Our brigade moved back from Anderson County to the vicinity of Jacksborough. McNairy's Battalion camped six miles south of town on the Clinton road.
REVOLT OF THE UNIONISTS IN EAST TENNESSEE.
East Tennessee was now ablaze with excitement on account of
the uprising and open rebellion of the Union men. They were flying to arms in
squads of from fifty to five hundred. Several bridges along the East Tennessee
and Georgia, and Virginia and Tennessee Railroads were burned last night.
It appears that William Blunt Carter,1 of East
Tennessee, was the prime mover and chief instigator of the revolt and bridge
burning above named, and the following communication will show the beginning
corner of his plans:
HEADQUARTERS CAMP DICK ROBINSON,
September 30, 1861.
Major-General George B. McClellan, Commanding Department of the
Potomac:
GENERAL: I have just had a conversation
with Mr. W. B. Carter, of Tennessee, on the subject of the destruction of the
Grand Trunk Railroad through that State.
He assures me that he can have it done
if the Government will intrust him with a small sum of money to give confidence
to the persons to be employed to do it. It would be one of the most important
services that could be done for the country, and I most earnestly hope you will
use your influence with the authorities in furtherance of his plans, which he
will submit to you, together with the reasons for doing the work. I am, sir,
very respectfully your obedient servant,
Geo. H. THOMAS,
Brigadier-General, U. S. Volunteers, Commanding.2
Suffice it to say that he received satisfactory
encouragement from the Federal Government, and, setting out on his mission
about the middle of October, Carter arrived in the neighborhood of Montgomery,
Morgan County, Tennessee, on the 22d, and under that date he wrote to General
Thomas thus:
I reached here at 2 P. M. to-day. I am
in six miles of company of rebel cavalry.
The rebels continue to arrest and
imprison our people.
You will please furnish the bearers
with as much lead, rifle powder, and as many caps as they can bring for Scott
and Morgan Counties. You need not fear to trust these people. They will open
the war for you by routing these small bodies of marauding cavalry.
I find our people have suffered beyond
all forbearance. Hasten on to our aid. To-morrow night I hope to be near our
railroad.
You shall hear from me again soon.3
On the 27th, near Kingston, Roane County, he wrote again to
Thomas as follows:
I am now within a few miles of our
railroad, but I have not yet had time to obtain all the information I must have
before I decide on the course best for me to adopt. If I can get half a dozen
brave men to “take the bull by the horns” we can whip them completely and save
the railroad.
If I cannot get such leaders we will make
a desperate attempt to destroy all the bridges, and I firmly believe I will be
successful.
The Union men of East Tennessee are
longing and praying for the hour when they can break their fetters.
Men and women weep for joy when I
merely hint to them that the day of our deliverance is at hand. . . .
I beg you to hasten on to our help, as
we are about to create a great diversion in General McClellan's favor.
You must bring some small arms with
you. I am satisfied that you will have to take the road by Monticello and
Jamestown, unless you come by Cumberland Gap.4
Having succeeded in maturing his plans, the execution of
which resulted in the bridge burning, as previously mentioned. Mr. W. B. Carter
set out on his return November with, and arrived at his brother's headquarters
at “Camp Calvert," near London, Kentucky, on the 16th, and on the same day
his brother, Colonel S. P. Carter (afterward General) sent the following report
to General Thomas, whose headquarters had been moved forward from Camp Dick
Robinson to Crab Orchard:
My brother William has just arrived
from East Tennessee. He reports that on Friday night, 8th instant, of last
week, he succeeded in having burned at least six, and perhaps eight bridges on
the railroad, viz. : Union bridge, in Sullivan County, near the Virginia line,
Lick Creek bridge, in Green County, Strawberry plains, in Jefferson County,
fifteen miles east of Knoxville, partially destroyed, Hiawassee bridge seventy
miles south-west of Knoxville, and on the East Tennessee and Georgia Railroad,
two bridges over the Chickamauga, one between Cleveland and Chattanooga, and
the other between Chattanooga and Dalton, Georgia. These bridges are certainly
destroyed. The Long Island bridge, at Bridgeport, on Tennessee River, and a
bridge below Dalton, on the Western and Atlantic road, are probably destroyed.5
Only five bridges were burned, as the following dispatch
from Colonel W. B. Wood, Sixteenth Alabama, who had been for some time guarding
the railroad as best he could with the small force at his command, will show:
KNOXVILLE, November 11, 1861.
Adjutant-General Cooper, Richmond:
Three bridges burned between Bristol
and Chattanooga, two on Georgia road. Five hundred Union men now threatening
Strawberry Plains. Fifteen hundred assembling in Hamilton County, and a general
uprising in all the counties. I have about one thousand men under my command.
W. B. Wood,
Colonel.6
|
PRIVATE MONROE KNIGHT, Co. E, FIRST BATTALION. |
In order to put down this revolt of the Unionists, Stovall's
Battallion and a light field battery were sent from Richmond, Virginia, to
Bristol, Tennessee (11th), the Seventh Alabama, Col. S. A. M. Wood, from
Pensacola to Chattanooga (14th), General W. H. Carroll, with two regiments,
though mostly unarmed, from Memphis to Chattanooga (15th), and General
Zollicoffer sent the Twenty-ninth Tennessee, Colonel S. Powell, from
Jacksborough to Knoxville (ioth). On the nith Col. Danville Leadbetter, of
Engineer Corps, was ordered by President Davis to proceed at once from Richmond
to East Tennessee, assume command of all the troops to be stationed for the and
Chattanooga, reconstruct bridges, and repair and keep open the line of
communication between those points.7
Mr. W. B. Carter happened to enter East Tennessee on his
special mission just at the right time for it to be an easy matter for him to
induce the Union men of that section to do his bidding. For when Zollicoffer
fell back out of Kentucky the Unionists fully believed that the Federal army
would be in their midst in a few days.
On the 20th Colonel W. B. Wood wrote to the Secretary of war
thus:
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 jail at this place and others sent to Nashville. . . . . .
. . . . . . .
The prisoners we have tell us that they
had every assurance that the (Federal) army was already in the State, and would
join them in a very few days; that the property of Southern men was to be
confiscated and divided among those who would take up arms for Lincoln.8
In answer to an inquiry in reference to what he should do
with his prisoners, Colonel Wood received the following from the Secretary of
War:
All such as can be identified as 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.
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, and held in jail till 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.9
Some, I know not how many, were found guilty by a “drum-head
court martial” and hung.
As a general thing these bands of traitors would disband and
flee to the mountains on the approach of an armed force of Confederates,
therefore it was a difficult matter to do any thing with them.
While W. B. Carter was in East Tennessee arousing a spirit
of rebellion there, ex-Governor Andrew Johnson was with the Federal army at
London, Kentucky, urging upon and pleading with Generals Schoepf and Thomas to
move forward into East Tennessee. In fact, this “forward movement” had been so
often urged by Johnson, Maynard, the Carters and others of East Tennessee, that
it had become quite annoying to the Federal commanders, as the following
correspondence will show.
On November 7th, General Thomas wrote thus to Johnson:
Your favor of the 6th instant is at
hand. I have done all in my power to get troops and transportation and means to
advance into East Tennessee. I believe General Sherman at (Louisville) has done
the same.
Up to this time we have been
unsuccessful. If the Tennesseans are not content and must go, then the risk of
disaster will remain with them.
In conclusion I will add that I am here
ready to obey orders, and earnestly hope that the troops at London will see the
necessity of doing the same.10
At the same time Thomas addressed a letter to Schoepf as
follows:
I find it necessary to reply to Governor
Johnson's letter in the manner of the foregoing, which I send to you for your
information. It is time that discontented persons should be silenced, both in
and out of the service.
I hope you will therefore see the
necessity of dealing decidedly with such people, and you have my authority and
orders for doing
We must learn to abide our time, or we
shall never be successful.11
On the 8th, Schoepf replied to the above thus:
Yours of the 7th instant, with copy of
letter to Governor Johnson, is before me, and it is with extreme satisfaction
that I note the decided manner in which the case is laid down to Governor
Johnson.
This outside pressure has become
intolerable, and must be met with firmness, or the army may as well be
disbanded.
With importunate citizens on one side
and meddlesome reporters for papers on the other, I can scarce find time to
attend to the appropriate duties of my position. By the way, cannot something
be done to rid our camps of this latter class? I have really reached that point
so that I am afraid to address my staff officer above a whisper in my own tent.12
Though, in place of a forward, the Federals made a
retrograde, movement from London soon after the above correspondence.
On the 13th, General Schoepf set out from London to join
General Thomas at Crab Orchard, with all the troops camped there, except the
First and Second Tennessee and Third Kentucky (Colonel T. T. Garrard), which
remained at (Second Tennessee.)13
If you will excuse me, dear reader, for the above
digression, I shall now return to Jacksborough and take up the movements of
Zollicoffer's Brigade.
_______________
1 A brother of General S. P. Carter, who
commanded the Tennessee Federal Brigade.
2 Rebellion
Records, Vol. IV., p. 284.
3 Rebellion
Records, Vol. IV., p. 317.
4 Rebellion
Records, Vol. IV., p. 320.
5 Rebellion
Records, Vol. IV., p. 359.
6 Ibid.,
p. 236.
7 See Rebellion Records, Vol. IV., pp. 234,
235,
538.
8 Rebellion
Records, Vol. IV., p. 250.
9 Rebellon
Records, Vol. VII., p. 701.
10 Rebellion Records, Vol. IV., pp. 342
and 343.
11 Rebellion
Records, Vol. IV., p. 347.
12 Rebellion
Records, Vol. IV., p. 347.
13 See Carter to H. Maynard, Rebellion
Records, Vol. VII., p. 468.
SOURCE: Richard R. Hancock, Hancock's
Diary: Or, A History of the Second Tennessee Confederate Cavalry, p. 74-80