USA > Tennessee > Bradley County > History of the rebellion in Bradley County, East Tennessee > Part 12
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don't know what to do. While they are pursuing a hawk and buzzard policy, crying out good God, good Devil, the Southern Congress is per- fecting a government that will stand the test of human scrutiny, and chal- lenge the admiration and wisdom of the world for a superior-a govern- ment not susceptible of two constructions, but a plain direct demo- cratic government-such an one as our fathers contemplated-a gov- ernment about which there will be no differences of opinion as to its spirit and meaning. There is a marked difference between the con- duct of the Black Republican administration at Washington and the Democratic administration at Montgomery. The former conducts its affairs stealthily, cunningly and secretly-keeps its policy to itself- wont tell the people what it is going to do with their government- the latter comes out and tells them in plain language what it intends to do-tells it with no forked tongue, to deceive them-no double construction can be placed upon its policy-it is emphatically the white man's government. Can as much be said for the present gov- ernment at Washington ?" [April 5th. 1861.]
"THE REIGN OF TERROR .- One by one, the bulwarks of liberty. under the old Union are being ruthlessly destroyed. A reign of ter- ror prevails in the Northern States in as violent a form as swept over France in the days of Robespierre. As one of the New York peace journals remarks, it requires but one more step to inaugurate the scenes of the French revolution, when the guillotine was a perennial fountain of blood. Men and woman are daily arrested in Washington, New York and Philadelphia, and thrown into loathsome dungeons. without warrant of law. and without being confronted with their accusers or advised of the charges against them. Journals are sup- pressed for denouncing the action of the Government. Editors are lynched and their printing offices destroyed by the mob. Forced loans are demanded of the banks. A system of detectives is organ- ized at Washington to dog the steps of peaceable citizens, report to tyrants and arrest persons suspected of opposing the usurpers will. No Russian despotism or Spanish Inquisition ever exceeded, in the measure of its cruelty, the present dictatorship at Washington. The Doge's dungeon in Venice, near which the Bridge of Sighs yet stands a monument of tyranny, is reproduced in Forts Lafayette and Hamilton. names that are worthier of a more honorable fate. The Government of the United States is prostituted to the vilest purposes of the most infamous men that ever walked the earth. There is no such thing as public or individual liberty in the United States. Men, to be free, must sing psalms to a Baboon, and worship the Government of usurp- ers. They must sanction the most unholy war ever waged against a free people. They must approve of the destruction of their own lib- erties. They must become slaves, in order to enjoy exemption from molestation. There is more in these arrests than meets the eye. It indicates a deep and determined opposition to the acts of the Govern- ment, among the wiser and more virtuous men of the North. It evinces that the tyrants are trembling on their thrones and fear the day of reckoning, which will sweep them violently from their seats of power. They fear not only the armies of the Confederate States which, in the language of a member of the Cabinet, are already " thun- dering at the gates of the capitol." They stand in awe, not merely of those gallant legions, which have driven them, like dogs, howling back to their kennels at Manassas and Oak Hill. But they fear the as yet unorganized masses of their own section, who are preparing for them the doom of Belshazzar, and who will hold them to a just and stern accountability for their crimes. They fear the rising indigna- tion of an outraged and down-trodden people, who have been be-
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trayed by passion and excitement into an acquiescence in the usurp- ers acts, but who have not been educated in the short space of five months, to support the yoke of an absolute despotism, after having received the blood-bought heritage of freedom from their fathers. and enjoyed its blessings from their birth." [August 30th, 1861.]
"Several of the bridge burners in Greene county, have been arrested and brought to Knoxville and lodged in jail. Their names are Loony McDaniel, three Harman brothers and - Haun. We hope the last one of them may be found out and punished."
" One of the bridge burners was to be hung at Knoxville on Wed- nesday last-sentenced by the court-martial now sitting there."
"LINCOLN'S USURPATIONS .- A cotemporary says the usurpations of Lincoln far exceed the wildest prophecies and the most excited ap- prehensions of those Southern men who were prepared for acts con- trary to the Constitution and oppressive to the South. Had even the most ultra secessionist in South Carolina ventured to predict of the Lincoln Administration what has actually occurred. he would have been regarded as a madman. Had his most determined enemy in Tennessee asserted that he would not be in power four months before he would strike down the habeas corpus. suppress the freedom of the press. as in St. Louis, call into the field 300.000 troops, increase the regular army and navy without authority from the Legislature, shoot down unarmed citi- zens in the streets by his mercenaries, invade the Southern States. harbor fugitive slaves in his military lines, supercede the civil power in Baltimore, countenance the partition of Virginia, and seize the railroads. he would have been laughed at as a man without candor or reason. And yet Lincoln has done all these things in open day, and attempts to justify them in his message on that plea of tyrants-necessity."- [July 19th, 1861.]
"WE sympathise with our brave boys who are so impatient at delay and chafing under the curb like a blooded steed. We hope they may soon have an opportunity of trying their metal in some manner worthy of them. In the meantime, while they are nursing their wrath. let them whet their knives, pick their flints, and be fully ready for the frolic." [December 13th, 1861.]
"OLD ABE has decreed that every man who loses his gun on the field of battle, shall have twelve dollars deducted from his pay. The poor Yankee devils who are fighting to enslave themselves, have a hard master to deal with-one who resorts to the most contemptible tricks to cheat them of their pay."
"The struggle which has been forced upon the people of Tennessee involves the entire issue between freedom and slavery. It is the sec- ond war for independence. If there is any difference, the exactions of King George III. and his Parliament were more tolerant than those of Mr. Lincoln and his supporters."
" PROTECTING PUBLIC PROPERTY. - The ourang-outang President. who in his inaugural and proclamations, has dwelt with marked em- phasis on the duty which devolves upon him of 'protecting the pub- lic property,' seems to be possessed of strange ideas on this subject. He commanded the destruction of the works and arms at Harper's Ferry. He instructed the naval commandant at Norfolk to burn the navy yard and its vast stores at Norfolk. The noble Merrimac was scuttled, and other war vessels in the harbor of Norfolk, by order of the august protector of public property. The magnificent capitol.
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with its decorations, its frescoe work, and polished marble halls, is converted into a barracks for filthy Hessians, and is said to be mined with a view to its total destruction at no distant day. Lincoln will retire from Washington lighted by the flames which consume the sacred edi- fice that contains the archives of the once glorious nationality of the United States. He may be pardoned for reducing the former to ashes, but the un- pardonable sin from which his soul can never be cleansed, is the destruc- tion of the peace of the American continent."
"BILL ARP TO ABE LINKHORN .- Mr. Abe Linkhorn-Sir : I suppose my letter were taken by you as an insult, tho it want intended. I have hearn that you sent it to the Dead Letter offis. Well, I don't know. of course ; but its my opinion you had better not put any more trash in that Semetary, for you'll need all the burying ground you've got about Washington for other purposes soon. I've been doir all, I could to keep things quiet and consilliate you, but I see you are bent on scrowgin our boys into a fight, so I can jest tell you, I'm again you, and you can git as feroshus a fight as you desire. Your konduct has riz my pisen-you've trod on my rattlesnake sir, and everything I handle at these presents is infectious, so look out, and if you don't want to swell up from handlin this letter, you had better take another drink.
" We sent a few thousand of our boys to see you. and present arms, and fix up this difficulty. But I suppose you thought they were obeyin your 20 days notis, and was carryin their guns to you, and so you come out with more proclamashuns, and Marshall law, and a blockade, and other nonsense. and now I don't know what our boys will do. I will notify you they never give no bonds to keep the Peace before they left home-the fact is, they couldn't give security ; so Mr. Linkhorn, you can look for 'em."-Rome Southerner. [July 12, 1861.]
The last extract is a small portion of one of a series of long letters of the same caste found in the Banner, and may be taken as an illustration of its journalistic culture and the tone of its moral sentiment. Any number of pages of the same obscene ribaldry and billingsgate, utterly beneath the dignity of any public print, might be ex- tracted from the few issues of the Banner in our posses- sion.
The following extracts are important as giving informa- tion in regard to the rebel war spirit that not only actu- ated the editor of the Banner, but that prevailed among the rebels in the country, at the commencement of the rebellion :
" POLK COUNTY .- We spent a portion of this week in Polk. We found the war spirit considerably in the ascendant, and great unan- imity of feeling among the people of that county. Capt. J. F. Han- nah is now in camp at Knoxville with a company of 90 men. from that gallant and patriotic county, and Capt. E. P. Douglass will march, in a few days, with a company of 100 men-this will give
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IN BRADLEY COUNTY, EAST TENNESSEE.
noble little Polk 190 men in the field. In addition to this, Maj. Bob. McClary is making up a cavalry company, which he will be able to report in a week or two. The war feeling in Polk is aroused, and it knows no ebbing. Her boys are made out of the right kind of inate- rial, and we venture that if they ever have a conflict with the enemy they will give a good account of themselves." [May 24th, 1861.]
"VOLUNTEERS !- All who have joined and wish to join a cavalry company, are requested to meet at Cleveland on Saturday next.
"Capt. Harris will drill the members as infantry on that day.
"Speeches will be made, and the ladies are invited to be present.
"John H. Kulm, George Tucker and others, are getting up the company.
"Come on-now is the time to join the armies for Southern Inde- pendence. The company is already nearly made up, with choice inen, and if you wish to go with a good crowd now is your time."- [July 12th, 1861.]
"A company of volunteers, for immediate service, was raised at Chickamauga, on Monday last. The following are the officers of said company :
GEORGE S. GILLESPIE, Capt. J. S. SPRINGFIELD, Ist Lieut. ROBT. WATKINS, 2d Lieut.
1
J. D. Ellis, 3d Lieut.
D. D. WILKINS. O. S." [ May 10th, 1861.]
"Jolın N. Dunn, Esq., of this place (Cleveland), is making up an infantry company for the Confederate service. He desires all who wish to volunteer to give him a call. He is authorized and empow- ered to muster them into service as they enroll their names."
"LEFT .- On Tuesday last Capt. Dill and his company left Calhoun, McMinn county, for Knoxville. Capt. Dill served two campaigns in Mexico, and a more gallant man never led a charge than he. Success attend him and his company." [May 10th, 1861.]
"A company of volunteers is being formed at this place (Cleve- land). It now numbers about 40 members. Men wanting to join can report themselves either to Col. C. H. Mills, S. A. R. Swan or Capt. John D. Traynor," [May 10th, 1861.]
"We learn that the Legislature has passed an Ordinance of Seces- sion, to be submitted to a vote of the people on the Sth day of June : also authorizing the Governor to call out 25.000 troops for immediate service. and 30,000 as a reserve to protect the border of the State, and appropriating $5,000,000 for arming and equipping the State." [May 10th. 1861.]
"THE SPIRIT OF TENNESSEE .- It has been scarcely ten days since the law calling 55,000 volunteers in this State was published, and we are informed that about 25.000 have already been reported to the Governor as ready to defend the liberty and honor of the State."- [May 24th, 1861.]
" It is estimated by competent judges that Middle and West Ten- nessec will give a majority of from 60 to 75.000 in favor of the State declaring her independence. Our news from there says the people are almost a unit for . Separation and Representation.' We are hon- estly of the opinion, that if we all live, that we will get up members of the Southern Confederacy, on Sunday morning, by at least a ma- jority of 40,000 votes." [June 7th, 1861.]
"VOLUNTEERS .- By reference to their card, it will be seen that J. M. Horton and J. G. M. Montgomery are making up a volunteer com-
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pany for the Confederate service. We are personally acquainted. with both the gentlemen, and can say that we know of no two men that are better adapted for the enterprise they propose than they are. They will make first-rate fellows to go to war with. Pitch in, boys, and make up the company instanter." [December 13th, 1861.]
"Within the last ten days some 8 or 10.000 troops have passed over the East Tennessee & Georgia Railroad for Virginia. At our depot, as at all others we have heard from, the citizens; and especially the ladies, turn out and cheer, applaud and bid them God-speed in their patriotic devotion to their country. It is said that their passage through East Tennessee is a perfect ovation."
" MR. VALLANDIGHAM'S SPEECH .- To the exclusion of our usual variety of news, we publish the speech of this gentleman, in the House of Representatives, on the 10th instant. We want everybody to read it-it is a bold and fearless expose of Lincoln and his policy. It should be recollected that Mr. Vallandigham is a Northwestern man, representing a congressional district in Ohio."
As stated in another place, the Banner was suppressed in the winter of 1863 and 1864 by the Federal authorities. Mr. Robt. McNelly, its editor, notwithstanding his loud protestations of Southern courage, and his own personal determinations of final resistance, when the trying hour came, found his rebel ardor chilled by the first blast from the Northern blue coats.
Mr. McNelly could follow Union men, fleeing for their lives from the wickedness of rebel persecution with his wishes that they might never return. He could see Union men by the thousand hunted like so many wolves over the country, and hung by the necks like dogs, their fami- lies dashed to pieces as with bolts of lightning, their wives made widows, their helpless children orphaned, scattered, impoverished, with sighs and tears for their only solace by night and by day. All this he could see and encour- age, and could heap upon the most worthy men in Bradley epithets that would disgrace a savage, not only with the nonchalence of one apparently destitute of humanity, but with approval of the general work, sent broadcast through the land in the columns of his contemptible Banner. When, however, it came Mr. McNelly's turn to choose be- tween the endearments of home and his love of the Jeff. Davis Government, his chivalrous Southern patriotism would not allow him to move a step to aid the latter in its extremeties. To leave home and family, wife and
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IN BRADLEY COUNTY, EAST TENNESSEE.
children, was not so pleasant a pastime, nor so trifling a matter, when his own fireside and threshhold were to be tried by it. The Confederacy kept him alive while he was in it, but when the Confederacy had to leave Bradley, so far as he was concerned, it must fight its own battles.
The same nature that did not care for the guilt, nor count the consequences of the first crime, could now resort to meanness and submit to every humiliation to be per- mitted to still live among those whom he had so deeply injured. He could take the oath more with a view to
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EDITOR OF THE BANNER TAKING THE OATH.
escape punishment than as a confession that he had done wrong, with a mental reservation to remain the same as he always had been to the farthest possible verge of .. safety to himself and family. He could submit like a spaniel to be ridden on a rail through the streets of Cleve- land by the Union boys whom he had injured, and when the performance was finished could implore them to give him a chew of tobacco to excite physical relief from the pain of the operation.
This was the editor of the Cleveland Banner, who, per- haps, did more than any other one man of his intellectual
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calibre to keep alive the rebellion and fan the fires or rebel persecution in Bradley county. Though his treason while the rebels were in power saved him and his family from the sufferings and devastation which they usually visited upon the Union people, and though his pardon from the Federals remitted the punishment justly due for his sins, yet the part he acted was too conspicuous, cost too many lives, caused too many hearts to bleed, caused the shedding of too many tears, for him to be allowed to escape entirely the just severity of the historical pen.
In September, 1865, the Banner was resuscitated by Mr. McNelly, and is now being published again by him in Cleveland. The real character of the Banner, as well as the proportion of suffering in Bradley actually traceable to this source, can be measurably inferred from the num- erous extracts from its columns given in this work.
ILLUMINATION.
On receipt of the news in Cleveland of the rebel victory at Manassas, great joy was felt by the rebels, so much so that a perfect tumult of excitement prevailed among them, and in the evening, expressive of that joy, and in honor of the great event, the town was brilliantly illum- inated. The following is the editorial of the Cleveland Banner upon the subject :
" ILLUMINATION .- The Southern people of our town. in honor of the victory won by Southern troops, at Manassas, illuminated their houses on Wednesday night, which was quite a creditable affair. The people were addressed by T. J. Campbell, S. A. Smith, G. W. Rowles, and W. H. Tibbs. Everything passed off finely." [July 26th, 1861.]
The following are the names of some of the rebels in Cleveland who participated in the illumination :
Alexander Davis, dwelling. Ocoee Hotel, kept by Thomas Johnson. Frank Johnson, store. Hardwick & Tucker, store. Robt. McNelly, editor, dwell- ing.
Joseph Horton, store. Rev. Elder Worley, dwelling. D. C. Kennor, store. James Hoyl, store. Widow Traynor, dwelling.
Wm. H. Tibbs. store. Dr. Edwards, store and dwell- ing. A bonfire was also built before Mr. Edwards' store. Edwards, store. Patrick O'Conner, store. James Craigmiles, dwelling. Guthman & Brothers, store. G. W. Cook, store: J. G. M. Montgomery, store. John F. Rogers, store.
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IN BRADLEY COUNTY, EAST TENNESSEE.
SLAVERY A BIBLE INSTITUTION.
"REV. WM. MCNUTT :-- Dear Sir: The undersigned respectfully solicit you for a copy of your sermon on .Slavery,' delivered at the Baptist Church in Cleveland, on the 27th January, 1861. We think you established the right of slavery by Divine authority, beyond all cavil, and we want it in print for the people to read. Will you com- ply with our request and very much oblige,
" Yours most respectfully, ANDERSON CAMPBELL, W. P. LEA, S. D. BRIDGEMAN, JOHN H. PAYNE, G. W. COOK, G. L. TUCKER, S. P. GAUT, J. L. M. BRITTAIN. JAS. M. CRAIGMILES, JOHN N. COWAN. TIMOTHY HANEY, R. E. JOHNSTON, W. W. GIDDENS.
"GENTLEMEN :- In compliance with your request I present you a copy of my Sermon on Slavery, preached at the Baptist Church in this place, on the 27th of January, 1861. When I delivered the Ser- mon it was not written out, but by the aid of the notes I used ou that occasion I have very hastily drawn up the whole sermon, in the same form and order in which it was delivered, and humbly hope that under the blessing of God it may accomplish good.
"I remain yours, most respectfully, W. MCNUTT." [From the Cleveland Banner, Feb. 22d, 1861.]
Mr. McNutt was a Baptist Clergyman resident in Cleve- land, and among the most rampant Reverend gentlemen in the county.
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CHAPTER XIV.
THE STONECYPHER FAMILY.
ONE of the early settlers in Bradley county was Mr. Absalom Stonecypher. He lived in the third district, and but a short distance north of the Tennessee and Geor- gia line. His family consisted of his wife, two sons, one about eighteen at the opening of the rebellion, and the other some years younger, and two or three daughters still younger than the boys.
Mr. Stonecypher, with his family, lived upon a small farm of his own-was an honest and hard working man, quiet, peaceable and unpretending, of feeble constitution, and toward the close of his life, a perfect invalid. The rest of the family, characteristically, were the counter- part of the husband and father, the whole living in peace and harmony ; were home abiding, meddling with no one; and by their joint industry and economy procured an humble livelihood, with which, being contented, they were proportionately happy.
Mr. Stonecypher never owned any slaves, nor any of his family, nor ever hired any, consequently never bouhgt, sold nor whipped any ; yet they paid their honest debts, government taxes and all. In regard to virtue and good morals, the family was above reproach, all its members loved their country, venerated the old flag, hated seces- sion, resisted rebellion, never lost their rights under the old Government, but felt the obligations of loyalty for the protection which this Government had afforded them and their humble home for so many years.
Though not the poor, yet it will be seen that this des- cription places this family among those whom the fastidi- ousness of society prefers to denominate the poorer class.
Though this family will serve as the ground of our nar-
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IN BRADLEY COUNTY, EAST TENNESSEE.
rative in this case, yet a neighboring family had so much to do with the shading of the picture, that it may be a help to the view to describe the two in juxta-position as our field premises.
This neighbor was Mr. John Bryant, who, though living but a short distance south of Mr. Stonecypher, was a resi- dent of Georgia, and also among the earliest settlers of the country. Mr. Bryant was the owner of a somewhat extensive and rich plantation, proportionally well-stocked with slaves, by the aid of whom his fields were systemati- cally cultivated with a view not only to a competence for himself and family, but with a distinct aim to enlarge his possessions and be counted among the wealthy and influ- ential of the land. For many years this family had lived not only entirely above want, but independent of system- atic and severe labor, all its members moving at their ease in society, with a fair prospect, under the existing state of things, of the continuance of these blessings.
As a citizen or neighbor, nothing positively objection- able was known against Mr. Bryant. Nor was anything known particularly disparaging to the character of his family. He, however, was known as one of that intellec- tual stamp, one whose moral philosophy allowed the mere preferences of human nature, instead of original and inde- pendent moral convictions of right and wrong, to frame rules for society, and to dictate governmental policy. He was also known as one whose practice persistently agreed with his theory - as one who lived, bought and sold, moved in community, politically electioneered, and pub- licly and privately instructed his family upon this princi- ple. In all worldly points of view, and before this narra- tive closes, the reader, perhaps, will think in some other points also, the two families thus described, presented exactly opposite phases of social life.
Having thus lived in these respective positions, both locally and socially, for many years, with no other differ- ences than these, without any animosity arising between them, the great rebellion came howling around both of these families, and was before each for its suffrage or to
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administer its own punishment if that suffrage was with- held. As might have been foreseen in both cases, Mr. Bryant and his family welcomed to their bosoms the crimson crowned monster and bid him God speed in his work of blood, while Mr. Stonecypher and his family in the simplicity of their convictions of duty, grappled with him as a personal and national enemy.
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