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 A PAPER 
 
 READ BEFORE THE OHIO COMMANDERY 
 
 MILITARY ORDER 
 
 Loyal Legion of the United States 
 
 APRIL 6, 188 7- 
 
 BY COMPANION 
 
 WILLIAM RULE, 
 
 (Of Knoxvlle, Tenn. ) 
 
 Late Adjutant 6th Tennessee Infantry, U. S. Vols. 
 
 CINCINNATI: 
 
 H. C. SHERICK & CO. 
 1887. 
 
V <£■ 
 
 IN EXCHANGE 
 JAN 5 - 1915 
 
THE 
 
 Loyalists of Tennessee in the Late War. 
 
 On the first day of May, 1769, a young farmer started 
 out from the banks of the Yadkin River, in the State of 
 North Carolina, accompanied by five stalwart hunters. It 
 was about the time that the descendants of the Pilgrim 
 Fathers in Massachusetts were denying themselves the 
 luxury of tea rather than pay tribute to a tyrant king. 
 About the same time the House of Burgesses was dissolved 
 by the Colonial Governor of Virginia for having dared to 
 pass resolutions condemning tire Stamp Act ; and Governor 
 Tryon, of North Carolina, was serving his royal master by 
 oppressing the patriots of that colony. The name of the 
 young farmer was James Robertson, the founder of the 
 first colony in Tennessee ; and one of the hunters who 
 accompanied him was Daniel Boone, whose daring ex- 
 ploits have been read by every school-boy and school-girl 
 in the land. They went, as did the messengers sent out 
 by Moses of old, to spy out a land beyond the distant 
 Alleghenies, where they and those who sent them might 
 live free from the restraints and oppressions of British 
 rulers. A year afterward a colony was established beside the 
 swift-rushing, limpid waters of the beautiful Watauga River. 
 It was composed of men and women of heroic mold, filled 
 with inspirations of patriotism, resolved that their abiding 
 place in the wilderness, surrounded by savages, should be 
 " Freedom's home or Glory's grave." The descendants 
 of these patriots who thus fled from British oppression, and 
 were the pioneers in the settlement of East Tennessee^ 
 form the basis of my remarks this evening ; they have 
 
made honorable records on the battle-fields of every war 
 in which their country has ever engaged, from King's 
 Mountain to Appomattox. 
 
 There were more than one hundred thousand wh'ite men 
 in the Union Army from the rebellious States, fully thirty- 
 five thousand of whom were from Tennessee. It is of 
 these of whom I shall speak chiefly, because I know more 
 of them ; though, in passing, I will not fail to pay tribute 
 to those of other sections in the State, and other States in 
 the South. Nor will I forget the thousands of colored men 
 who enlisted from the rebellious States, and did gallant 
 service for the Union cause on many a hotly contested 
 field, and who demonstrated that a black skin is no barrier 
 to manly courage. How to deal with the loyal contingent 
 in the Southern Confederacy was one of the questions that 
 gave the Confederate authorities a great deal of trouble 
 from the outset. When voluntary enlistments became too 
 slow to meet the exigencies of the Confederate service, a 
 sweeping conscript law was passed ; and when its enforce- 
 ment was attempted in East Tennessee, it drove five men 
 into the Union Army to every one secured for the Confed- 
 erate ranks. 
 
 The people of this " Switzerland of America" were 
 peculiar in many respects. Living, as they did, about the 
 center of the border slave States, a majority of them were 
 opposed to slavery. It has been stated — and so far as I 
 know never denied— ^hat the first Abolition paper published 
 in the United States emanated from a press in Jonesboro, 
 in Tennessee. 
 
 Among the first Abolition societies ever organized in this 
 country were those of Eastern Tennessee. In the year 
 1816 the Manumission Society of Tennessee held a meet- 
 ing at Greenville, and issued an address advocating the 
 abolition ot slavery. 
 
 When Abraham Lincoln was elected President, and 
 South Carolina and other Southern States proceeded in hot 
 haste to sever their connection with the Union, Tennessee 
 
— 5 — 
 
 was utterly averse to taking such a step. The secessionists 
 urged that if the slave States would make a common 
 cause, and go out of the Union promptly, the Government 
 would not attempt coercion, and the secession movement 
 would be carried out successfully. It was gravely insisted 
 that the Northern people were too fond of making money 
 to go to war; and if perchance they did make up their 
 minds to fight, one Southern man would prove more than a 
 match for five "Yankees." But a majority of the people 
 of Tennessee were willing to at least wait until the new 
 President committed some overt act that might afford 
 something like a pretext for secession. 
 
 The Governor of the State, however, was an uncompro- 
 mising secessionist. He sent a message to the legislature, 
 urging that body to provide for holding a convention for 
 the purpose of passing an ordinance of secession, which 
 was done. The legislature provided that while electing 
 delegates the voters might at the same time say whether or 
 not the convention should be held. As a result, the propo- 
 sition to hold a convention was voted down by an over- 
 whelming majority. In the counties of Eastern Tennessee, 
 in an aggregate vote of forty-three thousand, the majority 
 against holding the convention was more than twenty-three 
 thousand. This was in February, 1861. But this did not 
 satisfy the leaders of the secession movement, who had 
 determined that they would not accept a negative answer, 
 and that if necessary force should be used to drag the 
 State out of the Union. They redoubled their diligence, 
 and did everything possible to arouse the prejudices and 
 the passions of the people. In April a blow was struck at 
 Fort Sumter. Then came the sounding of trumpets, the 
 rattle of drums, the Confederate recruiting officer in his 
 bright gray uniform, and soon armed Confederate troops 
 were marching upon the streets of the towns and cities. 
 
 The Governor convened the legislature again in extra 
 session, and sent in a lurid message, full of dire prophecy 
 as to what was going to happen if the State of Tennessee 
 
— 6 — 
 
 failed to cast her lot with her sisters of the South. That 
 body, under the excitement of the hour, was induced to 
 pass an ordinance of secession, without awaiting the for- 
 mality of holding a convention composed of delegates 
 fresh from the people. An election was ordered to be held 
 on the 8th of June, which everybody knew would be a 
 farce, as it was certain that the people would be over-awed 
 by the military force of the Southern Confederacy. The 
 election was held, and the State was declared out of the 
 Union. The people of East Tennessee, still true to their 
 principles and loyal to their government, gave a majority 
 of twenty thousand against the ratification of the so-called 
 ordinance of secession. The flag of the Union still floated 
 defiantly over their homes, and they now sang " The 
 Star-Spangled Banner" and other national airs with an 
 unction they had never known before. 
 
 Anticipating the result of this 8th of June election, a con- 
 vention of Union men had been called to be held at Knoxville 
 on the 31st day of May. That section of the State had been 
 thoroughly canvassed, and the leaders had advocated the 
 cause of the Union upon the stump, at the peril of their 
 lives. This convention met just eight days before the elec- 
 tion, when the town was full of armed Confederate troops. 
 It was presided over by Hon. Thos. A. R. Nelson, then 
 Representative in Congress from the First District. It re- 
 mained in session two days, and adopted resolutions de- 
 nouncing the act of the legislature in passing the ordinance 
 of secession as a gross and wicked usurpation. It then 
 adjourned subject to the call of the president. On the 
 ninth day after the election it assembled again at Green- 
 ville. On this short notice more than three hundred dele- 
 gates, representing all the counties in that sectibn of the 
 State, responded to the call and were present at the con- 
 vention. While it was in session a regiment of Louisiana 
 Confederate soldiers, known as the " The Tiger Rifles," on 
 their way to " take Washington," stopped at Greenville. 
 The commanding officer made a speech in which he 
 
denounced Johnson, Brownlow, Maynard, and other Union 
 leaders as Tories and traitors. This only embittered the 
 Union men toward the cause of secession, and made them 
 more determined than ever. The convention adopted a de- 
 claration of grievances in which it was emphatically declared 
 that the result of the recent election, ratifying the ordinance 
 of secession, was not binding upon the Union people of East 
 Tennessee. Three commissioners were appointed to mem 
 orialize the legislature for permission to form a separate 
 State out of the counties in that section of the State and 
 such other adjoining counties as might desire to co-operate 
 in the movement. An election was also ordered to be held, 
 at which delegates were to be chosen to a convention to be 
 held at Kingston for the purpose of drafting a constitution, 
 and taking the preliminary steps necessary to the formation 
 of a new State. The date for holding the election was fixed, 
 and it was ordered, but never held, for reasons that will fully 
 appear as we proceed. 
 
 The two months preceding the dates of these conventions 
 were pregnant with stirring events. Personal collisions 
 were frequent, and already blood had been shed and lives 
 lost. On the 7th day of May, 1861, a Union flag was pub- 
 licly raised in Knoxville, and a strong Union speech made 
 by the late Judge Trigg. Charles S. Douglass, a courage- 
 ous but indescreet Union man, became involved in a quar- 
 rel with a Confederate major named Morgan. Morgan 
 went away and armed himself. Returning, he commenced 
 firing upon Douglass, who was unarmed, inflicting a slight 
 flesh wound. Douglass was a dangerous man, and Morgan 
 and his friends determined to get rid of him. The next 
 day, two companies of Confederate troops were paraded in 
 front of a hotel nearly opposite to were Douglass lived. 
 He was attracted to the front of his residence, and while 
 looking upon the soldiers, was shot down by the side of 
 his wife, by some one concealed in an upper room of the 
 hotel. A business man who resided in the town, in writing 
 a private letter to a friend in New Haven the next day, 
 
— 8 — 
 
 related the details of Douglass' assassination. The letter was 
 printed in a New Haven paper with the name of the writer 
 suppressed. It found its way back to Knoxville, and was 
 republished in the local secession paper with bitter curses 
 heaped upon the writer. The real author was suspected, 
 and the first notice he had of the publication of his private 
 letter was a deluge of anonymous notes coming to him 
 through the post-office, filled with threats of vengeance. 
 He is yet living, one of the leading business men of the 
 South, and owes his life to the exercise of good judgment 
 and a high order of courage in that particular emergency. 
 His only offense was speaking the truth and calling things 
 by their right names. These things are mentioned as a 
 slight illustration of the condition of affairs in East Tennes- 
 see at that time. 
 
 In one month after the Greenville convention, the first 
 battle of Bull Run was fought with its discouraging results. 
 It served to arouse the people of the North to the magni- 
 tude of the great rebellion. To the Union men of East 
 Tennessee it was doubly disheartening Their leaders 
 were being arrested on a charge of treason against the 
 Southern Confederacy, and there was now no telling when 
 deliverance would come, and the flag they loved again wave 
 in triumph over their mountain homes ; but their principles 
 remained unchanged, their purposes inflexible, and their 
 devotion unwavering. 
 
 About the first of August, 1861, they began to cross the 
 Cumberland Mountains into Kentucky at points not guarded 
 by Confederate troops, and to organize loyal East Tennes- 
 see regiments. Among the first to go was Joseph A.Cooper, 
 of Campbell County, who now resides in the State of Kan- 
 sas. He became Captain of Company A, in the .First 
 Tennessee Infantry. He was afterward Colonel of the 
 Sixth Infantry. While marching with Sherman through 
 Georgia, he was promoted to the rank of Brigadier-General, 
 and at the close of the war he was a Major-General by 
 brevet, in command of a division in North Carolina. In a 
 
few weeks the First and Second Tennessee Infantry were 
 organized at Camp Dick Robinson, with Colonel R. K. 
 Byrd commanding the former, and Colonel Carter the latter. 
 By the first of the following April, six regiments of infantry 
 were organized and in the field, two more were in process 
 of organization, and three regiments of cavalry were par- 
 tially recruited. 
 
 Leaving the loyalists of the Southern Confederacy now 
 already in the field, let us go back for a moment to their 
 homes within the Confederate lines, and see what is going 
 on there. On the night of the 8th of November, 1862, an 
 event happened which startled the whole Southern Con- 
 federacy. Three bridges were burned on the line of the 
 railroad between Chattanooga and Bristol. In the language 
 of one of the publications of the times, it was the work of 
 "Lincolnite traitors," being a preconcerted movement en- 
 tered into by East Tennessee loyalists, the purpose of which 
 was to obstruct the transportation of troops to, and supplies 
 for, the Confederate army in Virginia. The situation is 
 described in a letter from Colonel Wood, commanding the 
 post at Knoxville, to the Adjutant-General of the Confederate 
 States at Richmond, who wrote : " The whole country is in a 
 state of rebellion. They [meaning the Union men] must be 
 punished, and some of the leaders ought to be punished to 
 the extent of the law. Nothing short of this will quiet the 
 country. * * * I felt it my duty to proclaim martial law, 
 as there was a large majority of the people sympathizing 
 with the enemy and communicating with them by the 
 unfrequented mountain paths, and to prevent surprise and 
 the destruction of commissary and quartermaster stores." 
 
 When this report was made by this Confederate colonel, 
 there was not a Union soldier nearer than one hundred 
 miles of his headquarters. On the 12th of November, 1861, 
 the day after Colonel Wood wrote that letter, A. G. 
 Graham, a prominent secessionist at Jonesboro, wrote to 
 Jefferson Davis, saying that civil war had broken out in 
 Tennessee, and that the hostile element would " neither 
 
abate nor be conciliated." Speaking of the loyalists, he 
 said : ' ' They look confidently for the re-establishment of the 
 Federal authority in the South, with as much confidence 
 as the Jews look for the coming of the Messiah ; and I feel 
 sure when I assert it, that no event or circumstance can 
 change or modify their hopes." He evidently understood 
 the situation, and as a remedy he urged the Confederate 
 President to take steps to send Union men north with their 
 families, saying that, with their families there, they could 
 do no great harm. 
 
 This bridge-burning was wholly the work of civilians. 
 Those who participated in it were scattered over a wide 
 territory nearly 250 miles in extent ; yet they acted in con- 
 cert, without betraying their secrets, except to a faithful few. 
 The history of this event is imperfectly understood, and never 
 can be fully written, for the reason that the parties who 
 were engaged in it were pledged to the strictest secrecy at 
 the time, which pledge was kept with remarkable fidelity ; 
 and the additional fact that a majority of them are now 
 dead. Every man engaged knew perfectly well that if he 
 should be exposed and arrested, his punishment would be 
 an ignominious death ; }^et what was done was without fee 
 or hope of reward, solely because it was believed that it 
 would advance the cause of the Union. As a result, five 
 men were arrested by the Confederate authorities and hung. 
 Many others were arrested on a mere suspicion that they 
 had some foreknowledge of the act, and without the slight- 
 est proof were cast into prison. Martial law was pro- 
 claimed, and the Union people disarmed as far as possible. 
 A reign of terror prevailed, and it really seemed as if the 
 devil had been turned loose and was having everything his 
 own way. 
 
 I can never forget the Sunday evening following the 
 burning of the railroad bridges. A rumor prevailed in 
 Knoxville that a thousand " Lincolnites " were marching 
 upon Strawberry Plains for the purpose of burning the 
 bridge over the Holston River at that place. Then there 
 
was hurrying to and fro. The "long roll" aroused the 
 soldiers in the camps, and soon they were marching double- 
 quick to the depot, where a special train was waiting to 
 hurry them off to the scene of action. Officers on swift 
 chargers were dashing about the streets as if they believed 
 that the safety of the Confederacy depended upon the 
 celerity of their movements. With bated breath, brave 
 men and fair women hoarsely whispered, " The Yankees 
 are coming." But the cause of all this alarm and excite- 
 ment was only a story, without foundation, that a few citi- 
 zens unfriendly to the Confederacy were about to make a 
 second attempt to burn a railroad bridge. A few days 
 before this time, the late Wm. G. Brownlow, editor and 
 proprietor of the Knoxville Whig, the last Union newspaper 
 published in the Southern Confederacy, had closed out his 
 paper, at the same time announcing that he expected to be 
 arrested on a charge of treason. I was an employe in his 
 office at the time. He had gone out into the country a few 
 days before, and when the bridges were burned his name 
 was frequently connected with the act, and threats were 
 freely made as to what would be done with him if caught. 
 On the eventful Sunday evening some of his friends held 
 a consultation, and decided that he ought to be made 
 acquainted with the situation. I,t was further decided that 
 I should go as a special messenger to carry him the informa- 
 tion. The edict had gone forth that no one should go 
 beyond the limits of the town without a pass from the Con- 
 federate authorities, to procure which it was necessary to 
 take an oath to support the Southern Confederacy. Later 
 on, one's conscience might have become elastic enough to 
 take the oath with a mental reservation ; but I decided that 
 I would not, and would go without asking permission. 
 Through the kindness of Mr. E. J. Sanford, now one of 
 the leading business men of the city, I was furnished with 
 a small boat and a skilled man to row it. We embarked in 
 the boat within a few rods of the rebel pickets, and rowed 
 as noiselessly as possible across the Tennessee River, 
 
arriving safely on the other shore. At the home of Mr. 
 Caleb Baker, a good Union man, I procured one of his 
 best horses for my journey. Riding that night and a part 
 of the next day through the mountains to Wears Cove, I 
 arrived late in the afternoon at the home of Valentine Mat- 
 tox, at the base of the Great Smoky Mountains, where I 
 found the " Fighting Parson." During the day I had seen 
 hundreds of farmers and their sons armed with sporting 
 rifles and shot-guns, prepared to give a warm reception to 
 any Confederate troops who might come in that direction in 
 search of the bridge burners. I found Mr. Brownlow free 
 from excitement, and seemingly perfectly indifferent to the 
 threats being made against him. 
 
 The eyes of the loyalists of East Tennessee had been 
 turned longingly toward the Cumberland Mountains for 
 two months, from which direction it was believed that the 
 Union forces were approaching. The burning of the 
 bridges was accepted as positive evidence that the day of 
 deliverance was at hand. The Union men gathered in 
 armed bands at various points. Near Chimney Top 
 Mountain in Greene County, a regiment had been regularly 
 organized. An armed Confederate force was sent out to 
 disperse this regiment, and finding that the arrival of relief 
 was delayed, the command was disbanded, and the men 
 looked to their own' safety/each one taking care of himself. 
 Most of them went immediately to Kentucky and enlisted 
 under the three years' call in the Union service, while 
 many were arrested and imprisoned. 
 
 History furnishes no parallel to the manner in which these 
 loyalists of the Southern Confederacy enlisted in the army 
 of their choice. Their recruiting stations were not 
 decorated with waving banners nor enlivened by the" soul- 
 stirring strains of martial music. Like criminals fleeing from 
 justice, they stole away from their homes, relying for pro- 
 tection upon the friendly darkness of the night, their own 
 strong nerves, sinews and will, and the mercies of an ever 
 watchful Providence. In some mysterious way — one can 
 
— i3 — 
 
 hardly tell how — the news would be whispered around that 
 on such a time and at such a place there would be a gather- 
 ing of those who wished to " go to Kentucky." The time 
 was always after nightfall, and the place some secluded 
 spot, removed from the frequented public highways. Then 
 there was a day of busy preparation. Patriotic women with 
 heavy hearts were preparing rations for sons, husbands, and 
 brothers who were about to leave them, and upon whose 
 faces they might never look again. When the sun had 
 gone down behind the western hills, hasty good-byes were 
 said, farewell kisses were imprinted on baby's cheek as it 
 peacefully slept in its plain crib, perchance in the log cabin 
 or cottage home, and hot tears expressed the grief of loved 
 ones where language failed. Frail women, with burdens 
 too heavy for mortal flesh to bear, were sustained, God only 
 knows how. Then stalwart forms stole silently away, 
 through forest and field, and a company of unconquerable 
 spirits, whom the powers of the whole Southern Con- 
 federacy were impotent to subdue, were on their way, 
 seeking a place where they would have the privilege of 
 fighting — perhaps dying— for the flag they loved, and for a 
 freedom which was their proud birthright. If the history 
 of these silent night marches across the valleys and rugged 
 mountains could be accurately written, it would make a 
 volume of more thrilling interest than was ever produced 
 in fiction's most fertile field, and a story more wonderful 
 than was ever wrought out by the liveliest imagination in its 
 loftiest flights. 
 
 My own experience as one of the "renegade Lincolnites " 
 of the period is very tame compared with most others, but 
 it may serve as a slight illustration. One beautiful evening 
 in the early autumn I set out with six others, not knowing 
 whether our destination was the Union Army or a Southern 
 prison. One of the first obstacles to overcome was the 
 Tennessee River. We got across by the aid of an old 
 colored man whom we knew would not betray us. Cross- 
 ing the valley west of Knoxville, we kept off the road until 
 
— 1 4 — 
 
 we reached Beaver Creek. Here, to avoid wading the 
 creek, we ventured to take the road for a short distance and 
 cross over a bridge. The venture proved a dangerous one. 
 After crossing at the bridge, we were passing through a 
 lane, with a field of ripened corn on either side, when 
 suddenly we heard a clattering of hoofs and clanging of 
 sabres. Looking ahead, we saw a company of Confederate 
 cavalry riding rapidly toward us. Jumping over the fence, 
 we lay down quietly in the field of corn, and fortunately 
 had not been seen. Our brothers in gray rode quickly on, 
 much to our relief; for whatever may have been our inten- 
 tion about fighting the Southern Confederacy, we were not 
 ready to begin there, especially as we were unarmed, and 
 the other side greatly superior in numbers. Before the 
 dawn of morning we had reached what is known as the 
 Bull Run Hills, on the north side of the creek of that 
 name, and lay down in the leaves for rest and sleep. We 
 traveled a part of next day, being careful to avoid the roads 
 as far as possible, and to keep under cover of the woods 
 when we could. Our next serious obstacle was Clinch 
 River, the Confederate authorities having given orders to 
 destroy all boats, canoes, etc., to prevent escaping Unionists 
 from using them. Here Daniel Ridenour came to our 
 relief. He gave us a good supper, which was greatly 
 relished, and then set us across the river, two at a time, in 
 an old canoe with one end knocked out, which the Con- 
 federate authorities had doubtless concluded was too frail for 
 practical use. It was a risk to attempt to cross in it, but 
 one we took in preference to that of being picked up by the 
 ever vigilant Confederate cavalry, and sent off to Castle 
 Thunder or some other of the numerous Southern prisons. 
 That night we crossed Powell's Valley in a cold rain; and 
 then began to ascend the Cumberland Mountains above Big 
 Creek Gap. Daylight next morning found us on the north 
 side of the mountains in " the promised land," free from 
 danger, and feeling that really and truly we were in "God's 
 country." Often those who crossed went as many as two 
 
— is — 
 
 hundred or three hundred together, in which case the suffer- 
 ing and inconvenience was much greater. Many were 
 overtaken by the enemy and some were shot down, their 
 names going to swell the long list of martyrs to the national 
 cause in the rebellious States. 
 
 After the organization of the first two or three regiments 
 of loyal Tennesseeans, recruiting officers made frequent 
 trips into East Tennessee, carrying on their operations in a 
 clandestine way. It was a hazardous piece of business, 
 in which not a few lost their liberties, and some their lives. 
 While on such an expedition, Captain Spencer Deaton was 
 arrested. He was charged with being a spy, of which he 
 was innocent, and taken to Richmond, where he was con- 
 demned and hung. Captain David Fry took hundreds of 
 men across the mountains, and spent some time in a Con- 
 federate prison. Captain Shade T. Harris was arrested and 
 kept in prison until he became a mere shadow of his former 
 self. Seth Lea, an old man of more than three score years, 
 was arrested while carrying mails from the soldiers to their 
 friends at home, and was confined for more than a year in 
 Confederate prisons. The list might be multiplied by 
 scores. I myself had a brief experience as a recruiting 
 officer in the enemy's country. It was in the fall of 1862, 
 soon after General Geo. W. Morgan had been forced to 
 retreat from Cumberland Gap, an event very discouraging 
 to the East Tennessee soldiers in the field and to their friends 
 at home. Starting from Louisville, Ky., after passing 
 Crab Orchard, I traveled on foot to a point near Knoxville, 
 more than one hundred miles, almost the entire distance 
 after night. In about ten days after my arrival in that 
 vicinity, the Confederate authorities having been informed 
 of my whereabouts, a squad of cavalry was sent out to 
 accomplish my arrest. While sitting in my father's house 
 one afternoon, five of them rode up to the gate. A sister 
 responded to their call, and their first inquiry showed her 
 what they wanted, and at the same time that they were not 
 fully posted as to the precise locality of their game. She 
 
— i6 — 
 
 gave them a misleading answer, and they soon rode on. 
 While they were talking with her, I wast hinking rapidly. 
 Being well armed, I had determined that I would not be 
 arrested to be taken to a Southern prison — perhaps to the 
 gallows — without fighting ; and I was sure that in a fight 
 the casualties on their side would be greater than on mine, as 
 they were exposed, while I was under cover. Thanks to a 
 sister's promptness in grasping the situation, and tact in its 
 management, the test did not come. After being gone a 
 short time, the Confederate soldiers returned and searched 
 the house from cellar to garret ; but the humble object of 
 their search had found it convenient to be elsewhere. The 
 attempted arrest interfered somewhat with the recruiting 
 scheme, but nothing more. I soon recrossed the mountains 
 and rejoined my regiment at Murfreesboro, just after the 
 battle of Stone River, fully satisfied to leave recruiting to 
 others who might have a taste for .that kind of work. 
 
 I have incidentally alluded to the private mail line estab- 
 lished between the soldiers in the field and their friends 
 within the Confederate lines. The recruiting officers often 
 carried such mails. They were known as "pilots," from 
 the fact that they piloted the Union refugees across the 
 mountains. But some men made it a business, and often 
 the East Tennessee soldier paid a greenback dollar note for 
 carrying a letter to his wife, mother, or sweetheart in 
 " Dixie." This would now be considered a high rate of 
 postage, but the men who carried the letters earned every 
 dollar they received. It was a perilous thing to do, and 
 required the exercise of wisdom as well as courage. 
 
 The day of relief came at last. In July, 1863, General 
 Sanders, with a force of mounted men, crossed the moun- 
 tains, and penetrated as far south as Knoxville. Consterna- 
 tion seized hold of the Confederates — the Union men were 
 greatly rejoiced. In the September following, General Burn- 
 side, at the head of a gallant command, entered Knoxville, 
 and there was rejoicing everywhere. Old men and women 
 wept for joy when they once more beheld the flag they 
 
— i 7 — 
 
 loved proudly borne aloft by men who were their friends. 
 The name of Burnside is still held in reverence by a large 
 number of people in East Tennessee, and up to the day of 
 his death he had their sympathies in his every movement 
 and aspiration. The sympathies and aid of these people 
 were of great service to him when he and his troops were 
 gallantly resisting the approach of General Longstreet to 
 Knoxville, and especially when they were being besieged 
 within the narrow limits of that city. Hundreds of the 
 brave men who participated in that memorable campaign 
 never saw their Northern homes again. More than three 
 thousand of them sleep in the national cemetery at Knox- 
 ville, and from the windows of my home I look out ever}' 
 day upon the flag which floats over the sacred city of the 
 dead, and see the white stones which mark the spot where 
 their ashes repose, far from kindred and friends. On 
 some of these the names of deceased patriots are inscribed, 
 while others have lost their identity in the confusion in- 
 cident to war, and their names are unknown. They were 
 from Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and elsewhere. These East 
 Tennessee people have not forgotten that they died for 
 freedom's cause, and in defense of their homes. On each 
 30th day of May, following a beautiful custom, while the 
 graves of soldiers everywhere in the Union are being 
 decorated with nature's sweetest and choicest offerings, 
 the people of East Tennessee leave their farms, shops, 
 offices, factories, and counting rooms ; gather together on 
 the spot where sleep the nation's dead ; and fair hands 
 strew beautiful flowers upon the graves of the men who 
 died that they and their children might be free — that the 
 Government might be saved and the Union of States for- 
 ever perpetuated. Though they sleep far from homes 
 made disconsolate by their absence, they are nevertheless 
 in the midst of friends, who take a mournful pleasure in 
 paying tribute to their memory. 
 
 No history of the great civil war is complete that does 
 not contain a chapter devoted to the noble, patriotic women 
 
of America. One of our most popular American poets 
 has said : 
 
 "The wife who girds her husband's sword, 
 
 'Mid little ones who weep or wonder, 
 And bravely speaks the cheering word, 
 
 What though her heart be rent asunde'r, 
 Doomed nightly in her dreams to hear 
 
 The bolts of death around him rattle, 
 Hath shed as sacred blood as e'er 
 
 Was poured upon the field of battle ! 
 The mother who conceals her grief 
 
 While to her breast her son she presses, 
 Then breathes a few brave words and brief, 
 
 Kissing the patriot brow she blesses, 
 With no one but her secret God 
 
 To know the pain that weighs upon her, 
 Sheds holy blood as e'er the sod 
 
 Received on freedom's field of honor !" 
 
 When the first six regiments of Tennessee lo}^al troops 
 organized, were compelled to turn their backs upon the 
 homes they loved, and retreat from Cumberland Gap in 
 the fall of 1862, it appeared as if all were lost. The com- 
 mand under General George W. Morgan fell back to the 
 Ohio River, and was for a few weeks on Ohio soil. There 
 are hundreds of them yet living, who can never forget the 
 cheering words of welcome and encouragement spoken, 
 and the kind deeds done by the patriotic women of the 
 Buckeye State. God only knows what the wives, mothers, 
 and sisters of mon who braved the perils and hardships of 
 war did endure. The sufferings and sacrifices of those of 
 East Tennessee were beyond description. A majority of 
 the men were plain farmers, and I know of instances 
 where wives were left with from three to six children, for 
 whom they not only made bread, but spun and wove the 
 cloth for their clothing, and then cut and made it into gar- 
 ments. This was kept up in many instances for two years, 
 up to the time of General Burnside's entry into East Ten- 
 nessee. After that the soldiers could send their money 
 home to be used in support of their families ; before, it 
 would have been in the nature of treason to use the green- 
 
— 1 9 — 
 
 back money if they could have had it. It is no wonder 
 that the approach of General Burnside with his boys in 
 blue brought tears of joy to the eyes of so many thousands 
 of these East Tennessee women. 
 
 In a section where the people were divided upon such a 
 question at such a time, bitter strife might of course be ex- 
 pected, and fatal feuds. As a result, excesses were 
 committed on both sides. Many thrilling stories might be 
 told of the times, showing that truth is stranger sometimes 
 than fiction. In the summer of 1861, it was generally 
 rumored among the lo3 - al people that the goverment had 
 deposited arms at Cincinnati, or somewhere in Kentucky, 
 for the use of such loyalists of East Tennessee as might 
 choose to enlist in the Union Army. Communication by 
 mail with the loyal States had been cut off, so that there 
 was no means of verifying this rumor except by a special 
 messenger sent over for that purpose. A gentleman who 
 afterward became a field officer in one of the Tennessee 
 regiments decided to go and see for himself. He crossed the 
 Cumberland Mountains one night at an unfrequented place, 
 on horseback. The next morning, as he was riding down 
 Elk Valley, now traversed by the Knoxville & Ohio Rail- 
 road, he passed by a number of persons at work on the 
 public highway. He knew some of them, and, stopping 
 his horse, held a brief conversation. Most of them were 
 Union men, but among them was one rebel, who grew 
 insolent, and while not addressing himself directly to the 
 gentleman in question, swore that if he could have his way, 
 Union men riding about the country where they had no 
 business would be "hung up to the lirnb of a tree." The 
 hero of my story, who is a proud spirited man, was stung to 
 the quick, and his first impulse was lo draw his revolver, 
 shoot the man who had wantonly insulted him, and then 
 make his escape to the Union lines. The Confederate 
 troops were stationed near, and he quickly reflected that, 
 while he could be easily revenged, others might become 
 involved, and a whole community perhaps suffer. So he 
 
took no notice of the insult and rode on, but swore in his 
 heart that time at last would " set all things even." 
 
 His mission across the mountains was successful, and in 
 a few weeks he, with hundreds of others, recrossed and 
 entered the Union Army. He became adjutant of his 
 regiment, which was one of the first organized. The follow- 
 ing spring a detachment of his own regiment and two 
 companies of Kentucky cavalry went over into Powell's 
 Valley as a reconnoitering party. As they came upon 
 Jacksboro, they surprised a detachment of Confederate 
 cavalry, and charged upon them. Just the day before, he 
 had come into possession of a strong and spirited horse. 
 He started to charge with the cavalry, and by some means 
 the curb-chain of his bridle was broken and his horse 
 became unmanageble. He went dashing on, and was soon 
 considerably ahead of the cavalry and rapidly gaining 
 upon the Confederates. Two Confederate officers dropped 
 behind, and the adjutant drew his revolver and began firing 
 upon them. After firing four out of the six shots of his 
 revolver at them, one of the officers, who afterward proved 
 to be a surgeon, reined his horse aside, threw up his hands, 
 and surrendered. Still pursuing the other, and his horse 
 rapidly gaining upon him, he reserved his fire until, when 
 only a few rods away, he took deliberate aim and fired ; 
 but the officer rode on apparently unhurt. He had only 
 one shot left, and he could see that in a moment he would 
 pass the object of his pursuit, who would then have the 
 advantage of him. So he made up his mind to reserve his 
 final shot until in the act of passing the Confederate officer, 
 when he thought he could make sure work of it. As he 
 was about to fire again, he noticed blood running out of the 
 officer's throat, and could see that he was seriously woundt d". 
 And the strange part of the story is, he saw that it was 
 Captain G — who had insulted him in Elk Valley less than 
 a year before. The adjutant was avenged after the cir- 
 cumstances had doubtless passed out of his mind. He is a 
 brave man, and did what he could to make the last hours of 
 
his dying antagonist as comfortable as possible. But the 
 story does not end here. He was promoted, and became 
 major of his regiment. In one of the numerous engage- 
 ments in East Tennessee, in 1863, he and a large part of 
 his regiment were captured. He was sent off to Libby 
 Prison in Richmond. He received orders one morning to 
 report to the commandant of the prison. Obeying, he was 
 asked his name and regiment, and on replying, was asked 
 further if he did not murder Captain G — near Jacksboro 
 in the spring of 1862. Being a frank man, he told the 
 whole truth. He was sent back to his quarters, and never 
 heard of the matter again. He is yet living, a leading 
 business man and universally respected. 
 
 Hundreds of Union men fell martyrs to the cause, as 
 dear to them as life itself. Some were killed outright, 
 while Thornburgh, Pickens, Trewhitt, and a score of others 
 died in Southern prisons. At the end of the four years of 
 terrible strife there was scarcely a household that did not 
 mourn over a vacancy in the home circle, or the loss of a 
 near and dear friend. The ugly wounds made by the 
 hands of "grim-visaged war" in this section healed slower, 
 and unsightly scars were visible longer, than in other parts 
 of the country, where the people were either all for the 
 Union or all for the rebellion. But, happily, the bloody 
 chasm has been bridged over, and the men who wore the 
 blue live fraternally with the men who wore the gray. 
 Peace has come hand in hand with prosperity, and in this 
 goodly land, which was the scene of so much strife, there 
 are none left to color with rage or turn pale with fear, 
 when it is said "the Yankees are coming." In those days 
 every one who wore the blue was, in the vernacular of the 
 period, a "Yankee." Not a few who went down there 
 during the war remained with us, and many others have 
 made their homes there since. At one time, many of us 
 longed to see them come, while others stood ready to wel- 
 come them "with open arms to hospitable graves." Now 
 all want the " Yankee " to come, whether from the land of 
 
" baked beans," or from the great pushing, driving, rest- 
 less Northwest ; and the more of him the better. The flag 
 that he followed, thanks to his prowess, patriotism, and 
 perseverance, is our flag, and his country is our country. 
 Now, instead of the flashing flames from burning cottages, 
 log cabins, and more pretentious homes, which lit up the 
 hills and valleys of this " Switzerland of America," we 
 can show a far more pleasing picture. We can show 
 dense clouds of black smoke curling aloft from hundreds 
 of smoke-stacks, that mark the location of busy manufac- 
 turing establishments, the products of which are the con- 
 tributions of the New South to the Nation's wealth. The 
 sullen roar of artillery on bloody fields where hostile 
 armies meet in deadly conflict ; the shouts of contending 
 foes mingled with the rattle of musketry ; the ominous 
 crack of the assassin's rifle and the shrieks of his victim, 
 are sounds no longer heard. The music which now greets 
 our ears every hour in the day and night is the shrill 
 whistle of the locomotive, the ponderous blows of the trip- 
 hammer, the clinking of the quarryman's drill, the rattle 
 of looms, and the hum of thousands of spindles, making a 
 grand melody which brings perpetual gladness to the 
 hearts of the children of men. Time works great changes, 
 and the people of whom I have spoken are perhaps losing 
 something of their individuality, and becoming more cos- 
 mopolitan in their character. Many who participated in 
 the stirring events of the war period have gone into bivouac 
 with the silent battalions on the other shore. As the years 
 go by, others will answer to the roll-call of the pale mes- 
 senger, until not one will be left to tell the story of anxious 
 days and sleepless nights, and of that long deferred hope 
 which maketh sick the hearts of men. 
 
 But the events of this most eventful period in American 
 history have been told time and again, around hundreds of 
 firesides, and are still being repeated to youthful but ever 
 interested listeners. The spirit which animated fathers 
 and mothers in the trying times of the past, is impressed 
 
— 23 — 
 
 upon the children ; and if in the future the flag of our 
 restored Union should be insulted, or the liberties of the 
 people threatened, strong men will be found in these 
 mountain homes ready to respond to their country's call, 
 to follow where duty leads, and to make any sacrifice neces- 
 sity demands, in defense of freedom, justice, and equality. 
 
e? 7 
 
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