Reluctant Rebs & "Homegrown Yanks": East Tennesseans in the Civil War

Joined
Dec 31, 2010
Location
Kingsport, Tennessee
"In the South, most of the people who opposed the war effort were those people who lived in regions where slavery was not an important part of their society and the economy: Western Virginia, which actually detached itself from the rest of Virginia and became the new state of West Virginia in the middle of the war; eastern Tennessee, which was mostly small farmers without slaves; western North Carolina, the Ozark plateau in Arkansas, and other parts of the South. These areas, if not Unionist, were for the most part reluctant supporters of the Confederacy. There was opposition to the draft and to other measures in these regions, and a lot of Unionism that manifested itself in overt antiwar acts-sabotage, resistance, and so on".

James McPherson (from an interview)

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The Palmer Brothers of Knoxville grace the cover of Tod Groce's book on east Tennessee Confederates.

CONFEDERATE TENNESSEE TROOPS
Kain's Company, Tennessee Light Artillery (Mabry Light Artillery)
Mabry Light Artillery was organized in January, 1862, and mustered into Confederate service at Knoxville in May. The unit moved to Cumberland Gap, 33 men were detached, and a section was attached to Gracie's Brigade. A number of men were captured on September 9, 1863, and the few remaining served as guards at Wytheville, Virginia. Later they were with General Breckinridge's Reserves and probably disbanded during the early spring of 1865. Captain W.C. Kain was in command.

Sergeant Samuel B. Palmer enlisted for one year, March 1,1862, in Kain's Company, Tennessee Light Artillery at Knoxville, Tennessee. On October 1, 1862 he was promoted to 5th Sergeant. promoted again to 4th Sergeant, March 1, 1863. In June, 1863, he furnished a substitute and was discharged from the Confederate Army. While home and unattached to the rebel army, he was taken prisoner, September 3, 1863 and held at Camp Douglass, Illinois till March 13, 1865.

Samuel's younger brother, John enlisted on the same day and in the same unit. He served till January, 1863, when he was discharged for being "under-age", since the passage of the conscription act. John was captured at home on September 4, and was also sent to Camp Douglass. After the war, the brothers relocated with their family to Georgia. They were the sons of an Irish immigrant tailor and merchant in Knoxville. During his time in the Army, Samuel kept journals, and often made sketches. While at Camp Douglass, he drew from memory, two recruiting rallies held at different ends of Knoxville's Gay Street, on April 27, 1861. Two flags - one representing the United States, the other, the new southern Confederacy - flew near each other on Knoxville's Gay Street for months in 1861. The flags can be seen in a penciled sketch of an April 27, 1861, Gay Street rally that almost became a violent confrontation between Confederate soldiers and Union supporters.

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A September 7, 1893, Knoxville Tribune newspaper story, further expounds on the details concerning Samuel Palmer's drawing:
A paving company in Knoxville, while digging a storm sewer at the northwest corner of Gay Street found a 10-inch diameter stump of a yellow pine pole. Workers were about to split the wood to remove it when Confederate veteran Charles Ducloux walked by.

Ducloux saw the stump and did a "double-take". He quickly looked around to make sure of his location, and asked the men not to further damage the "stump". Memories of the war's beginnings started to flood over the old rebel. He recalled assisting in the erecting of a "secession' flag pole early in 1861". The flag on the handsome pine pole, soon became a rallying place for secessionists. Knoxville soon became a bitterly divided town, months before Tennessee became the last state to join the southern Confederacy. One night Unionists chopped the pole down. The rebels simply moved a half-block up Gay Street and erected a new 100-foot pole, using iron bands to splice the old pole to the new one. Unionists erected their own pole at the corner of Gay and Main, near the courthouse. Figuring the rebels would attempt to repay them for their deed, the reinforced their pole with nails. Both banners "floated to the breeze for several months" until Tennessee seceded. Then only the Confederacy's Stars and Bars flew until U.S. Gen. Ambrose Burnside's troops took Knoxville in September 1863. They cut down the pole at Church and Gay. The base remained and was buried under later street improvements. After it was dug up in 1893, the Tribune said the stump was taken to a meeting room of a Confederate veterans group.

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Charles Ducloux : Enlisted on 11/14/1862 as a Artificer in Company E Confederate 1st TN Cavalry. He also had service in "A" Co. CS 3rd Eng. He was born 3/7/1843 in Lausannw, Switzerland, came to the United States in 1855. Charles died 7/1/1917 in Knoxville, TN.
 
The tragedy of the Civil War affected all east Tennesseans. Even a future President :


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Charles Johnson : Although forced to take the Confederate oath of allegiance, Andrew Johnson's son Charles escaped East Tennessee and joined the Union Army. Enlisted on 9/1/1862 as a Asst Surgeon. On 9/1/1862 he was commissioned into Field & Staff TN 10th Infantry. He was Accidentally killed on 4/5/1863. (Killed by a fall from his horse,shortly after the Battle of Stones River in 1863).

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Robert Johnson :
Andrew Johnson's son Robert followed in his father's political footsteps as Tennessee's State Representative. He voted against secession from the Union and helped organize the 1st Tennessee Cavalry, Enlisted on 2/28/1862 as a Colonel, 27 years old. On 3/1/1862 he was commissioned into Field & Staff TN 1st Cavalry. Promoted to Brig-General 3/13/1865 by Brevet. When his brother died in 1863, Robert succumbed to depression and alcoholism. Unable to perform his duties, he resigned from the Union Army. He died in 1869.

At lest two east Tennessee Confederates had the distinction of being "the first" :

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Robert D. Powell :
The first Civil War soldier killed outside the State of Virginia, is believed to have been Confederate Lieutenant Robert D.Powell Of Company K 19th Tennessee Infantry. He was killed at Barboursville, Kentucky, on September 19, 1861.

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Reverend David Sullins : Born in McMinn County. Tennessee, near Athens in 1827. He enlisted in the Nineteenth Tennessee Confederate regiment in June, 1861. He served as the Regiment's Chaplin until the Army was reorganized in April-May, 1862. He was then made Division Chaplain and Division Quarter-Master of General Breckenridge's Division. The good Reverend personally claimed to have been the first Confederate Soldier to enter Cumberland Gap.
 
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Union Soldier James Ratliff, 10th & 8th Tennessee Cavalry Regiments, ended the war a 2nd Lieutenant.

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Confederate Private (and brother to James) Robert Ratliff Company C 60th Tennessee Infantry. Robert soon died of disease after enlisting. These men were maternal 2 x great-granduncles of mine.

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55 year-old Union Captain James M. Henry Company L 2nd Tennessee Cavalry.

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Captain Henry's son Confederate 2nd Lieutenant William H. Henry Company L 8th & 4th Tennessee Cavalry

The usual excepted narrative for the Civil War in east Tennessee is; the region was dominated by patriotic farmers and mountaineers who viewed the southern Confederacy as being controlled by aristocratic slave-owners and cotton-planters who would also eventually dominate them. Such was the view perpetrated by the fiery Unionist, William "Parson" Brownlow of Knoxville. That simplistic view simply doesn't alien with the facts. Most of east Tennessee's Confederate soldiers - including a slight majority of the officers - did not own slaves, and most of the region's largest slaveholders remained loyal to the Union, believing the "peculiar institution", could be better continued and defended within the U.S. Constitution rather than the fledgling Confederacy. The hateful "Parson" doled out his venom equally, describing even the consideration of secession as a "hell-born" monster, while castigating Lincoln for appointing to his cabinet, men who openly hated the south.

On April 12, 1861 Confederate forces in Charleston, SC. opened fire on the Federal Garrison at Fort Sumter. President Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers to put down the rebellion. Life forever changed for those "sitting on the fence" or enthusiastically supporting one side or the other.

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On June 8,1861, even with the efforts of a number of Unionists, Tennessee passed with about 70 percent of the vote - 108,418 to 46,996 the ordinance of secession. 69% of east Tennesseans voted against it. Following the statewide vote, 285 Union men from across east Tennessee held a convention in Greeneville and debated the possibility of seceding from Tennessee and establishing a new state. Nothing came of that. The war in east Tennessee would truly become "brother against brother", and even at times "father against son".
 
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Three east Tennessee Rebels that "galvanized":

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George Kincheloe Brown: Born in Washington County,TN. Volunteered and mustered into Company C 60th TN at 31 years of age. The regiment was organized in Johnson City, fall of 1862. (Johnson City was called Haynesville at that time). The regiment fought in the battle of Chickasaw Bayou, but were part of the Confederate surrender to Grant in the siege of Vicksburg. George and most of the Confederate soldiers captured at Vicksburg were “paroled.” The parole consisted of a pledge to cease hostilities against the Union until properly exchanged. Back in east Tennessee George enlisted in the Union 8th TN Cavalry in Sept,1864, serving till Sept,1865.

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Thomas Columbus Keene: Enlisted on the Virginia side of Cumberland Gap, August 15, 1861 into Company B 19th Tennessee. He was captured Nov.25, 1863 near Cleveland, TN. He was sent to Rock Island where he "galvanized" Oct.14,1864. He was sent to Nebraska Territory and Company B 3rd U.S.Volunteers. He deserted on Nov.5,1865. He died in Oklahoma,Nov.2,1917.

Anyone with just a passing knowledge of the Civil War, might have to smile and chuckle at a story handed down from one of Thomas' granddaughters :

"I saw him when I was 6 years old and that would have been 1916. Uncle Will brought him to see us when we lived in Commerce, Oklahoma Dad was hauling ore for the lead mines there. (by wagon and team).

Thomas Columbus Keen and Lovie C. Kincheloe were married in 1859. Lovie C. Kincheloe was born, June 11, 1844 and died-1919. She is buried near Chelsea, Oklahoma She was staying with Uncle Ell and in the winter the roads were too muddy and bad to take her back to Zena, Oklahoma where Grandpa is buried.

Grandpa fought in the Civil War. He was gone for 7 years, he was captured and put in Andersonville Prison. The men got sick with measles and the guards wouldn't let them have any water. Someone sneaked out one night, went to the creek and brought a bucket of water. The conditions were very unsanitary from what I've read about Andersonville Prison. Grandpa escaped from the prison. In the woods he found an old rusty gun. A guard overtook him and Grandpa got the drop on him with the rusty gun. He took the guards gun and horse and told the guard to do the next man just like he had done him.

Grandpa traveled for some time with out food. he killed a crow and started to dress it and cook it , but he was so hungry, he ate it raw.
He was a teacher and a Baptist preacher for 50 years. He was gone to the war for 7 years. Grandma and Grandpa were married 15 years before they had children, my mother being the youngest. She never mentioned a younger sibling. She might not have known since she was so young when the younger one died. Mother said she went with Grandpa when he taught school, one time in an infidel school.
When Grandpa was gone to the war, Grandma had quite an experience. There was a bushwhacker. She and some women were staying alone and one of the women had a young baby. One night the bushwhacker came, a black man came in first, he told the women to run out the back door. As they ran through the kitchen the other men were coming through the front. The black man picked up a pie and threw it at the women. The women ran into the woods, (it was night) and hid. the woman with the baby ran her hand over the baby's head and said "My God Bird, they have knocked the baby's brains out." The woman wasn't quite all Ok anyway. Bird was what they called Grandma. The pie that was thrown, hit the baby on the head but didn't hurt the baby.

Thomas Columbus Keen fought in the Civil War. Company B, 3rd United States Vol., Infantry. Certificate # 1,113,922"





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William H. Merrimon (Merryman): Born in Hawkins County,TN. Enlisted as 4th Corporal Co.B 60th TN at Haynesville, TN Nov.7,1862. He was captured at Big black River, May 17,1863. He "galvanized" at Point Lookout Maryland, Feb.2,1864 and was sent west to Dakota territory and the 1st U.S.Volunteers, Company C. He was soon promoted to hospital steward. William died of scurvy in March,1865.
 
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Brigadier-General Alfred E. Jackson, in 1861, was
quartermaster of Zollicoffer's brigade, and very active in
collecting supplies for the soldiers and whatever things
needed for their full equipment, in which duty he was very
efficient. During 1862 he served in the department of East
Tennessee under Gen. E. Kirby Smith, and proved himself so
capable that he was commissioned brigadier-general, and on
February 9, 1863, was assigned to the military department of
East Tennessee, then commanded by General Donelson.

In this region he had command of a brigade under Donelson and
Maury, and was kept on the alert against raiding parties of
the enemy. In September, 1863, when most of the Confederate
troops had been ordered to Bragg at Chattanooga, and Burnside
with a Federal army corps had occupied Knoxville, Jackson,
with his own small command and that of Colonel Giltner,
advanced to Telford's depot, and there defeated a Federal
advance force, capturing 350 prisoners.

On the theater of Jackson's operations there was a good deal
of this sort of detachment work in which there was plenty of
marching and fighting, but very little chance for renown,
because the great battles so obscured the small affairs that
in many parts of the country they were never even heard of.

In October, under Gen. John S. Williams, he took a gallant
part in the victory at Greeneville, east Tennessee. His
command was included in Ransom's division during Longstreet's
operations in east Tennessee. On November 23, 1864, being
unfit for active service in the field, he was ordered to
report temporarily to General Breckinridge.

After the war had ended, General Jackson, like the thousands
of other citizen-soldiers, returned quietly to the pursuits of
peace. On October 30, 1889, he died at Jonesboro, Tenn.

Source: Confederate Military History, vol. X, p. 315

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Company D Union 2nd Tennessee Cavalry drilling (supposedly near Gatlinburg, Tenn)

Second Cavalry
TENNESSEE
(3-YEARS)
Second Cavalry. -- Col., Daniel M. Ray, Lieut.-Col., William
R. Cook Majs., George W. Hutsell, Charles Inman, William R.
Macbeth, William F. Prosser.

This regiment was organized at Cumberland Gap in the months of
Aug. and Sept., 1862, and was composed of loyal citizens of
Knox, Blount, Sevier and surrounding counties, numbering in
the aggregate about 1,175 men.

Shortly after the organization of the regiment, Gen. Morgan
began his retreat to the Ohio River and the 2nd cavalry,
although dismounted, rendered efficient service in protecting
the flank and rear of the retreating column. Not long after
its arrival at Gallipolis, Ohio, it was ordered to Louisville,
where it was mounted and armed, and pushed on to join
Rosecrans at Nashville.

It arrived in time to participate in the battle of Stone's
River, where it lost several officers and men. From that time
until June 23, 1863, with the remainder of the Federal cavalry
under Gen. Stanley, it was employed on the front and flanks of
Rosecrans' army, doing severe duty. At the latter date it
moved with the army from Murfreesboro to Tullahoma and pursued
Bragg across the Cumberland Mountains.

About July 10 it was ordered to report to Gen. Sheridan for
special duty, and was employed in the vicinity of Bridgeport,
Ala., and Chattanooga until the early part of September when
it rejoined the cavalry under Gen. Stanley and participated in
the battle of Chickamauga. After doing some escort duty it
was ordered to Washington and Kingston and assisted in the
defense of the latter place against Gen. Wheeler.

It was then ordered to Nashville, hastily refitted and
forwarded to Gen. William S. Smith at Memphis for an
expedition into Mississippi, in the course of which it
participated with credit in engagements at Okolona, West
Point, the Tallahatchie River and elsewhere.

In June, 1864, the 2nd, 3rd and 4th regiments of Tennessee
cavalry, with Battery A of the 1st Tenn. light artillery, were
ordered to northern Alabama and remained on duty in that
district until the end of the year.

In the numerous engagements with the Confederate cavalry
during that time the 2nd cavalry displayed great gallantry and
received the commendation of all the general officers under
whom it served. In the pursuit of Hood's retreating army from
Nashville the command to which it was attached marched 280
miles in 7 days and nights of unusually severe weather, and
during that time were engaged in six different actions,
capturing a large number of prisoners and material of every
description.

From Jan. to July 1865, the regiment was on duty at Vicksburg
and New Orleans, and was then mustered out.

Source: The Union Army, vol. 4, p. 382

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Colonel Daniel M. Ray

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Union Army's Joseph C. Gray
Rank: 2nd Lieutenant Company: F 2nd Tennessee Cav. Resigned May 8 64 to accept the rank of Captain in the newly formed Union 3rd TN. Mtd. Infantry Co.H. Son of John Gray Jr. and Susannah Land of Wilkes County, North Carolina. Enlisted 1 Aug 1862 at Maryville, Blount CO, TN into CO F, 2nd TN Volunteer CAV. He was appointed 2nd LT, but on 8 May, 1864 he resigned. He later enlisted into the 3rd TN MTD INF REGT, Union Army and was commissioned a Captain. He served as a recruiter and Captain of CO H. He was killed by Kirkland bushwhackers on 15 Jan 1865 while home on leave.

Many years after the war, Capt Gray's widow, Rachel McCall Gray, was summoned to the
deathbed of the bushwhacker who actually killed her husband. Rachel was asked to come
to the home of the man who killed her husband in 1865, because he was then dying. As a
last request, he wanted Rachel to visit in order to tell her he was sorry for killing
her husband. Indeed, Rachel decided to go see him. When she arrived at his home and went
to his bedside, the man said he was very sorry for killing her husband during the war and
asked her to forgive him before he died. Rachel bent over him, looked right in his face,
and "Damned his soul to hell." Then, she raised up, and saying nothing more, she left his
house and went home. She died years later, without ever forgiving him.

Captain Gray is my 2nd cousin, 4 x removed.
 
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Brigadier-General Alfred E. Jackson, in 1861, was
quartermaster of Zollicoffer's brigade, and very active in
collecting supplies for the soldiers and whatever things
needed for their full equipment, in which duty he was very
efficient. During 1862 he served in the department of East
Tennessee under Gen. E. Kirby Smith, and proved himself so
capable that he was commissioned brigadier-general, and on
February 9, 1863, was assigned to the military department of
East Tennessee, then commanded by General Donelson.

In this region he had command of a brigade under Donelson and
Maury, and was kept on the alert against raiding parties of
the enemy. In September, 1863, when most of the Confederate
troops had been ordered to Bragg at Chattanooga, and Burnside
with a Federal army corps had occupied Knoxville, Jackson,
with his own small command and that of Colonel Giltner,
advanced to Telford's depot, and there defeated a Federal
advance force, capturing 350 prisoners.

On the theater of Jackson's operations there was a good deal
of this sort of detachment work in which there was plenty of
marching and fighting, but very little chance for renown,
because the great battles so obscured the small affairs that
in many parts of the country they were never even heard of.

In October, under Gen. John S. Williams, he took a gallant
part in the victory at Greeneville, east Tennessee. His
command was included in Ransom's division during Longstreet's
operations in east Tennessee. On November 23, 1864, being
unfit for active service in the field, he was ordered to
report temporarily to General Breckinridge.

After the war had ended, General Jackson, like the thousands
of other citizen-soldiers, returned quietly to the pursuits of
peace. On October 30, 1889, he died at Jonesboro, Tenn.

Source: Confederate Military History, vol. X, p. 315

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Company D Union 2nd Tennessee Cavalry drilling (supposedly near Gatlinburg, Tenn)

Second Cavalry
TENNESSEE
(3-YEARS)
Second Cavalry. -- Col., Daniel M. Ray, Lieut.-Col., William
R. Cook Majs., George W. Hutsell, Charles Inman, William R.
Macbeth, William F. Prosser.

This regiment was organized at Cumberland Gap in the months of
Aug. and Sept., 1862, and was composed of loyal citizens of
Knox, Blount, Sevier and surrounding counties, numbering in
the aggregate about 1,175 men.

Shortly after the organization of the regiment, Gen. Morgan
began his retreat to the Ohio River and the 2nd cavalry,
although dismounted, rendered efficient service in protecting
the flank and rear of the retreating column. Not long after
its arrival at Gallipolis, Ohio, it was ordered to Louisville,
where it was mounted and armed, and pushed on to join
Rosecrans at Nashville.

It arrived in time to participate in the battle of Stone's
River, where it lost several officers and men. From that time
until June 23, 1863, with the remainder of the Federal cavalry
under Gen. Stanley, it was employed on the front and flanks of
Rosecrans' army, doing severe duty. At the latter date it
moved with the army from Murfreesboro to Tullahoma and pursued
Bragg across the Cumberland Mountains.

About July 10 it was ordered to report to Gen. Sheridan for
special duty, and was employed in the vicinity of Bridgeport,
Ala., and Chattanooga until the early part of September when
it rejoined the cavalry under Gen. Stanley and participated in
the battle of Chickamauga. After doing some escort duty it
was ordered to Washington and Kingston and assisted in the
defense of the latter place against Gen. Wheeler.

It was then ordered to Nashville, hastily refitted and
forwarded to Gen. William S. Smith at Memphis for an
expedition into Mississippi, in the course of which it
participated with credit in engagements at Okolona, West
Point, the Tallahatchie River and elsewhere.

In June, 1864, the 2nd, 3rd and 4th regiments of Tennessee
cavalry, with Battery A of the 1st Tenn. light artillery, were
ordered to northern Alabama and remained on duty in that
district until the end of the year.

In the numerous engagements with the Confederate cavalry
during that time the 2nd cavalry displayed great gallantry and
received the commendation of all the general officers under
whom it served. In the pursuit of Hood's retreating army from
Nashville the command to which it was attached marched 280
miles in 7 days and nights of unusually severe weather, and
during that time were engaged in six different actions,
capturing a large number of prisoners and material of every
description.

From Jan. to July 1865, the regiment was on duty at Vicksburg
and New Orleans, and was then mustered out.

Source: The Union Army, vol. 4, p. 382

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Colonel Daniel M. Ray

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Union Army's Joseph C. Gray
Rank: 2nd Lieutenant Company: F 2nd Tennessee Cav. Resigned May 8 64 to accept the rank of Captain in the newly formed Union 3rd TN. Mtd. Infantry Co.H. Son of John Gray Jr. and Susannah Land of Wilkes County, North Carolina. Enlisted 1 Aug 1862 at Maryville, Blount CO, TN into CO F, 2nd TN Volunteer CAV. He was appointed 2nd LT, but on 8 May, 1864 he resigned. He later enlisted into the 3rd TN MTD INF REGT, Union Army and was commissioned a Captain. He served as a recruiter and Captain of CO H. He was killed by Kirkland bushwhackers on 15 Jan 1865 while home on leave.

Many years after the war, Capt Gray's widow, Rachel McCall Gray, was summoned to the
deathbed of the bushwhacker who actually killed her husband. Rachel was asked to come
to the home of the man who killed her husband in 1865, because he was then dying. As a
last request, he wanted Rachel to visit in order to tell her he was sorry for killing
her husband. Indeed, Rachel decided to go see him. When she arrived at his home and went
to his bedside, the man said he was very sorry for killing her husband during the war and
asked her to forgive him before he died. Rachel bent over him, looked right in his face,
and "****ed his soul to hell." Then, she raised up, and saying nothing more, she left his
house and went home. She died years later, without ever forgiving him.

Captain Gray is my 2nd cousin, 4 x removed.
Good info. If you like any details on COIN from either Union or Confederate forces in Tennessee would be much appreciated on my thread"Compare and contrast Union and Confederate counter guerrilla operations". Tennessee is somewhat unique in that it had extensive guerrilla and counterinsurgency operations from both sides and in the case of East Tennessee in the same general area.
Thanks
Leftyhunter
 
Divided Healers :

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Fielding Pope Sloan was a native of Polk County in east Tennessee. In the 1860 census he's listed as 27 year-old Physician living in Murry County,Georgia. His parents were James and Susan Sloan. Fielding had received his degree at Nashville in 1860, after studying at Maryville College near Knoxville. In Georgia, he had helped organize an Infantry Regiment in 1861, but after fighting in Virginia, he’d been discharged became of severe rheumatism that left one or both ankles crippled. By the end of 1862, he was apparently recovered and back in east Tennessee. There he helped raise Company D 5th Tennessee Cavalry and served briefly as a 3rd Lieutenant before again falling ill with a fever so severe, his family feared he would die.

He spent six months of the war's first two years hospitalized. in 1863 he was appointed an assistant surgeon. He worked in Knoxville hospitals, and established a hospital in Kingston, Tennessee. When Ambrose Burnside led a conquering Union Army into Knoxville, he escaped to Georgia, and in 1864 was appointed assistant surgeon with the 50th Alabama.

At the Battle of Franklin, Tennessee, his right arm was shattered above the elbow, he was then hit a second time, the shell passing through his left lung as he was tending to the wounded as best he could. He lay bleeding and cold on the battlefield all night. Being the fighter he was, he lingered after his arm was amputated until June 9,1865. He died at the McEwen home.

Marcus Fritz Jerrolds : Enlisted on 8/15/1862, age 37, as a Asst Surgeon. On 2/17/1863 he was commissioned into Field & Staff TN Union 2nd Cavalry He was Mustered Out on 7/6/1865 at Nashville, TN

The following is a transcribed letter written by Marcus from Camp Catlett, Kentucky, addressed to his Brigadier General, William D. Whipple and Adjutant General Alvin C. Gillem :

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William Dennison Whipple

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Alvan Cullem Gillem


"Camp Catlett 2nd TN. Cav. Brig. Genl. William D. Whipple April 20, 1864 A.C. Gillem A.A. Genl. Chief of Staff: I have the honor to apply to you for a leave of absence for twenty days for the following reasons. Viz, That my family in eastern Tennessee is in extreme destitution and without even a shelter nor have they the means to get away from there having been robed of everything, and that I have been on duty every day since I have been in service, which is from 15, Aug. 1862. Also that the regiment is in good health and that Assist Surgeon, John W. Mays is with the regiment and more than able for all the duty required in the regiment. Also that if I cannot get leave of absence, I will be bound in duty to my family to resign. A thing I do not wish to do if I can possibly help it. M.F. Jeralds Assist Surgeon 2nd TN Cavalry".

Surgeon Jerolds belonged to a divided family, with Confederates and Unionists in east Tennessee and Unionist in eastern Kentucky. He was a farmer, the son of George Jerold of Ireland, who was one of the leading pioneer farmers in Washington County,(east) Tennessee. 'Goodspeed's History of Tennessee', c 1877 from biographical Appendix, page 1248 M. F. Jerolds, M. D. was born on June 8, 1823, in Kentucky. He received an academical education and began medicine when but eighteen, under Dr. I. N. Hodgin, and attended medical lectures at Louisville Medical College. He began practice in 1845 at James Cross Roads, Washington County,TN and has had an extensive practice ever since. He was a surgeon in the second Tennessee Cavalry, United States Army, from 1862 to 1865. In December, 1845, Lucinda, a daughter of Jeremiah Wells , a native of Sullivan County became his wife. The children were Alice, Henrietta (deceased) and William (deceased). She died in September 1854 and in December 1855, he married Nancy A., a daughter of Benjamin Blackburn, native of Washington County, Tennessee. Their children were Oliver (deceased), John C., Frank M. (deceased) and Fannie A. He and his wife are Presbyterians, but his first wife was a Methodist. He is a Republican, and in 1877 - 1878 represented his county in the Legislature. He has been a Mason for about thirty eight years. He is the second of six children of Jesse and Nancy (Quinby) Jerolds, natives of Washington and Sullivan Counties, respectively.

Marcus is my 4 x 1st cousin
 
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Lindsey H. Fields : Enlisted on 8/14/1862 as a Private. 20 years old. On 12/14/1863 he mustered into "F" Company Union TN 1st Infantry. AWOL 11/12/1864. Lindsey had gone AWOL during his service so he could see his new baby. Some Union men did not survive such trips behind Confederate lines. Returned 12/6/1864. Promoted to Corporal 3/1/1865. He was mustered out of the Union Army in Knoxville in 1865. Lindsey's Civil War experience as a east Tennessee Unionist is best told in his own words, in the nameless song he wrote on the day he was mustered out.


Come all ye young soldiers

And listen unto me

I'm nothing but an exile

From eastern Tennessee

I'll tell you how I come here

And how I come to roam

"Twas because I loved my country

And was driven from my home

I crossed those high topped mountains

To join the Union band

To help to fight the rebels

And drive them from our land

They cursed our wives and mothers

And told them we were gone

Across the mountains to Kentucky

And never should return

But now they see their folly

They know that they were wrong

They see we badly whipped them

And most of us come home

Of course we'll have to take you

And treat you as a friend

According to instructions

And laws of our land

They stole our mules and horses

And rode them by our door

They stole our corn and bacon When we could get no more

But now the war is ended

And we are coming in

You ask us for protection

And to forgive your sins

You say you'll be submissive

The truth to us you'll tell

Although you once opposed us

And wished we were in hell

But I never can forgive you

For holding men as slaves

I'll have a hatred for you

Even when I'm in my grave
 
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Lindsey H. Fields : Enlisted on 8/14/1862 as a Private. 20 years old. On 12/14/1863 he mustered into "F" Company Union TN 1st Infantry. AWOL 11/12/1864. Lindsey had gone AWOL during his service so he could see his new baby. Some Union men did not survive such trips behind Confederate lines. Returned 12/6/1864. Promoted to Corporal 3/1/1865. He was mustered out of the Union Army in Knoxville in 1865. Lindsey's Civil War experience as a east Tennessee Unionist is best told in his own words, in the nameless song he wrote on the day he was mustered out.


Come all ye young soldiers

And listen unto me

I'm nothing but an exile

From eastern Tennessee

I'll tell you how I come here

And how I come to roam

"Twas because I loved my country

And was driven from my home

I crossed those high topped mountains

To join the Union band

To help to fight the rebels

And drive them from our land

They cursed our wives and mothers

And told them we were gone

Across the mountains to Kentucky

And never should return

But now they see their folly

They know that they were wrong

They see we badly whipped them

And most of us come home

Of course we'll have to take you

And treat you as a friend

According to instructions

And laws of our land

They stole our mules and horses

And rode them by our door

They stole our corn and bacon When we could get no more

But now the war is ended

And we are coming in

You ask us for protection

And to forgive your sins

You say you'll be submissive

The truth to us you'll tell

Although you once opposed us

And wished we were in hell

But I never can forgive you

For holding men as slaves

I'll have a hatred for you

Even when I'm in my grave
Great find @east tennessee roots I can't like the poem enough. I am sure my friends @CSA Today and @Rebforever will agree.
Leftyhunter
 
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Lindsey H. Fields : Enlisted on 8/14/1862 as a Private. 20 years old. On 12/14/1863 he mustered into "F" Company Union TN 1st Infantry. AWOL 11/12/1864. Lindsey had gone AWOL during his service so he could see his new baby. Some Union men did not survive such trips behind Confederate lines. Returned 12/6/1864. Promoted to Corporal 3/1/1865. He was mustered out of the Union Army in Knoxville in 1865. Lindsey's Civil War experience as a east Tennessee Unionist is best told in his own words, in the nameless song he wrote on the day he was mustered out.


Come all ye young soldiers

And listen unto me

I'm nothing but an exile

From eastern Tennessee

I'll tell you how I come here

And how I come to roam

"Twas because I loved my country

And was driven from my home

I crossed those high topped mountains

To join the Union band

To help to fight the rebels

And drive them from our land

They cursed our wives and mothers

And told them we were gone

Across the mountains to Kentucky

And never should return

But now they see their folly

They know that they were wrong

They see we badly whipped them

And most of us come home

Of course we'll have to take you

And treat you as a friend

According to instructions

And laws of our land

They stole our mules and horses

And rode them by our door

They stole our corn and bacon When we could get no more

But now the war is ended

And we are coming in

You ask us for protection

And to forgive your sins

You say you'll be submissive

The truth to us you'll tell

Although you once opposed us

And wished we were in hell

But I never can forgive you

For holding men as slaves

I'll have a hatred for you

Even when I'm in my grave
I know someone to add on here. Code name: Powhatan :giggle:
 
I know someone to add on here. Code name: Powhatan :giggle:


P269.gif


Samuel Powhatan Carter (1819 - 1891)

Carter, Samuel P., brigadier-general, was born in
Elizabethtown, Carter county, Tenn., Aug. 6, 1819. He studied
at Princeton college, but never graduated, leaving college in
1840 to accept an appointment as midshipman in the U. S. navy.
He was promoted to passed midshipman in 1846, assigned to duty
on the "Ohio" and served on the eastern coast of Mexico during
the Mexican war, being present at the capture of Vera Cruz.
He was attached to the U. S. naval observatory in Washington
in 1847 and 1848, was assistant instructor at the U. S. naval
academy in 1851-53, was promoted master in 1854 and lieutenant
in 1855, and from 1855 to 1857 was attached to the "San
Jacinto" of the Asiatic squadron, participating in the capture
of the Barrier forts in the Canton river. Returning to
America, he was for two years assistant instructor at West
Point, and on July 11, 1861, was ordered to the special duty
of organizing troops from east Tennessee. He was commissioned
brigadier-general, May 1, 1862, was provost-marshal of east
Tennessee during 1863 and 1864, was brevetted major-general of
volunteers, March 13, 1865, and mustered out in Jan., 1866.
He distinguished himself during the war for gallantry at Wild
Cat, Ky. Mill Springs, and in the capture of Cumberland gap.
In Dec., 1862, he commanded a cavalry expedition which cut the
east Tennessee railroad, destroying nearly 1OO miles of track,
and doing other damage. He commanded the left wing of the
army at Kinston, N. C., March 1O, 1865, and defeated the
Confederates at Goldsboro. At the close of the war he
returned to naval duty, was promoted captain and commodore,
was retired Aug. 6, 1881, and promoted rear admiral on the
retired list, May 16, 1882. He was commandant at the U. S.
naval academy during 1869-72, and was a member of the light-
house board from 1867 to 1880. He died in Washington D. C.,
May 26, 1891.

Source: The Union Army, vol. 8
 
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Lindsey H. Fields : Enlisted on 8/14/1862 as a Private. 20 years old. On 12/14/1863 he mustered into "F" Company Union TN 1st Infantry. AWOL 11/12/1864. Lindsey had gone AWOL during his service so he could see his new baby. Some Union men did not survive such trips behind Confederate lines. Returned 12/6/1864. Promoted to Corporal 3/1/1865. He was mustered out of the Union Army in Knoxville in 1865. Lindsey's Civil War experience as a east Tennessee Unionist is best told in his own words, in the nameless song he wrote on the day he was mustered out.


Come all ye young soldiers

And listen unto me

I'm nothing but an exile

From eastern Tennessee

I'll tell you how I come here

And how I come to roam

"Twas because I loved my country

And was driven from my home

I crossed those high topped mountains

To join the Union band

To help to fight the rebels

And drive them from our land

They cursed our wives and mothers

And told them we were gone

Across the mountains to Kentucky

And never should return

But now they see their folly

They know that they were wrong

They see we badly whipped them

And most of us come home

Of course we'll have to take you

And treat you as a friend

According to instructions

And laws of our land

They stole our mules and horses

And rode them by our door

They stole our corn and bacon When we could get no more

But now the war is ended

And we are coming in

You ask us for protection

And to forgive your sins

You say you'll be submissive

The truth to us you'll tell

Although you once opposed us

And wished we were in hell

But I never can forgive you

For holding men as slaves

I'll have a hatred for you

Even when I'm in my grave
Sounds like Reconstruction mighta been kinda tough in Tennessee.
 
East Tennessee was a southern Unionist stronghold much like my home area of northeast Alabama was at that time. Good thread.

The mountain areas of east Tennessee were strongly Union. The valleys along the rivers and railroads had folks with economic ties to the lower south. Most of them were Confederate (at least till after Vicksburg)
 
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Sounds like Reconstruction mighta been kinda tough in Tennessee.
Their was some post Civil War fighting fighting in East Tennessee between Unionists and former Confederates. Eventually their was a bury the hatchet party in Knoxville. I am not at home so I don't have the exact source.
Leftyhunter
 
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