All Girl Rhea County Spartans

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The Rhea County Girls' Company was created in the summer of 1862 through a combination of boredom and the desire to be a part of the war for Southern Independence.

Almost all of the "sidesaddle soldiers" had fathers or brothers in the Confederate military, and the young ladies evidently felt frustrated because their gender prevented them from enlisting. Since they could not actually join the Confederate Army, they did the next best thing: They created an Army of their own.

Rhea County, located on the northern bank of the Tennessee River, was one of the most pro-Confederate counties in the politically divided mountain region. Rhea County provided seven companies for the Southern army against only one for the Union. When their fathers and brothers marched off to war, the young ladies refused to be left out. Instead, the all-girl company came into existence.

Mary McDonald, one of the oldest of the group, was duly elected captain. Caroline McDonald, evidently her sister-in-law, became first lieutenant. Anne Paine was picked for second lieutenant, while Rhoda Tennessee Thomison completed the commissioned list as third lieutenant. Named as noncommissioned officers were Jane Keith, first sergeant; Rachel Howard, second sergeant; Sallie Mitchell, third sergeant; and Minerva Tucker, Fourth sergeant. The girls elected no corporals, and the remaining members of the company had to be content with the humble rank of private. These included Barbara Allen, Josephine Allen, Martha Bell, Mary Crawford, Kate Dunwoody, Martha Early, Ann Gillespie, Jennie Hoyal, Kate Hoyal,
Maggie Keith, Jane Locke, Louisa McDonald, Mary Ann McDonald,
Sidney McDonald, Mary Paine, Mary Robinson, Sarah Rudd and Margaret Sykes.

Like their male counterparts the ladies chose for themselves an appropriate martial name--the Rhea County Spartans. All came from prominent local families. The average age was 18. At first, the Rhea County Spartans contented themselves with simply visiting their sweethearts and relatives and taking them gifts and clothing. In mid-1863, however Union troops entered the area and the girls' activities became more circumspect.

The ladies must have engaged in at least a small amount of spying and information-gathering for the Confederate Army. What had started out as a lark became decidedly more serious. One Union Army officer obviously took them quite seriously.

After Confederate General John Bell Hood led the Army of Tennessee to disaster at the Battle of Nashville in December 1864, Union troops gained uncontested control of Rhea County for the remainder of the war. The Tennessee Mounted Infantry (Federal). Co. B was a ragtag regiment composed of a few genuine Tennessee Unionists combined with draft dodgers and deserters, was formed to combat the small band of Confederates who still roamed the Cumberland Mountains of Tennessee. Captain John P. Walker of Company B decided that the Rhea County Girls' Company was just such an organization.

Walker had been successful in dodging the Confederate conscript officers until the Union forces gained the upper hand, then he hastened to join the Union victors and share in the spoils. He quickly acquired a reputation for harshness toward Southern sympathizers.

Walker certainly justified his reputation when he returned to Rhea County, for one of his first acts was to order the mass arrest of the girls' company. As far as Walker was concerned, it was high time to teach the rebellious Southern ladies a lesson. Somehow he persuaded his commander, Lt. Col. George A. Gowin of Hamilton County, to go along with his plan. As a native of Rhea County, Walker knew not only who the troublesome ladies were but also where to find them. First Lieutenant William B. Gothard accordingly proceeded to the area south of Washington, where the Spartans' officers lived.

Armed with a list of names, Gothard was ordered to arrest the women and report with them by noon the next day at the two-story house of William P. Thomison, a discharged Confederate soldier and the father of "Lieutenant" Rhoda Thomison. Other men from Walker's company marched to apprehend the disloyal women in the countryside around Smith's Crossroads.

A few of the Spartans managed to elude their pursuers, but some 16 of the young women were arrested at gunpoint and brought before Walker. Gothard and his mounted men escorted seven of the female Rebels 5 miles from the Thomison house to Smith's Cross Roads, where Walker's home was located. The Union horse soldiers rode, while the women tramped along as best they could. At Smith's Cross Roads, the footsore Spartans were joined by six more of their number. All 13
then began the long march to the Tennessee River and Bell's Landing.

It was dark and rainy, and the women frequently stumbled through unseen puddles. Just before they arrived at the landing the final group of three prisoners joined them. The crestfallen Confederates were made to wait on the flooded riverbank, the clammy mud oozing into their shoes and adding to their discomfort.

Finally, their transportation arrived--a crude little steamboat called USS Chattanooga. Their ordeal, however, was far from over. Clearly not meant to carry passengers, the Chattanooga contained
only one small room suitable for the ladies--an enclosed area normally used for dining. The table and chairs were removed, and the 16 exhausted young women were crowded inside. Armed guards at both doors ensured that none of the "dangerous" enemies of the Union would attempt to escape.

Many of the women had walked 10 or more miles to the landing and soon fell fast asleep. When the boat paddled up to the wharf in Chattanooga, Walker rousted out his prisoners and marched them under guard up muddy Market Street to the provost marshall's office. Captain Seth B. Moe of Ohio, took in the spectacle and promptly sent for his commander, Maj. Gen. James B. Steedman.

If Walker expected to be congratulated on his victory, he was quickly disillusioned. Steedman sharply reprimanded the captain for taking up his time with such foolishness. He then ordered Moe to escort the ladies to the Central House hotel, where they were allowed to refresh themselves and were treated to the best meal the hotel could offer.

After the women had been fed, Moe dutifully saw them returned to the Chattanooga for the journey back to Rhea County. The ladies' accommodations were unchanged. This time, however, there were no
unchanged--no chairs, no armed guards watching over them. Still, Walker had one last bit of revenge in mind. Although Steedman had ordered him to escort the women to their homes, Walker simply abandoned them at the landing to make their way back as best they could. An irritated Steedman wrote to Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas at Nashville recommending that the 6th Tennessee Mounted Infantry "be turned over to the State authorities of Tennessee and replaced with good cavalry."

The company disbanded when the Spartans arrived back in Rhea County. The war was nearly over, and the Spartans soon returned to the conventional role of 19th-century women. By the time William G. Allen wrote an account for Confederate Veteran magazine in 1911, the girls' company had been all but forgotten. Only three of the Spartans were then still living:

Mary McDonald, Mary Ann McDonald and Rhoda Thomison. The aging male veterans, North and South, often met to relive their youth, but the Rhea County Spartans never held a reunion. That is regrettable, for the ladies had a fascinating story to tell. In a sense, they, too, had "seen the elephant" and done their patriotic duty as they saw fit.