell the people of the North, of this
great, threatening destitution, that they may interpose with their
beneficence between it and the suffering people of East Tennessee.”
He accepted the conclusion as from Him who inspires those who trust
in Him to all good and praiseworthy undertakings. Escaping at once
through the Confederate lines to Knoxville, he proceeded from thence
to Cincinnati upon his humane and patriotic mission. There he met
with sympathizing friends of his enterprise, to promote which several
hundred dollars were contributed by citizens, after a public meeting
had been held and an address heard from him. The amount would have
been larger, had there not been already a stream of needy refugees
from the seceded States to Cincinnati and other points on the Ohio
River, which two months later grew into “great numbers.” To provide
for that out-flow of “thousands of women, children and aged men--all
meanly clad, well-nigh starved, and many well-nigh heart-broken,” the
Refugee Relief Commission was established at Cincinnati.
Andrew Johnson, then Military Governor of Tennessee, gave Mr.
Taylor a letter of endorsement and commendation, to which President
Lincoln added a similar one, and on arriving at Philadelphia he
was received most kindly. Nearly two months before, the extreme
necessity which induced his visit, had been brought incidentally to
the attention of a few patriotic and benevolent ladies of that city.
Mrs. Joseph Canby and Mrs. Caleb W. Hallowell heard some soldiers
of Kearney’s regiment, early in December, 1863, speak of the famine
in East Tennessee, and of how they themselves had sometimes lived
on a cracker a day in order to give to the children who flocked to
the camp, begging for the remnants of their rations. Touched with
compassion, the two ladies quietly proceeded to sew and collect
articles, and being joined by friends and neighbors, including some
from Norristown and Lancaster County, a fair was held. Its cash
proceeds and several boxes of clothing were forwarded to Knoxville
and distributed to the needy.
In January, 1864, the Governor of Pennsylvania recommended to the
State Legislature the subject of Mr. Taylor’s mission, and the latter
delivered an address in the Philadelphia Academy of Music. A Relief
Association for East Tennessee was at once organized with Ex-Gov.
Jas. Pollock, President, Joseph T. Thomas, Secretary, Caleb Cope,
Treasurer, J. B. Lippincott, Chairman Committee on Collections, and
Lloyd P. Smith, Chairman Executive Committee. The people of the
city cheerfully responded to the call upon them for material aid
and contributed over twenty-six thousand dollars. From that date,
the Pennsylvania Association was of great benefit to the whole
undertaking, (especially through the Chairman of its Executive
Committee) in various ways--by wise counsels and active co-operation,
as well as by warm sympathy, encouragement and gifts.
From Philadelphia, Mr. Taylor upon advice went to Boston. On the
10th of February, a crowded assembly in Faneuil Hall, including many
ladles, gave him an enthusiastic greeting. Upon nomination by Hon.
J. Wiley Edmunds, Officers of the meeting were elected: Hon. Edward
Everett, President; Gov. Andrew, Mayor Lincoln, Hons. J. E. Field, A.
H. Bullock (Speaker), Robert C. Winthrop and Chas. B. Loring; also
Wm. Clafflin, Patrick Donahoe, Wm. B. Rogers, Chas. B. Goodrich, Jas.
Lawrence, Rich’d Frothingham, Julius Rockwell, Chas. L. Woodbury and
John M. Forbes, Esqs., Vice Presidents; and Col. F. L. Lee and Sam’l
Frothingham, Jr., Secretaries.
Hon. Edward Everett stepped forward upon the platform and spoke. He
requested the respectful attention of the assembly to Mr. Taylor
on his own account, and also that they should “hear him for his
cause”--the cause, not simply of the Union, but of faithful Union
men who from the beginning of hostilities “had stood at the post of
danger; on whom the storm of war first broke, and on whom from that
day to this, it has beat with its wildest fury.” “At this distance
from the scene of war,” he said, “we hear only the far-off roar
of the tempest; but all its waves and billows have gone over the
devoted region for which our honored guest comes to plead.”
Mr. Everett then gave the true and beautiful description of East
Tennessee, which has been repeated in the Introduction to these
chapters. He said of that region:
“Overrun it may be by the armed forces of the rebellion, but all
its sympathies and attachments are with the loyal States. While the
aristocracy of the southeastern counties of Maryland, were shouting
‘My Maryland,’ the farmers in the western counties in Cumberland
Valley shouted back, ‘No, it’s our Maryland.’ Western Virginia, a
portion of the same grand chain of mountain and valley, is as loyal
as Massachusetts. Then comes Western North Carolina, and still
more, Eastern Tennessee, the home of our honored guest, and of as
true-hearted, loyal, Union-loving a population as there is on the
continent. As far down as Northern Alabama, the mountain district is
filled with Union sentiment. It was with the greatest difficulty it
was engineered into secession.”
In continuation the eloquent orator spoke of the large majority at
the polls in East Tennessee, February, 1861, against a convention
for the purpose of seceding and of the subsequent “outrages and
cruelties, of which the Union-loving inhabitants were made the
victims.” He told how, that “thrown upon their own resources, they
naturally sought to save themselves from being overrun by destroying
the bridges on the chief lines of communication,” and that in
consequence, the great majority of the people of the region were
subjected by the Richmond Government to great severities. In that
connection he read and sharply censured the letter of Mr. Benjamin,
Secretary (C. S.) of War, heretofore repeated.
In concluding, he said to his fellow-citizens that their brethren
of East Tennessee, fighting battles and suffering persecution,
represented a common cause, and he feared the promptest relief
extended would be too late to save some from starvation. “This,” he
added, “must not be. If the Union means anything, it means not merely
political connection and commercial intercourse, but to bear each
other’s burdens and to share each other’s sacrifices; it means active
sympathy and efficient aid.”
[Illustration: REV. N. G. TAYLOR.]
Mr. Taylor followed with a fervent and impressive address, in which
he briefly related the historical events in East Tennessee from the
beginning of 1861, told of the wrongs inflicted upon its people, of
the voluntary exile of its men and their enlistment in the United
States army, of the desolation their homes and fields had suffered
from the war, of the deep, wide and threatening destitution existing
among them, and he appealed on their behalf to the prosperous people
among whom he stood, to send them help. He spoke plainly, with strong
and earnest convictions of the truth, and with the burning passion
which a sense of the injustices he narrated had enkindled in his
soul. Inspired with a profound and lofty patriotism, by the presence
of distinguished persons and a thronged audience on a spot of lively
associations with liberty and the Republic, and by the importance
of his theme, his speech was with unwonted power. His hearers were
carried away by his eloquence as on a mighty wave of enthusiasm, and
all criticism of his style, wherein it was not in harmony with the
demands of a higher culture, was forgotten in their glowing sympathy
with his subject and the ardent love of country to which his words
quickened them.
When he had finished, resolutions expressive of hearty fellowship
with the Unionists of East Tennessee in their fidelity and
sufferings, and of a ready mind to minister to their needs, were
presented by Geo. B. Upton and unanimously adopted. Hon. Rob’t C.
Winthrop said a few words, and Judge Thomas Russell spoke ardently,
more at length. He referred to the statements of Mr. Taylor
concerning destitution among the people whose cause he pleaded, and
said:
“Let me add that this testimony is confirmed by one of the Generals
who marched to relieve Burnside. General Blair has just told me a
touching story of the devotion of the women who crowded to the line
of his forced march, to welcome the sight of our armies; to wave the
flags which in evil days they had hidden in the secret recesses of
their homes, even as they kept the love of the Union in their hearts;
to bring the last piece of bacon, the last handful of meal, to feed
the advancing soldiers of the Union cause. Often he forbade his men
to take the scanty gifts of the poor. As often, he heard the reply,
‘Take it; I have a husband, a son, at Knoxville; take it all for the
Union.’ These are the people for whom our aid is sought.”
A letter was also read from Gen. Frank Blair, reciting the same
facts, and expressing his hope that liberality would “be stimulated
by remembrance of the kindness and devotion of the loyal women of
Tennessee who succored our toil-worn soldiers on their march to the
relief of their beleaguered brothers, many of whom were sons of
Massachusetts.”
CHAPTER XIX.
FUND FOR RELIEF OF EAST TENNESSEE AT BOSTON, PORTLAND AND NEW
YORK--MR. TAYLOR AND FAMILY IN GREAT TROUBLE--THEIR TIMELY
RELIEF--KNOXVILLE EAST TENNESSEE RELIEF SOCIETY--PENNSYLVANIA
COMMITTEE--EFFECTIVE WORK IN RELIEVING DESTITUTION--SUMMARY OF
RESULTS.
The quality of mercy is not strained;
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath; it is twice blessed;
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.
MERCHANT OF VENICE.
The only measure of relief for East Tennessee contemplated by
the resolutions adopted at Faneuil Hall, was an appropriation by
the State Legislature, and no arrangement was made for obtaining
individual subscriptions. Col. Taylor had, however, touched a
chord which drew a sympathetic response from the community. On the
day after the public meeting, a contribution of three dollars was
received by the President of the Association from a “Teacher in a
Public School,” which within a week was followed by other gifts
amounting to more than a thousand dollars. Means were then organized
to receive and announce donations. Legislative aid was prevented by
constitutional difficulties, and the executive committee of the
relief society published an address to the people of Massachusetts,
in order to enlarge the field of contributions. From that time the
fund increased with remarkable rapidity. Soon it amounted to more
than $90,000. Public opinion had assigned $100,000 as the sum to be
raised by private subscription, and it was completed June, 4 by a
gift of $1,000 from a children’s fair.
Boston and its suburbs were chief sources of these donations, but
many of them were made from other places and States. The enthusiasm
to help in the work was ardent and prevailed among all the people.
Mr. Everett kept the public constantly informed of the contributions
as they were received and his patriotic presence inspired others to
assist.[58]
In the spring Mr. Taylor visited Maine, and eleven thousand dollars
were given through Gov. Cony, and a relief association organized at
Portland. He also visited New York city upon invitation, but the
holding of a metropolitan fair at the place and time, prevented
any important results from his labors. His address there was well
received and a society formed which adopted means to promote the
object of his mission. A letter from Gen. S. P. Carter was read on
the occasion, dated at Knoxville a few weeks previous, in which he
said: “From 40,000 to 50,000 troops have been in East Tennessee
for more than four months; of that number, 10,000 to 15,000 were
cavalry. In a great measure both armies lived off the country. The
rebels drew all their supplies from it. Of course nearly the whole
of the forage subsistence of East Tennessee has been consumed. Many
families have been left without a bushel of corn or a pound of meat.
And it is certainly to the credit of the people, that although they
have been stripped of their substance by their own friends--by our
troops--there is no abatement of their love for the old Government.
Many rations have been issued daily from the Government stores; but
for this, more than a few would be without bread. Even those who have
supplies have only enough to last for a short time, and then, unless
assistance comes from abroad, many, I fear, will suffer terribly for
bread.” ... “From the destruction of fences, impressment of horses,
and absence of forage as well as laborers, I fear that only a small
part of our farms will be cultivated during the present year. Numbers
of the people are driven to seek homes north of the Ohio; many others
must follow, not willingly, but because there is no help for it.”
An address to the people of the State of New York, drafted by William
Cullen Bryant, Esq., was published by a large and influential
committee; but the aggregate of contributions to the New York city
relief fund was less than $20,000, of which one-fourth was from
Buffalo.
Mr. Taylor’s wife and children had of necessity left home, and with
them he dwelt at Haddonfield, N. J. As strangers, with narrow means
of support, their faith and patience were tried, and at one time
severely. They were delivered when in great need, by an interposition
that appeared to come from a Divine Providence.
The family of exiles, numbering thirteen, although not free from
painful recollections of recent life in Tennessee, were no longer
disturbed by alarms of war or shocked by atrocities of a hostile
soldiery, and were contented and happy in their new home. In the
afternoon of the day when Mr. Taylor returned from an absence of six
weeks in New England, his wife said to him:
“We are nearly out of provisions. You must go to market in the
morning. Besides, the rent is due next Monday and it must be met
promptly.”
“Well, of course I’ll go to market, and I’ll settle the house-rent;
but I suppose (drawing an almost empty purse from his pocket) you
will furnish the money, as I believe I am about broke.”
“Why, dear me,” she exclaimed, with lengthened face and fading color,
“is it possible you have come back home without money? You are surely
jesting.”
“Indeed, my dear wife, I am in dead earnest. All I have in the world
is this five dollar bill,”
For the first time in all their troubles, she lost faith and hope,
and was helpless. Overcome by emotion and unable to speak, she
dropped into a chair, sobbing. When the power of speech returned, she
bewailed their condition:
“Oh! oh! just think to what we have come. Here we are a thousand
miles from home. If we were there, enemies are ready to kill us.
Here we are among strangers, in a rented house--rent due--provisions
all gone--thirteen in family--and only that five dollar bill between
us and starvation.”
Confessedly, the case had a dark outlook, and to any person of
desponding mind it would appear desperate. Her paroxysms of grief
brought all the household together; they stood around in deep, silent
sympathy; but the head of the family soon rallied courage to speak in
a tone of cheerfulness, not very well sustained:
“My dear wife, I am astonished at your want of faith and extravagant
apprehensions. We are indeed among strangers, but they are our
friends. Would the Lord lead us through all the dangers we have
survived, only to let us starve here in a peaceful, prosperous land?
And that, when we are in His service--working for the poor and
destitute in unhappy East Tennessee? Away with your fears, and be
assured that the same God who has led us safely so far, will lead us
safely to the end.”
Her mind was calmed by these words, but they failed to remove
all its doubts and forebodings. Next morning, the husband went
to Philadelphia, armed with a bushel market basket, and after
payment for a round ticket by railroad, with his five dollar bill
distressingly reduced in size. Prices of provisions were high. He
had to buy inferior qualities to supply the needful quantity, and
to use thought and skill lest his little means prove unequal to the
occasion. At length he started homeward, with the basket cheaply but
plentifully filled, and in passing through Haddonfield was hailed by
the postmaster and given a letter for his wife. It was postmarked at
Boston. Who could have sent it? “Perhaps some of our rebel kin,” he
thought, “have been captured and taken to that city, and have written
to her.”
All day he had been praying inaudibly to the Lord for help, and he
believed it would come, but all his forecastings as to the whence,
how and when of its coming, had only been perplexing. He did not
dream it would be from strangers and a distance; yet his curiosity
was so keen to know who had written the letter that, contrary to his
habit, he broke the seal and read.
It informed Mrs. Taylor that its writers highly valued the important
services her husband was rendering to the cause of humanity and of
our country; that they were aware of his inability, because cut off
from all home resources, to maintain his family while he successfully
prosecuted his good work; and therefore they begged her to accept the
within check as a testimonial of their appreciation of his labors
and their kindly regard for his wife and children. The names of six
persons were subscribed to the letter, and it enclosed a check on
Philadelphia for one thousand dollars. A mountainous weight rolled
from the heart of its surprised reader. Midnight had changed to day.
His whole soul bowed itself in thankfulness to the God of Elijah, for
he looked on the thousand dollars as sent directly from the Lord.
Quickening his steps, home was soon reached. At its entrance stood
the tearful wife, as he drew near whistling a joyful hymn-tune.
Alarmed at his lightness of spirits, she cried out:
“What in the world is the matter, Mr. Taylor? You are surely
deranged. How else could you come home whistling, with only the
contents of that basket between your poor family and starvation? I
know you must be crazy!”
“Never was of sounder mind in all my life. It is you that are
deranged, my dear! Did not I tell you, ‘The Lord will provide?’
There, read that (handing her the letter). See how thankless it is to
doubt His promises; and learn to trust the Lord.”
She wiped away her tears and began to read. Gradually the signs of
distress and depression disappeared from her face and it beamed
with hope, gratitude and joy. Meanwhile _his_ thoughts were busy
concerning the Hebrew prophet and God’s commissary-ravens--the
replenished oil-cruse and meal-tub--the weary disciples tugging at
the net, over-full of fish--and concerning Him who still and ever
reiterates in men’s dull ears, “Ask and ye shall receive.” When she
had finished reading, she wept tears of joy, and with uplifted hands
exclaimed, “Never again will I distrust my Lord as long as I live.”
In July, ’64, Mr. Taylor, by request, undertook a tour through the
State of New York, accompanied as he had been before to New England,
by J. E. Peyton. The heat of August and the political excitement in
the canvass for the Presidency soon brought these labors to an end.
Because of the scarcity of food in East Tennessee, the Sanitary
Commission sent some supplies from Cincinnati to relieve it, but
the evil was too great to be overcome without extraordinary means.
Not long after Mr. Taylor’s visit to Philadelphia, it was advised
by his Eastern friends that an association should be organized in
the destitute region, to receive gifts and administer help to the
needy; and also that a competent committee, representing the distant
contributors should visit the afflicted people, to observe their
condition, confer with the society located among them and to report.
Accordingly on February 8, 1864, at a public meeting in Knoxville,
a relief association was formed and officers elected: Rev, Thomas
W. Humes, President; Executive Committee, William Heiskell, Samuel
R. Rodgers, John Baxter, O. P. Temple, William G. Brownlow, R. D.
Jourolmon, George M. White and David Richardson; John M. Fleming,
Secretary; M. M. Miller, Treasurer. Mr. Fleming was soon succeeded by
George M. White as Secretary; and after one year David A. Deaderick
became Treasurer of the Society. Needful agents were appointed for
purchase and transportation of supplies.
About the same time, two Commissioners of the Pennsylvania Relief
Society, Lloyd P. Smith and Frederick Collins, expended at
Cincinnati, on their way to East Tennessee, over $8,000, in buying
and shipping to that region, articles of food, chiefly flour, bacon,
salt, sugar and coffee. These were transported to Nashville, free of
charge, by means of a credential letter from Chas. H. Dana, Assistant
Secretary of War, to Gen. Grant. Soon afterwards, $28,000 were used
for like purchases at the former city by Mr. Hazen, agent of the
Knoxville Society, which were forwarded by means of $2,000, kindly
loaned by Hon. Joseph E. Fowler, of Nashville.
The Pennsylvania Commissioners were well qualified for the duties
assigned to them, and which required they should make a tedious and
uncomfortable journey of 2,500 miles and of nearly three weeks’
time. They were heartily welcomed at Knoxville, and gave to its
Association a memorandum of their own Society’s judgment concerning
the distribution of supplies. They advised first, that the provisions
should be given away to those who were unable to buy, and secondly,
that to all other applicants they should be sold; the preference
to be given, among both classes, first to Union families who had
suffered on account of their loyalty; second, to families, who,
without having specially suffered, had adhered throughout to the
Federal Government; thirdly, to people who, whatever their past
conduct, had given their adhesion to the United States. Lastly, they
recommended that the old men, women and children of families which
then had representatives in the Confederate army should be permitted
to share in the bounty, no part of which, they thought, was intended
for secessionists of the fighting age. The plan thus proposed was
adopted by the Knoxville Association, and practically observed.
The Pennsylvania Commissioners informed themselves as far as possible
concerning the destitution said to prevail throughout the region.
Before they reached Knoxville, refugees had been arriving there
daily in growing numbers and some of them slept of necessity in the
open air. Gen. Carter, U. S. Provost Marshal, and Wm. G. Brownlow,
U. S. Treasury Agent, provided shelter for the needy. Rations were
also issued to them for a time and until the necessities of the army
prevented.[59] The destitution was found to be all that it had been
represented to persons at a distance.
Thrifty and well-to-do people were not exempt from it. One instance
came directly to the knowledge of the Commissioners. A member of the
Society of Friends from Blount County, sought for help from the U.
S. Quartermaster at Knoxville, saying that he and all his people had
nothing to eat. Before the peace of the country had been broken, they
lived in plenty. At various places the visitors met with refugees
on their way to the North in search of bread, not only from East
Tennessee, but from Western North Carolina, Northern Georgia and
Northern Alabama. Their losses had been entire, and having no means
to buy food and shelter by the way, they kept on fleeing, for behind
was threatening starvation. In their poorly clad and dispirited
condition, sickness among them, especially of women and children, was
inevitable. Pitiful cases of afflicted families came to the knowledge
of the Commissioners, such as that of a mother and four children, all
prostrated at the same time by disease. These unhappy emigrants were
to be counted by thousands, not always impelled only by hunger and
losses of property. Fear of being coerced to do military service for
the Confederacy was in some instances an additional motive. At one
town, a Western North Carolinian, nearly three-score years old, lay
dangerously ill. His distressed wife, standing at his bed-side, said:
“We came away because the ‘Rebs’ took away every thing from us and
were about to force my husband and my son, 17 years old, into their
army.”
At a point between Bridgeport and Chattanooga, the Commissioners,
detained by a railroad accident, approached a group of passengers,
decently but poorly dressed, huddling around a fire. They were
three families, thirteen persons in all, on their way to Vincennes,
Indiana, where they had friends. One old man, dressed in home-spun
and wearing a straw hat, said simply, “All gone!”.[60] He lived
eleven miles east of Knoxville, and when Burnside arrived, he
volunteered and was in camp five weeks, but he was then refused on
account of his age--being over sixty-six years old.
The evidences of a superior loyalty to the United States among East
Tennesseeans (and Western North Carolinians) were as conclusive to
the visitors from Philadelphia, as were those of great destitution.
A farmer who had emigrated and was returning home, told them that if
secession had succeeded, he would have left all and remained at the
North. He said, “I would rather protect the Government than protect
my property. If I had one bushel of corn, I would be glad to give
one-half of it to the Union men. We could do a heap of good, if we
could only stay there and raise truck for the army.” The mind he
expressed was that of the people generally, and justified the opinion
that “with the men of East Tennessee, devotion to the Union was not a
mere sentiment, but a passion.”
In March, 1864, Mr. Thomas G. Odiorne of Cincinnati, was appointed
purchasing and forwarding agent of the Society. He consented to
serve, reluctantly and only upon condition that no remuneration be
paid him. Too much can scarcely be said of the wisdom and fidelity
with which he fulfilled his office.
As the summer advanced the beneficence administered by the Society
told perceptibly upon the destitution. Clothing as well as food
was distributed. Two thousand dollars were invested in goods which
were made into garments by the Ladies’ Sewing Circle of Boston, and
numerous boxes of clothing were contributed from various sources,
all of which--timely and useful--were issued with discretion to the
needy by Mrs. Maynard and Mrs. Humes at Knoxville, and by chosen
agents at other places. Shoes amounting in value to $7,000 were
bought by Mr. Everett at Boston, and $4,000 worth of woolen goods by
Mr. Lloyd P. Smith at Philadelphia, and shipped on a U. S. Government
steamer; but they were burned at Johnsonville, on the Tennessee
River, by order of the Commandant of the Post, along with a quantity
of Government stores on board, to prevent their capture by the army
of Gen. Hood. No compensation was made.
The friends of the work of relief were not unmindful of the needs of
refugees at Nashville, through which city more than 9,000 of them
passed in the first two months of 1864, from different parts of the
South, being chiefly old men, women and children. The Pennsylvania
Association, by its Commissioners contributed $1,500 of its funds to
the Nashville Aid Refugee Society, in March, to which the Knoxville
Association added a donation of $1,000 the following October.
In August, 1864, Mr. A. G. Jackson resigned the office of resident
General Agent, and was succeeded by Rev. E. E. Gillenwaters, who
continued to serve to the end of the work. Both were competent and
faithful in the conduct of affairs.
The Hon. Edward Everett, to whom the people of East Tennessee are
so largely indebted for the means of deliverance in their time of
trouble, departed this life, January 15, 1865, and a meeting of the
citizens of Knoxville--Hon. Seth J. W. Lucky, President and D. A.
Deaderick, Secretary--was soon after convened to honor his memory.
Sincere sorrow for his death and strong esteem for his character and
life were expressed in resolutions by the assembly and appropriate
addresses were made. The speakers’ hearts were in profound sympathy
with their subject and their minds found ready utterance in apt and
glowing words. Gratitude to the deceased statesman and patriot, was
conspicuous in all that was said. The common sentiment was well
expressed by one of those who spoke:
“It is not saying too much to affirm that the history of our people
during the last four years, is one of the most remarkable chapters in
the history of the race. Enough is already known of it to excite the
admiration of all friends of the country. In Mr. Everett’s case, it
took a practical form--resulting in a fund of upwards of one hundred
thousand dollars in cash, expended with a sagacity and fidelity that,
aided by the benevolent of both sexes among our own citizens, will
make thousands of humble sufferers bless the memory of their distant
and unknown friend.”
The orator concluded with the words:
“As we follow his retreating form and begin to take the account of
our loss, I cannot help feeling that from the aggregate of learning,
the sum total of human knowledge, all that makes up the complex
idea of civilization and lends grace to the affairs of men, he, in
departing, has taken away a larger measure, than will in like manner
be withdrawn by any one he has left behind.”[61]
Twelve months after the work of relief began, the destitution was
largely diminished but still serious, especially in the most eastern
counties of the State, which military conditions had prevented from
being reached with supplies. When hostilities ceased, the people of
those counties being the most needy, received chief attention and
help from the Association, which distributed among them in 1865,
fifty thousand dollars in goods and provisions. Its ability to
do this, and at the same time assist the needy in other counties
was due to the faithful observance of the plan recommended by the
Pennsylvania Commissioners--by which, the supplies, excepting issues
without charge to the penniless, and sales at cost to soldiers’ wives
and widows who had means, were sold to citizens, able to pay, at an
advance. The results obtained, were as follows:
First, the aggregate receipts of the Association by gifts from a
distance, of one hundred and sixty-seven thousand dollars, were
increased to two hundred and fifty-two thousand dollars.
Second, the amount of cash paid for food and clothing, alone, was
more than that originally contributed. From the proceeds of sales
were also paid the cost of freight and insurance, the salaries,
wages and expenses of all officers, agents and employes; all other
necessary expenses; twelve thousand dollars for shoes and woolen
goods destroyed at Johnsonville; three thousand dollars for aid to
refugees at Nashville, and five hundred dollars sent to Portland,
Maine, which had given thousands to East Tennessee, and later had
suffered by a great fire.
Third, as the benefit of the poor and needy was the controlling
purpose of the Association in all its deliberations and transactions,
that supreme end was practically reached in the use of the fund
originally contributed. The articles of food purchased and
distributed were judiciously chosen, and the wearing apparel, in
buying which fifty thousand dollars were expended, was suited to the
wants of the people.[62]
Altogether, there was much cause for congratulation among the friends
of the undertaking both at home and abroad, that at a period of
time when because of civil war, vast sums of money were lavishly
expended and temptations to mis-use of them were strong, more than
one hundred and sixty thousand dollars should have been managed with
such prudence and efficiency and with such strict integrity, for
the relief of the suffering people of East Tennessee. The generous
givers and the thankful beneficiaries were far away from each other
in space. A deep gulf of deadly strife intervened between them;
but across that gulf, their hearts went forth and were clasped
together--the prosperous and the comfortless,--in love for the
American Union, and in brotherly love as fellow-countrymen.
“Those friends thou hast and their adoption tried,
Grapple them to thy soul with hooks of steel.”
Sincere human friendships by no means perish with the loss of their
mortal surroundings. To a pure mind, inspired by the truth, they are
spiritually related to the invisible and permanent. Else, hopelessly
we should often have to cry--
“For the touch of a vanished hand,
And the sound of a voice that’s still.”
Just so with human citizenship, wisely conceived and cherished. It
is more than a mere symbol of one higher and nobler. As one has well
said:
“There is a mystery in all affections which rises above vulgar
instincts; it is thus with the love of country. The patriot sees
in her more than can be seen by those who are without; and yet he
remembers that there remains in her much that cannot meet his eye;
for it is part of the greatness of a nation, that though her fields
and cities are visible things, her highest greatness and most sacred
claims belong in part, like whatever includes a spiritual element, to
the sphere of ‘things unseen.’”[63]
The archetype of _our country_ is the “better country, that is,
an heavenly,” for which prophetic souls--children of faith and
promise--have yearned throughout all the centuries. A man dwelling
here, may have there his citizenship, and in its fulfillment is
required and insured the performance of all other civic duty.
APPENDICES.
CONTENTS.
NOTE A: Love of Religious Excitement.
“ B: Contrary Statements; Sevier and Tipton.
“ C: A Southerner’s Letter, in 1861.
“ D: Rev. Herman Bokum.
“ E: A New Yorker’s Letter, in 1861.
“ F: Col. David Cummings.
“ G: Delegates to Union Convention.
“ H: “ “ “ “
“ I: Employment of Bloodhounds.
“ J: Verse on the Execution of Haun and the Harmons.
“ K: Edward J. Sanford’s Narrative.
“ L: Heroism of East Tennessee Women.
“ M: Gen. Samuel P. Carter’s Raid.
“ N: Lieut. S. T. Harris, at Columbia, S. C., &c.
“ O: Report of Col. Wm. P. Sanders’ raid.
“ P: Report of Col. R. C. Trigg, (C. S. A.)
“ R: Letter from Gen. Longstreet.
“ S: Concerning Knoxville refugees.
“ T: Capt. Poe’s Topography of Knoxville.
“ U: Gen. Sherman’s dinner with Gen. Burnside.
“ V: Col. E. P. Alexander, (C. S. A.) concerning the siege.
“ W: List of superior U. S. A. officers from East Tennessee.
“ X: Martyrdoms of non-combatant Unionists.
“ Y: Concerning gifts at Boston to East Tennessee relief.
“ Z: Receipts and expenditures for East Tennessee relief.
APPENDICES.
APPENDIX: NOTE A: Page 27.
The love of religious excitement, attributed by the ex-United States
Consul at Singapore, to the mountaineers of East Tennessee, is apt to
exist among a civilized, yet, uneducated people, who lead a simple,
natural life. Its indulgence was formerly much greater in the Western
States.
A religious excitement sprung up in East Tennessee in 1802, which
was attended with remarkable bodily manifestations, familiarly
called “the jerks.” The affection included among its subjects
equally the young and old, the strong and weak, the good and bad in
previous moral character, those who desired and those who hated it.
Involuntary, it had no premonitory symptoms, and left the patient
as he was before. The very atmosphere seemed to be laden with an
influence that brought the mind and body into relation and sympathy
that were abnormally close. If the preacher, after a smooth and
gentle course of expression suddenly changed his voice and language
to the awful and alarming, instantly some dozen or twenty persons or
more would simultaneously be jerked forward where they were sitting,
with a suppressed noise, once or twice, like the barking of a dog.
And so it would continue or abate, according to the tenor or strain
of the discourse.
This extraordinary nervous agitation commenced in East Tennessee at
a “sacramental meeting,” and on that day several hundreds of persons
were seized with it. At first uniformly confined to the arms, the
quick, convulsive motion went downwards from the elbow, and these
jerks succeeded each other after short intervals. For some time no
religious meeting was held in which this novel, involuntary exercise
was not exhibited by more or less of the audience in that part of
the country where it originated. Generally, all who had once been
its subjects, continued to be frequently affected, and not only at
meeting but at home, and sometimes when entirely alone. After the
commencement of the “jerks” they spread rapidly in all directions.
Persons drawn by curiosity to visit the congregations where they
existed, were often seized, and when they returned home they would
communicate them to the people there. In some instances they
occurred in remote valleys of the mountains, where the people had no
opportunity of communication with the infected. In East Tennessee and
the southwestern part of Virginia, their prevalence was the greatest.
Soon the “exercise” began to assume a variety of appearances. While
the jerks in the arms continued to be the most common form, in many
cases the joint of the neck was the seat of the convulsive motion,
and was thrown back and forward to an extent and with a celerity
which no one could imitate, and which to the spectator was most
alarming. A common exercise was dancing, performed by a gentle and
not ungraceful motion, but with little variety in the steps. One
young woman had what was termed, “the jumping exercise.” It was truly
wonderful to observe the violence of the impetus with which she was
borne upwards from the ground: it required the united strength of
three or four of her companions to confine her down. None of these
varieties however, were half so terrible to the spectator, as that
which affected the joint of the neck, in which it appeared as if the
neck must be broken. Besides these exercises, there were some of the
most curious and ludicrous kind. In one, the affected barked like a
dog, in another, boxed with fists clenched, striking at any body or
thing near, in another, ran with amazing swiftness,--imitated playing
on a violin, or sewing with a needle, &c.
The affection was “imported into Kentucky” as well as Virginia. Not
only was it contagious, but particular kinds of exercise were caught
from a stranger visiting a congregation that had known it in other
forms of bodily movement.
These nervous agitations were at first received as supernatural
agencies, intended to arrest the attention of the careless multitude,
and were therefore encouraged and sustained by many of the pious,
but after a while they became troublesome. The noise made by the
convulsive motions in the pews was such, that the preacher could not
be composedly heard; and in several of the exercises the affected
person needed the attention of more than one assistant. Besides,
subjects of the jerks became weary of them, and avoided serious and
exciting thoughts, lest they should produce this effect. However,
they all united to testify, that in the most violent and convulsive
agitations, when the head would rapidly strike the breast and back
alternately, no pain was experienced; and some asserted, that when
one arm only was affected with the jerks, it felt more comfortable
than the other through the whole day. In some places the persons
affected were not permitted to come to the church on account of the
noise and disturbance produced. The subjects were generally pious
or seriously affected with religion, but not universally. There
were cases in which the careless, and those who continued to be so
were seized. The dread of the jerks was great in many persons, both
religious and careless, and the affection did not contribute to the
advancement of religion. There were persons however, who after much
experience still approved them.
APPENDIX: NOTE B: Page 75.
According to Haywood and Ramsey, the ex-Governor of Frankland, when
attempting to escape in the mountains on the way to Morganton, was
pursued, became entangled in the woods, was fired upon by one of
the guard, was recaptured unhurt and delivered to the High-Sheriff
of Burke County, N. C. Gen. McDowell, Sevier’s compatriot at King’s
Mountain and another friend, procured him a brief liberty, which
the Sheriff renewed. The Court was then in session and the prisoner
was arraigned before it as a traitor to North Carolina. Six of
his friends had separately come from west of the mountains to
Morganton:--Dr. James Cozby, his former Army Surgeon; Maj. Evans, his
tried fellow-soldier; his two sons James and John, and two others,
Greene and Gibson.
Dr. Ramsey’s history repeats the narrative in MS. of one who lived at
that time. He tells that four of the six men above named concealed
themselves outside the town, while Cozby and Evans went into it
and entered the crowd attracted to the scene by the prisoner’s
fame. Evans, apparently an unconcerned visitor, led Sevier’s horse,
(celebrated for swiftness,) in front of the Court house, and threw
the bridle carelessly over its neck. Cozby went into the house, and
his eyes met those of the prisoner. Sevier at once knew that rescue
was at hand, but a sign from Cozby restrained him. There was a pause
in the trial. Cozby stepped forward in front of the Judge and asked
him with quickness and energy: “Are you done with that man?” His
hearers were startled and wondering, and while their attention was
turned aside, Sevier sprang to the door, then to the saddle on the
waiting horse and speedily was gone. He was followed by his rescuers
and welcomed by the two friends who were without the town. Then, away
the whole party went homeward, leaving their pursuers hopelessly
behind.
There have been recent publications concerning Sevier, in which his
antagonist, Tipton, has been spoken of unfavorably. J. C. Tipton, an
aged grandson of Col. John Tipton, has been moved to publish, that
there are two errors in current history of that early period. One of
these is in the statement that Tipton would have hung Sevier’s sons,
his prisoners, but was persuaded by friends to spare their lives.
The second error, relates to Sevier’s deliverance from captivity.
Mr. Tipton affirms that “Col. Tipton started Gov. Sevier to North
Carolina for trial under a guard of two men, that Sevier escaped
in the mountains on the way, and was not taken to Morganton.” He
represents that these facts were received by him from his father,
Jonathan Tipton, to whom they were communicated by Col. John Tipton.
He admits that the errors of which he writes, should have met long
since with correction, but the general character of both Tipton and
Sevier having been that of “honorable, brave and magnanimous men,”
the necessity for it sooner has not seemed urgent. The historical
revival of the subject now invites this act of justice to the memory
of his ancestor.
APPENDIX: NOTE C: Page 88.
The following letter to the author of these Reminiscences, is
from his friend,--a gentleman of superior social and professional
standing, and a citizen of Richmond, Virginia. It expresses his mind,
and probably that of many other intelligent and reflecting persons
in Virginia at the time it was written, concerning the civil and
political situation.
RICHMOND, Dec. 26, 1860.
“There are times when friends are indeed blessings. I prize a
sympathizing friend more and more every day: and I almost think
that the time has come when union with Christ is the only bond
that can certainly survive the shock and the disintegration that
threaten our social structure.
After a conversation held last evening with a circle of
intelligent friends, I retired to my room convinced that we are,
as a nation, all adrift,--under cross tides,--under high and
variable winds, without chart, compass or generalship,--except
the secret purposes of the Eternal Mind.
Paul’s experience on the Adriatic,--without sun, moon or stars
for many days, comes up to my mind. This only I know, that God is
serene; in knowledge and power,--the sure trust of His Church and
people.
The work of disintegration goes on,--without any combination,
as yet, of the forces. The inauguration of Mr. Lincoln, (if he
is inaugurated,) will give proportions and type to the entire
Southern elements, which will present a distinct and palpable
issue to the North and South.
I incline to think that the South will become substantially a
unit upon the main points at issue, whilst the North is likely
to be divided both on the moral and political questions pressing
upon them. Then a line will have to be conceded or fought for,
or a reconstruction of the Federal Government will take place.
The West and North West are inoculated already with the doctrine
of free trade; and if Baltimore, Norfolk, Charleston, Savannah,
Mobile and New Orleans are declared free ports of entry, the laws
of trade will prove invincible powers, aided by foreign diplomacy
and interests, before which manufacturing New England will have
an unequal struggle.
The trouble is with Pennsylvania and her iron interests; but
New York will force Philadelphia into Southern sympathies, and
Commerce will butter the bread of politicians. Such are my poor
thoughts.
I go with a United South on such grounds as Kentucky, Tennessee,
Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia may consent to. The Cotton
States cannot, as I think, make themselves respected as an
independent power, at home or abroad. They will feel this before
their Conventions dissolve.
Our pride needs to be humbled! our national and public sins to
be felt and deplored. I trust the fourth of January will bring
the people of God before Him in such an attitude, that He, as He
alone can, will deign to hear and save us yet.
... If this Union is to be dissolved, and especially if extreme
Cotton ideas are to prevail, I would willingly accept a home
in England or Scotland. The thought of exile from America!
Strange!!! But I am now humiliated and grieved, so that I know
not what more I could feel except at the horrors of _blood_ shed
by brothers.”
APPENDIX: NOTE D: Page 88.
This Bible Colporteur was Rev. Herman Bokum, a Minister of the German
Reformed Church and a Pennsylvanian, who had resided for five years
on a farm near Knoxville. His education was superior in kind, and he
had the Germanic conscientiousness with which Martin Luther was so
magnificently gifted. Under his eccentric, decidedly brusque manners,
there lay hidden a tender heart and a deep vein of piety. Whatever
disturbances his mind had once suffered from outward troubles, it
certainly had emerged from them (as is sometimes the outcome in such
cases,) with a sharpness of discernment, of which minds are blameless
that have never been moved from their even tenor and plodding ways.
His mental astuteness was of little or no use to him in the conduct
of his own affairs,--his poverty always keeping in front along with
his sincerity. But he early saw the fatal drift of the Secession
movement and the magnitude of the proportions to which it would grow.
Dr. Hill, then President of Harvard University, told a Tennesseean
after the war had closed, that his eyes had been first opened by
Mr. Bokum, to the reality of the Rebellion, early in its progress,
as _a great and portentous fact_. Being an ardent Union man and
of a fearless nature, he soon became obnoxious to the Confederate
authorities. Eventually they detailed a file of soldiers to arrest
him at his home. But he heard of their coming and made his escape
over the mountains through Kentucky to Philadelphia. There he was
appointed a Hospital Chaplain and in 1863 published in pamphlet, “A
Refugee’s Testimony,”--being a narrative of his personal experiences
in Tennessee.
APPENDIX: NOTE E: Page 95.
The young New-Yorker soon went on his way homewards. At Washington
City he was forced to tarry, and from there he wrote to his friend at
Knoxville as follows:
April 23, P. M., 1861.
“I have succeeded in effecting a junction with my other
forces--my brother and brother-in-law--but we are all now
prisoners of war! Not that I would give you to understand that we
are in the power of either of the belligerents, but because of
the war we are most decidedly prisoners in this place.
I found the whole line of the road in a blaze of enthusiasm and
excitement from Knoxville to Lynchburg, which place I reached the
next morning. Having occasion for a business purpose to introduce
myself to ----, Warden of the Church there, (the Clergyman
being absent), he very kindly asked me to stay at his house,
which I did until Monday morning, when I came on here without
interference.
The people of Virginia display a noble spirit of patriotism if
it were only in a right cause, which I cannot feel to be the
case. The very soil seems to teem with armed men. Even the boys
and the old men are enlisting, and the cry is ‘To Washington!’
Senator Mason addressed them on the route and said, ‘War has
begun,’ and Jeff. Davis with two thousand Carolinians is already
at Richmond. I regret the policy of the Government and think it
is a grand mistake; but it is the most absurd dream in the world
that Lincoln wishes to lead an army against the South. The truth
is, Virginia’s sympathies are so much more with the South than
with the Government, that although denouncing utterly both South
Carolina and Secession, she preferred uniting her fortunes with
them, to sustaining a policy which involved force against them to
any degree at all.
I am struck with the fact that at the South the loyal feeling
goes to the State, while at the North it goes to the General
Government. The radical difference of belief concerning the
relations of the separate States to the Nation, is a principal
cause in the whole trouble. The very same act which crazes
Virginia, crazes the whole North in an opposite direction, and
brings Pierce, Buchanan and Fillmore out in support of the
Government.
My friends (at Lynchburg) did not dare invite me to take part
in the services, and the most atrocious sentiments were uttered
in my hearing against Lincoln and the Yankees. Here all seems
quiet--no cannon in the streets and few soldiers to be seen.
Martial law is not proclaimed and there is a wonderful contrast
to the feverish atmosphere of Virginia. Still I believe the
Government is wide awake and more ready than people dream of.
Communications have been open to Baltimore but broken up beyond.
To-day Rev. Mr. P---- and I concluded to go there and try to make
our way around through Harper’s Ferry and Hagerstown, but we
found that since morning the Government had seized the depot and
would allow no train to leave. So here we are.
I despond very much about peace. Perhaps I am superstitious,
but the two singular portents (which have so many parallels in
history) of the first lesson last Sunday from Joel, and the
co-incidence of the Baltimore fight with the anniversary of the
battle of Lexington, dishearten me.
The Potomac is now fortified and the Government must march its
troops through Maryland or give up its Capital. Unless this
should be seized soon, it will not be done; and if Maryland
refuses passage through her borders to men and provisions,
Maryland must be put down, if it burns her every town and makes
the State a desert. Self preservation will extort that.
But in these exciting times we must do what we can to check the
madness of the people. Do not let yourself suppose, as so many
seem to do, that all this excitement at the North is hatred of
the South. No such thing. The very same feeling of patriotism
which in Lynchburg called six hundred men to arms and equipped
them with eighteen thousand dollars, is at the North rallying all
to the support of the old and loved Government--no conglomeration
of States but the Federal Union. That hates will arise on both
sides now, we must expect. War lets loose fearful passions, and I
know human nature is alike every where; and judging from what I
saw in Virginia, I can readily believe the North will be about as
bad.”
APPENDIX: NOTE F: Page 101.
Colonel David Cummings, of Anderson county, an officer of the
Tennessee (Confederate) troops, was conspicuous in preserving peace
at the time of the imminent deadly collision between Union men and
Secessionists on the principal street of Knoxville. It was he, who
with two Union citizens,--Abner Jackson and John Williams--afterwards
succeeded by persuasion in halting hundreds of State soldiers on
their way from camp to the town with a destructive purpose against
Charles Douglass, and so, in preventing a bloody encounter between
the soldiers, and Douglass with his friends. It was also Col.
Cummings, who on a subsequent day, as the body of the murdered
Douglass was borne along the street to its grave, relieved the
occasion of its reproach in the eyes of unfriendly observers, by
magnanimously joining on horseback the officiating minister in
leading the sad procession.
APPENDIX: NOTES G AND H: Pages 107 and 115.
Delegates to the Union Convention at Knoxville and Greeneville,
Tenn., May 30 and June 17, 1861.
Names unmarked are of members present only at Knoxville.
Names marked * are of those present only at Greeneville.
Names marked † are of those present on both occasions.
ANDERSON COUNTY.
T. Adkins,
J. Ayres,
H. H. Baker,
Lindsey D. Hill,
L. Hockworth,
Oliver Hoskins,
James Ross,
Philip Sieber,
William Smith,
John Black,
J. C. Chiles,
J. H. Cox,
William Cross,
J. A. Doughty,
Edward Freels,
John Freels,
W. S. Freels,
† L. C. Houk,
J. B. Lamar,
G. W. Leath,
Samuel Moore,
L. A. Powell,
Grandison Queener,
Wm. Reynolds,
J. Thompson,
P. C. Wallace,
John Weaver,
W. W. Weaver,
A. T. Williams.
D. K. Young,
S. C. Young.
BLEDSOE COUNTY.
S. P. Doss,
Wm. S. Findlay, M.D.,
J. W. McReynolds,
† J. G. Spears.
BLOUNT COUNTY.
S. F. Bell,
Henry Brakebill,
Rev. J. S. Craig,
* F. M. Cruze,
W. H. Cunningham,
† Rev. W. T. Dowell,
W. L. Dearing,
Rev. W. T. Dowell,
Robert Eagleton,
† Solomon Farmer,
S. C. Flannigan,
H. Foster,
David Goddard,
William Goddard,
John Godfrey,
* J. R. Frow,
Henry Hammell,
J. M. Heiskell,
* H. J. Henry,
James Henry,
Spencer Henry,
Isaac Hinds,
W. A. Hunter,
G. W. Hutsell,
John Jackson,
Alex. Kennedy,
Edward Kidd,
Jefferson Kidd,
James Henry,
† A. Kirkpatrick,
Sanders Leeper,
Stephen Matthews,
Fleming Mays,
Andrew McBath,
M. McTeer,
Robert Pickens,
Thomas Pickens,
James H. Rowan,
John Trew,
Jas. H. Walker,
† Lavater Wear.
BRADLEY COUNTY.
S. Beard,
J. S. Bradford,
* J. G. Brown,
J. M. Campbell, M.D.,
T. L. Cate,
C. D. Champion,
A. A. Clingan,
J. N. Dunn,
† R. M. Edwards,
S. P. Gaut,
C. T. Hardwick,
J. L. Kirby,
John McPherson.
CAMPBELL COUNTY.
George Bowling,
William Carey,
† Joseph A. Cooper,
David Hart,
Joseph Hatmaker,
John Jones,
J. L. Keeny,
John Meader,
Wm. Robbins,
R. D. Wheeler.
CARTER COUNTY.
* B. P. Angel,
* J. L. Bradley,
John W. Cameron,
J. T. P. Carter,
* L. Carter,
* W. B. Carter,
* W. J. Crutcher,
* J. Emmet,
* J. Hendrickson,
* T. M. Hilton,
* J. G. Lewis,
* Wm. Marsh,
* B. M. G. O’Brien,
* J. Perry,
* V. Singletary,
* H. Slagle,
* L. Slagle,
* H. C. Smith,
* John M. Smith,
Daniel L. Store,
* D. Stover,
† Abram Tipton,
† C. P. Toncray,
* Robert Williams,
* C. Wilcox.
CLAIBORNE COUNTY.
* J. J. Bunch,
† E. E. Jones,
* F. Jones,
* V. Myers,
* H. Sewell,
* J. J. Sewell.
COCKE COUNTY.
* J. Bible,
* W. A. Campbell,
† J. W. Clarke,
† P. H. Easterly,
* W. Graham,
* W. Hornett,
* S. H. Inman,
* W. Nicely,
* G. L. Porter,
* William Wood.
CUMBERLAND COUNTY.
F. Kindred,
A. C. Yates,
* R. K. Byrd; Proxy.
FENTRESS COUNTY.
* E. B. Langley; Proxy.
GRAINGER COUNTY.
† John Brooks,
† James James,
† Harmon G. Lea,
† D. C. Senter,
* Edward L. Tate.
GREENE COUNTY.
* Thos. D. Arnold,
† Samuel H. Baxter,
* Jacob Bible,
* H. B. Boker,
* J. Brannon,
† James Britton,
† James Britton, Jr.,
T. G. Brown,
* W. R. Brown,
† Wm. Cavender, M.D.,
† G. Click,
† R. A. Crawford,
* William H. Crawford,
* W. D. Culver,
* E. Davis,
* Thomas Davis,
* J. B. Dobson,
* B. Earnest,
* N. Earnest,
A. G. Easterly,
† Jonathan Easterly,
Reuben Easterly,
R. M. Easterly,
Adam Farnsworth,
* James A. Galbreath,
† Charles Gass,
* George F. Gillespie,
† Solomon Goode,
† Abram Hammond,
* C. Harden,
* Peter Harmon,
* J. W. Harold,
* A. W Howard,
* J. P. Holtsinger,
† Chas. Johnson, M.D.,
† Robert Johnson,
* James Jones,
† John Jones, Jr.,
† William Jones,
* J. Kerbaugh,
* George Kinney,
† Alexander A. Lane,
* John Love,
† John Maloney,
W. A. Maloney,
† W. D. McClelland,
* B. McDannel,
† Jas. P. McDowell,
* Samuel McGaughey,
* Anthony Moore,
* J. Myers,
* Hon. D. L. Patterson,
* J. G. Reeves,
* David Rush,
† B. B. Sherfie,
† D. G. Vance,
* C. M. Vestal,
† A. W. Walker,
† Wm. West, M.D.,
* Israel Woolsey.
HAMILTON COUNTY.
John Anderson,
J. D. Blackford,
F. G. Blacknall,
A. M. Cate,
G. O. Cate,
E. M. Cleaveland,
† William Clift,
Wm. Crutchfield,
William Denny,
J. F. Early,
R. Hall,
Wilson Hixson,
J. D. Kenner,
Monroe Masterson,
J. A. Matthews,
P. L. Matthews,
* S. McCaleb,
A. W. McDaniel,
R. C. McRee,
Peter Mounger,
A. A. Pearson,
I. C. Rogers,
A. Selser,
J. G. Thomas,
† D. C. Trewhitt.
HANCOCK COUNTY.
* Charles L. Barton,
Wm. G. Brownlow and Wm. C. Kyle: Proxies.
HAWKINS COUNTY.
* Thomas Benny,
† John Blevins,
† A. P. Caldwell,
* C. W. Hall,
* A. B. Keel,
† Wm. C. Kyle,
* A. A. Kyle,
* C. J. McKinney,
* H. Mitchell,
* John Netherland,
Robert G. Netherland,
John Vaughn,
* James White.
JEFFERSON COUNTY.
* John Alderson,
† Sam’l Anderson, M.D.
J. M. Bewley,
* Rev. J. R. Birchfield,
† A. A. Caldwell, M.D.,
† ---- Cawood, M.D.,
* J. L. Coile,
† William Dick,
† Wiley Foust,
* Wm. Harris,
W. A. Haun,
Joel Johnson,
† William Jones,
* W. Kirkpatrick,
† L. F. Leeper,
* L. McDaniel,
Wm. McFarland,
† J. Monroe Meek,
* N. Newman,
* R. D. Rankin,
* E. A. Sawyers,
* C. K. Scruggs,
† J. P. Swann,
* N. B. Swann,
† John Tate,
* M. Thornburg,
* John Thornhill,
* Edward West.
JOHNSON COUNTY.
* Alexander Baker,
† R. R. Butler,
† J. W. M. Grayson,
* Samuel Howard,
M. T. Locke, M.D.,
Rev. L. Madron,
* H. P. Murphy,
* Kemp Murphy,
† John Murphy,
J. Norris,
* J. H. Norris,
* J. F. Norris,
* H. C. Northington,
† S. E. Northington,
* A. G. Shown,
G. H. Shown,
F. Slimp,
† A. D. Smith,
D. Smithpetre, M.D.,
† J. H. Vaught,
† Rev. L. Venable.
KNOX COUNTY.
F. A. Armstrong,
John Armstrong,
Caleb H. Baker,
J. P. Barger,
† John Baxter,
William Beard,
James D. Bell,
R. B. Gibbs,
A. Gideon,
Wilson Groner,
James Hall,
R. M. Hall,
Robert Harper,
R. A. Harrison,
John H. Mynatt,
R. G. Mynatt,
David Nelson,
Jacob L. Nelson,
J. M. Nelson,
Nicholas Nelson,
H. Osborne,
J. S. Bell,
R. M. Bell,
R. M. Bennett,
F. H. Bounds,
H. R. Brown,
John Brown,
John M. Brown,
T. W. Brown,
† Wm. G. Brownlow,
† J. F. Bunker,
Absalom Burnett,
David Burnett,
John A. Callaway,
* A. C. Callen,
P. H. Cardwell,
C. W. Carnes,
T. W. Carnes,
W. B. Carnes,
M. Childress,
Henry Chiles,
† H. R. Clapp,
William Clapp,
William Coker,
John M. Conner,
W. A. A. Conner,
George Cooper,
F. Coram,
John J. Craig,
Robert Craighead,
O. H. Crippen,
John Currier,
† A. Davis,
D. F. DeArmond,
P. Derieux,
† John Devers,
James Hartley,
W. E. Hedgcock,
F. S. Heiskell,
John Henson,
A. D. C. Hinds,
William Hines,
Daniel Hommell,
Joseph Hubbs,
* Abner G. Jackson,
L. D. Johnson,
William D. Johnson,
W. Kennedy,
Daniel King,
John Kirk,
† Andrew Knott,
Joseph Larew,
W. R. Lawrence,
M. D. Lea,
Seth Lea,
John Lester,
John Letsinger,
* Lewis Letsinger,
Thomas Long,
John Looney,
Jas. C. Luttrell,
John Luttrell,
J. Luttrell,
J. M. Marcum,
† James Maxwell,
W. N. Maxwell,
John J. May,
* Horace Maynard,
† Samuel McCammon,
Wm. McClelland,
Levi McCloud,
† D. W. Parker,
James Raison,
† A. P. Rambo,
Lewis Reed,
Jacob Reid,
B. Roberts,
* Henry Roberts,
Milton Roberts,
Samuel R. Rodgers,
Thomas Rodgers,
† Wm. Rodgers, M.D.,
* P. A. Ruble,
Frederick Rule,
P. Rutherford,
William Sharp,
Joseph Shell,
Matthew Simpson,
P. H. Skaggs,
James Smith,
† John Smith,
† T. A. Smith,
† Robert Sneed, M.D.,
Jesse Stubbs,
W. H. Swan,
James Tarwater,
† O. P. Temple,
† Andrew Thompson,
G. W. Tindell,
† C. F. Trigg,
A. R. Trotter,
John Tunnell,
H. Turner,
John Vance,
P. Walker, M.D.,
Thos. J. White,
J. R. Draper,
† John M. Fleming,
Joseph W. Fowler,
B. Frazier,
J. D. French,
Joseph Garner,
J. O. Gentry,
P. George,
J. C. S. McDaniel,
J. A. McMillan,
A. A. Meek,
J. H. Morris,
A. K. Mynatt,
Col. Mynatt,
Hugh Mynatt,
H. D. C. Mynatt,
† John Williams,
Calvin Wood,
John Wood,
R. H. Wood,
F. M. Yarnall,
Martin Yarnall,
R. A. York.
MARION COUNTY.
† William G. Brownlow: Proxy.
M’MINN COUNTY.
W. W. Alexander,
† M. D. Anderson,
† George W. Bridges,
David Brient,
Rev. H. Buttram,
Charles Cate,
Robert Cochran,
A. C. Derrick,
J. J. Dixon,
O. Dodson,
Wm. L. Dodson,
C. Foster,
J. H. Hornsby,
A. Hutsell,
Nathan Kelly,
Wm. L. Lester,
M. R. May, M.D.,
T. B. McElwee,
† John McGaughey,
N. J. Peters,
Wm. Porter,
E. T. Renfro,
B. Wells,
Rev. John Wilkins,
D. P. York.
MEIGS COUNTY.
Andrew Campbell,
Thomas Miller,
† T. J. Matthews,
Thomas Sessell.
MONROE COUNTY.
I. C. Brown,
A. W. Cozart,
T. H. Davis,
W. H. Dawson,
† B. Franklin, M.D.,
† William Heiskell,
Samuel M. Johnson,
J. R. Robinson,
Wm. M. Smith.
MORGAN COUNTY.
T. H. Davis,
† S. C. Honeycutt,
Rev. W. R. Jackson,
† E. Langley,
† J. M. Melton,
B. T. Staples,
M. Stephens,
† Jesse Stonecipher.
POLK COUNTY.
* W. M. Biggs,
* W. J. Copeland,
J. M. McCleary.
ROANE COUNTY.
* J. Adkisson,
† W. M. Alexander,
† Joseph Anderson,
J. W. Atkisson,
F. Bales,
† J. W. Bowman,
R. W. Boyd,
E. W. Brazeale,
† R. K. Byrd,
T. F. Carter,
Samuel L. Childress,
Isaac A. Clark,
William Clark,
E. S. Clarke,
T. T. Coffin,
J. I. Dale,
Reuben Davis,
John DeArmond,
P. I. Doremus,
G. W. Easter,
W. L. Goldston,
A. L. Greene,
* J. S. Hagler,
Wesley Harwell,
† D. F. Harrison,
John Hays,
J. O. Hays,
* W. J. Hornsby,
E. D. Hoss,
† James H. Johnston,
† George Littleton,
William Lowry,
Joseph B. Martin,
† Thomas J. Mason,
W. S. Patton,
Wm. E. Pope,
† M. Rose,
W. P. Rose,
T. Russell,
† J. T. Shelley,
Wm. H. Selvidge,
J. Y. Smith,
* W. B. Staley,
† T. J. Tipton,
† J. J. West,
C. C. Wester,
J. W. Wester,
† L. M. Wester,
Samuel Williams,
John Womble,
* J. Wyatt,
† F. M. Wylie,
* L. M. Wylie,
† F. Young.
SCOTT COUNTY.
* S. C. Honeycutt: Proxy.
SEVIER COUNTY.
* L. D. Alexander,
† J. H. Caldwell,
* J. Caldwell,
* J. Cate,
William Catlett,
Harvey Cowan,
R. M. Creswell,
† Rev. Jas. Cummings,
* John Douglass,
Lemuel Duggan,
† Wilson Duggan,
* F. L. Emmert,
† J. K. Franklin,
† J. T. Havis,
† R. H. Hodsden, M.D.,
† Edmund Hodges,
* C. Inman,
David Keener,
Alexander McBath,
† D. McCroskey,
* H. Mount,
† J. C. Murphy,
William Petty,
† Samuel Pickens,
† D. M. Ray,
Isaac Russell,
E. H. Williams.
SULLIVAN COUNTY.
P. N. Easley,
* J. Hughes,
† James Lynn,
William Mullenix,
† G. R. Netherland,
† Jacob Shewalter,
† R. L. Stanford, M.D.
UNION COUNTY.
† Isaac Bayless,
John Cox,
F. P. Hansard,
L. Huddleston,
* M. V. Nash,
A. McPheters,
J. G. Palmer,
J. M. Sawyers,
S. H. Smith,
† J. W. Thornburg.
WASHINGTON COUNTY.
D. B. Barkley,
* J. Biddle,
* C. Bashor,
† A. J. Brown,
* M. H. Clark,
* Jas. W. Deaderick,
* C. A. Eames,
* J. W. Ellis,
* J. A. Estes,
* R. L. Gillespie,
* T. S. Gillespie,
* W. Glaze,
J. F. Grisham,
* P. H. Grisham,
* J. W. Hartman, M.D.,
* E. S. Harvey,
† A. Hoss,
* E. Keezell,
* A. Kibbler,
† S. T. Logan,
† J. F. Mahoney,
* E. S. Matthews,
* Wm. H. Maxwell,
* R. B. McCall, M.D.,
* D. M. McFall,
* R. M. McKee,
* G. W. Nelson,
† Thos. A. R. Nelson,
* D. Onk,
* E. W. Oughbrough,
† R. H. Palmer, M.D.,
† S. K. N. Patton,
* John Pennybaker,
* H. Presnell,
* W. M. Reese,
* J. Slack,
* W. Slemmons,
* W. Smith, M.D.,
* A. B. Tadlock,
* E. H. West,
† S. West,
* G. W. Wilson,
* J. Yerger.
APPENDIX: NOTE I: Page 139.
A comparison of the date of Gen. Zolicoffer’s letter from Campbell
County to Col. Wood, announcing his purpose immediately to disarm the
Union population, with the date of the following advertisement in
the _Memphis Appeal_ by two Confederate officers, written from the
same county, seriously weakens the plea given in the advertisement
for the barbarous use of so many dogs against that population. For
disarmed Union men could scarcely carry on an irregular warfare that
would require or justify the employment to their damage of sanguinary
beasts.
“BLOODHOUNDS WANTED.”
“We, the undersigned, will pay five dollars per pair for fifty
pairs of well-bred hounds, and fifty dollars for one pair of
thorough-bred bloodhounds that will take the track of a man. The
purpose for which these dogs are wanted is to chase the infernal,
cowardly Lincoln bushwhackers of East Tennessee and Kentucky,
(who have taken advantage of the bush to kill and cripple many
good soldiers,) to their haunts and capture them. The said hounds
must be delivered at Captain Hammer’s livery stable by the 10th
of December next, where a mustering officer will be present to
muster and inspect them.”
(Signed) F. N. MCNAIRY,
H. H. HARRIS,
Camp Crinforth, Campbell Co., Tenn., November 16.
APPENDIX: NOTE J: Page 151.
In proof that the hanging of young Harmon before his father’s eyes,
while the latter awaited death by the same method, was not, as a
grave judicial procedure, without censorious comment at the time,
are these satirical lines by one who was more of a wag than a poet.
Necessarily, they had a very limited circulation in _M. S._ among
friends.
To General ----
Plentiful heroes from this War will spring,
With praise of whom shall Fame’s proud arches ring,
And unborn generations with pains be taught,
At mother’s knee and school, what deeds they wrought.
But thou, as Jupiter excels in light
Planets and stars which deck the robe of night,
Shalt for thy courage and milit’ry skill
Above compeers, historic pages fill.
They have won battles,--strong batteries storm’d,
And such small deeds, common in War, perform’d:
But thou, with soaring aim, hast hung three men,
Sentenced by Martial Court and thy brave pen.
These loved their country; one, in prime of life
Bequeathed it all he had, children and wife;
The second, gray with age, the third, his son,
Whom thou didst order,--by no pity won,
Should to life’s closing scene together go,
And while one died, the other see his woe!
Brave General! goodness ever is allied
With greatness. Be thou, thy country’s pride!
APPENDIX: NOTE K: Page 167.
NARRATIVE BY EDWARD J. SANFORD OF KNOXVILLE, TENN.
In February, 1862, the Rebel Conscript Law was enacted in Tennessee
declaring every man between the ages of eighteen and forty-five
a soldier of the Southern Confederacy, and the then Governor, I.
G. Harris, made a call for the entire militia force of the State.
Consequently the prospect of being speedily compelled to do battle
against their sense of right and justice, added to the already
precarious condition of those citizens who were known to entertain
Union sentiments, and many companies of Union men were formed in East
Tennessee for the purpose of running through the rebel lines and
joining the Federal army in Kentucky.
For several days previous to April 18, 1862, such a company was
forming in Knox and Blount counties. Guides were procured who knew
the mountain paths and who were constantly passing to and from the
Federal camp in Kentucky. For the ostensible purpose of buying beef
in the mountain region for the Confederate army, passes were procured
by men who employed their time in preparing a boat on the Clinch
river about twenty miles north of Knoxville and secreting it from the
watchful eyes of rebel pickets, so that the company could be set over
without delay.
The place of _rendezvous_ was on Bullrun creek, fifteen miles north,
and its time midnight, April 18. The party was to number three
hundred and seventy-five men; but the authorities at Knoxville
having got wind of the matter, placed a strong guard around the town
which prevented seventy-five of this number from their purpose. I
was fortunately one of the few citizens who intended to join the
party and were outside of the town before nightfall when the guard
was stationed. A carriage ride with my wife early in the evening,
as though only for recreation, gave me the opportunity without
suspicion, to pass into the country; and leaving her at the house of
a friend five miles from town to return home the next day, I went on
foot to the house of the well-known Unionist, Andrew Knott, Esq.,
and remained there until nearly dark. By that time six others had
come to bear me company. Two of these were the son and son-in-law
of Squire Knott, who united with his family to bestow their best
wishes on the little band at its departure. Accessions to it were
almost constantly received, as we cautiously proceeded on our way
to the _rendezvous_. We avoided the intervening houses of rebels by
going through the fields. But happily this precaution was seldom
necessary, for from almost every house we passed, one at least was
added to our number, and many were the words of encouragement given
and bitter tears shed by mothers, sisters and wives, as those they
held dear stepped noiselessly forth from their homes and joined the
marching column. Before reaching the appointed place of meeting, our
number had increased to seventy-five, and there we found seventy-five
men awaiting us. Every one had a haversack of provisions; all were
without blankets and extra clothing and only one-third of the company
had succeeded in arming themselves for defence with guns or pistols.
One half of the whole party did not arrive at the time agreed upon.
We had no shelter, our clothes were completely wet by the rain which
had fallen during the entire night and we dared not make a fire, as
it would have exposed us to the enemy who, we had reason to know had
discovered our movements. For a small scouting party of theirs had
captured a few miles back two of our party who had fallen behind
the main body. After a short consultation we pushed on as fast as
possible and found our boat unmolested where it had been hidden.
One-half of our company at one time were set over the river and it
so happened that I went with the first boat load. We found relief
from fatigue in putting off our haversacks and, (although the rain
was pouring down,) in sitting upon the ground on the north side of
the stream, while the boat returned for the rest of our party. But
scarcely were we seated when a startling cry arose that the rebel
cavalry were upon us. We knew at once that if such were the case,
our only safety was in fighting, for the river behind us barred our
escape in that direction. In a moment a line was formed;--those
fortunate enough to have either gun or pistol stood in front and the
unarmed behind;--and the expected attack was awaited.
Two horsemen could be seen approaching through the woods, but in
the darkness it could not be told whether they were in advance of
a column of troops or not. In either case we concluded they were
enemies and with weapons levelled, we listened for the word of
command to fire upon them. Much to our joy however, they gave us
the friendly countersign, and we found that they were an Official
of Anderson county and others, who had come to show us on our way.
It was then about two o’clock in the morning and without waiting
for the second half of our party to cross the river, we went
forward under the guidance of our recently supposed enemies at a
“double quick” pace. Not a word was spoken as we pressed on without
halting,--sometimes through woods and sometimes through fields. As
day began to break, from a very secluded spot in a piece of thick
woods through which we were going, out stepped a small man with dark
eyes and determined look, who without a word motioned us to follow
him and then went rapidly ahead. The Anderson County Official who had
guided us, immediately turned back homeward, bidding us adieu with
a wave of his hand. Our new guide started off at such a quick gait
that it was difficult for our leg-weary party to keep up with him.
Some of them finding it impossible to do so, were obliged to fall
behind and risk the chance of capture. We had walked almost forty
miles during the night, through a hard and constant rain and over
muddy, slippery ground. Our guide, (Wash Vann by name,) seeing that
all were much fatigued, led the way to a secluded place near Nelson’s
Ridge and there halted the company for needed rest. Haversacks were
then opened, a breakfast made from their contents and nearly all
stretched themselves upon the wet ground for repose. A few men were
put upon the watch and soon the others were fast asleep. All was
quiet for about two hours, when (at 9 A. M. of the 19th) we, who
served as sentinels, discovered a man walking very fast and coming
upon the trail we had made. He seemed to be scrutinizing our tracks
and was evidently following us, but for what purpose of course we
could not tell. He approached within thirty yards of us before he
raised his eyes or perceived that we were near. At the first glance,
he turned and began to run; but hearing the word, Halt! he looked
over his shoulder and seeing that several rifles were drawn upon
him, he thought it wise to obey the summons. When he came up, we
catechized him very closely,--asking him where he was from? how far
he had followed us? Where going? &c. To none of these questions could
he give a satisfactory answer; but crossed himself frequently and
seemed much confused. He said he was a rebel, but could tell nothing
about the rebel troops. We concluded that he had been sent to pursue
and discover us for the information of our armed enemies, and that
our longer delay at the spot would be dangerous. Our short rest and
breakfast, with the excitement consequent upon taking a supposed spy,
made us all ready to start at once. Our prisoner was ordered to fall
in and told that if he attempted to escape, he would be shot.
We soon ascended Nelson’s Ridge and from its summit we could see
the rebel cavalry scouts hunting for us in the valley road below,
and trying to cut us off, as they were not able on horses to follow
us over the Ridge. By going very cautiously through the thickets we
managed to escape discovery, safely crossed the valley road north of
Walson’s Ridge and soon began the ascent of the Cumberland Mountains,
where for the time we felt secure from pursuit by cavalry.
In order to understand our real condition at that time and what had
saved us from capture, it will be necessary to revert to the place
where we had crossed Clinch river, and notice what was transpiring
there. As before stated, one-half of our company crossed Clinch river
before two o’clock in the morning. But the remainder, numbering
about one hundred and fifty, did not do so until near daylight.
In consequence they were discovered by a rebel, named Jones, who
lived in the vicinity. He gladly hurried off to a rebel camp a few
miles below and gave information. The rebels were on the alert,
for they had previous notice that a party of Union men were in the
neighborhood, and they gave quick pursuit. But fortunately, a Union
man hearing that our friends would probably be overtaken by their
enemies, hurried along a near way and told them of their danger.
Upon receiving this warning, they had but time to hide in a thicket
close at hand, when the pursuing cavalry went rushing by at the top
of their speed upon the trail the first half of our company had made
hours before, without discovering that any of the fugitives were
being left behind them. As the cavalry moved with the utmost possible
speed, they reached the spot where we had rested, only an hour after
we had left it, and where, but for our capture of the spy, they would
no doubt have found us. The hour we had, in advance of the troopers,
had been well improved and enabled us to find safety from them in the
Cumberland Mountains.
It was then dark. We had walked rapidly for twenty-four consecutive
hours, excepting the two hours of halt. The rain, which had fallen
during the whole period, came down in torrents at its close. Every
one suffered with fatigue, but some were so overcome by it they
could not proceed at all. Soon the darkness became intense; we had
almost to grope our way; no one could pick his footsteps, and there
were many bruises and scratches of the flesh. But over the rocks and
through the brush we had to go in the gloom of that dreadful night.
At length the joyful sound of “halt!” was heard. Our guide said that
we were five miles from any shelter or habitation. It must have been
a dismal spot at all times. On every side arose high hills which
would almost shut out the light of the mid-day sun. But in the then
impenetrable darkness and pouring rain, the thick forest seemed a
fit abode for evil spirits. Yet it afforded security from enemies,
and we were glad to rest even there. No one of the company would be
apt ever to forget the wretched night we spent at that place. After
supper from our water-soaked haversacks, we lay down to rest as best
we could, without blankets or other means of protection from the wet
ground and drenching rain, having agreed without a dissenting voice
that the place ought to be known for all time as Camp Misery!
As soon as it was light enough the next morning, we again moved
forward and soon began to ascend the highest point of the Cumberland
Mountains, known in that vicinity as “The Smoky Range.” On its
top, alternate snow and rain were substituted for the continuous,
soaking rains of the previous thirty-six hours, and added much to
our discomfort. On the top of that and adjacent peaks we travelled
nearly the whole day,--keeping upon the roughest and highest surfaces
to prevent successful pursuit on horses. Our experience during the
remainder of the journey was like that already related. The enemy
tried to intercept us, when in passing from one hill to another we
crossed over the valley roads, as we were obliged to do. On such
occasions one or two of our number would first advance cautiously
and reconnoitre. If no danger appeared, the whole company would then
pass over the road swiftly, making as little trail as possible, and
sometimes by walking backwards, leaving deceptive impressions on the
soil.
One incident of the trip will show after what manner the people of
Scott county were organized to resist their enemies. They were most
thoroughly loyal to the United States and both determined and active.
Through one of the narrow and deep vallies among the hills over which
we traveled, runs New River. Usually it is little more than a creek,
but at that Spring-time because of the heavy and steady rains, it
was a formidable stream. When arrived on its southern bank we could
find but one small canoe; and knowing it would be imprudent to wait
until the whole company could be carried in it over the river, the
guns and provisions were placed in the boat, and all who could swim
jumped in and breasted the waters. Upon the hillside about the fourth
of a mile in front of us, could be seen a small cabin, and as our
guide said that the occupant was a Union man, we did not hesitate to
approach it. We saw no one about the house until one of our guns, in
being placed in the canoe, was accidentally discharged. Immediately
a man ran from the house to the stable, mounted a horse and rode
rapidly up the hillside. We thought this a suspicious circumstance,
and on reaching the house and making known who we were, it came to
light that the horseman, in the belief that our company was one of
rebels, had sped over the hills to inform the “Home Guards” of which
he was a member, and that they would probably fire upon us from
every convenient spot, or as it was commonly termed “bush-whack” us.
But upon this a woman of the family went ahead of our party, and let
the “Guards” know their mistake; and the wounds or death they would
have inflicted upon us were averted. Knowing us to be friends of the
Union, we were in their eyes as brothers, and instead of resistance
and blows, they would have given us help and comfort to the utmost
limit of their power.
* * * * *
At the end of the sixth night of this kind of travel we arrived at
the Federal Army Camp at Boston, Kentucky. The second half of our
original company, whom we had left behind at Clinch river, joined us
the day before that termination. This accession made us three hundred
strong. The sight of that camp gave us relief, joy and thankfulness,
which they only can understand who have had complete deliverance from
protracted sufferings and trouble. Beneath the flag of our choice we
found nourishment, rest, protection and a hearty welcome from friends
who had gone before us and were anxious to hear from dear ones at
home. In six hours, three companies of as good soldiers as were ever
dressed in blue were added to the Sixth East Tennessee Regiment and
went forth to do battle for their homes and country. But they all
united afterwards in saying that no week of their lives as soldiers,
would begin to compare in hardships with the one they spent in this
trip over the mountains.
* * * * *
Before closing this narrative, I should state that the supposed spy
whom we captured at our first halting-place and whose capture saved
us from being overtaken by the pursuing cavalry, proved to be one of
a party of Union men who had several days previously been attacked
on their way to Kentucky and all either scattered or captured. Being
lost in the woods, he accidentally came upon us while resting,
and under the supposition that we were Rebel soldiers, he gave us
confused statements. In a short time he learned the true character of
his captors; but fortunately for us, we did not find out that he was
on our side, until we had reached for the night a secure position. He
afterwards carried a musket in the Sixth East Tennessee Regiment and
was called one of its best soldiers.
APPENDIX: NOTE L: Page 185.
Mrs. Edwards, wife of Mr. Edw. C. Edwards, of Campbell county,
carried information, at the cost of exposure to inclement weather
and risk of arrest and punishment, to the Union troops in several
instances. Once she traveled from her home in a buggy to Lenoir’s
Station on the East Tennessee and Georgia Railway and thence by Rail
to Athens, 55 miles southwest of Knoxville, and quickly returned. She
was accompanied by a neighbor’s adult daughter, Miss Bettie Carey, to
whom she did not divulge her purpose. They traveled with passports
from the Confederate authorities, and accomplished the journey of
more than 150 miles with remarkable celerity. Upon arriving again at
home, Mrs. Edwards mounted her horse, and with the valuable knowledge
concerning intended movements of the Confederate troops which she had
obtained on her recent visit among them, she went alone through the
rain over Pine Mountain to the encampment of Gen. J. G. Spears, near
the Kentucky border. He was of Bledsoe county, East Tennessee, and
in May and June, 1861, a member of the Union Convention at Knoxville
and Greeneville. The information given him by Mrs. Edwards, was the
means of saving from capture, him and his soldiers, and also, several
hundreds of East Tennessee refugees who were on their way to the
interior of Kentucky. General Spears thought that she deserved for
her daring, patriotic exploit, so useful in its results to his army,
more than wordy gratitude; and that she should be paid two thousand
dollars by the Federal Government; but the papers he gave her to
prove that reward was justly due her failed of their purpose. The
United States has never paid it in whole or in part; but her work was
not done for the sake of money.
On another occasion, when Winter was about passing into the Spring
of 1863, she went on a patriotic errand to Williamsburg, Kentucky,
accompanied by Miss Bettie Carey,--both on horseback, their cavalier
being a son of Mrs. Edwards, ten years old, mounted on a mule, but
as on the previous trip, she kept her special purpose from her
companion. Their ostensible object was to purchase supplies needed by
their households. As the first night closed in upon the travelers,
they lost their way on Pine Mountain. Mrs. Edwards preserved her
cheerfulness and hopefully said, that by and by they would find
a house. This they did after tedious wandering in the cold and
darkness. Observing a light, they found the hospitality they sought
in a log cabin which had but one apartment. Their supper, consisting
of coffee corn bread and bacon, was kindly provided by the family,
and one of the beds in the room was assigned to their use. The two
women, with the lad nestling at their feet, slept as comfortably as
the cold wind which found entrance through the crevices of the house
would permit.
The journey had several difficulties, not the least of which was
in fording rivers that were in such a swollen condition, that the
horses had almost to swim and their riders were compelled to mount
high in their saddles to escape the waters. Mrs. Edwards alone knew
what communications she had with others at Williamsburg in relation
to the War. In returning home, they were hospitably fed and lodged
at the house of a worthy Union man, of whom, as illustrating the
wanton cruelties inflicted here and there upon country people by the
Confederate soldiery, it has to be said, that not long afterwards, he
was arrested by them at his home, and deliberately shot to death, and
two of his neighbors of like mind, at the same time shared his fate.
“Were the three men charged with any offence?” was the question asked
of the lady who told of the occurrence in connection with the above
narrative. “O, no!” was her reply; “they were only Union men.”
There was an instance of dangerous adventure in behalf of the United
States, which a young lady and a boy who had just entered his teens
undertook during the siege of Knoxville. According to a report made
to the House of Representatives, (50th Congress, 1st Session,) by
its Committee on War Claims, Gen. Grant sent an important dispatch
to Gen. Burnside. So overrun was the territory between Chattanooga
and Knoxville by Confederate troops, that it could only be delivered,
if at all, with great difficulty and hazard. At length, Miss Mary
Love, of Kingston, Tennessee, agreed to take the message through
the Confederate lines. She went, attended by a guide, Thomas F.
Carter, as far as Louisville, Tennessee. Being there compelled to
abandon personally the attempt, she could find but one person who
was willing to prosecute it: and to him, a boy, John T. Brown, only
13 years of age she entrusted the dispatch. He carried it safely to
its destination, but has never received from the Government, any
acknowledgment of his brave and patriotic service.
APPENDIX: NOTE M: Page 194.
[From the Official Report of General Carter.]
A movement of troops into East Tennessee was proposed as early as
November 25, 1862, but was not ordered until December 19, when
arrangements for it had been completed. It was hoped that the force
to be sent on this hazardous but important expedition, would have
been much larger than that which the Commander of the Department felt
could be detached for that service when the time to enter upon it
arrived.
The original design was to divide the force into two columns, and
strike the East Tennessee and Virginia Railroad at two points at the
same time, distant 100 miles apart, and by moving towards the centre,
destroy the road for that distance.
A junction of the forces (consisting of two battalions 2nd Michigan
Cavalry, Lieut. Col. Campbell; the 9th Pennsylvania Cavalry, Major
Russell; and one battalion 7th Ohio Cavalry. Major Raimey) was made
near the mouth of Goose Creek, Clay County, Kentucky. As ordered by
Gen. Burnside, Col. Charles J. Walker of the 10th Kentucky Cavalry
was placed in command of the cavalry brigade.
The troops were ordered to move without baggage, with ten days
rations, and 100 rounds of ammunition; but as it was feared some
difficulty would be met with in obtaining forage, a supply train
was ordered to proceed some 60 miles on the route and then transfer
forage and rations to a train of pack mules. On the 22nd December
Gen. Carter, who left Lexington on the 20th, came up with the two
battalions of the 2nd Michigan and the 9th Pennsylvania at McKee,
Jackson county, Kentucky, and after one day’s necessary detention,
they effected a junction on the 26th with the remainder of the
troops, (1st Battalion of 7th Ohio Cavalry) at Heard’s on Goose
Creek. The whole force amounted only to about 1,980 men, and of that
number a considerable portion were in the field for the first time.
The marches, owing to the roughness and narrowness of the roads,
(being merely bridle paths along the banks of creeks and over steep
and rugged mountains) were of necessity slow and tedious, and their
length had to be governed by the distance to the several points at
which forage could be obtained. It was not until about meridian of
the 28th, that they reached the foot of the Cumberland mountain (on
the north side,) opposite “Crank’s Gap,” 12 miles to the southward
and eastward of Harlan Court House. The pack train was sent back in
charge of a detachment of the Kentucky State Guard.
A little before sunset they reached the summit of the Cumberland
mountain, and had the field of their operations, with its mountains
and vallies spread out before them. Gen. Carter then consulted with
the officers of his command, and it was the unanimous opinion that
the force was entirely too small to venture on a division according
to the original plan. This decision seemed to be the more necessary
from the news they had received through East Tennessee refugees at
the foot of the mountain, relative to the disposition of the rebel
forces along the line of the railroad.
Soon after dark, the advance commenced the descent of the mountain,
hoping to make a long march before sunrise, but owing to the
steepness, narrowness and roughness of the way, the rear of the
column did not reach the foot of the mountain, until 10 p. m., having
consumed four hours on the way. Gen. Carter was told there were
400 rebel cavalry in the vicinity of Jonesville one mile distant.
As it was important to move through Lee County, Virginia, without
exciting suspicion, he moved down Cane Creek, and passing through a
Gap in Poor Valley ridge, crossed Powell’s Valley about five miles
east of Jonesville. On leaving the valley road, his guides were at
fault and valuable time was lost in finding the way. The march was
continued through the night and at daylight the troops reached the
top of Wallen’s Ridge, 22 miles distant from the foot of Cumberland
Mountain, and halted. Thus far they had advanced without giving
any alarm, or even exciting any suspicion as to their character.
The village of Shelbyville lay immediately below, and but for the
imprudence of an officer in allowing the men to visit the village,
they could have passed on as rebel cavalry. A number of rebel
soldiers belonging to Trigg’s battalion were within Carter’s lines,
supposing they were among friends and were captured.
In a short time the U. S. troops were again in the saddle,--passed
through Stickleyville, across Powell’s Mountain, and through
Pattonsville. Before sunset, they crossed Clinch River 12 miles
from Estillville, Scott County, Virginia, and halted for a couple
of hours. News of their approach had gone before them, but few of
the rebels were disposed to credit it, believing it impossible that
a Government force would venture so far within their territory.
Upon arriving at Estillville at 10 P. M., they were told that a
considerable rebel force was in possession of “Moccasin Gap,”
prepared to resist their passage. Gen. Carter could not afford to
lose time. The Michigan Battalions were dismounted, and under Lieut.
Colonel Campbell, a portion was deployed and moved through the Gap.
Being unacquainted with the ground, and having to guard against an
ambuscade in this strong pass,--which could have been held by a
strong force against greatly superior numbers--they advanced with
great caution. It was midnight before the rear of the column had
passed through. The enemy, deterred by this resolute advance, fled
towards Kingsport, East Tennessee, without firing a gun. A rebel
Lieutenant and several soldiers with their arms, were captured on the
south side of the Gap, on the Blountville road. During the remainder
of the night the men moved forward as rapidly as was practicable
over unknown roads,--picking up rebel soldiers by the way. Owing
to the darkness of the night, a portion of the command lost their
way and became separated from the main body. A small force of the
enemy’s cavalry, hovering about the rear, killed a Sergeant of the
2nd Michigan, and captured two others who had wandered from the road.
At daylight on the morning of 30th December, the troops reached the
town of Blountville, Sullivan County, East Tennessee, surprised and
took possession of the place, captured some 30 soldiers belonging
to the 4th Kentucky Rebel Cavalry and paroled them. They were there
informed that at Bristol, some eight miles distant, there was a
large amount of stores, besides the meat of a considerable number
of hogs, belonging to the Rebel authorities, but as the place was
guarded, according to the best information obtained, by a regiment
of Infantry under Colonel Slimp, (said to be 900 strong,) a Cavalry
force under Colonel Gettner and a battery, they were reluctantly
compelled to leave it on their left, and move towards the railroad
bridge at Union, six miles from Blountville. The General sent forward
Lieut. Colonel Campbell, with a portion of the 2nd Michigan under the
direction of Col. Jas. P. T. Carter of 2nd East Tennessee Infantry,
towards Union, with orders to take the place and destroy the railroad
bridge across the Holston river. As soon as the remainder of the
troops which had been separated during the night, came up, he moved
them rapidly forward in the same direction. When he reached Union,
he found the town in the possession of his men, and the railroad
bridge, a pine structure some 600 feet in length, slowly burning.
The rebel force, about 150 strong, consisting of two companies of
the 62nd North Carolina troops under command of Major McDowell,
had surrendered without resistance; the Major himself having been
first captured by the advance of the U. S. troops while endeavoring
to learn if there was any truth in the report of their approach.
The prisoners were paroled, and a large number of them were that
afternoon on their way to the mountains of North Carolina, swearing
they would never be exchanged. Their joy at being captured seemed to
be unbounded.
The stores, barracks, tents, a large number of arms and equipments,
a considerable amount of nitre, a railroad car, the depot, &c.,
&c., were destroyed; also a wagon bridge across the river, a few
hundred yards below the railroad bridge. As soon as the work of
destruction was fairly under way. Gen. Carter dispatched Colonel
Walker with detachments from the 2nd Michigan, 9th Pennsylvania and
7th Ohio Cavalry,--in all 180 men, the whole under the guidance of
Col. Carter,--towards the Watauga bridge at Carter Depot, 10 miles
west of Union. On their way they captured a locomotive and tender,
with Col. Love of the 62nd North Carolina troops, who having heard
of the approach of the “Yankees,” had started on the locomotive
to Union, to ascertain the truth of the rumor. On the detachments
reaching the Station about sunset, they found the enemy, consisting
of two companies of North Carolina troops, estimated by Colonel
Walker at nearly 200 men, falling into line. Col. Walker gallantly
attacked them and after a brief but warm resistance, they broke
and fled to the woods. The gallant Major Roper of the 6th Kentucky
Cavalry, with two Companies of the 9th Pennsylvania Cavalry under
Capt. Jones of that Regiment, made a dashing charge and captured
and destroyed many of their number. Maj. Roper’s loss was 1 killed,
1 mortally, 1 severely and 2 slightly wounded. The entire loss of
the enemy, owing to the darkness of the night, could not be learned
with certainty, but it was in killed, 12 to 16. The railroad bridge
across the Watauga River, some 300 feet in length, was soon in flames
and entirely destroyed; also a large number of arms and valuable
stores. The captured locomotive was run into the river and completely
demolished, destroying in its passage one of the piers of the bridge.
The men and horses, especially the latter, were much worn and jaded
from constant travel and want of rest. The alarm had been given. The
rebels had the road open to Knoxville and could move up a strong
force. The General also learned that some 500 cavalry and 4 guns,
under Col. Folks, were within three miles; that an Infantry force
would be concentrated at Johnson’s depot, six miles west of Carter’s
station by daylight; and further, that Humphrey Marshall, who was at
Abingdon, Virginia, was moving his troops to occupy the mountains and
thus cut off his egress. It was deemed prudent therefore to return.
The command left Watauga, and after a hard march, reached Kingsport
at the mouth of the North Fork of the Holston River at sunset on the
31st of December. After feeding and resting a short time and issuing
meat to the men, they were again in the saddle, passed eight miles
north of Rogersville, and reached Looney’s Gap on Clinch Mountain
late in the afternoon, passed through without opposition, and about
11 P. M., January 1st, reached a place on the edge of Hancock County,
Tennessee, where forage could be procured, and bivouaced for the
night. This was the first night’s rest the men had been able to take
since the night of the 27th ult. They had been annoyed during the day
and night by bushwhackers, but Providentially escaped with only two
men slightly wounded.
Soon after daylight on the morning of the 2d inst., the command
proceeded towards Jonesville, Lee County, Virginia, with the
intention of reaching the foot of Cumberland Mountain on the Kentucky
side before halting. Its march was much impeded during the day
by bushwhackers, who constantly annoyed the front and rear. Just
before reaching Jonesville, they endeavored to check Gen. Carter by
occupying the hills in his front with two companies, (supposed to
be Larimore’s and Staley’s); but they were soon driven from their
strong position by the skirmishers of the 2d Michigan. The command
reached Jonesville late in the afternoon; but before its rear guard
had passed, it was attacked by about 200 rebels. Col. Walker took
charge of the rear guard, reinforced by two light companies and
drove the assailants back to the woods. Several of their number
were killed,--one in the village of Jonesville and some twenty were
captured during the day, without suffering any loss. From prisoners
the General learned that the passes in Powell’s and Clinch mountains,
through which he marched in going to Union, had been blockaded and
were occupied by three or four companies of infantry. He reached the
foot of Cumberland Mountain, passing through “Crank’s Gap,” at 11 P.
M., and bivouaced;--men and horses completely jaded and worn, having
been in the last five days and seventeen hours, but thirty hours out
of the saddle.
On the 5th inst., the command reached Manchester, Clay County,
Kentucky, and rested on the following day.
Gen. Carter says in conclusion, that “notwithstanding the inclemency
of the weather, the severity of the march and the scanty supply of
rations, for no inconsiderable portion of the time; both officers
and men bore their hardships without a single murmur or word of
complaint. They returned after a journey of 470 miles, 170 of which
were in the enemy’s country, in high spirits and in good condition,
proud to think they had accomplished a feat which for hazard and
hardship has no parallel in the history of the war.”
APPENDIX: NOTE N: Page 196.
When the United States Army under Burnside approached Knoxville,
September, 1863, Captain S. T. Harris was taken with other prisoners
to Columbia, S. C. He was there put in chains that weighed from 12 to
15 pounds, and cruelly imprisoned. His father applied to President
Davis, and in consequence, he was transferred from the filthy and
almost airless cell where he lay, to a better one.
In the same prison were confined a scaling party of the United States
Naval Officers, who had been captured in a night attack on Fort
Sumter, September, 1863. One of them was Ensign Porter, of whom the
Rev. H. Clay Trumbull says in the Church Magazine, August, 1886;
“Apart of the time he was in irons as one of the hostages for two
Confederate privateersmen who were held by our (the United States)
Government as pirates. He was the life of the party. He was always
taking a cheery view of the situation.... In a room of the jail,
adjoining that of the naval officers, there was confined in irons a
Captain Harris of Tennessee, held as a hostage for some Confederate
prisoner under special charges. It was a delight of Ben. Porter to
put his mouth to the key-hole of the intervening door and whistle a
lively tune, while the Captain danced to it with the accompanying
clanking of his chains. After Porter had been himself in irons,
he taught Captain Harris how to remove and replace his handcuffs
and fetters, without the knowledge of the prison officials. It was
through this instruction, that Captain Harris’s life was saved when
the Columbia jail was burned, early in 1865.”
Captain Harris relates that he was hurried off with other prisoners
under guard from Columbia, that they might not be delivered by Gen.
Sherman’s army, and that, having learned while in prison at Knoxville
the trick of slipping off his chains at pleasure, he released himself
of those with which he had been bound in Columbia and left them in
a swamp. He was paroled at Charlotte, N. C., and in exchange for
Captain Ellison of the C. S. Army, a prisoner at Nashville held
as hostage for him by order of President Lincoln, he was finally
transferred from Wilmington, to the United States authorities. On
his return to Knoxville, where he had forgiven all his enemies when
expecting soon to be executed, he did not fully illustrate the saying
of the poet, that young men “soon forget affronts;” but meeting with
one who had sought his life when a helpless prisoner, he remembered
the wrong, and in a brief interview redressed it to his enemy’s
discontent.
APPENDIX: NOTE O: Page 207.
[From official reports concerning the Sanders raid in East Tennessee,
June 14-24, 1863.]
Colonel William P. Sanders, in obedience to special instructions
from the General Commanding the Department, left Mount Vernon,
Kentucky, June 14, 1863, with a force of 1,500 mounted men, composed
of detachments of different regiments, as follows: Seven hundred of
the 1st East Tennessee mounted Infantry, under Colonel R. K. Byrd;
200 of the 44th Ohio mounted infantry, under Major Moore; 200 of the
112th Illinois mounted infantry, under Major Dow; 150 of the 7th Ohio
Cavalry Volunteers, under Captain Rankin; 150 of the Second Ohio
Cavalry Volunteers, under Captain Welch; 100 of the First Kentucky
cavalry Volunteers, under Captain (G. W.) Drye, and a section of
Captain Konkle’s battery. First Regiment Ohio Artillery Volunteers,
under Lieutenant Lloyd,--for the East Tennessee and Virginia
Railroad. From Mount Vernon to Williamsburg, on the Cumberland river,
a distance of sixty miles, a train of wagons containing forage and
subsistence stores, accompanied the expedition. From this point, he
followed a route known as the Marsh Creek road to near Huntsville,
Tennessee, leaving that place a few miles to his left. He reached
the vicinity of Montgomery, Tennessee, on the evening of the 17th of
June, and learning that a small party of rebels were stationed at
Wartburg, one mile from Montgomery, he sent 400 men from the 1st East
Tennessee to surprise and capture them, following one hour afterward
himself with the remainder of the command. The surprise was complete.
They captured 102 enlisted men and two officers (one of them an aide
to General Pegram,) together with a large number of horses, sixty
boxes artillery ammunition, several thousand pounds of bacon, salt,
flour, and meal, some corn, 500 spades, 100 picks, besides a large
quantity of other public stores, and six wagons with mule teams. The
prisoners were paroled, and the property destroyed.
A small portion of this command, who were out some distance from
the camp, with their horses, escaped and gave the first notice of
Sanders’s approach, at Knoxville, Kingston, Loudon and other places.
From that point he marched toward Kingston. When within eight miles
of it, he learned positively that Scott’s brigade and one battery
were at that place, guarding the ford of Clinch River. For this
reason, leaving Kingston to his right, he crossed the river eight
miles above, at Waller’s Ford on the direct road to Loudon. At
daylight, on the 19th (June), he was within three miles of Loudon,
and about the same distance from Lenoir’s. He there learned that a
force of three regiments was at the Loudon bridge, with eight pieces
of artillery, and that they had been for two weeks strengthening
the works at that place, digging rifle pits, ditches, &c. A courier
was captured from the commanding officer at Loudon, with dispatches
ordering the forces from Kingston to follow in Sanders’s rear, and
stating that the troops from Lenoir’s had been ordered to join them.
Sanders determined to avoid Loudon and started immediately for
Lenoir’s station, which place he reached about 8 A. M., arriving
there about thirty minutes after the departure of the rebel troops.
At that station he captured a detachment of artillerymen, with three
6 pounder iron guns, eight officers and fifty-seven enlisted men,
burned the depot, a large brick building, containing five pieces
of artillery, with harness and saddles, two thousand five hundred
stand of small arms, a very large amount of artillery and musket
ammunition, and artillery and cavalry equipments. The depot was
entirely occupied with military stores, and one car filled with
saddles and artillery harness. He also captured some seventy-five
Confederate States mules and horses. There was a large cotton
factory with a large amount of cotton at the place, and he ordered
that it should not be burned, as it furnished the Union citizens of
the country with their only material for making cloth, but it was
burned by mistake or accidentally. He had the telegraph wire and
railroad destroyed from there on to Knoxville, at points about one
mile apart. He met the enemy’s pickets at Knoxville about 7 P. M.
on the 19th (June,) and drove them to within a mile of the city.
Leaving a portion of the 1st Kentucky Cavalry on the southwest side
of the town, he moved the rest of his command as soon as it was dark
by another road entirely around to the other side, driving in the
pickets at several places, and cut the railroad, so that no troops
could be sent to the bridges above. At daylight he moved up to the
city on the Tazewell road and found the enemy well posted on the
heights and in the adjacent buildings, with eight or nine pieces of
artillery. The streets were barricaded with cotton bales, and the
batteries protected by the same material. Their force was estimated
at 3,000, including citizens who were impressed into service. After
about one hour’s skirmishing Sanders withdrew, capturing near the
city two pieces of artillery, 6 pounders, the tents, and all the camp
equipage of a regiment of conscripts, about eighty Confederate States
horses, and thirty-one prisoners.
He then started for Strawberry Plains, following the railroad, and
destroyed all the small bridges and depots to within four miles of
the latter place at Flat Creek, where he burned a finely built,
covered bridge and also a county bridge. The guard had retreated. He
left the railroad three miles below the town, and crossed the Holston
River, so as to attack the bridge on the same side the enemy were. As
soon as he came in sight they opened on the advance with four pieces
of artillery. He dismounted the infantry and sent the 44th Ohio,
under Major Moore, up the river, and the rest under Colonel Byrd and
Major Dow, to get in their rear. After about an hour’s skirmishing,
the enemy was driven off, and leaving a train and locomotive with
steam up in waiting, a portion of them escaped. All their guns (five
in number), 137 enlisted men and two officers, a vast amount of
stores, ammunition, and provisions, (including 600 sacks of salt)
about seventy tents and a great quantity of camp equipage were left
in his hands. He remained at the place all night and destroyed the
splendid bridge over the Holston River, over 1,600 feet long, built
on eleven piers, the trestle included.
At daylight on the 21st (June) he started up the railroad for the
Mossy Creek bridge, destroying the road at all convenient points. At
Mossy Creek, New Market and vicinity, he captured 120 prisoners and
destroyed several cars, a large quantity of stores, several hundred
barrels of saltpetre, 200 barrels of sugar, and a large amount of
other stores. The bridge burned at Mossy Creek was a fine one, over
300 feet in length. Near this place he also destroyed the machinery
of a gun factory and a saltpetre factory.
He determined to leave the railroad here and endeavor to cross the
mountains at Rogers’ Gap, as he knew every exertion was being made
on the part of the enemy to capture his command. Fording the Holston,
at Hayworth’s Bend, he started for the Powder Spring Gap of Clinch
Mountain. There a large force was found directly in his front, and
another strong force overtook and commenced skirmishing with his rear
guard. By taking country roads he got into the Gap without trouble or
loss, and had all this force in his rear. On arriving within a mile
and a-half of Rogers’ Gap, he found that it was blockaded by fallen
timber, and strongly guarded by artillery and infantry, and that all
the gaps practicable were obstructed and guarded in a similar manner.
He then determined to abandon his artillery and move by a wood path
to Smith’s Gap, three miles from Rogers’ Gap. The guns, carriages,
harness and ammunition were completely destroyed, and left. He had
now a large force, both in front and rear, and could only avoid
capture by getting into the mountains, and thus place all his foes
in the rear, which he succeeded in doing, after driving a regiment
of cavalry from Smith’s Gap. The road through this pass was only a
bridle path, and very rough. He did not get up the mountain until
after night. About 170 of his men and officers got on the wrong road,
and did not rejoin the command until it reached Kentucky.
Owing to the continual march, many horses gave out and were left, and
although several hundred were captured on the march, they were not
enough to supply the men. He reached Boston, Ky., on the 24th, with a
loss of two killed, four wounded and thirteen missing. The number of
prisoners paroled by him was 461.
After acknowledging his indebtedness for the success of the
expedition to several officers of his command, Col. Sanders did
so chiefly to Sergeant Reynolds, First East Tennessee volunteers,
and his guides. He said: “Reynolds’ knowledge of the country was
thorough, reliable and invaluable.” “All the officers and men
deserved great credit and praise for the cheerfulness with which
they submitted to great hardships and fatigue, and their energy and
readiness at all times either to fight or march.”
APPENDIX: NOTE P: Page 207.
[Confederate account of the fight at Knoxville, in the Sanders Raid,
condensed from the Report of Lieut. Col. Milton A. Haynes, C. S.
Artillery, to Maj. Von Sheliha, Chief of Gen. Buckner’s staff.]
DEPARTMENT OF EAST TENNESSEE,
KNOXVILLE, JUNE 21, 1863.
Major General Buckner had marched toward Big Creek Gap with all
the artillery and all the other disposable force at this post,
except Colonel Trigg’s 51st (54th) Virginia Regiment, and Colonel
J. J. Finley’s 7th (6th) Florida Regiment; effective force about
1,000 men; leaving Colonel Trigg temporarily in command at
Knoxville. On the morning of the 19th, Maj. Von Sheliha, Acting
Chief of Staff, was informed that the enemy in large force had
passed by Loudon, and were at Lenoir’s Station, twenty-four miles
from Knoxville, and he requested Lieut. Col. Haynes to take
charge of the artillery defence of the city, and to organize his
force from the convalescents in the hospitals and from citizens,
to man his guns then in the city. At the same time he ordered
Maj. S. H. Reynolds, Chief of Ordnance, to issue to Lieut. Col.
Haynes as many field pieces as could possibly be put in condition
within a few hours, and to furnish him with all necessary
equipments and one hundred rounds of ammunition. This order was
fulfilled as far as was practicable.
In the mean time the citizens of Knoxville had been ordered to
report to Col. Haynes or to Col. (E. D.) Blake for duty for the
defence of the city.
At 3 o’clock in the afternoon of that day it was known that the
enemy was within five miles of the city, and their advance were
skirmishing with thirty-seven of our cavalrymen, being all that
were then in Knoxville. The eight pieces of artillery at the
ordnance department were immediately posted in sections. First,
at College Hill, under Maj. Baker (the exposed point); second,
on McGhee’s Hill, under Capt. Hugh L. McClung, and third, under
Lieut. Patterson and Lieut. J. J. Burroughs, at Summit Hill. This
last battery had been fortified during the afternoon, under the
superintendence of Capt. (W. F.) Foster, of the engineers, with a
cotton bale revetment. During that evening, the enemy failing to
advance, Colonel Trigg removed Major Baker’s battery from College
Hill to a point near the Asylum Hospital. In the evening about
200 persons, citizens and convalescent soldiers from hospitals,
had reported for duty, and each of the batteries was fully
manned, although in the morning of the same day there was no
artillery force whatever in the city.
During the night the pickets of the enemy advanced upon the city,
but the Confederate pickets, thrown out by Col. Trigg, after
an hour’s skirmish, drove them back at about 2 o’clock in the
morning.
At 7 o’clock on the 20th, four pieces of artillery, detached by
Gen. Buckner from his command, reached the ordnance depot, and
were immediately taken to the rear as a reserve. Soon after, the
enemy advanced at double quick time from beyond the workshops
in North Knoxville, where the Confederates had neither battery
nor soldiers to oppose them. Colonel Haynes took “a section of
Wyly’s battery, and moved them at a gallop to a point immediately
in front of the advancing column, and opened fire upon them
with spherical case. The enemy took shelter behind houses and
fences, and threw forward sharp-shooters within 200 yards of the
Confederate Battery which was entirely unsupported by infantry,
and 400 yards from any support. At the same time a battery of
three-inch rifled guns belonging to the enemy opened upon the
Confederates at 800 yards, and during the first two or three
shots killed and wounded some of their men and several horses.
The battery was then advanced and ordered not to fire at the
artillery, but at the infantry. The enemy at this moment forming
a column, advanced rapidly, but after receiving two rounds of
canister, they retreated.” ... “During the same time the battery
under Lieut. J. J. Burroughs and Lieut. Patterson on Summit
Hill, were also engaged and kept up a continual fire, during
which Capt. McClung and Lieut. Fellows were killed. The section
under Lieut. Whelon, before ordered by Col. Trigg to Temperance
Hill, opened fire from there upon the retreating enemy, which,
with the fire from Wyly’s battery, Burroughs’ battery and Maj
Baker’s, completed the victory.” ... “The enemy had one battery
of artillery and about 2,600 men, opposed by about 1,000 men,
part of whom were citizens and convalescent soldiers.”
Col. Haynes says in his report: “Among many citizens who reported
to me that day for duty, I must not forget to mention Hon. Landon
C. Haynes, Hon. Wm. H. Sneed, Hon. John H. Crozier, Rev. Joseph
H. Martin and Rev. Mr. Woolfolk, and many others who do not
desire me to mention their names. With such compatriots and such
fellow-soldiers a man might willingly at any time meet the foe.
“Our loss was two officers and two enlisted men killed and four
enlisted men wounded. Loss of enemy, forty-five.”
APPENDIX: NOTE R: Page 227.
[Gen. Longstreet, concerning the military situation in East
Tennessee, Nov., 1863.]
Whether or not the movement of Longstreet against Burnside originated
with Mr. Jefferson Davis, as Gen. Grant was informed, it appears from
the following letter published in 1871,[64] that Gen. Longstreet was
dissatisfied with the way in which Gen. Bragg had ordered things and
was conducting operations in front of Chattanooga; that he attributed
the idea of his own expedition to Bragg’s mind; that he thought it
was the least favorable of opportunities for relief to the situation,
but that having heard of it, he had proposed, without avail, a plan
to make the movement greatly advantageous. Gen. Grant in his Memoirs,
puts the force with which Longstreet left Chattanooga “to go against
Burnside” at about 15,000 troops besides Wheeler’s Cavalry, 5,000
more.
Extract from a letter written by Gen. Longstreet, dated July 12th,
1871:
“I have just concluded to send you a copy of a letter written by
me just on the point of mounting my horse to start upon the East
Tennessee campaign. It was written after my tent was struck, sitting
in the rain, (a light drizzle) from the head of an empty flour
barrel; but I think that, concise and hurriedly as it was written,
it plainly indicated that I understood what Grant’s campaign would
be; that is, I understood the conditions and situations of the two
armies well enough to know what Grant _should_ do, and it is always
safe to assume, with such a man, that he will do what he should do.
Seeing the letter that I send a copy of, amongst my papers that I
was overlooking. I determined to send it, in order that you might be
assured of our force and of my appreciation of the campaign when it
was projected by General Bragg:”
HEADQUARTERS, CHATTANOOGA, Nov. 5, 1863.
S. B. BUCKNER, MAJOR GENERAL.
MY DEAR GENERAL--I start to-day for Tyner’s Station, and expect
to get transportation to-morrow for Sweetwater. The weather is so
bad, and I find myself so occupied that I shall not be able to
see you to say good-bye.
When I heard the report around camp, that I was to go into East
Tennessee, I set to work at once to try and plan the means of
making the move with security, and the hope of great results.
As every other move had been proposed to the General and
rejected, or put off till time made them more inconvenient, I
came to the conclusion as soon as the report reached me, that
this was to be the fate of our army; to await till all good
opportunities had passed, and then, in desperation, to seize upon
the least favorable one.
As no one had proposed this East Tennessee campaign to the
General, I thought it possible that we might accomplish something
by encouraging his own move, and (I) proposed the following
plan, viz: To withdraw from our present lines, and the forces
now in East Tennessee: the latter to be done in order to give
the impression to the enemy that we were retiring from East
Tennessee, and concentrating here for battle or for some
other movement, and place our army in a strong (concentrated)
position. The moment the army was together, make a detachment
of 20,000 to move rapidly against Burnside and destroy him; and
by continued rapid movements, to threaten the enemy’s rear and
his communications to the extent that might be necessary to draw
him out from his present position. This, at least, is a tedious
process, but I thought it gave promise of some results, and was
therefore better than lying here destroying ourselves.
The move, as I proposed it, would have left this army (Bragg’s)
in a strong position and safe, and would have made sure the
capture of Burnside. That is, the army here could spare 20,000 if
it were in the position that I proposed, better than it can spare
12,000, occupying the lines that it now does. Twenty thousand
men well handled could surely have captured Burnside and forces.
Under present arrangements, however, the lines are to be held as
they now are, and the detachment is to be of say, 12,000. We thus
expose both to failure, and really take no chance to ourselves
of great results. The only notice my plan received was a remark
that General Hardee was pleased to make: ‘I don’t think that
that is a bad idea of Longstreet’s.’ I undertook to explain the
danger of having such a long line under the fire of the enemy’s
batteries, and he concentrated, as it were, right in our midst,
and within twenty minutes march of any portion of our line.
But I was assured that he would not disturb us. I repeated my
ideas, but they did not even receive notice. ’Twas not till I had
repeated my plan, however, that Gen. Hardee even noticed me.
Have you any maps that you can give or lend me? I shall need
every thing of the kind. Do you know any reliable people living
near and east of Knoxville, from whom I might get information of
the condition, strength, &c., of the enemy. I have written in
such hurry and confusion of packing and striking camp, that I
doubt if I have made myself understood.
I remain very sincerely your friend,
(Signed) J. LONGSTREET,
Lieutenant General.
APPENDIX: NOTE S: Page 246.
[The night ride of Refugees to Kentucky.]
One of the party of refugees from Knoxville, as Longstreet approached
it, relates: “The attention of wayside inhabitants, on the occasion
of this escapade was the sharper, because the news of Longstreet’s
advance had already spread through the country; and many were the
questions with which the excited and curious population plied
the fleeing party; such as “What is the matter,” etc., etc. The
discomfort of the travellers was especially relieved by the tongue
of an elderly woman whom they encountered. In order to relish the
amusement her sallies afforded them it should be remembered that
“Parson Brownlow” as he was often called, not only had great popular
notoriety, but was as highly esteemed by one party to the strife as
he was intensely hated by the other. By the rebels he was thought to
be,
“The very head and front of their offending.”
By the Union people he was everywhere known as their fearless and
indomitable champion; and the idea of his giving way before the
coming of their foes, could find place in their minds only along side
of a desperate emergency.
As we plunged along with the north star for our main guide, we
were continually hailed to know what was the trouble, and what was
the state of things at Knoxville? It is specially remembered that
just after entering Anderson County, we were saluted by one of the
numerous families peculiar to that region, headed by the matron,
torch in hand:
‘What in the name of goodness does all this mean? and where are you
men going? Is Burnside retreating? or who are you any how?’
It was mildly answered to her by one of the more polite-mannered
gentlemen of the party, that Gen Burnside, so far from being able to
retreat, was in all probability a prisoner with his whole army.
‘And are you running,’ exclaimed she, ‘without firing a gun?’ ‘Oh
no!’ said an elderly gentleman; ‘we are simply retiring in good
order, to save the country.’
‘Yes!’ said she, as she flamed her torch with a sort of patriotic
fierceness; ‘I expect the next thing I’ll hear will be that Old Bill
Brownlow is running too!’
At this juncture, the reverend gentleman so irreverently referred to,
in a subdued tone of voice, remarked:
‘Gentlemen, this is no place to make a stand; I think I’d rather
encounter Longstreet’s army, or Vaughn’s cavalry, than that
woman.’”[65]
Capt. A. J. Ricks, the military escort of the party says: “One man
of the group, from the beginning of the hazardous ride, impressed me
with the coolness, judgment and courage, with which he confronted
dangers, and advised as to the best means of avoiding them; and
it was soon apparent that the distinguished band looked to him as
leader and adviser. And when, at an hour that all agreed my orders
required me to leave them to their own chances and I parted from them
with many misgivings as to their safety, I noticed that they all
instinctively turned to John Baxter, as pilot and commander.”
They did so with good reason, for he had quick and accurate judgment
and a powerful will. Mr. Ricks, now of Massilon, Ohio, in his address
at a meeting of the bar of northern Ohio, held at Cleveland, Ohio,
April 6, 1886, concerning the recent death of the Hon. John Baxter,
of the U. S. Circuit Court, related some interesting incidents in the
Judge’s personal history during the civil war.
“No one of all the famous Union men of that conspicuously loyal
section, (East Tennessee,) was more fearless, consistent or
aggressive in the struggle against secession than our departed
friend. He was a leader in the historic Union Convention of 1861,
which held its session, planning open opposition to the Confederacy,
while rebel regiments by the train load, destined for Virginia, were
passing by within hailing distance. Johnson, Maynard, Brownlow,
Nelson and Baxter were the leading spirits in its deliberations.
“Although the disposition of many members of that convention to make
organized armed resistance at once, and to put Baxter in command of
the forces was not approved by his knowledge of the environment, he
was recommended from Greeneville to President Lincoln for a Brigadier
General’s commission in the army. This honor was tendered, but for
satisfactory reasons was declined.
“In 1862, while on professional business at Memphis, he was arrested
by the Confederate military authorities and confined to prison
sixteen days, refusing to take the oath of allegiance to the Southern
Confederacy, but finally, he was unconditionally released.
“In 1861, he defended three Union men[66] before a Confederate
Military Commission. They were charged with having burned railroad
bridges in aid of the Union cause. He argued against the jurisdiction
of the tribunal, contending that so long as the civil courts were
open and the due course of legal proceedings was uninterrupted, the
citizens arraigned were entitled to a trial by jury, after indictment
by a grand jury, a doctrine long afterwards affirmed by the Supreme
Court, in the Milligan case.
“In 1862, a gallant band of Ohio soldiers, known as the Mitchell
raiders, who, in a lawful military expedition, had seized some
engines and cars and run them towards the Federal lines, were
captured and tried before a court-martial as spies. Baxter
volunteered to defend them and made a fearless argument for them
before the court-martial at Knoxville, urging that they were not
spies engaged in a sneaking expedition, but that taking the risks
of war, they had made an open venture as soldiers under legitimate
military orders, and were entitled to be treated as prisoners of
war, subject to exchange, &c. But the spirit of animosity was then
so great, that the argument of the Union lawyer was of no avail, and
seven of the brave men were shot as spies, while five others escaped
during the excitement of a retreat. One of them is now a prominent
Methodist clergyman of this State.
“One other incident of this stormy and eventful part of his life,
forcibly illustrates his fearless character. In 1861, happening one
day to step into the Court-house, he found a meeting of citizens
called to devise means for raising troops for the rebel army. A
person in the audience, unfriendly to him, and desiring to provoke
him to talk in the presence of soldiers, suggested that perhaps
Colonel Baxter would make them a speech. He did so, and made quite
a different speech from what they wanted to hear. He compared the
resources of the North and South--told them that superior numbers and
wealth and advantages in arming and equipping forces were sure to
give the North success; and that the war, if prosecuted long, would
end in the liberation of their slaves, loss of life and treasure and
final defeat. He also argued against the policy of conscripting Union
men for the Confederate army, and advised the soldiers present, that
such men would be of no service or aid to them. A garbled report
of the speech was published in a Confederate paper, making it even
more obnoxious than it was as delivered. A Georgia regiment stopped
a few days afterwards, on the way to Virginia, and a few personal
enemies of Baxter supplied them with drink and copies of the paper
containing the garbled speech and suggested that he ought to be
hanged. They proceeded to the Court-house where, it was reported,
that Colonel Baxter was engaged in the trial of a case. His friends,
learning of the danger that threatened him, reached the Court-house
in advance of the soldiers and advised him to flee for his life.
Instead of doing so, he walked out of the Court-house in the midst of
the soldiers and inquired if they were looking for him. One of the
leaders thrust a copy of the rebel paper into his hands and asked
him if he was the man who made that speech? He told them in a cool,
deliberate, fearless manner of the circumstances under which he had
made a speech and of the character of the one actually delivered--of
the spirit that actuated the men in calling on him for the speech,
and of the motive that prompted the publication of it in a garbled
form; and then portrayed the cowardice of those who had incited them
through drink to come by hundreds to take the life of an unarmed
and unprotected man. He asked them if they proposed to be the tools
of such men, who dared not confront him personally? His manner, his
tact, his manly courage, first startled them, then arrested their
attention to his defence and finally won their admiration. Instead of
hanging him, they applauded his pluck and approved his denunciation
of his enemies. And it is believed that he could easily have turned
their fury against his assailants, if he had made the attempt.”
APPENDIX: NOTE T: Page 251.
[The Topography of Knoxville and Its Vicinity.]
“On the north bank of the river, a narrow ridge is formed,
extending from a point about two and a-half miles east of
Knoxville, to Lenoir’s. It has an average base of about one and
a-half miles in width. At Knoxville, the width is about one mile.
This ridge is cut through at short intervals by small streams,
two of which, First and Second creeks, run through the town of
Knoxville at a distance from each other of about three-fourths
of a mile. The main part of the town is built upon that portion
of the ridge bounded on the northwest by the valley, on the
southwest by Second Creek, on the southeast by the Holston River
and on the northeast by First Creek. It has the appearance of
a table, elevated about 150 feet above the river, and about
100 feet above the valley. Again, Third Creek is found about
seven-eighths of a mile below Second Creek, forming a second
similar table. A depression in the ridge about the same distance
east of First Creek, forms still another table upon which is
built East Knoxville. This elevated ground is called Temperance
Hill. From this eastward, the ridge is more broken until it
disappears and other ridges spring up. This last division is
known as Mabry’s Hill, and is the highest ground by some twenty
feet to be found on the north side of the river within cannon
range of Knoxville.”
CAPTAIN O. M. POE,
Chief Engineer, Dept. of the Ohio.
APPENDIX: NOTE U: Page 282.
Gen. Sherman found on Gen. Burnside’s table such a good dinner, that
he exclaimed at its contradiction of statements he had heard, that
the besieged army was starving. Gen. Burnside explained that he had
access to supplies from farmers on the south side of the river. No
doubt the dinner was exceptional in the family and had been provided
at extra pains, in honor of the guest. Had he shared the rations of
the soldiers during the siege, he could have verified the reported
scarcity.
The Comte de Paris seems to have read between the lines of Gen.
Sherman’s Memoirs, for he represents that “Gen. Sherman relates his
astonishment when entering a place (Knoxville) which he believed
to be reduced to the last extremities, he beheld a park of the
finest cattle, and when afterwards, Burnside bade him sit down to
a table abundantly served, he understands that the peril has been
exaggerated.” (History of the Civil War in America: By the Comte de
Paris, Vol. IV., page 329.)
The Count is here distressingly inaccurate. Gen. Sherman does not say
that at Knoxville he beheld a park filled with the finest cattle. He
could not have done so, for they were not there to be seen. The “park
and the finest cattle” are figments of the imagination.
APPENDIX: NOTE V: Page 285.
Will H. Brearley of Michigan quotes from a letter written by Col. E.
P. Alexander, Chief Engineer of Gen. Longstreet, dated October 18,
1870, as follows:
“I believe I know as much or more of the assault on Fort Sanders
than any one living, as I first proposed and planned it--not,
however, as it was carried out, for several days’ delay was
caused by the arrival upon the ground of Bragg’s engineer, Gen.
Leadbetter, who insisted on an attempt _above_ the town, which,
however, he gave up in a _reconnoisance_; and by an additional
delay of one day of bad weather, during which Gen. Leadbetter
suddenly decided to give up the plan we had agreed upon and try
a surprise!!! I was then too young and modest to say a word
of objection, and the attempted surprise ended as you well
know--though doubtless was and will always remain a surprise to
you, in one sense at least.” (See “Recollections of the East
Tennessee Campaign.”)
Mr. Brearley also states in his sketches, that during the truce
ordered at the conclusion of the Fort Sanders fight, Capt. Poe
and Col. Alexander, who had been acquaintances at West Point, had
an interview. “Col. Poe very naturally felt like bantering Col.
Alexander about the morning’s work, and asked him if they ‘intended
to try it again?’ which was answered in the negative. Col. Alexander
then said, ‘We did not know there was a ditch in front of the Fort;’
which was responded to by an invitation from Col. Poe to ‘go up and
see it,’ but was politely declined with, ‘I am fully satisfied on
that point.’”
APPENDIX: NOTE W: Page 298.
Commissioned Officers of the United States Army from Tennessee, in
1861-’65, above the grade of Lieutenant:
_Major Generals by Brevet_--Samuel P. Carter, Joseph A. Cooper, Alvin
C. Gillem.
_Brigadier Generals_--William B. Campbell, Andrew Johnson, James G.
Spears.
_Brigadier Generals by Brevet_--James P. Brownlow, George Spaulding,
William J. Smith.
_Colonels_--Spencer B. Boyd, R. K. Byrd, J. P. Carter, Wm. Cross, L.
C. Houk, Fielding Hurst, Robert Johnson, George McPherson, James M.
Melton, John K. Miller, George W. Moore, John Murphy, Samuel K. N.
Patton, Joseph H. Parsons, William C. Pickens, William F. Prosser,
Daniel M. Ray, Felix A. Reeve, James W. Scully, James T. Shelley,
William B. Stokes, Daniel Stover, Isham Young.
_Lieutenant Colonels_--James T. Abernathy, Joseph H. Blackburn,
Albert F. Beach, Stephen Beard, W. K. M. Breckenridge, George
W. Bridges, J. W. Bowman, Andrew J. Brown, Roderick R. Butler,
John C. Chiles, William J. Cleveland, William J. Clift, William
R. Cook, R. Clay Crawford, James J. Dail, R. A. Davis, Calvin M.
Dyer, John Ellis, John Feudge, Frank F. Fisher, Frank T. Foster,
Robert Galbraith, Abraham E. Garrett, J. W. M. Grayson, George A.
Gowin, Charles C. Halfling, Owen Haney, Isaac R. Hawkins, Charles
C. Holding, William H. Ingerton, John S. Kirwan, George D. La
Vergne, Edward Maynard, John B. Minnis, Charles C. McCaleb, Michael
L. Patterson, Milton L. Phillips, Thomas H. Reeves, Pleasant C.
Rutherford, William M. Sawyers, Orlando H. Shearer, James W.
Spaulding, Brazilian P. Stacy, William P. Story, Duff C. Thornburgh,
Jacob M. Thornburgh, D. C. Trewhitt, Fremontin Young.
_Majors_--John F. Armstrong, William S. Barnett, Benjamin J.
Bingham, Edward Black, Luther M. Blackman, James S. Bradford, Jason
A. Bradshaw, William H. Bean, Sater Boland, James O. Berry, Thomas
H. Boswell, David G. Bowers, Morgan F. Buckhart, D. A. Carpenter,
Favor Cason, Albert C. Catlett, M. Cleaveland, Henry Crumbliss, Ben.
Cunningham, William B. Davis, James E. Deakins, William J. S. Denton,
James M. Dickerson, Oliver M. Dodson, David C. Donett, Robert H.
M. Donnelly, George W. Doughty, R. H. Dunn, Patrick F. Dyer, John
Elliott, John Ellis, Daniel D. Emerson, Henry G. Flagg, A. Marion
Gamble, Joseph Grigsby, Sterling Hambright, Abram Hammon, John S.
Herman, James H. Hornsby, George W. Hutsell, Charles Inman, James
H. Johnson, Christopher C. Kenner, Gaines Lawson, Mack J. Liaming,
William R. McBath, Francis M. McKey, Louis Mandazy, Middleton L.
Moore, John Parr, Samuel W. Pickens, John M. Sawyers, Charles C.
Shoyer, Eldridge S. Sidwell, Burton Smith, Meshac Stevens, Benjamin
F. Taylor, Robert M. Thompson, Russell Thornburgh, Alexander
Thurneck, William R. Tracy, Eli N. Underwood, Joseph H. Wagner, S.
L. Warren, Shelah Waters, Thos. Waters, H. W. Wells, C. C. Wilcox,
Wilson W. Willis, John Wortham, John C. Wright.
_Captains_--James W. Adkisson, William C. Allen, Allen G. Anderson,
Francis M. Anderson, Max H. Andrea, William Ausmus, Alfred C. Aytse,
Julius Aytse, Daniel W. Baker, Frederick W. Baker, R. M. Baldwin, A.
B. Barner, William S. Barnett, Charles L. Barton, Thomas J. Barry,
Ezekiel W. Bass, Albert F. Beach, William H. Bean, William O. Beebe,
James W. Bell, Rufus M. Bennett, Charles S. Berry, James W. Berry,
William S. Bewley, John C. Bible, Thomas Bible, James M. Bishop,
Edward R. Bladen, Joseph H. Blackburn, Leonidas Blizard, Ainsworth
E. Blount, James L. W. Boatman, James S. Bonham, Francis H. Bounds,
James J. R. Boyd, John C. Boyer, John S. Bowers, James W. Branson,
Jacob P. Brient, Davis Brooks, David W. Brown, John D. A. Bryan,
S. S. Buck, Charles H. Burdick, William C. Burnett, John H. Byrd,
Robert E. Cair, David M. Caldwell, William A. Campbell, Thomas J.
Capps, Andrew C. Card, James L. Carter, Landon Carter, Robert C.
Carter, Alfred M. Cate, William L. Cate, Charles D. Champion, Elisha
Chastain, Joseph W. Chockley, William J. Cleveland, James Clift,
Judge R. Clingan, Robert H. Clinton, Samuel S. Cobb, William A.
Cochran, Charles W. Coker, Lafayette Coil, Gillon O. Collins, Joseph
A. Collins, Louis Collins, James E. Colville, George B. Colver,
Albert Cook, Bennett J. Cooper, Alfred Couch, Reuben C. Couch, Adam
T. Cottrell, William J. C. Crandall, Jordan W. Creary, Robert C.
Crawford, Jacob P. Crooker, Charles W. Cross, John H. Cross, Thomas
J. Cypreh, John A. Davis, Ross R. Davis, Thomas Davis, James A.
Davison, John F. DeArmond, Jas. E. Deakins, Spencer Deaton, Risden
D. Deford, John G. Dervan, David J. Dickinson, Dennis Donahue,
Alf. T. Donnelly, Robert H. M. Donnelly, James A. Doughty, John C.
Dougherty, Thomas J. Dougherty, Rufus Dowdy, Thomas P. Duggan, John
C. Duff, James L. Dungan, Pat. F. Dyer, Thomas H. Easley, Thomas D.
Eddington, John H. Edwards, James H. Elkins, Daniel Ellis, John W.
Ellis, Richard Ellis, Peter Engels, Samuel E. Erwin, Samuel P. Evans,
James T. Exenn, William Farmer, Eli G. Fleming, David Floerke, Munro
M. Floyd, Michael Fogarty, Asbury Fowler, Richard B. Freeman, Jacob
Fritts, Fred. F. Fulkerson, James H. Galbraith, Theodore W. Gambee,
A. Marion Gamble, Robert L. Gamble, William A. Garner, Andrew J.
Garrison, Joseph W. Gibson, Homer Gillmore, Ellas Goddard, James
A. Goddard, Pastede L. Good, George W. Gorman, Thomas J. Gorman,
William M. Gourley, John T. Graham, George W. Gray, Benjamin F.
Green, James C. Green, Joseph Grigsby, Gid. R. Griffith, George E.
Grisham, Martin V. Guest, Robert A. Guthrie, Newton Hacker, John N.
Haggard, Jacob S. Hagler, Jonathan H. Hall, Henry D. Hamm, Abram
Hammond, Drury P. Harnell, John W. Harrington, Shadrick Harris,
William Harrison, John Harrold, William L. Hatherway, William C.
Hayworth, George W. Heard, John Heavy, Willis E. Hedgecock, Jacob
M. Hendrickson, James M. Henry, Chester J. Hoag, Elijah J. Hodges,
Harry Hodges, Henry G. Hodges, George W. Holtsinger, Samuel C.
Honeycutt, Robert N. Hood, James Howe, George E. Huckaba, William
Hughes, Levi Hurst, John W. Isbell, Solomon Irick, Otta Jacobi,
Wilson C. Jackson, Alexander J. P. Jarcroy, S. M. Jarvis, David B.
Jenkins, William D. Jenkins, Lafayette Jones, Thomas A. Jones, Wade
Jones, Armine T. Julian, John O’Keefe, Henry C. Kelly, Nathan D.
Kemp, James P. Kendrick, Henry C. Kerner, William A. Kidwell, Jno.
F. Kincheloe, James H. Knight, Alfred Lane, Morgan Lane, Richard S.
Lane, Ephraim Langsley, William L. Lea, James L. Ledgerwood, Wash. L.
Ledgerwood, Henry N. Lee, Samuel Leinart, George Littleton, Jesse M.
Littleton, Henry C. Lloyd, Jacob K. Lones, William S. Long, Richard
H. Luttrell, Alexander Lynch, Vanatta MacAdoo, James R. McBath, J.
T. C. McCaleb, Samuel McCaleb, Oliver P. McCammon, Moses McConnell,
Thos. McDermott, Francis M. McFall, James McGill, John McKay, Francis
M. McKey, Nelson McLaughlin, Thomas McNish, George McPherson, Rufus
McSpadden, Fielding L. McVay, Daniel McWilliam, John W. Magill,
Daniel D. Markwood, James M. Martin, John Martin, John H. Martin,
Samuel H. Martin, George W. Massey, Monroe Matterson, Goldman G.
Meador, Daniel Meador, Bayless A. Miller, John A. Miller, Mitchell
R. Millsaps, James A. Montgomery, William F. Morgan, William W.
Mosier, William W. Mount, W. M. Murray, Archibald Myers, James C.
Myers, Vincent Myers, David M. Nelson, Jacob H. Norris, Samuel E.
Northington, Polasky W. Norwood, George Oatley, David Odell, Will
Odle, William J. Patterson, Robert J. Patty, James P. Patey, William
B. Pearson, E. L. Pennington, John C. Penoyar, Daniel T. Peterman,
George W. Peters, William C. Peterson, W. W. Phillips, Chas. A.
Pickens, Samuel W. Pickens, Levi Pickering, John D. Poston, Pleasant
M. Pryor, William Pryor, James H. Queen, Norton E. Quinn, Robert W.
Ragon, Thomas Rains, David Ressh, Alexander D. Rhea, Elias H. Rhea,
William O. Rickman, Barney J. Riggs, Andrew J. Roberts, James G.
Roberts, John C. Rodgers, John T. Robeson, Harbert S. Rogers, Robert
A. Rogers, Thomas J. Rodgers, Samuel P. Rowan, Samuel W. Scott,
Andrew P. Senter, James B. Sharp, David Sharp, John Sharp, William
C. Shelton, Chas. W. Shipmate, H. N. Y. Shipp, John Simpson, Alex.
P. Slatery, John C. Slover, Francis A. Smith, John W. Smith, Louis
Smith, Samuel H. Smith, Brazilian P. Stacy, Thomas Stephens, Alex. D.
Stone, Van Stuart, Fred Slimp, John B. Tape, Isaac A. Taylor, John
W. Taylor, Spencer J. Tedder, James B. Terry, William P. Testerman,
Samuel Tewls, James R. Thompson, Robert M. Thompson, Samuel W.
Tindell, Thomas D. Tipton, John H. Trent, Jacob F. Tregler, William
A. Tuiggs, Joseph D. Turner, Joseph D. Underdown, John A. Wagner,
James H. Walker, John P. Walker, Theophilus F. Wallace, Henry E.
Warren, Shelah Waters, Thomas Waters, John W. Watkins, William C.
Webb, William D. Webster, Robert Weitmuller, Louis M. Wester, Samuel
West, William O. White, Galyon Wiley, Moses Wiley, Pleasant Williams,
Eli P. Willis, Joseph N. Witt, William R. Willoughby, A. H. Wilson,
John Wilson, Jonathan E. Wood, Martin V. Wood, Robert A. Woolen,
Gideon Wolf, Cushbert B. Word, James Wortham, Edwin F. Wiley, James
B. Wyett, David K. Young.
_Adjutants_--Noah Acuff, Samuel P. Angel, John K. Beckner, Charles
H. Bently, Moses C. Brown, Nathaniel B. Brown, Frank Cameron, James
B. Carpenter, Henry A. Cobin, Lawrence Forkner, Joseph P. Galbraith,
James R. Gettys, Charles C. Haefling, William S. Hall, John M.
Harris, W. R. Harris, John W. Hines, Jacob Leab, William A. McTeer,
George B. Morehead, Spencer Munson, John Murphy, Henry W. Parker,
Jesse S. Reeves, William H. Roberts, William Rule, Eli T. Sawyers,
William J. Scott, Ashley L. Spears, William J. Stokes, Gustavus E.
Teubner, Horace H. Thomas, John Thomas, John H. Thorington, William
B. Tickering, William Van Dorn.
APPENDIX: NOTE X: Page 307.
MARTYRDOM OF UNION PEOPLE.
Mr. N. G. Taylor undertook after the war ended, to collect materials
for its “Unwritten History” in East Tennessee, and they not only
confirmed but enlarged the knowledge he acquired in 1861-’2 and ’3
concerning the cruel treatment of Union people during those years.
His estimate of those unarmed, who were put to death in various
ways throughout that region, is founded upon diligent inquiries. In
writing to a friend, February 22, 1886, he says, “I was at some pains
to gather up from the different counties the facts on this point,
and the result showed an aggregate of 2,500 to 3,000 non-combatants
massacred for their Union sentiments. I had at that time a list of
those thus slaughtered in this (Carter) county, which aggregated 70
or 75; in Greene County over 200; in Washington County over 100, &c.,
&c.”
Hon. C. W. Hall, of Rogersville, Tenn., in 1861-2, in “Threescore
Years and Ten, by a Lawyer” (Cincinnati, 1884), tells of such
atrocities. He says: “Guerilla bands claiming to belong to the Rebel
army, were engaged generally in the plunder of Union families. One
of these bands was commanded by one William Owens. His company was
a band of cut-throats, marauding around, seeking to shed blood.
They found a lad of some sixteen years, whose name was Lizemore.
His father was a Union man and quite aged. This gang of desperadoes
arrested the old man, took the boy into the woods and deliberately
murdered him. Whether the Confederate Commander in East Tennessee
commissioned Owens to plunder and kill in order to subdue the loyal
sentiment of that section, as Reynolds and others were trying to do
in other counties is not stated. One fact is known, viz.: that Owens
was recognized by the Rebel military as a Captain.” After detailing
the cruel treatment to which Union people were subjected, Judge Hall
adds: “These outrages were not confined to the more populous portions
of the counties, but were often perpetrated in the hills and hollows,
and usually upon men reputable at home, but bold enough to confess
their loyalty. Indeed it was a rare thing to find a man who had a bad
character before the war, advocating the Union cause.”
APPENDIX: NOTE Y: Page 317.
The list of contributors to the Boston Fund for the relief of
East Tennessee, is interesting. Some sent their proper names with
their gifts. Mr. George F. Bartlett, of New Bedford, wrote to Mr.
Everett: “In response to Col. Taylor’s touching appeal in behalf of
our suffering loyal brethren in East Tennessee, I cheerfully part
with the only thing saved from the whaleship ‘Lafayette,’ burned by
the pirate ‘Alabama,’ April 15, 1863, off Fernando de Noronha, and
enclose the same to you herewith, viz: (6) six English sovereigns,
worth about forty-three dollars. Captain Lewis was fortunately on
shore with this gold to purchase stores, when Capt. Semmes steamed
around the island and burned his ship. I will regard it as a
_forced_ contribution from Capt. Semmes, in the name of the immortal
Lafayette, who loved our country and its Father, and I am most happy
in being able to make so worthy a bestowal of it.”
Hon. J. L. Motley, Jr., U. S. Minister at Vienna, wrote: “I enclose a
check for $200, and I wish it was in my power to send a much larger
sum. When, in after days, the history of this unexampled insurrection
against Liberty comes to be written, there will be few episodes more
moving or more instructive than the record of those Tennesseeans who
have so long sustained the Republic and its principles, amid such
trial and at such sacrifices. Certainly it is no _charity_ on our
part to assist them, but a sacred duty, which I am sure that all will
fulfill in proportion to their means.”
Master John W. Pierce, Jr., twelve years old, wrote from S. W.
Harbor, Tremont, Maine: “Dear Sir: Enclosed please find twenty-five
dollars, which I have collected for the suffering East Tennesseeans.
I had read and heard so much of these loyal people that I wished very
much to do something for them. I said to my mother, I will give them
my dollar, _all my money_. She said that will do very little good
alone, but I might go round and ask my young friends to give for
this noble cause. I was pleased to do so, and have collected this
sum. I found both old and young ready to give me something; very few
refused. In one family I got almost five dollars. I know this is
a small sum compared with the thousands you are receiving, but if
some little boy in each town in this State would go round among his
friends, the sums thus collected would make thousands of dollars, and
oh! how much suffering would be relieved.”
Some, in transmitting their gifts, substituted for their proper
names, such inscriptions, as “A little boy, six years old, his
own money,”--“A poor ex-teacher,”--“A school girl’s monthly
allowance,”--“A law student at Cambridge, being one-half of all he
has,”--“C. and J., two poor young men,”--“Three little sisters,”--“A
Vermont soldier on the Potomac,”--“One day’s pay of a navy yard
employe,”--“A lady, aged 83,”--“Acts, 11th ch., 26 and 27th
verses,”--“The earnings of a little boy,”--“A poor old duster.” The
citizens of historic Lexington sent $280, and eight little girls,
$80, the proceeds of a fair they held at Plymouth. The Pastor of
the Second Church in Dorchester, in remitting its contribution “for
the patriots of East Tennessee,” said: “We observe a fourth Sabbath
evening of each month as a time for prayer for our country, and last
evening thought it fitting to _act_ as well as _pray_.” The Pastor of
the Congregational Church at Taunton, delivered a special sermon in
the same behalf, and the responsive offerings of his people amounted
to $870. From the Unitarian Society at Watertown, founded in 1630,
its Pastor sent a handsome contribution “for brothers who suffer
for their dear country’s cause and glory.” The 44th Regiment of
Massachusetts volunteers had been given $5,000 by fellow-citizens.
One-fifth of the sum was transferred through the Colonel to the
fund “for the relief of the suffering loyalists of East Tennessee.”
“Anonymous” enclosed $500 in a note, saying: “I have stood in the
fight many a day by the side of those East Tennesseeans, but I see
that there are yet other ways of doing one’s duty towards them, so I
add my contribution to their aid.” Another “Anonymous” wrote: “Fifty
dollars from one, who in days of yore was a short sojourner about
Knoxville, and whose then estimate of East Tennesseeans has been
borne out and tested.” “A Young Ensign” left his gift, as he “went
forth to serve his country.”
The tone of the communications received, showed the ardent patriotism
and abounding liberality of the people. Mr. Everett styled it “a
noble letter,” in which the Selectmen of Dorchester sent about
$3,000--the gifts of its citizens and Churches. Three school-girls at
Chelsea devoted their afternoons to visiting “from house to house in
the little town, which is far from rich, with a subscription paper,
asking from each person the small sum of ten or fifteen cents.”
They wrote to Mr. Everett: “It might be a comforting thought to the
suffering Tennesseans, if they could know how generous and interested
even the poorest people have been in their cause. One poor old woman
gave all the money she had (seven cents), with the earnest wish that
it was a great deal more, and that it might also do a little good.”
Their collections amounted to $45. The boys of Mr. Allen’s School at
New Bedford made their gifts under the caption:
“The loyal boys of Massachusetts, to the loyal boys of Tennessee,
send greeting. Having heard through Col. Taylor of the hardships
and privations that you have endured while your fathers and our
fathers have been struggling side by side for the support of the
Union cause and the defence of Liberty, and feeling that, although
remotely situated, we are brothers and have a united interest in the
prosperity of our glorious country, we wish to manifest to you our
sympathy.”
APPENDIX: NOTE Z: Page 331.
CASH BALANCE SHEET OF THE EAST TENNESSEE RELIEF ASSOCIATION. RECEIPTS.
From the E. T. R. A. at Boston, by Mr. Edward Everett, $100,000 00
From the New England Loyal Relief Society, by M.
Brimmer, Esq. 10,000 00
From the E. T. R. A. of Pennsylvania, at Philadelphia 26,184 55
“ “ “ at New York City 15,675 18
“ “ “ at Portland, Me., $7,641 16; also,
through Governor Cony, $3,518 90 11,160 06
From Stamford, Connecticut 1,200 00
“ Wilkesbarre, Pennsylvania 1,000 00
“ Brooklyn, N. Y.; Packer Institute, $236 36; Boys’
C. and P. Institute, $271 17 507 53
From Utica, New York 500 00
“ Cincinnati, Ohio 402 00
“ Knoxville, Tennessee 211 25
“ Providence, Rhode Island 200 00
“ Springfield, Mass. 156 75
“ Springfield, Ohio 134 00
“ Quincy, Illinois, (Ladies’ Needle Picket) 100 00
-----------
$167,431 32
From sales at Knoxville, from 1864 to 1868, $46,413 82
“ “ by County Agents “ “ “ 37,557 92
“ Loans to poor, 185 00; interest in
Cincinnati, &c., 172 08 357 08
From various sources, 191 55;
cash in excess, 253 82 445 37 84,774 19
-----------
$252,205 51
Boxes and barrels of clothing, &c., were received: From Massachusetts
towns and Boston, 34 packages; N. E. Refugee Aid Society, 15;
American Union Commission, 13; Unknown, 15; Philadelphia Ladies’
Relief Association, 9; Ladies’ Aid Society, Wilmington, Delaware,
Refugee Commission, Cincinnati, and Sag Harbor, New York, 2 each;
Dunkirk, Binghampton, and Saugerties, N. Y., 1 each.
EXPENDITURES OF THE EAST TENNESSEE RELIEF ASSOCIATION.
1864.
Feb.--For supplies of food at Cincinnati, by Philadelphia
Committee; freight, insurance, &c. $8,106 66
Mar.--For supplies of food at Cincinnati, by General
Agent; freight, insurance, &c. 32,759 49
1864 & ’5--For supplies of food from Cincinnati, by
Thos. G. Odiorne; freight, insurance, &c. 90,892 10
Goods made into clothing by Ladies’ Sewing Circle,
Boston 2,000 00
Dry Goods bought by General Agent at Philadelphia
and New York 11,000 00
Dry goods and groceries bought at Cincinnati by
General Agent 45,963 70
Wheat bought at Cincinnati by General Agent 4,133 51
Freight, insurance, &c., on above purchases 4,075 08
Shoes at Boston and woolen goods at Philadelphia
(Mr. Everett and L. P. Smith) 12,041 10
Stipends and expenses of Agents (including
Nashville), buying and forwarding 3,596 56
Supplies bought at Knoxville in successive years
to 1868 2,409 37
-----------
$216,977 57
1864-’5--Salaries and expenses attending contribution
of fund 11,187 57
For 4 Years--Home Agency, officers of the Association,
employes, &c. 10,442 73
Cash for support of refugees and poor at Knoxville,
Nashville and Cincinnati 6,961 15
House rent, labor, drayage, printing, &c. 3,911 31
Gift towards Everett Hospital, Knoxville 2,000 00
Gift for relief of sufferers by fire, Portland, Me. 500 00
-----------
$251,980 33
Balance cash on hand, July, 1868 225 18
-----------
$252,205 51
INDEX.
Arnold, Thomas D., 109
Baxter, John, 106, 108, 119, 156, 246, 323
Bell, John, 83, 102
Benjamin, Lieut., 241, 251, 274, 275, 277, 279
Benjamin, J. P., 140, 155, 157, 313
Blue Springs, fight at, 223
Bragg, Gen. Braxton, 171, 227, 234, 237, 280
Bridges, Hon. George W., 128
Bridges on railways in East Tennessee burned, 133
Brownlow, Wm. G., 83, 106, 147, 153-158, 166, 246, 323, 325
Buckner, Gen. Simon, 201, 208-9
Burnside, Gen. A. E., 201, 210, 211, 212, 214, 215, 217, 219-224,
227, 230-232, 236-238, 241, 250-54, 256, 258, 265, 272-3, 279,
280, 283
Byrd, Col. R. K., 201, 215, 220, 222, 294
Campbell, Col. Wm., 43, 46, 52-5
Campbell’s Station, battle of, 241-2-3
Carroll, Gen., 147, 155, 163
Carter, Gen. Samuel P., 194, 222, 230, 245, 247, 248, 317, 325
Carter, Col. J. P. T., 167, 214, 220
Church Ministers, 180-1-2
Churchwell, Col. Wm. M., 173, 174, 187
Cooper, Col. (Gen.) Joseph A., 116, 119, 294
Cox, Gen. J. D., 214, 293, 296
Crittenden, Gen. (C. S. A.), 155, 156, 163-4
Cumberland Gap, 128, 131, 161, 186, 187, 207, 216, 223, 226
Dana, Charles A., 226, 236, 324
East Tennessee Relief Society, 310, 311, 317, 323
Everett, Edward, 12, 22, 311, 317, 328, 329
Executions, 147, 150, 151
Ferrero, Gen., 223, 241, 252, 276
Foster, Maj. Gen., 286, 289, 291
Foster, Col., 215, 221, 223-’4, 226
Grant, U. S., 225, 226, 227, 234-’5-’6, 237, 267, 281, 288
Halleck, Gen., 220, 221, 222
Hartraupt, Gen., 240, 241, 262, 264
Heiskell, William, 108, 323
Humphreys, Judge W. H., 124, 141, 143
Imprisonments, 145, 146
Johnson, Hon. Andrew, 100, 102, 114, 129, 158, 309
Kirby Smith, Gen. E., 170, 171-’3, 186, 187, 301
Knoxville, 34, 35
Lenoir’s, 201, 225, 238, 239
Lincoln, President A., 92, 94, 235, 286, 309
Longstreet, Gen., 226, 227, 234, 238, 241, 261, 265-’6-’7, 271,
275-’6, 279, 281, 291
Loudon, 134-’5, 201, 222, 225, 236-’7, 239
May, M. R., M. D., 108
Maynard, Horace, 102, 127, 158, 174, 236, 329
Military League, 100, 104, 113
Murphy, J. C., 108
Nelson, Thomas A. R., 100, 102, 108, 128, 323
Pennsylvania Commissioners, 323, 324, 326, 330
Poe, Capt. Orlando M., 250, 253, 256, 263, 284, 285
Potter, Brig. Gen., 223, 225, 236, 241, 271
Reynolds, Robert B., 145, 157
Rosecrans, Gen., 219, 221-2
Sanders, Col. (Gen.) Wm. P., 199, 201-’2, 207, 213, 238, 253, 254,
255, 256
Schofield, Gen., 293, 294, 295-’6
Sevier, Col. John, 42, 43-’4, 46, 53, 59-60, 63, 67-’71-76
Shackelford, Gen., 223, 226, 244
Shelby, Col. Isaac, 42, 43-’4, 46, 50, 52-’3
Sherman, Gen. W. T., 234, 237, 281, 282, 287, 288, 293, 296, 297
Slavery in East Tennessee, 30-34, 78
Smith, Lloyd P., 34, 310, 323, 328
Spears, J. G., 108, 119
Stanford, Dr. R. L., 159-163
Taylor, Nathaniel G., 80, 306, 307, 308, 309, 310, 311, 313, 316,
317, 322, 323
Temple, O. P., 82-’3, 106, 246, 323
Thomas, Gen., 163, 227, 235, 294
Trigg, Connelly F., 101, 106, 109, 153, 158
Union Convention at Knoxville and Greeneville, 105-119
University, East Tennessee, 179-180, 298
Wheeler, Gen., 234, 238, 244, 293
Wheeler, R. D., 108
White, Gen., 214, 222, 236, 241
Wilcox, Gen., 214, 223, 224, 226, 267
Williams, John, 106, 108
Wood, Col. W. B., 131, 132, 136, 139
Woolford, Col., 214, 222, 225, 244
Yancey, Wm. L., 81-85
Zolicoffer, Gen. Felix, 122-126, 131, 139, 153, 163
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Two Brothers Hare--in “_Guesses at Truth_.”
[2] Bancroft. Ch. XLVI.: Ed. 1854.
[3] “A Brief Historical, Statistical and Descriptive Review of
East Tennessee, Developing its Immense Agricultural, Mining and
Manufacturing Advantages. By J. Gray Smith.” ... London, 1842.
[4] Its population was 301,056 in 1860, and 428,929 in 1880.
[5] See Appendix: Note A.
[6] Mr. Balestier.
[7] In 1887 East Tennessee voted in favor of a State prohibition law
by a majority of nearly 13,000.
[8] The mountaineers are innocent of the dialect given them in recent
novels.
[9] Moses White, Esq., in an address to the Tennessee Press
Association, has made these historical statements.
[10] See letter of “Gath” (George Francis Townsend)--Cincinnati
Enquirer, September, 1885.
[11] Hon. Henry R. Gibson.
[12] “History of the Battle of King’s Mountain,” by Dr. Lyman C.
Draper: (the fruit of laborious historical research, and exhaustive
of its subject.)
[13] Dr. Ramsey writes, “Dupoister.”
[14] Haywood’s History of Tennessee: Knoxville, Tenn., 1821. 8vo.
[15] See Appendix: Note B.
[16] See Appendix, Note C.
[17] Note D.
[18] See Appendix: Note E.
[19] See Appendix Note F.
[20] See Appendix: Note G.
[21] See Appendix Note H.
[22] A Union man, who was also an elder of a Presbyterian Church,
was grieved to hear its bell joining with merriest notes in the
chorus of song. He sought with speed to know the reason, and found a
citizen of good social position, whose intimate relations were more
with this present world than with that which is to come, had got into
the Church by a window, and was vigorously applying his gentlemanly
muscle on the rope that led to the steeple.
[23] See Appendix: Note I.
[24] He died in prison.
[25] See Appendix Note J.
[26] NOTE.--The youthful officer was soon after killed in battle for
the Confederacy.
[27] See Appendix: Note K.
[28] See Appendix Note L.
[29] See Note M.
[30] See Appendix: Note N.
[31] See Notes O. and P.
[32] See “A Rebel War Clerk’s Diary at the Confederate States
Capital,” Vol. 2, page 46.
[33] NOTE.--The Comte de Paris charges “guilty neglect” upon Foster:
that while he halted his column under the pretext of allowing his
men time to rest, he sent on the road to Henderson’s Mill the Fifth
Indiana Regiment, through which the Confederate troops easily opened
a way.--_The Civil War in America, Vol. 4._
[34] Gen. Grant, in his “Personal Memoirs” (see Vol. II., page 49)
puts the force with which Longstreet left Chattanooga “to go against
Burnside at about fifteen thousand troops, besides Wheeler’s cavalry,
five thousand men.” For Longstreet’s mind as to the situation, see
Appendix, Note R.
[35] NOTE.--“Near one of the batteries, when the wind would lift the
smoke a little, we could distinguish a pair of (high) boots that
resembled Burnside’s boots, and judging from an occasional glimpse of
an old soft felt hat which seemed to be nearly above them, we knew
that somewhere between the two, our commander had his headquarters
established.--WILL. H. BREARLEY.”
[36] Charles F. Walcott’s History of the 21st Regiment Massachusetts
Volunteers states the Union troops at six thousand, and their losses
twenty-six killed, one hundred and sixty-six wounded and fifty-seven
missing. The Rebellion Record, Vol. VIII, gives the rebel loss as one
thousand killed and wounded.
[37] See Appendix: Note S.
[38] Appendix: Note T.
[39] Major Burrage, of the 36th Massachusetts Regiment.
[40] Dr. Jackson, of Pennsylvania.
[41] Mr. Robt. H. Armstrong’s, over one mile west of Fort Sanders.
[42] Wm. Todd in “History of Seventy-ninth Highlanders, N. Y.
Volunteers,” says that the Second Michigan was a part of the
reinforcement, (page 383.) Chas. F. Walcott in “History of
Twenty-first Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteers,” page 289, states
that the garrison was reinforced by five companies Twenty-ninth
Massachusetts, two companies Twentieth Michigan and a brigade of the
Twenty-third corps.
[43] The boast among the besiegers had been that they “had got Mr.
Burnside and his pet corps into a trap.”
[44] A fact. An intelligent eye witness of the scene, who served in
the United States Army and numerous battles of the period, affirms
that he never witnessed such a spectacle of human slaughter.
[45] Capt. Poe says in his report, four killed and eleven wounded.
[46] NOTE.--At a reception given Gen. Burnside, January, 1864, at
Boston, by the Second Massachusetts Infantry, the General in the
course of his speech, told how he asked a rebel prisoner four or five
days after the attack on Fort Sanders why Gen. Longstreet did not
make a second one. “Well,” said the prisoner “General, I will tell
you. Our men just swear that they are never going into that slaughter
pen again, and when they won’t go, the ball won’t roll.”
(See Chas. F. Walcott’s History of the Twenty-first Regiment
Massachusetts Volunteers.)
[47] NOTE.--One of them relates: “Whenever any of us could get off
duty, we would stroll over to where the teamsters were feeding their
mules; should the teamsters be gone, the mules invariably lost their
rations. Frequently the kernels of corn that the mules and horses
could not help losing, were picked up out of the dirt and eaten by
the nearly famished troops.”
[48] Appendix: Note U.
[49] See Atlantic Monthly, for July, 1866.
[50] See Appendix: Note V.
[51] Bishop Otey was at first in the troubles of 1860-’61, a decided
Union man, but when actual hostilities began, he espoused the cause
of “the South.” Upon the occupation of Memphis by the United States
forces, Gen. Sherman showed him kind and valuable attentions.
[52] Rev. Joseph H. Martin.
[53] Judge Daniel Breck.
[54] Soon after, for gallant conduct, made a Brigadier General.
[55] Capt. William Rule.
[56] See Appendix: Note W.
[57] See Appendix: Note X.
[58] See Appendix: Note Y.
[59] After the siege of Knoxville, soldiers of Burnside’s army had
only half rations of bread. Sergeant White, in his Diary, Walcott’s
History 21st Massachusetts Regiment, says: “I have to-day seen
soldiers scrambling after corn in the ear, as though it was the
greatest of luxuries. We parch it. Officers eat it, as well as
privates. Well, its all for the Union and we are driving the rebels
to the wall, thank God!” A committee of citizens requested Gen.
Foster to send the people out of the country, rather than the U. S.
army should evacuate it.
[60] NOTE.--“To which,” say the Commissioners, “he might have added,
and with more truth than Francis the First at the battle of Pavia,
‘save honor.’”
[61] Hon. Horace Maynard.
[62] See Appendix: Note Z.
[63] Aubrey de Vere.
[64] In a pamphlet, entitled “Recollections of the East Tennessee
Campaign,” by Will H. Brearley, Company E, 17th Michigan Volunteers.
Detroit.
[65] “The Nashville (Tenn.) Union.”
[66] Haun, and the two Harmons, father and son, executed at Knoxville.
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE
Obvious typographical errors and punctuation errors have been
corrected after careful comparison with other occurrences within
the text and consultation of external sources.
Some hyphens in words have been silently removed, some added,
when a predominant preference was found in the original book.
Except for those changes noted below, all misspellings in the text,
and inconsistent or archaic usage, have been retained.
Pg 14: ‘Bridge Burning’ replaced by ‘Bridge-burning’.
Pg 15: the page number for Chapter XIX was missing; ‘316’ inserted.
Pg 42: ‘Sumpter’s disaster’ replaced by ‘Sumter’s disaster’.
Pg 72: ‘beleagured dwelling’ replaced by ‘beleaguered dwelling’.
Pg 79: ‘Fort Sumpter’ replaced by ‘Fort Sumter’.
Pg 80: ‘a dissaffected State’ replaced by ‘a disaffected State’.
Pg 121: ‘battle of Manasses’ replaced by ‘battle of Manassas’.
Pg 139: ‘Benjamin, Sceretary’ replaced by ‘Benjamin, Secretary’.
Pg 161: ‘the two refgees’ replaced by ‘the two refugees’.
Pg 174: ‘Its fullfilment’ replaced by ‘Its fulfillment’.
Pg 208: ‘department o’ replaced by ‘department of’.
Pg 225: ‘Tennesee River’ replaced by ‘Tennessee River’.
Pg 281: ‘led them them to’ replaced by ‘led them to’.
Pg 325: ‘from the the U. S.’ replaced by ‘from the U. S.’.
Pg 338: ‘non-combattant’ replaced by ‘non-combatant’.
Pg 373: ‘Artillery Volunters’ replaced by ‘Artillery Volunteers’.
Pg 377: ‘immediaiely posted’ replaced by ‘immediately posted’.
Pg 398: ‘railways ln East’ replaced by ‘railways in East’.
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