USA > Tennessee > Bradley County > History of the rebellion in Bradley County, East Tennessee > Part 17
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THE SHOOTING OF DR. GRIFFIN.
In the Spring of 1864 a small command of Federal cavalry camped in the ninth district, near Dr. Griffin's dwelling. What regiment this cavalry belonged to we were not informed. It appears, that many of the men were wild characters. Inasmuch as Mr. Griffin was a phy- sician, these cavalry were under the impression that he kept liquor, and a number of them applied to him to obtain the article. The Dr. informed them that he had none. and did not keep it, therefore, could not give them any. The soldiers left. apparently dissatisfied, inti- mating that he was not telling them the truth. Shortly after this. procuring a quantity of the article from some other source. strongly under the influence of its use, two of the soldiers rode up to the doc- tor's gate, he standing in his door. The doctor walked toward them, at the same time inviting them to dismount and come in, and when within about twelve feet of them. both raised their navies and fired upon him, after which they wheeled and left. with demonstrations usual to men debauched by intoxication. One shot took effect. inflict- ing two severe wounds in the arm, from which, however, the doctor finally recovered. The names of the murderers, murderers at heart, were unknown to the doctor, and nothing was done about the matter by our authorities, to bring the villains to justice. The doctor was a strong and active Union man, a gentleman who had given these sol- diers no cause to mistreat him.
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IN BRADLEY COUNTY, EAST TENNESSEE.
CHAPTER XIX.
BRADLEY COUNTY COURT.
IN Tennessee, the Justices of the Peace in counties, form what is there called a County Court, answering, per- haps, to the courts of county supervisors in Northern States. In April, 1863, this court in Bradley was solicited . and even compelled, by the rebel authorities, to pass an act taxing the property of the county to support its desti- tute rebel families, the male portion of which was then in the rebel army. The rebellion had then progressed two years, and had driven nearly a thousand Union men out of the county. The absence of these Union men caused des- titution and suffering in their families also; the same cause producing the same effect in both classes of families.
The majority of these Justices in Bradley at this time, were Union men ; and finding themselves obliged to act in behalf of the rebel families, made an effort to have their action cover the wants of Union families also. They felt justified in doing this from two or three considera- tions. In the first place, they knew that the rebellion was wrong, and that this wrong had occasioned the suffer- ing of these innocent Union families, therefore felt that they were as deserving of help as those whose sufferings resulted from their own wrongs. Again, two-thirds, per- haps, of the taxable property in Bradley belonged to Union men, and therefore, inasmuch as two-thirds of the fund raised would be Union money, the destitute Union families had a right to their share of it. But more than this, these Justices saw the wrong that would arise in individual cases from this system of general taxation for the benefit exclusively of rebel families. They saw, for instance, the cruelty it would be, and the suffering it would occasion, to make' a lone Union woman and her children raise money for the support of a neighboring
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rebel woman, when, perhaps, the husband of the rebel woman was the very person who hunted the Union woman's husband out of the country. It is well known that the rebel women of Bradley encouraged and urged on their husbands and sons to persecute and drive the Union men from their homes. This system of taxation, therefore, proposed to make these Union women pay the rebel women a premium for the suffering and destitution the rebel women had malignantly occasioned them. Every reasonable person will see that such were to be the practical results of this rebel enterprise for the relief exclusively of rebel families in Bradley.
The Bradley court taking this view of the case, exer- cised their privilege, and framed their enactment in the following manner :
" It fully appearing to the satisfaction of this Court. that there are in our county, and likely will be, persons in a suffering condition. and will need the aid of the county of Bradley; it is ordered by the Court. a majority voting in the affirmative. that an appropriation be made of twenty-five cents on every hundred dollars worth of taxable property in said county. alone to be used and appropriated for the women and children, or for all suffering humanity, in the county of Bradley."
A knowledge of this disloyal action of the Bradley court threw the whole rebel element of the county into commotion. The fact that the court had placed the Southern soldier's family on a level with the families of the "Lincoln renegades," and that they as well as the destitute rebel families were to be provided for, was an outrage not to be tolerated.
The following is the editorial fulmination of the Cleve- land Banner on the subject-taken from an issue of April 9th, 1863 :
" THE COUNTY COURT-A PREMIUM TO TREASON .- We learn. from what we consider to be reliable authority, that the Worshipful County Court, for the county of Bradley, on Monday last rejected or refused to act upon a proposition to levy a tax of twenty-five cents upon the hundred dollars worth of property, for the support of the indigent and unprovided for soldiers' families in the county. A proposition was introduced and passed, providing a tax of twenty-five cents on the hundred dollars, for the benefit of ' Suffering Humanity' in Brad- ley county. Here, we have it, that the County Court is unwilling to vote relief to the family of the Southern soldier, who is periling his
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IN BRADLEY COUNTY, EAST TENNESSEE.
life to keep off the invader, but willing when a proposition is intro- duced which includes families of the renegades that have left the country and joined Lincoln's army, to give it their cordial support. The welfare of the renegades' family is first with them-that of the Southern soldier secondary, or not at all. This is the conclusion we arrive at, after the proceedings on Monday. The 'suffering human- ity' of Bradley county includes every class in want-no matter from what cause. The family of the renegade who is in Lincoln's army fighting against us is just as much included as the family of the Southern soldier who is fighting for us. Is such conduct as this by a County Court to be tolerated ? Will the tax-payers suffer this impo- sition to be imposed upon them ? Are they willing to support the families of men who are fighting Lincoln's battles? Are they willing to see the Southern soldier's family brought down to the level of that of the renegade ? The County Court has made no distinction -- they have placed both upon the same footing. Is this right and proper in a Court that is holding its sessions in one of the Confederate States ? Taxing Southern people to keep men in Lincoln's army, who are on our border, threatening us with fire and sword! Great God ! do we dream or is it a reality ? Not a dream, but a reality. Southern offi- cials giving aid and comfort to the enemy, by taking care of the men's families while they are doing everything they can to bring an army here to devastate and destroy our homes. If the minions of Lincoln are a part of the 'suffering humanity' of Bradley county, let Mr. Lincoln provide for them, or if it is too inconvenient to do so. he has plenty of sympathizers here, who can draw on their private purses for their support. Let it be done by private contributions, but For our children's sake, do not let it be a matter of record-they, would rise up and curse the duplicity of their ancestors. To the members of the Court we would say, to convene your Court again and expunge your action on Monday last. Do not let it remain on the Records of your county, 'lest it might damn you to everlasting infamy.' Had the same proceedings taken place in Lincoln's domin- ions, the last member of the Court would have been in a Bastile in less than twenty hours. The Court has said in effect, and put it upon record, to every malcontent, ' go and join Lincoln's army and we will take care of your family as a part of the 'suffering humanity' of Brad- ley county.' Is this not offering a premium to treason ? According to our version of the matter it is most assuredly so. The Court may not have intended it so, but it inevitably leads to that."
Remarks upon the foregoing editorial are unnecessary. The editor of the Banner was pleased with the position in which this article placed him before the country at that time, and he will now have the satisfaction of look- ing at himself in the light in which it places him before the country at this time and will place him in the future.
This disgraceful and abusive editorial, with other rebel influences, had the desired effect. The rebel authorities overruled, or rather overrode, this decision of the court, the tax was collected from all, and applied to the relief of rebel families alone. Through the influence, therefore, of this hollow-headed and corrupt-hearted editor and traitor,
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and the influence of other rebels, worse, perhaps, than himself, the destitute and suffering Union women and Union children of Bradley, were compelled to raise money and pay it to their rebel neigboring women who had en- couraged their own husbands and sons to murder and drive out of the country the husbands, sons and brothers of these Union women and children. This was the rebel- lion in Bradley county. This was the doctrine of the edi- tor of the Banner. Very probably this editor received his share of these perquisites. Very probably his share of these funds, raised by these destitute Union women and children, liberally paid him for this shameful editor- ial, and the part he otherwise acted in driving their hus bands and sons out of the country. The tax thus extorted from the families of Doctors Brown and Hunt, in the ab sence of these men, and which, perhaps, fell into the hand. of this editor, was doubtless a very liberal reward for the sufferings he had occasioned these families, and for the manner in which he vilified these Union men because they had to flee fromrebel oppression.
THE HANGING OF MR. E. G. GRUBB.
Mr Grubb, with his family, settled in the third district, perhaps in 1854. By trade Mr. Grubb was a blacksmithi and was a good and useful citizen. No complaint wie made against Mr. Grubb by any of his neighbors before the war, and the only fault that was found against him after the commencentent of the rebellion was, that he was t. Union man, and had a Union family. Three rebel citizen>; all neighbors to Mr. Grubb, took particular pains to sound him upon his politics, and to watch his movements. Being unable to shake his loyalty to his country, an particularly being enraged at his boldness, and the free- dom with which he expressed his Union sentiments, the« and other rebels in the neighborhood commenced on hitet a course of persecution. Some time, perhaps in 186.2, these rebels reported Mr. Grubb to Wheeler's cavalry :* a dangerous Union man. The soldiers of Wheeler's cat-
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IN BRADLEY COUNTY, EAST TENNESSEE.
alry had frequently called at Mr. Grubb's house, and had been entertained by him and his family at their table. About three o'clock one morning, eight or ten rebel sol- diers, belonging to this cavalry came to the house of Mr. Grubb, compelled him to get up, arresting him in the pre- sence of his family. Mr. Grubb was a man who did not succumb to the rebels, and from whom no recantation of principles could be extorted, not even to save his life. His wife, however, as well as other members of his family, entreated the rebels for his sake, endeavoring to make them tell what he had done, for which he was arrested, and what they proposed to do with him. Giving his wife no satisfaction, only, perhaps, that she would never see her husband again. They placed him upon one of their horses, and conveyed him away as a prisoner. After tra- veling some half a mile or a mile, they halted and com- menced to examine Mr. Grubb for money, at the same time cursing and abusing him as a Lincolnite, and endeavoring to extort from him information in regard to Union property and other Union citizens. Anticipating the robbing, his money had been placed beyond their reach, and as to giving them information about his Union neighbor Mr. Grubb was ready to die sooner than be guilty of a thing of the kind. Failing either to get money or to compel him to make the desired revelations, they commenced preparations to hang him from the limb of a tree. They hung him by the neck the first time until he was nearly senseless, then asked him if he would give them the desired information. Being answered in the negative, they hung him the second time, and, perhaps, * the third time, but with no better success, as to the de- sired information, and finally left him upon the ground, scarcely able to speak, and for some time unable to rise. , Toward morning, Mr. Grubb so revived that he was enabled to drag himself iback to his home, but will, perhaps, never entirely recover from the injuries he re- ceived.
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HISTORY OF THE REBELLION
MR. JOSEPH LUSK.
Mr. Lusk lived in the fourth district. He had been a resident of Bradley upwards of thirty years, and had three sons in the Federal army. Samuel and Lavender were both members of the 1st Tenn. battery. Joseph was Lieut. in Col. James P. Brownlow's 1st Tenn. cavalry.
In October, 1861, the notable Capt. Brown sent one of his rebel soldiers with instructions to demand of Mr. Lusk his private arms. The soldier had no sooner made known his business than Mr. Lusk sprang to one of his guns and leveled it at the rebel, ordering him instantly to leave his house, or he was a dead man. The rebel wheeled, and begging of Mr. Lusk not to shoot, escaped from the pre- mises as hastily as possible. Owing to the ill success of this messenger, and knowing the determined character of Mr. Lusk, Brown thought it not best, perhaps, to make further attempts to rob the old gentleman of his guns; consequently, he was one of the few in Bradley whom the rebels did not plunder of this kind of property. On three other occasions Mr. Lusk drove rebels from his pre- mises in a similar manner.
At one time, a rebel soldier or rebel citizen rode up to his dwelling, and was about to dismount. Mr. Lusk in- formed him that no rebel was allowed to dismount from his beast on his premises. The old gentleman having the weapons in his hands to enforce obedience, and his man- ner being imperative, the rebel, instead of dismounting, turned and disappeared in such haste that his animal sent the dust in clouds curling in the air behind him. On another occasion, three rebels were carrying off and burn- ing the rails on one part of Mr. Lusk's plantation. The old gentleman attacked them single-handed and soon suc- ceeded in driving them from his plantation.
The last visit, however, which the rebels paid Mr. Lusk was the most sorry visit for them. Mr. Lusk had been reported to the rebel soldiers as the owner of two or three valuable mules. Mules were very serviceable animals in the army, and three mounted rebels one morning made
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IN BRADLEY COUNTY, EAST TENNESSEE.
an attempt to rob Mr. Lusk of these animals. By some means Mr. Lusk suspected a visit of the kind and was pre- pared. Armed with his revolver and squirrel rifle, he met the rebels as they approached his house; and without any introductory ceremonies fired upon them, emptying one saddle, after which he rushed upon the remaining two with his revolver. This attack was so sudden and unex- pected, and was prosecuted with such a courageous ven- geance, that the two rebels left their dying companion, and fled as though a battery of grape and canister had been opened upon them. The wounded rebel died in a short time, and was buried, we believe, by Mr. Lusk's family. This transaction occurred not long before the Federals took possession of the country ; and this was the last time any direct attempts were made by the rebels to disturb Mr. Lusk. The fate of the rebel soldier shot by him, caused his Union neighbors to fear that the rebels would attempt revenge on them, and probably some few left the neighborhood in consequence. Mr. Lusk, however, we believe, never permanently left his premises ; and as the rebellion was then on the wane in Bradley, the rebels concluded to leave him undisturbed conqueror of the field.
DEATH OF AMOS MANES.
In many respects the death of Mr. Manes was one of the , most heart-rending tragedies that occurred in Bradley during the war. His mother was a Union widow woman living in the fifth district. Young Manes and his brother William were soldiers in the Federal army. In their ab- sence, their mother, like all other Union women in East Tennessee left alone in the midst of the rebellion, had to struggle with many difficulties. Two or three little boys, herself and a daughter, comprised her family in the ab- sence of her sons. Thus situated, she not only found it a struggle to provide for herself and family, but being a strong Union woman, she had to suffer persecution from the rebels. James M. Henry, a neighbor, a man of very doubtful character, was her inveterate tormentor.
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HISTORY OF THE REBELLION
The little boys of widow Manes borrowed a harness of Henry's mother-in-law, and were trying to plow their corn. Henry stripped the harness from their beast and carried it out of the field. This was done not because he needed the harness himself, nor because he had any lib- erty from his mother-in-law to take it from them.
A field contiguous to the corn-field of Mrs. Manes was owned by Henry. The fence between the two fields was im- perfect, and the little boys of Mrs. Manes were unable to repair it. Refusing to repair the fence himself, Henry, ap- parently with malicious intent to destroy the widow's corn, continued, unnecessarily, to turn animals into his field.
The husband of Mrs. Manes was a blacksmith, and fol- lowed the business till his death. In addition to the abuses just named and others that might be named, early in 1862, perhaps, Henry went to Mrs. Manes and informed her that Capt. Wm. Brown had requested him to bring her blacksmith tools to Cleveland. The tools being re- fused him, he told Mrs. Manes that Brown would have them if he had to come and get them himself. She re- plied that if Capt. Brown came into her house she would meet him with hot water, a shovel of fire coals, or any- thing else she could lay her hands on. Henry left with- out the tools. The blacksmith shop of Mrs. Manes stood on the main road, some forty rods in front of her dwell- ing. In a few days after Henry's application for the tools they were missing. Henry was suspected, and Mrs. Manes soon ascertained that some of the tools, at least, were in his possession. She sent her little boys request- ing him to bring home her property. He gave the boys a part of the tools he had taken, sending word to their mother that those were all he had. This was not satisfac- tory. About the time the rebels were driven from Brad- ley, Wm. Manes came home on a furlough, when he, with others, called to see Henry about his mother's miss- ing tools. All, or nearly all of them, were found secreted in Henry's cellar and taken home.
The foregoing events transpired before our army took possession of Bradley. In the spring of 1864, our forces
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IN BRADLEY COUNTY, EAST TENNESSEE.
were encamped at Blue Springs, a half or three-quarters of a mile from the plantation of Mrs. Manes. Henry, not- withstanding his previous willingness to assist Capt. Brown to steal the property of Mrs. Manes, and notwith- standing he had otherwise aided Brown in his iniquity, by taking to his own house and secreting goods belonging to Brown and his family-goods many of which no doubt had been stolen from Union people-now pretended to our authorities that he was, and always had been, one of the most reliable Union men in the fifth district. He and his family swarmed around Gen. Grose at his headquarters, feasted him with their good things till Henry had fully established himself in the General's confidence as a good Union man. This, however, was not the worst of Henry's conduct with Gen. Grose. It was now a good time for him to renew his persecutions upon Mrs. Manes. He re- ported her to the General, stating that she had secreted, and perhaps was then secreting, rebels in her house, and on every opportunity was giving information to rebel scouts. Also he managed to make the impression on the General's mind that Mrs. Manes had a son in the rebel army. The General was so deceived on this point by Henry, that, at one time when Wm. Manes was at home, he was about to arrest him as a rebel and put him to labor on the breastworks at Blue Springs.
Mrs. Manes was as good a Union woman as ever fought the rebellion in Bradley county. She protected and fed to the extent of her ability, for months, Union conscripts hiding in the woods near her house, and in every other way in her power aided the cause from the commence- ment to the end of the war. She gave two of her sons to the Federal army, and no slander on earth could have been more foul or more cruel than Henry's insufferable lies about her to Gen. Grose. All the grounds in the world that Henry had on which to base these charges, were that Mrs. Manes had a son-in-law, who at the com- mencement of the rebellion was a rebel, and who enlisted as a rebel soldier, or at least for some time was connected with the rebel army. He, however, saw his error, deserted
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and came home to his wife, then living with her mother, after which he had to secrete himself from the rebels. He was never harbored by Mrs. Manes while he was a rebel. She, her daughter also-the man's wife-as good a Union woman as her mother, were as much grieved that he had anything to do with the rebels as any others in a similar case possibly could have been. Convinced that he was thoroughly cured of his love for the rebels, Mrs. Manes nor her daughter did wrong in receiving him and endeavoring to keep him out of the hands of the rebels.
Gen. Grose, however, was so completely victimized by Henry's power to deceive, that he would not allow Mrs. Manes or any of her family to come within the Federal lines. In addition to this, he not only threatened to arrest her son, as already mentioned, but concocted and inflicted upon her a strategy of deception, by which he thought, perhaps, to entrap her and cause her to betray herself as guilty of that which Henry had charged upon her. He and his orderly, and perhaps a portion of his staff, rode in the night to the house of Mrs. Manes, waked the family, reporting themselves as rebel scouts. Thus deceived, or in other words, supposing that they were rebels, and fearing that their object there was to capture this son-in-law, then with them in the house, to give them no occasion to enter the daughter stepped to the door to answer their questions, while Mrs. Manes was conceal- ing the son-in-law-the daughter's husband-behind one of the beds. The General's orderly inquired for the local- ity of the Federal pickets. The young lady replied, "they are down in the road," she, possibly, pointing in its direc- tion Je next inquired the distance to the camp of the Federals. She again replied, "you can see their fires." This was the sum of what passed between the parties. Supposing her visitors to be rebels, and consequently trembling for the life of her husband, the daughter, of course, felt anxious to get rid of them, but gave them no information that would not have been given them by any other Union person similarly circumstanced. Gen. Grose,
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IN BRADLEY COUNTY, EAST TENNESSEE.
however, supposing that he had been talking with the mother, and already prejudiced against the family, rode away, interpreting this interview as evidence of the truth of Henry's statements in the premises. Henry being in the secret of this strategy, and perhaps having had some- thing to do with its origin, was promptly at the General's headquarters the next morning. He inquired what dis- coveries the General made the night before. The General replied that he discovered about what he expected to dis- cover, namely, that his representations of the Unionism of Mrs. Manes were correct. Henry responded, "yes, and it will be well to watch in that direction hereafter." Esq. Bean, whose residence was near the General's headquar- ters, was present listening to this conversation. His curi- osity being excited to know whom the suspicious persons were that the General and Henry had been endeavoring thus to entrap, he was told that they were Mrs. Manes and her daughter. This, to him, was a strange state of things. Consequently, he, Mr. Hiram Smith and Major McCulley, and perhaps other Union men, consulted tc- gether, and ascertaining the extent to which these abuses had been carried, went to the General and gave him a detailed account of the facts in the case, disabusing his mind in regard to the whole matter. Thus enlightened, the General assumed a different bearing towards this fam- ily, rescinded his order which prohibited its members from entering his lines, sending Mrs. Manes word to this effect. Mrs. Manes, however, was a woman of spirit, and felt that she had been too deeply injured to accept this as a complete burying of the hatchet, and never, while the General was at Blue Springs, could she be persuaded to visit his camp.
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