USA > Tennessee > Bradley County > History of the rebellion in Bradley County, East Tennessee > Part 15
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Bradley Co., East Tenn., April 20th."
A. K. POTTS.
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HISTORY OF THE REBELLION
CHAPTER XVI.
CASE OF LAWYER A. J. TREWHITT.
THE following is a communication furnished by A. J. Trewhitt, Esq., of Cleveland, East Tennessee, giving his views of the Rebellion generally, and setting forth his experience as a Union man at the hands of the rebels. Mr. Trewhitt is a young man who is destined to succeed and rise in his profession ; one who is already deservedly known as a successful lawyer in East Tennessee ; and his communication will be read by his acquaintances of the profession as well as by the Union people of the State without the least suspicion as to the truth and candor of its statements :
" At the commencement of the rebellion I was follow- ing the profession of law, and as I thought getting a liberal share of patronage in the fourth judicial circuit of the State of Tennessee. I was satisfied with my success, and considered it my duty as a citizen of the United States to espouse the cause of the Union of all the States under the Constitution ; never having seen where the government of the United States had become oppressive to any State or parts of a State, or any individual member of a State, no matter where located.
"In the month of February, 1861, an election was ordered by the Executive of Tennessee, Isham G. Harris, and his Legislature, by which the people were to decide whether a State Convention should be called for the pur- pose of taking steps as to what the State should do in regard to the secession movement. At that election I voted against a convention, and the popular vote of the State was largely againsst a convention. Shortly there- after, the notorious Isham G. Harris called his Legislature together again, and with Washington Barrow and others as commissioners of some sort, to meet H.W. Hilliard from the
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IN BRADLEY COUNTY, EAST TENNESSEE.
Confederate States, went into a secret session and made a kind of bargain and sold out the State, calling on the people to vote on the 8th of June, 1861, upon the ques- tion of representation or no representation, and protec- tion or no protection. At that election I voted for no representation and no protection.
"The next step was to elect a President of the Confed- eracy and members from Tennessee to the Rebel Con- gress. At that election I refused to vote, and from this on refused to act for the rebel government in any respect or to treat it as a government, until the rebel conscript law was passed putting all into the rebel army between the ages of eighteen and forty-five. I was then guilty of the most disloyal act of my life. A friend of mine, a Union man, had taken a large contract of the rebel gov- ernment, and I, having a sickly family-a good reason why I should desire to escape the draft-procured a detail from my friend as one of his employees.
"Thus affairs rested between me and the rebels, with the exception that I occasionally heard that they cursed and threatened me, swearing that I ought to be shot, hung, &c., until the 26th of April, 1863. Early in the morning of this day I went to my business, leaving my wife very sick and confined to her bed. That same morn- ing, with a view to procure some tobacco, I started to go about three-fourths of a mile with my gun on my shoul- der, hoping to shoot a turkey or some other wild game for my wife, in the woods by the way. On the trip I hap- pened to fall in with a brother-in-law, two of his brothers, and three other neighbors, all good Union men, and all rebel conscripts. Soon after meeting these men, on a sudden I heard some one cry 'halt !' All but myself fled to the bushes. On looking around I saw five or six armed and mounted men about fifty yards from me. I immedi- ately went to them, three of whom I knew, to wit, Capt. May, Jathan Gregory and Springfield May. Capt. May ordered me into the custody of Gregory, and after curs- ing me a few times, he and the others started after the other boys, leaving me to be guarded by Gregory.
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"As I was going up to the rebels after hearing the word halt, when within about twenty yards of them I heard the report of a gun or pistol, fired by some one of their party either at me or some of those fleeing from me; but the shot was harmless. Very soon after the rebels left me and Gregory, I heard twelve or fifteen shots, mostly in the direction they went. In about ten minutes after these shots were fired they all returned, having captured none of my friends, but stating that they had shot one of them through the shoulder; and Springfield May stating that he was shot by one of them. Both statements, however, were false. They shot none of the men who were with me, nor was Springfield May shot by any of them; for I subsequently saw the entire company and got the facts in the case. Capt. May, in the chase, got within sight of two of the conscripts, who turned and leveled their pieces to fire upon him, when in a cowardly manner he wheeled and ordered his men to retrace their steps, which effected their return to me and Gregory, as just stated.
"Thus returned, Capt. May and his son Springfield, expended a few minutes in again cursing and abusing me in a manner that would have shamed the imps of Satan themselves. They took me to a house where a man lived by the name of Griffith. Here they had about fifteen infantry rebels belonging to Capt. Foster's company of the 3d Georgia regiment. Here, also, Capt. May, feeling himself re-enforced, his cub Springfield joining his father in the game, showed themselves brave and patriotic men. Armed as they were, and backed as they were, they could curse me as a tory, a bushwhacker, a d-d liar, and using towards me every other epithet of abuse, could also coolly inform me that I would never get to Cleveland alive. Brave men, they could not only curse a solitary prisoner, but could take the last morsel of bread from a lone woman and three children; curse and whip a granny woman not under one hundred years of age; and rather than be particular, if necessary could rob the old lady of her shroud after she was dead.
" After they were satisfied with cursing and abusing
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IN BRADLEY COUNTY, EAST TENNESSEE.
me, Capt. May took my gun, gave it to Gregory, and with all the pomp of a rebel General turned me over to Capt. Foster's men, with a statement as false as secession itself. . He informed Capt. Foster that the crowd I was with fired on his men after he had halted them, and that I came to him with my gun in a shooting position, both of which was entirely false. The fact is Capt. May never halted us at all, for he told me himself that the word halt which we heard was given to his own men to get them together, he not having seen us at the time. Brave and truthful Cap- tain, he will have his rights after he quits this world if he does not get them before.
"The next day I was taken to Knoxville and taken before John H. Tool, then Provost Marshal of Knoxville, who seemed more like a human being. He looked over Capt. May's charges, and asked me if I had been in the camp of instruction. I answered I had not. He said he reckoned I would have to go there. I told him that at home I was at work on a detail, and would prefer to return to that. He enquired who detailed me. I replied Col. Blake. He then looked at my detail and said he would send me to Col. Blake. I was guarded to Col. E. D. Blake, who looked at Capt. May's charges, after which he had a guard of two rebels with fixed bayonets placed over me, and then showed his bravery and good breeding by cursing me for a d-d liar, a d- d Lincolnite, a d-d tory, &c., till I was fully convinced of his qualifi- cations to abuse an unarmed citizen, who was in his power and unable to help himself. He then notified me that I might write to my friends to come and do some- thing for me if they could, for I was in great danger of being hung or shot. I answered him that I should not write them such news as that, but if I was permitted to write I would write what I pleased. He then in a pom- pous and vindictive manner sent me to jail, there to be kept in close confinement. I was thrust into a jail which already contained about three hundred prisoners, among whom I became acquainted with Dr. Samuel Snapp from Sullivan county, Capt. Harris from Jefferson county, Capt.
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Deatow from Kent county, and Lieut. Rogers, all from Tennessee, and all of whom were Federal officers, and the . benefit of exchange denied them. These officers were accused of being Federal spies. They were simply found within the rebel lines in full Federal uniform, Not a sha- dow of reasonable proof existed that they were spies. I have since learned to my sorrow that Capt. Deatow was executed, which, however, is nothing strange, consider- ing that his captors were, in fact, a set of murderers. I remained in jail eight days, the gates being broken open from without, twice or three times, and the building set on fire once during the time. On the fifth of May, ten days from the time I was captured, I was released, Col. Blake resanctioning my detail, and allowing me to go home for two months, which of course gratified me very much, although it was at a cost of several hundred dollars. I reached home on the 6th, the next day after my release, and found that my rebel friends in Cleveland, contrary to their better information, had conveyed news to my family that I was to be executed on the 7th, the day after I reached home.
On the 7th and Sth I was secretly making arrangements to cross the rebel lines and find a free country. About nine o'clock on the evening of the 8th, I and my family having retired to bed, I heard a rap at the door. I opened the door and Capt. Foster, the same officer to whom I was before consigned by May, entered with an armed force and arrested me again, and sent me again to Knoxville to be tried. I then ascertained that one William H. Tibbs, Wm. A. Camp, and John G. Carter, had fron: the time I reached home, until I was arrested the second time, been cursing about my release, and swearing that I should be arrested again. During this time also, but keeping it a secret from me, these three men, aided by George W. Car- der and his son-in-law, David Demot, who made lies and falsehoods for them, and for one McFee to swear to, were telegraphing to Knoxville, thus procuring my arrest. After being arrested by Foster, I was warned by the
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IN BRADLEY COUNTY, EAST TENNESSEE. .
rebels of Cleveland that I would be shot as soon as I reached Knoxville.
Arriving at Knoxville, I was again taken before Col. Tool, who, as before, treated me kindly, and examined the home-made witness prepared against me, who made out his written statement as well as he could, as manufac- tured by Tibbs, Camp, Carter, Carder and Demot. When the examination was through Col. Tool informed me that I needed no witness, that their tale amounted to nothing; but that he would have to send me again to Col. Blake. Once more before Col. Blake, he gave me another lesson in- structing me how a Federal prisoner could be cursed and abused by rebel officers of his importance, after which he sent me under guard to what he called their camp of instruction. This camp of instruction was a pole house about eighteen feet by twenty-six, with rebel soldiers about five feet from it and all around it as guards. From fifty to sixty conscript prisoners were inside of it, with lice as thick as they could well crawl; nothing in the world to cover us at night, and nothing but the naked ground to lie upon. Great God ! such instruction as we received here, as well as in jail, with about one-fourth as much as we needed to eat, and that not fit to swallow, I pray that I may never have to receive again. I remained in this camp of instruction about six days, or until the 15th, when I, with about thirty others, was marched out like so many sheep to the slaughter, and placed in one box car, marked for the South-one door shut, the other filled with rebel guards. We knocked off one or two strips of plank so that we could see out and have a little circula- tion of air.
Arriving at Cleveland, I was permitted to look through one of these improvised breathing holes, and send word to my wife that I was marked for Vicksburg, and to sen
er a little bank money. The first day we arrived at Dal- ton, Georgia, where we were confined in the car until the next morning. Reaching Atlanta that evening we were guarded for about an hour, waiting for a train, during which I saw apparently more men, conscripts, between
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the ages of eighteen and forty-five, than could be found in the whole of East Tennessee. From Atlanta we reached Montgomery, Alabama, the next morning, where we stayed until evening. While there we were guarded in the shade of an oak tree, on which the rebels, a short time before, had hung a citizen because he was a Union man.
While under the shade of this oak tree the company fell to sleep, and I having slept about fifteen minutes, awoke, and found that some rebel rascal had taken my pocket- book with every cent of money it contained.
While at Montgomery we saw some Federals who were taken prisoners at Brandon, Mississippi, from whom I learned that they would never get us to Vicksburg. From Montgomery we were taken to Selma. While at Selma a day and a night, four of our company left, two of whom I afterwards heard were captured and conscripted in Ala- bama, the names of the other two were Hooker, from Polk county, East Tennessee-what fate they met with I have never heard. From Selma we were taken to Meridian, where the Jackson Railroad crosses the Mobile and Ohio Railroad. Here the rebel Lieut. E. G. Lea, who had gotten us assigned to his battery at Vicksburg, ascertained that Vicksburg was beseiged, and he sent us down to Enter- prise and had us placed in the Mississippi conscript camp, where we arrived on the 20th of May, 1863. This camp was the first place where the guards were taken from im- mediately around us. Being put into this camp, we were left with the rest under none but the camp guards.
"Here I commenced to play my hand to convince the rebels that I would do to trust, and I was soon put on duty as other soldiers. While in this camp, within every few days from two to six of our company would leave, none of whom, as I heard, were ever captured.
"On the 2d day of June, myself, David M. Gilbraith, of Greene county, Tennessee, and Stephen Chemco, from Lee county, Virginia, made our arrangements to start that night for the Federal lines. We were one hundred miles from the nearest Federal soldiers, those being around
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Vicksburg, and Johnson's whole army between us and them. The next nearest Federals were at Corinth, a dis- tance of two hundred and eighty miles. We chose to strike for the latter point. That day I was detailed as provost guard of the camp, and about nine o'clock at night I was called on to go to a certain post and change the guard, whom, it appears, the officers had some suspi- cions of. I removed the guard as directed, but replaced him with such a man as I preferred, gave him an empty gun with no cartridges or caps, but with very strict orders as to his duties. I then went to the tent of the two friends already named, when we gathered up our things, and walked immediately past the guard whom I had just posted and given the empty gun, out of the camp, and made our escape.
"With only the north star to guide us, we traveled all night through thickets and swamps till daylight, find- ing ourselves but about six miles from camp, being so near at least that we could hear the provost guards dis- charge their pieces. We concealed ourselves in the swamps till sunset, then traveled till dark in the woods, after which we took the Ohio and Mobile Railroad till daylight, which brought us in sight of Meridian, seven- teen miles from Enterprise. Three thousand rebel sol- diers were then stationed at Meridian, and we concealed ourselves in a deep gully about a mile from their camps. After dusk we attempted to resume our journey, but the night became so very dark that we had to desist till the moon arose, when we wound our way from among the houses and away from the rebel camps, took the Meridian and Ohio Railroad, traveling again till morning, and com- ing within sight of Marion, twenty-seven miles from En- terprise.
"We continued our journey during the day in the woods, keeping within sight of the railroad, at night at- tempting again to travel on the railroad. The night again, however, was so very dark, and the bridges and trestle- work on the road so dangerous, that we bivouacked from the track about twenty yards to camp for the night. Just
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as we were laying down we heard the blast of a cavalry bugle followed by the tramping of horses, and soon dis- covered a horseman coming exactly towards us. I watched him and thought in my soul he would ride over us, but joy be with him, when within about fifteen feet of us he turned his course and passed about five feet to the right of us. We slept, for awhile, awaking just as the moon, our great comforter, arose, when we took the rail- road again, reaching Gainsville a little before day-dawn. Here we passed among two or three trains of cars stand- ing upon the track, some of them with persons in them, talking and moving about. We flanked off to the west about a mile and lay in the creek bottom till in the even- ing, or till about one o'clock.
" Up to this time we had spoken to no person, nor been seen by any as we knew. We were out of rations, and, fortunately, while in this creek bottom, met with a negro man, of whom we procured a small quantity of bread and meat. Here, also, we heard of one Union man who lived near by. Fortunately again for us, we here met with another negro who was on his way to Scoba, a place that lay in our path, who also had a pass to travel. We all started together, and keeping the negro in advance he would cross the bridges before us and look for guards, but luckily we found none.
"We arrived at Scoba that night, and concealed our- selves for the day without food or drink. Here we learned that rebel companies were being made up, also packs of bloodhounds, with which to hunt Union conscripts. At (lusk we started out, traveling that night and the next day in the woods. The next night we again took the rail- road and kept it till morning, which brought us, a little before day, to Macon. The railroad here passes through the edge of the town, and we thought we could slip through, but all at once, we saw about twenty yards from us a rebel tent and something like a commissary estab- lishment standing together. We left the track, bore round the tents, passing through a lot of cattle, thinking ourselves safe, when to our confusion, not far from the
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cattle we discovered a sentinel. We crouched as quick as possible, and by making another flank movement avoided him also. We struck into the woods, avoiding the railroad altogether ; and by keeping the ridges avoided the principal streams.
"We continued a north course, passing within five miles of Starksville. Near this place we procured some pro- visions of a negro, who said his master was a Union man and a physician living at Starksville, and the owner of about forty slaves.
" Pushing forward we arrived opposite Artesia, and ascertained that about ten thousand rebel soldiers were there, and that the country was full of scouts. We, how- ever, proceeded cautiously, and for two or three days after we left Artesia saw rebel scouts ranging the coun- try ; providentially, however, we escaped them. The chances looked critical enough, but trusting in God and the justice of our cause, we kept our course about the same distance from the railroad till we arrived opposite Oakland. We found that about ten thousand soldiers also were at Oakland, and three thousand at Houston. with rebel scouts passing thickly from one place to the other. We considered this our last great struggle, but by close watching and the aid of powerful thickets we passed their pickets unobserved.
"As yet we had heard of but two Union men, but we could still hear of guerrilla companies and bloodhounds. Negroes we found were becoming more scarce, yet after leaving Oakland we procured of them a side of bacon and a quantity of bread.
"Late one evening, our stock of bread having failed, I ventured to a lone house where I succeeded in getting a small quantity, and ascertained that we were within thirty miles of Corinth. The woman also informed me that the citizens were making up a horse thief company.
" About nine o'clock one morning we saw a house, ap- parently on a main road. Being out of provisions I ven- tured to it and found no persons but an old lady and her daughter. She had five sons and one son-in-law in the
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rebel army. I passed for a rebel soldier that had been taken prisoner, telling the old lady and her daughter a fine story about my sufferings. Astonishing how it took with them. The old lady and her daughter flew to bak- ing, and hurried everything as fast as possible to give me my breakfast. Directly up rode a rebel soldier, but the same charm worked on him. So I got a good breakfast and bread to supply us on our way for some distance, and learned that we were within eighteen miles of Corinth.
"Some distance from this point we met with a man who said his name was Barnet. As we then feared, we after- wards learned that he tried to get the rebels in pursuit of us. We fooled him by changing our course for Tuscum- bia, where we arrived in safety on the twenty-third day after we left Enterprise.
"Col. Miller, of the 11th Missouri Infantry, was then in command at that place. He received us with great cau- tion but with great kindness. I shall never forget him nor his men for the hearty welcome they gave us. Col. Miller directed us to Corinth, stating that we needed no one to go with us, that there was not the least danger.
" At Corinth we became acquainted with Gen. Dodge, then in command at that place. We found him to be of the same true spirit with Col. Miller. He gave us trans- portation and passports to Nashville, where we arrived in just one month and one day from the time we left Enter- prise. Here I found my East Tennessee friends by the hundred.
"On the 7th of September I left Nashville for home ; and on the 18th arrived within five miles of Cleveland, almost within sight of home, where I heard that our forces had fallen back that morning, and that two thous- and rebels occupied Cleveland. After hiding myself two days in the White Oak Mountains, I learned that the Ten- nessee River was lined with rebels, and I literally sur- rounded. Being acquainted with the country, and know- ing of a place of perfect concealment within six miles of where I was, I went to it, where I remained till the 8th of
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October, without as yet hearing from my family. Meet- ing with an opportunity I sent word to my wife when she immediately made her way through the rebel camps of two thousand soldiers to my place of self imprisonment, reaching me in just six months to a day from the time we parted. A happy, happy moment it was in the midst of our troubles.
"My wife returned in a few days, and found that in her absence everything inside and outside of her house had been destroyed by the rebels. I remained in my conceal- ment till the 20th of October, when I made my way through the rebels to my family. I prepared me a place of concealment where I watched the rebels daily and saw them pass and repass, foraging in the country.
"On the first of January, 1864, I moved my family out of their lines. At one time, while I was concealed near home, I saw a command of rebels pass up the road to- wards Charleston. It proved to be the command of the notorious Wm. H. Tibbs, aided by Gen. Wheeler, who came out to charge on my house and family-my family consisting at that time of my wife, mother-in-law and one little girl. They took from them the only remaining horse we possessed, the few sweet potatoes my wife had raised during the summer in my absence, with other things as they liked. A great and honorable victory in- deed for Col. Tibbs and Gen. Wheeler, a thing which brave and high-minded men like themselves at all times are capable of doing.
"In conclusion I will say to the rebels, that for my wad- ing the streams and swamps of Mississippi, ploughing my way through thickets and cane-brakes, climbing knobs and bluffs, lying exposed in the wet and cold, with all my other sufferings, and especially for their abominable abuse of my family, as well as for their cruel and outrageous treatment of my father-they having banished him from his family, imprisoned and so cruelly tortured him as to murder him, far from his home and friends, in a rebel hos- pital worse than a Federal prison,-referring particularly to Wm. H. Tibbs, John G. Carter, Wm. A. Camp, George
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