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

Glenn, the misery put on families in East TN of both sides is hard to comprehend. I knew that before but after reading some papers and articles, from my trip, it just boggles the mind. I can see the resentment that those on either side would feel. Right now I am reading about this Unionist Lady who had food and livestock and goods taken from her by Confederates. When to her relief some Unionist Partisans came along they did the same thing. :frown:.
I can see where the two sides detested each other but it would seem that a lot of folks wouldn't think much of either one. Sure would make a pacifist of me :smile:
 
Glenn, the misery put on families in East TN of both sides is hard to comprehend. I knew that before but after reading some papers and articles, from my trip, it just boggles the mind. I can see the resentment that those on either side would feel. Right now I am reading about this Unionist Lady who had food and livestock and goods taken from her by Confederates. When to her relief some Unionist Partisans came along they did the same thing. :frown:.
I can see where the two sides detested each other but it would seem that a lot of folks wouldn't think much of either one. Sure would make a pacifist of me :smile:

"Oral" family history tells of my paternal grandmother's two widowed Union grandmother's burying food & clothes to hide them from both armies. One had only one old nag left that was gentle enough for her to plow with, her horse was taken while she was plowing.
 
In Cherokee County NC ( where both my mom and dad were raised) there was an unionist lady during the war named Louisa Styles. Whose son and husband were killed by Confederates during the war. Even so some Union soldiets came along and took her horse. Louisa went to Knoxville and got a receipt. When she lost it, they asked her if she had ever suffeted injury becase of loyalty to the union. Her answer...."I do not exactly know how to answer, but if the putting of ropes around the neck of some of my children with the threat that they should be hanged, the murder of a son and a husband at their hands in cold blood, was doing an injury, then I say yes sir a thousand times".

It happen a lot on both sides I find these mountain women very eloquent.
 
Thanks go out to @lelliott19 for transcribing the Dr.'s application.

Carter County in upper East Tennessee was predominantly Union during the Civil War. It was the home of Daniel Ellis, well known to Confederates as "the Old Red Fox" that piloted numbers of Union men across the mountains into Kentucky and the Federal Army. But there were a few folks with southern sympathies.

One was physician Green Turner Magee. In July following the end of the war, Dr.Magee applied to the new U.S.President, East Tennessean Andrew Johnson for a pardon for being sympathetic to the Confederate cause.

Elizabethton, Tennessee
July 15, 1865

To His Excellency Andrew Johnson
President of the United States
Your petitioner Green T Magee a citizen of Carter County Tennessee respectfully represents to your Excellency that he has been a consistent Rebel in his feelings and sentiments since the beginning of the late civil war, but has never been connected in any way with the rebel service nor held any civil appointment under either Government. He is by profession, is a Physician and during the entire war has remained quietly at home in the practice of Medicine, visiting and attending upon Union and Southern citizens without distinction. He has never been arbitrary in his treatment of Union citizens, but he used all proper efforts in their behalf in the way of saving them from arrest and securing their property from seizure -- He would cheerfully have availed himself of the benefits of your Excellency's general Proclamation of Amnesty, but is excluded therefrom by reason of a Presentment now pending against him in the Circuit Court of the United States at Knoxville for aiding and abetting the Rebellion. He has taken and subscribed to the oath required by said instrument which is herewith shown as evidence of his desire to return again to his true allegiance.

Petitioner, therefore, prays your Excellency to grant him a special pardon for his past offenses thus enabling him again to become a loyal citizen which he has for a long time past greatly desired.
Very respectfully
G. T. Magee

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COLONEL OF THE 13TH
A number of citizens along with the Colonel, Assistant Surgeon, and Captain Samuel Scott of Company G Union 13th Tennessee Cavalry endorsed his application."....We therefore respectfully recommend that your Excellency grant him a special pardon for his nominal connection with the Rebellion, fully believing that he will henceforth be a true & loyal man in his support of the Government." The 13th TN was the Union regiment credited with killing John Hunt Morgan. Mostly made up of East Tennessee exiles, many of their families were persecuted in their absence, and showing mercy to Rebels was not their usual fare. The good doctor was no doubt well thought of.
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DR JAMES CAMERON, ASSISTANT SURGEON

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CAPTAIN OF COMPANY G, SAMUEL W. SCOTT STANDS IN THE CENTER. HE AND S.P. ANGEL PUBLISHED A HISTORY OF THE 13TH IN 1902.

The 1860 census of Carter County, Tennessee shows Dr.Magee living with his mother, Priscilla Land in household # 1. North Carolina is given as their birth State. I may well be related, but I fail to find them anywhere in the 1850 census.

green turner magee.jpg


Dr. Magee and a grandson, Francis Owen Case.
 
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Dr. Magee and a grandson, Francis Owen Case.
Was Tn. divided along regions as Va. was between Tidewater and Western Va..? Most of the South was divided along regions of slave and non slave regions ,as Al. and Ms.Was any of the North divided as such and if so none left the Union as West Va. separate from Va.?Was West Va. action unconstitutional?
 
Was Tn. divided along regions as Va. was between Tidewater and Western Va..? Most of the South was divided along regions of slave and non slave regions ,as Al. and Ms.Was any of the North divided as such and if so none left the Union as West Va. separate from Va.?Was West Va. action unconstitutional?

A good deal of Union sentiment in East Tennessee compared to the middle and western parts of the State. East Tennessee itself was divided between the mountainous counties bordering on Western NC and Eastern KY (primarily Union), and the counties in the valleys, along rail lines and rivers. (pretty equally divided). Only six counties in East Tennessee voted in the majority for secession.
 
A good deal of Union sentiment in East Tennessee compared to the middle and western parts of the State. East Tennessee itself was divided between the mountainous counties bordering on Western NC and Eastern KY (primarily Union), and the counties in the valleys, along rail lines and rivers. (pretty equally divided). Only six counties in East Tennessee voted in the majority for secession.
Which area did Andrew Johnson reside in.?Lincoln must have believed that he would not be assassinated even after so many forwarnings.The leaders of the Union party should have persuaded him to choose a better candidate as Roosevelt with Truman.Then you have cousin Teddy with McKinley ,then no one thought as did those with Lincoln that McKinley would meet the same fate.Excepte this one fate did good.
 
Which area did Andrew Johnson reside in.?Lincoln must have believed that he would not be assassinated even after so many forwarnings.The leaders of the Union party should have persuaded him to choose a better candidate as Roosevelt with Truman.Then you have cousin Teddy with McKinley ,then no one thought as did those with Lincoln that McKinley would meet the same fate.Excepte this one fate did good.

Johnson was an East Tennessean and a Democrat. Hence his battles with the Radical Republicans once he became President.
 
Was any of the North divided as such and if so none left the Union as West Va. separate from Va.?
There was serious concerns in 1861 about the southern 1/3 or so of Illinois splitting off and going with the confederacy. John Logan, then a Democrat, was instrumental in keeping the southern counties in the state and in recruiting for the Union. He became Col. of the 31st Ill. Inf. (Dirty First). After the war, Black Jack Logan was a radical republican and commander of the GAR.

Southern Indiana was a hotbed of KGC activity although I don’t believe there was ever any serious threat of leaving the state. Indiana Gov. Morton was in a constant battle with the state legislature (controlled by Democrats from 62-64) over his suspension of habeas corpus for those suspected of being KGC. The Indiana legislature and the governor funding of the state during that period is an interesting study.
Indiana US senator Jesse Bright was expelled from the senate as a confederate sympathizer. His land in Clark county, Indiana was confiscated and used to build a large Union hospital.
Lots, lots more in southern Indiana and the political fight within the state during the war.
 
There was serious concerns in 1861 about the southern 1/3 or so of Illinois splitting off and going with the confederacy. John Logan, then a Democrat, was instrumental in keeping the southern counties in the state and in recruiting for the Union. He became Col. of the 31st Ill. Inf. (Dirty First). After the war, Black Jack Logan was a radical republican and commander of the GAR.

Southern Indiana was a hotbed of KGC activity although I don’t believe there was ever any serious threat of leaving the state. Indiana Gov. Morton was in a constant battle with the state legislature (controlled by Democrats from 62-64) over his suspension of habeas corpus for those suspected of being KGC. The Indiana legislature and the governor funding of the state during that period is an interesting study.
Indiana US senator Jesse Bright was expelled from the senate as a confederate sympathizer. His land in Clark county, Indiana was confiscated and used to build a large Union hospital.
Lots, lots more in southern Indiana and the political fight within the state during the war.

Company G 15th Tennessee Infantry C.S.A. had several men from Southern Illinois.
 
There was serious concerns in 1861 about the southern 1/3 or so of Illinois splitting off and going with the confederacy. John Logan, then a Democrat, was instrumental in keeping the southern counties in the state and in recruiting for the Union. He became Col. of the 31st Ill. Inf. (Dirty First). After the war, Black Jack Logan was a radical republican and commander of the GAR.

Southern Indiana was a hotbed of KGC activity although I don’t believe there was ever any serious threat of leaving the state. Indiana Gov. Morton was in a constant battle with the state legislature (controlled by Democrats from 62-64) over his suspension of habeas corpus for those suspected of being KGC. The Indiana legislature and the governor funding of the state during that period is an interesting study.
Indiana US senator Jesse Bright was expelled from the senate as a confederate sympathizer. His land in Clark county, Indiana was confiscated and used to build a large Union hospital.
Lots, lots more in southern Indiana and the political fight within the state during the war.
Could these have been the people in the South that he hoped would be able to pull the states or certain one from the brenk of leaving the Union? Southern Indiana and Illinois were areas of Klan activity after the war and even later,What actions did he use to maintain any secession acts in those states?Same as he had in other sections that favored the Confederacy ?
 
colonel charles deaux.jpg


Charles Didier Dreux (May 11, 1832 – July 5, 1861) was the first Confederate field officer killed during the Civil War. He was the son of Charles Dreux and Marie Josephine Nathalie Enoul de Livaudais Dreux. Prior to the Civil War, Dreux had served as a district attorney and a member of the Louisiana state legislature. According to Grace King, those who knew him described him "as a man of great personal magnetism; brilliant, eloquent, dashing." He left for the battlefield as Lieutenant Colonel of the Louisiana Guard Battalion, in command of Dreux's (1st) Battalion, composed of the first five companies that volunteered from Louisiana. Three months later, he died at Young's Mill (Warwick, Virginia, now Newport News, Virginia) while on a failed mission to capture Union officers who often ate breakfast at Smith's Farm. His last words were "Steady, boys! Steady!” The Colonel's two brothers, Guy and Edgar were also officers in the Confederate Army. Guy survived the war but Edgar reportedly died a hero's death at Franklin, Tennessee. Unusual circumstances had him fighting there as a member of Co.G 29th TN Infantry from (Washington County) East Tennessee.

Between 1914 and the early 1920s, a questionnaire was developed and sent to all known living Tennessee Civil War Veterans, asking them to return the questionnaires to Nashville. 1,650 were completed and returned by 1922. The vast majority returned were from Confederate Veterans. At least three of my Confederate ancestors I'm aware of were among them.

Private William Kincheloe Cox (a 3 x 2nd cousin) Company G 29th Tennessee was one. In response to the question concerning any "notable individuals," he may have known, he wrote the following:

"Another noted man I met during the war was Ned Dreux, a graduate from West Point Military School who had been a Captain but had resigned at the first Battle of Manassas, Va. to bring his brother's body, Colonel Dreux to Memphis to bury. After this, he was made Assistant Engineer Trans-Mississippi Department. He and the
The Engineer had a misunderstanding over the breastworks, had a fistfight. The Colonel-Engineer preferred charges against him and sent him to the guardhouse". William then states he was one of his guards and got to know him well. He tells of Ned's death at Franklin and his dying "while wrapped in the Confederate Flag".


While William may have got a few of his facts wrong, his story coincides with the research done by Mr. Tim Burgess at Find-A-Grave.



 
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
Never could understand why Tn, succeeded with has many of their men fought for the Union and so much of the mt. region was Union!
 
Never could understand why Tn, succeeded with has many of their men fought for the Union and so much of the mt. region was Union!
Something like 42k men from TN enlisted in the Union vs something like three times as many in the Confedrate Army. Most Unionists were in East Tennessee .
Leftyhunter
 
These men were 1st cousins. Their fathers were brothers. My 2 x great-grandmother, Rebecca Knight Land of Wilkes County, NC was a sister to their fathers making them my 3 x removed 1st cousins. They were approximately the same age and probably acquainted as boys. Both lived out their days in Greene County, East Tennessee.

Co D Confederate 7th TN.jpg




John Knight.jpg


Confederate Veteran John Knight: Private Company D 7th TN Infantry. Enrolled (conscripted in March 1864) April 4, 1864, at Bristol, Tennessee, and joined the 7th TN Infantry with Lee's Army in Virginia. He was captured on May 22, 1864 "on the South Anna River". Sent to Point Lookout Maryland and later transferred to Elmira, N.Y. July 28, 1864. He was released on May 22, 1865. P.O.W. description roll: "Residence East Tennessee, Florid complexion, Dark hair, Hazel eyes, 6'1/2" ".

Co.K Union 1st TN Cavalry.jpg


Greenville Knight.jpg


Union Veteran Greenville (or Granville) Knight: Private Company K Union 1st TN Cavalry. Enlisted July 12, 1862, at Greenville, Tennessee. Mustered at Cumberland Gap on Aug.16, 1862. He fell out sick during the retreat from Cumberland Gap in the fall of 1862 and was briefly listed as "deserted". He soon returned and was reinstated by the order of Colonel Robert Johnson. He served as a wagoner from June 1863 to May 1864. He then began duty "guarding ordnance stores at Chattanooga, TN". From November 1864 till discharged in June 1865, He was listed "leading the pack mules of Company K and cooking for Major (later Captain) Burton Smith".


 
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View attachment 230960
William L. Ritter : Residence was Carroll County, Maryland.
Enlisted and commissioned a 1st Lieutenant on 10/24/1861 at Richmond, VA , into the Maryland 3rd Artillery. Wounded 3 times during the war. promoted to Captain 12/15/1864.

Confederate east Tennesseans in the 3rd Maryland Artillery :
Article appeared in Vol. XXXVIII # 6 page 237, June, 1930 Confederate Veteran Magazine. Recruits were from Sullivan & Washington Counties, 26 are listed counting their recruiter ( Holmes Irvin )

The Following list of Soldiers from (east) Tennessee served with the 3rd Battery Of Maryland Artillery, C.S.A. was furnished by the late Captain, William L. Ritter, one of the Commanders. This was the only Maryland command in the western army, and took part in the campaign in Tennessee, which culminated in the battles of Franklin and Nashville. He stated that these boys, with two exceptions, were from Sullivan and Washington Counties, east Tennessee, as volunteers for the Confederacy. The names follow :

J.A. Bushong, A.G. Cox, S. Chafin, J. Cheasam, (Cheatham) J.S. Cossom (Casson), J.J. Cotter, Holmes Erwin, J.H. Eaton, A.(Abraham) Fleenor (Flenor), H.(Henry) Fitzmiller (Kitzmiller), James (Joseph) G. Fletcher, Benjamin Garst, Solomon Hylton, J.H. Isham, John Light, George Montieth, M. (Mark) Montieth, F.M. Newton, John C. Pendley, William T. Sykes, W.L. Seawright, H.S. Steward,(Stewart) John Tinsley, Jackson Simmons, T.M. Tomlinson, Isaac Zimmerman.

The Jackson Simmons listed, was the father of my maternal great-grandmother, Mary Simmons Cox. Jackson never returned to the Confederate Army after being paroled home following the surrender of Vicksburg. On July 4, 1864, he enlisted in Company F of the Union 3rd Tenn Mounted Infantry, where he served till the end of November, drawing a Federal Pension for his service.

View attachment 181331
Jackson Simmons' oldest child, (born 1861), and only daughter, my maternal great-grandmother, Mary Simmons Cox. This article appeared just months before her passing.
An early Christmas gift from my cousin!

Jackson Simmons hit by train 2 (1).JPG
 
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Three of the regiments on Stoneman's Raid in 1865 were East Tennessee regiments: 8th Tennessee Cavalry, 9th Tennessee Cavalry, and 13th Tennessee Cavalry.

I imagine there were probably a few North Carolinians and Kentuckians in these Tennessee regiments.
 
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