USA > Tennessee > Bradley County > History of the rebellion in Bradley County, East Tennessee > Part 16
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W. Carder, David Demot, and the scoundrel McFee, I can only ask God to forgive them, for I know that I never ANDREW J. TREWHITT.
can.
"CLEVELAND, TENN., March 25th, 1864."
THE GREGORY RAID.
The party who captured lawyer Trewhitt, as related by him in the preceding communication, was, on that day, perpetrating what may very properly be called the Gre- gory raid.
Jathan Gregory, spoken of by Mr. Trewhitt as the man to whom he was consigned by May, boasted after this affair that he was the instigator of the proceedings of this rebel party on that day. To organize for this raid, the day before, two parties of rebel soldiers, one from Cleve- land, Bradley county, the other from Georgia, met at Red Clay station, on the Tenn. & Ga. R. R., twelve miles south of Cleveland, and that night repaired to Gregory's neighborhood, where they camped for the night. The next morning, the Gregories and a number of other rebel citizens, joined these rebel soldiers, all constituting a party of about forty. When ready to move they sepa- rated into three parties, so as to sweep as wide a scope of country as possible, Capt. May, Judge Mastin and Gregory, each heading a party. They struck north into Bradley, making a circuit through the country, returning towards Georgia. After plundering Union families to their satis- faction, and loading themselves down with as much or more than they could carry, the party broke up, its frag- ments repairing to their several localities.
The Union men the whole party captured that day, be- sides Mr. Trewhitt, were G. Humbert, Wm. Parks, Robt. Huffman, and one named Kelly.
The citizens who assisted the rebel soldiers in this raid were Jathan Gregory, Seth Gregory, W. H. Taft, J. B. Britton, Geo. Klick, Elber Dean, Esq., John H. Davis, Edward Fitzgerald, Marion Gillian, W. Tracy, F. T. Fuller- ton, Capt. May, Judge Mastin.
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IN BRADLEY COUNTY, EAST TENNESSEE.
CHAPTER XVII.
TRIALS AND DEATH OF S. D. RICHMOND.
THE subject of this narrative is the Mr. Richmond spoken of in the preceding chapter, as the prisoner in possession of Capt. Brown and his men, when they were searching for Mr. Humbert and were robbing his family. It will be remembered also that this same Mr. Richmond was one of the Tuscaloosa prisoners, an account of whom has been already given.
Mr. Richmond was taken to Cleveland by Capt. Brown the evening of the day he made the search for Mr. Hum- bert; and as soon as possible was dispatched to Tusca- loosa. It is evident from this fact, that Mr. Humbert, with Mr. Richmond, would have suffered the same fate had Brown on that day been successful in finding him. Mr. Richmond had four sons who had reached manhood, Isaac, William C. John and Samuel, all of whom became sol- diers in the Federal army. Isaac at the very commence- ment of the rebellion fled to Kentucky, and joined Wol- ford's cavalry. William C. was arrested by Capt. Brown and forced into Capt. Dunn's company in the 36th Ten- nessee rebel infantry, but deserted and joined the 1st Ten- nessee Federal cavalry. John also fled to Kentucky, and joined the Federal army. Samuel was arrested and forced into the rebel army, but deserted and joined the Federals.
Mr. Richmond reached home from Tuscaloosa in July 1862, after which, like many others, he concealed and pro- tected himself from the rebels as best he could, until he was murdered by them, some time before our armies took possession of the country. Late in the fall of 1862, Mr. Richmond, among other losses by the rebels, was robbed by them of twelve or fifteen valuable swine. About a
13
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mile from his house lived the family of Gregorys, already frequently spoken of in this work. Mr. Richmond being satisfied that Gregory was at least concerned in stealing his property, although surrounded with rebels, plainly and boldly told Gregory that he was the thief who robbed him. Gregory denied the charge, and though he and his boys were the principals in the crime, as finally discovered, yet supposing that rebel influence and rebel false swearing would clear him in a public investigation of the case, told Richmond that he would submit the matter to an arbi- tration.
The fact, however, of Gregory's guilt, on trial, was so perfectly manifest, that it was impossible for his rebel friends to clear him, and the arbitrators decided that he should pay Richmond sixty-six dollars for the part of the villainy perpetrated by him and his boys. This decision together with the fact, perhaps, that it was getting rather dark times in Tennessee for the Confederacy, caused Gre- gory to leave immediately, under the cover of night, with his family for Dixie.
A month, perhaps, after Gregory disappeared, three rebel soldiers, one evening came to the house of Mr. Richmond, pretending to be rebel deserters, threading their way to the Federal lines. It was quite late, and they requested entertainment for the night. They were taken in, given a good supper and comfortable lodgings. After breakfast next morning, having had their accommodations free, they desired Mr. Richmond to accompany them a short distance, particularly to guide them across a creek in the vicinity. Unsuspectingly, he went with them, and shortly after the report of a gun was heard by his family in the direction the party went. Mr. Richmond never returned, and for the time the three rebel deserters were no more heard from in Bradley, nor were they ever known to reach the Federal lines as such. Mr. Richmond's fam- ily, of course was alarmed, and thorough search was immediately made, but without discovering any traces either of Mr. Richmond or of the rebel deserters. It was
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evident that he had been either murdered or conveyed away as a prisoner.
The affair created considerable excitement in the com- munity, and whatever had been the fate of Mr. Richmond it was at once suspicioned by the Union people, that Gre- gory, whom it was known was yet but a short distance south of the line in Georgia, was the instigator of the foul deed. A report was immediately put in circulation by rebel citizens, that Mr. Richmond had gone to Nash- ville. This was understood at the time by Union citizens as a rebel strategy, to weaken the evidence and counter- act the public impression that Mr. Richmond had been murdered by the pretending rebel deserters. The Britton boys-malignant rebels-shortly after Mr. Richmond's disappearance, were overheard conversing upon the sub- * ject, to the effect that Mr. Richmond was put out of the way, and had met with his just deserts. The Brittons, Julians, and Gregorys in the third district were a rebel clan that hung together, and no matter what local changes took place among them, a crime committed by any one of the party was immediately known to the whole frater- nity. Although the fate of Mr. Richmond appeared to be shrouded in mystery, yet his friends were deeply im- pressed that he had been murdered, and that the crime originated with the Gregorys, and was perhaps partici- pated in by their general accomplices just named.
When East Tennessee fell into our hands, many of the Tennessee boys who had fled North and joined the Fed- eral army were permitted to visit their homes. Among these were the four sons of Mr. Richmond. Once more at home, they immediately determined, if possible, to solve the mystery of their father's sudden disappearance, the fall before, and also, if possible, bring some of the guilty parties to punishment. As the result of their efforts, the - remains of thelr father were found concealed in the boughs of a fallen tree, in the vicinity where the report of the gun was heard by his family the morning he disap- peared. This confirmed his murder by the three men, who, as stated, decoyed him from his dwelling.
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About the time Gen. Sherman started on his Atlanta campaign, May 1864, among other rebels who fell into the hands, either of the Richmond boys themselves or of other Tennessee Federals, was a rebel soldier suspected of being connected with the murder of Mr. Richmond. Being put to the test, he was recognized by Mrs. Rich- mond and other members of the family, as one of the three who decoyed Mr. Richmond into the woods the fall before. The fact of his guilt appearing beyond all ques- tion, it was decided that, under the circumstances, our army being under motion, the possibility of his escape if his case was delayed, with the unprovoked wickedness of his crime, he should die in the same summary manner as that in which he put his innocent victim out of the world. Accordingly, he was left in the hands of those who cap- tured him, by whom he was drawn aside and dispatched, the fatal bullet sending his spirit into the presence of his Maker to be judged as a murderer.
Mr. Richmond's family is yet living in the third district, consisting of the widow, two daughters, three youthful sons, besides the four who served in the Federal army.
The other two of Mr. Richmond's murderers have prob- ably never been brought to justice. The Gregorys, at whose instigation doubtless, the three rebels visited and murdered Mr. Richmond, the Julians and Brittons also, unless pursued and punished by Mr. Richmond's sons, will probably go unwhipped of justice in this world, for the part they performed in this crime.
Mr. Richmond was the owner of a tannery, and when murdered had a quantity of leather, the pieces of which' were in different stages of finish. Shortly after his death his premises were robbed, after which the identical pieces of unfinished leather were seen in the possession of Hiram Julian, father of the boys who were overheard talking upon the subject of Mr. Richmond's disappearance.
The sons of Mr. Richmond, who enlisted in the Federal army and aided in putting down the rebellion, all lived to enter upon the enjoyment of the inestimable blessings of the final Union triumph ; and are now honored and re-
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IN BRADLEY COUNTY, EAST TENNESSEE
spected, while their rebel enemies and the murderers of their father are branded in history as the vilest of their race, and shunned and detested by the good as criminal vagabonds, unfit to live among men.
ISAAC RICHMOND AND WM. E. FISIIER.
Wm. E. Fisher was a Union boy whose parents lived not far from Mr. Richmond's, Young Fisher and Isaac Richmond were driven out of the country by the rebels, perhaps about the same time. Both were members of Wolford's cavalry. Wolford's was the first Kentucky cav- alry. After these two boys, with many others, had been driven away, those the most conspicuous in hunting them out of the country, particularly two named James Miller and Lewis Caygle, embraced every opportunity to abuse and insult the parents of these two boys, as well as other Union parents whose boys had been driven away, calling them d-d tories, traitors, etc., telling them that they themselves were the individuals who drove their sons out of the country ; that they would see their sons no more, for they would never be permitted to return.
At an election in the third district, this James Miller was particularly vicious, and among many other things, told the father of Wm. E. Fisher, and other Union men, that Union parents who had encouraged their sons to leave the country and join the Federal army, ought them- selves to be made to leave the country with ropes around their necks.
This was near the commencement of the rebellion. After this both Miller and Caygle joined the rebel army ; and as chance or fate ordered future events, it so hap- pened that all four of these neighboring boys, each party from its respective army, were at the same time home on furloughs. At this time the south part of Bradley, in which the third district is situated, was, perhaps, some- thing like middle ground - ground between the two armies, occasionally reconnoitered by both, but really occupied by neither. Richmond and Fisher stole their way by night to their homes, and by remaining secluded
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their presence was not known to their rebel neighbors. Miller and Caygle-the third district being a rebel neigh- borhood-were less cautious, and the fact that they also were at home reached the ears of Richmond and young Fisher, who instantly reflected that possibly they could not only make some general capital out of the singular coincidence, but that then might be their time to revenge on their old enemies for the wrongs which they had in- flicted upon them and their parents. Accordingly the two prepared themselves, and going in the night to the home or homes of Miller and Caygle, they passed as rebel soldiers till they drew their victims from their beds and got an advantage of them, after which they revealed themselves, at the same time presenting their revolvers, informing the rebels that they were prisoners. They also captured another rebel by the name of Berry Gillihan. Gillihan, however, not being a soldier, but having remained at home, and perhaps not having behaved himself very viciously as a rebel, he was released. But Miller and Caygle they marched straight out of the district that night, conducting them north till they reached the Fed- . eral lines, where they were delivered to our authorities as prisoners of war. They were retained by our authorities, and probably never again had the privilege of fighting in the rebel ranks against their country. Certain it is they never after enjoyed the opportunity of hunting Richmond and Fisher, or any other Union men, out of the third dis- trict.
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IN BRADLEY COUNTY, EAST TENNESSEE.
CHAPTER XVIII.
REV. ELI H. SOUTHERLAND.
MR. SOUTHERLAND was born in South Carolina, October 10th, 1798. His grandfather was a Revolutionary soldier, serving under General Marion, drew a pension for many years, and died as he had lived, a patriot and a Christian, at the ripe age of ninety-five.
The subject of this sketch emigrated to Tennessee, Bradley county, in 1821, settling in the third district. In 1865 he had been a member of the Baptist denomination forty-five years, forty-four of which he had been a minis- ter of the Gospel. For many years after he became a resident of Tennessee, Mr. Southerland labored success- fully as a teacher of youth as well as a teacher of the Cross.
At the commencement of the rebellion he had lived in Bradley forty years, having been known during this period among the people of East Tennessee in the three fold capacity of citizen, Christian and Christian minister, with- out a blot or stain appearing upon his character. No sooner, however, was it known that Mr. Southerland was unfriendly to the rebellion, than the majority of his breth- ren, lay and clerical, manifested towards him a corres- ponding want of friendship, many of both classes making strenuous efforts to convince him of his error. Failing to throw upon the subject sufficient light to enable him to see that it was his duty to turn traitor against the gov- ernment which his own father and Gen. Marion fought side by side to establish, he was denounced by these brethren as an enemy to his country; and finally, by an Association of his Baptist brethren in the ministry, was proscribed for his disloyalty and declared to be unworthy longer to be a co-laborer among them unless he would
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renounce his adherence to the Lincoln Government, and espouse the cause of the rebellion.
Thus proscribed by his brethren, together with malig- nant opposition from rebels generally, Mr. Southerland was compelled to suspend his ministrations during the war. One of his last attempts, near the commencement of the rebellion, to speak to the people as a Gospel min- ister, although it was at a place where he had successfully instructed his congregation for many years, was opposed by the majority of the people, including his brethren, and he forbidden to preach, unless he would publicly, at the commencement of his exercises, announce himself a friend to the rebellion. This Mr. Southerland could not do, and he and this portion of his people separated, not only as citizens, but as pastor and flock.
On another occasion, and in another place, after Mr. Southerland had entered the pulpit, twelve men, armed with revolvers and shot guns, entered the congregation and seated themselves in one corner of the Church. They soon unreservedly informed the minister that no more religious services could be held in that section unless they were performed by ministers loyal to the Southern Confederacy; and they desired him not to attempt it at that time. He replied that "he did not feel it his duty to invite a quarrel with them on the Lord's day, by an at- tempt to preach under circumstances which would insure such a result. If they persisted, and would not allow him to preach the Word without disturbance, he should con- sider himself forcibly ejected from the pulpit, and the responsibility of discontinuing the worship of God in that place would rest upon themselves." Notwithstanding this logical and forcible explanation of the responsibility they were taking, this band of ruffians stubbornly main- tained their position and insisted that he, nor any other Lincolnite minister, would be allowed to speak to the , people in that vicinity. Thus reassured that they were in earnest, Mr. Southerland replied that he would offer prayer, sing a hymn, after which he would dismiss the congregation, and for the future leave them and the peo-
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IN BRADLEY COUNTY, EAST TENNESSEE.
ple of that section to their wishes. He then knelt before his congregation and prayed, with words and in a manner that appeared to have a good effect upon the audience generally as well as upon the rioters themselves. After prayer he commenced the singing of a devotional hymn, one which he and that congregation had before sung to- gether many times in joyful praise and happy worship of their Redeemer. Before the hymn was finished two of the ruffians broke down under the influence the singing exerted, came near Mr. Southerland and begged his for- giveness. The two then told him that if he still desired to speak to the people he should not be disturbed. He, however, thought it best to dismiss the congregation, which he did, and this place, like others, ceased to be a point of his ministerial labors.
The natural temperament and disposition of Mr. South- erland were the very opposite of that lion-like combat- iveness which enable some Christian ministers, mounted upon the pedestal of their rights, to stand like war-horses of resistance against all assailants, physically as well as intellectually dealing out heavy blows upon the heads of their unjust invaders. His power as a worker in the vine- yard of the Lord lay in entrenching himselt behind the moral breastwork of sympathetic truth. In the absence of physical strength, with a moral inaptitude for entering the hubbub and invoking the danger of the clashing of antagonistic forces, the personal contour-unwarlike face -- disarming tones of voice, and generally pacific mien, of Mr. Southerland, formed a power more difficult for most men to attack than to attack an equal antagonist stand- ing ready and perhaps inviting a hand-to-hand contest.
Mr. Southerland, however, was no passive and truckling coward. He was no skulking, non-committal, trembling ghost upon the skirts of the crowd, when truth was invaded, or rights infringed upon. On one occasion the notorious Wm. H. Tibbs of rebel congress and negro driv- ing fame, near the commencement of the rebellion, was harranguing a company in the country, urging the peo- ple to secede, enlarging upon the glories of a separate
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Southern Confederacy, the honor and praise of those who should stand by the South, and pointing out the disgrace and punishment that would be visited upon Union trai- tors. Mr. Southerland listened quietly until Tibbs had finished, after which, he mounted the stump and called upon the audience to listen to him. However prejudiced the audience was in favor of rebellion, Mr. Souther- land's manner was such that it was difficult to refuse him a hearing. He had not finished his remarks before it was evident that many in the audience began to doubt the soundness of Tibbs' positions. The sophistry of his argu- ments, the untruthfulness of his statements, the great wrong and national injustice of the Southern movement, were explained by Mr. Southerland and lain before the people, with a clearness and earnestness, which if they did not entirely reclaim the secessionists, at least left the impression on the minds of many, that secession and rebellion were very hazardous enterprises. Like Mr. Hum- bert and Mr. Richmond, whose histories have been given, Mr. Southerland lived in the heart of a rebel neighbor- hood. His age clearing him from conscription, he managed to ride out the storm and remain at his home until our armies took the country. He then flattered himself that he had passed the crisis, and that his troubles occasioned by the rebellion were nearly terminated, the fact, how- ever, was otherwise.
An account has already been given of the flag raising in Cleveland, in the Spring of 1864 .. Like hundreds of others, desirous to see the flag of their country once more triumphantly wave over the soil of Bradley, Mr. Souther- land was present on that occasion. Highly elated with the prospects of participating in the patriotic ceremonies of the day, he remarked to some of his friends that he thanked Heaven that he was about to witness in Bradley, the triumphant waving of the stars and stripes-the light of the world once more! News of this remark reached his rebel neighbors in the third district, whereupon they managed to convey news back to him that he would soon see greater lights in his own neighborhood, than he saw
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IN BRADLEY COUNTY, EAST TENNESSEE.
that day in Cleveland. The threat was promptly fulfilled. In three or four days after the flag raising, Mr. Souther- land's flouring mill and cotton gin, standing near each other, were burned to the ground. The loss, including the property in the buildings, farming implements, grain, etc., was between three and four thousand dollars. This satanic rebel deed was committed while our forces, were en- camped at Cleveland and Blue Springs, eight or ten miles, perhaps, from Mr. Southerland's plantation. Suspicion fell particularly upon two rebels-John Woodall and Cal- vin Loftice. They were arrested by our authorities, tried at Cleveland, and found guilty. After their conviction they confessed the crime. They stated that twelve other rebels, all we believe, residents of the third district, were implicated in the act, and that they were paid by the twelve for executing the plot. The destruction of Mr. Southerland's property was tracable to the same head cen- ter of rebellion and crime in the third district, the Juli- lians and others, that have been heretofore mentioned as so active in that part of the country in all iniquity. What sentence was pronounced upon these two villains, or whether they were ever. sentenced at all, is unknown to the writer. Some days after their trial, both were started for Chattanooga, either to have sentence pronounced upon them there, or to have punishment there executed, or for some other foolish thing; and on the way Woodall jumped from the cars and escaped. Soon after Loftice escaped from Chatanooga, and neither, perhaps, has been heard from since.
This case illustrates the very considerable, not to say insufferable looseness with which our military authorities transacted business of this kind in Bradley. If it was actu- ally necessary to send these criminals away from Cleve- land to be sentenced or punished, it was at the same time the easiest thing in nature to confine and guard them, beyond the possibility of escape, a duty for the neglect of which any officer should have been immediately called to an account by his superiors. These men never would have escaped, had the officers having them in custody,
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and superintending their transportation, been in the least impressed with the necessity, and importance of justice being done in the case. That the escape of both these guilty rebels thus, within a few days of each other, was purely accidental is problematical, to say the least. In fact no other sensible conclusion can be arrived at in regard to the matter, than that their liberation was designed by some of the parties having them in charge. Had energy, prompted by a stern determination to bring the guilty to justice, been exerted, not only these two might have been secured, but more of the conspiritors in this affair might have been arrested and brought to pun- ishment.
Some time after the destruction of his property, Mr. Southerland, with his family, abandoned his plantation and took refuge in Cleveland. Unless the Government shall reimburse his loss, Mr. Southerland, in all probabil- ity, will not live to see it repaired. His property was the accumulation of many years of laborious industry and honest toil, borne by himself and family, but the fiendish- ness of the wickedest scheme that ever cursed mankind, reduced it to ruins in a single hour.
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