USA > Tennessee > Bradley County > History of the rebellion in Bradley County, East Tennessee > Part 6
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"The news from the fighting District at this juncture of writing, is of a rather pacific character. Since the uprising of the Union men on Saturday night last, the excitement is subsiding and growing beautiful less by degrees. The warriors, on that memorable occa- sion, armed with guns, knives, reap hooks, seythe blades, claw-ham- mers and hand-saws, in the fury of their anger, burnt a foot-log and blockaded Candy's Creek. Thus appeasing their ' voice for war,' they dispersed to their homes. and believe now they are perfectly se- cure, and can maintain their independence and neutrality, in spite of Jeff. Davis, King Harris, the Southern Confederacy, the Devil and Tom Walker. We hope no straggling Secessionist will get among them, to disturb their quiet repose, because if they get another big scare they will ramose the ranche. We don't want them to leave till corn is laid-by and the wheat is thrashed."
This demonstration illustrates the Union feeling and determined hostility which at that time existed in Brad- ley against the rebellion. Unfortunately, however, this was the last general exhibition of Union sentiment that was permitted in the county, until it was relieved by the Government forces in the spring of 1864. Rebel military power, soon after, was effectually inaugurated to suppress
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IN BRADLEY COUNTY, EAST TENNESSEE.
not only all general expressions of loyalty, but all indi- vidual liberty of speech and action. This unlooked for Union opposition to the rebellion, it appears, suggested the necessity of the presence of rebel troops to awe the Union people into submission to the demands of treason. In the same editorial of the Banner from which we have quoted, we find the following :
" On Thursday, before the absurd rumor was put afloat in regard to the Southern troops, nearly all of these thousand Union voters had a meeting at Gorgetown, where their regularly organized com- panies, not less than five or six hundred armed men, had been mus- tered and drilled under the old Union flags; and had been addressed by Dan Trewhitt, Michael Edwards, and a fellow by the name of Matthews, in a most inflammatory and rebellious style!"
In connection with the above, this rebel editor also teaches the Union people of Bradley to understand their duty, and warns them in the following manner of what they may expect in return for disobedience.
"Our Union friends were greatly exercised on Monday last, for fear that troops from the Confederate States, would be stationed in our midst, in consequence of the uprising of the Union men at Georgetown on Sunday. Could they expect anything else after such a demonstration as that! We know that the State does not wish to send them here, and if they are ordered here at all it will be from a feeling of necessity, and not because there is any desire to do so on the part of the State or the Confederate States.
Armed Lincoln men are enemies to the Confederate States, whether they are found in Massachusetts, Virginia or East Tennessee-and such armed men with hostile intentions, if persisted in, must as a matter of course in a state of war expect to be treated as enemies."
We insert the last extract because it reveals the exact point of time when the military power of the rebellion was resorted to, and depended on by Bradley rebels to put an end to expressions of loyalty in the county. We believe that no rebel forces were at that time sent into the county ; but from this moment Union men were given to understand that rebel military power would be applied if all loyal demonstrations in the county did not at once cease. Besides, in a very short time after this, home rebel volunteering commenced, and the presence of mili- tary camps in full blast, and acting in combination with Southern rebels formed a power making rebel ascendancy in Bradley complete.
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HISTORY OF THE REBELLION
DAMAGES TO BRADLEY COUNTY.
First District.
$80,000
Eighth District. 80,000
Second District
40,000
Ninth District.
80.000
Third District
40,000
Tenth District.
80,000
Fourth District
60,000
Eleventh District
80,000
Sixth District
100.000
Thirteenth District
90.000
Seventh District.
40.000
30,000
Fifth District
60.000
Twelfth District
The above estimates do not refer to the aggregate losses of Union men in this county occasioned by the war gen- erally, but simply to the amounts of property of all kinds destroyed and taken from them by the rebels during the war. These figures, in every instance except one, are considerably below the respective damages as estimated by good judges. Getting estimates of rebel damages from different individuals living in the several districts of the county, the medium between the highest and the lowest are the figures in each case here given.
The best judges put the Union loss in the first district at $100,000. None put it less than $75,000; and it was put down finally at $80,000. The Union loss in the fourth district by some was estimated at $75,000, or even $80,000, while others judged it as low as $50,000. We have given it at $60,000. This is the rule followed in the case of every district except the eighth, the Union damages of which were calculated by Mr. Benton H. Henneger, of Charleston,-a gentleman whose judgment and candor none will question. Mr. Henneger's own loss in this dis- trict was over $5,000. A. J. Cate, Esq., of the first dis- trict, lost $25,000. The rebels burned two of his barns with a large amount of property stored in them at the time. Mr. Jesse B. Cleveland, of the seventh district, lost $10,000. Rev. Eli H. Southerland, of the third dis- trict, lost $3,500. John McPherson, Esq., of the ninth, and Mr. Samuel Maroon, of the fourth, were equally heavy losers with some of the above. Every Union man in the county, first and last, lost by the rebels nearly everything movable on his premises, especially everything in the shape of stock. A closer and more critical examination of these damages doubtless would increase instead of les- sening the foregoing figures.
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IN BRADLEY COUNTY, EAST TENNESSEE.
In some cases, particularly at the commencement of the war, the rebel authorities paid Union people for the property they took from them in Confederate paper money. Generally, however, this proved but a small compensation. Some time in 1863 Mrs. Benton H. Hen- neger paid $500 in Confederate money for a common feather bed and a common bedstead. In the same year, Mr. Henneger himself paid in this money $3,000 for three boxes of tobacco, being ten dollars per pound. Towards the close of 1863, thirty dollars in Confederate money was frequently paid for a block of cotton thread, which in ordinary times cost perhaps $1.50. During the first year of the war, however, Confederate money was of more value.
A committee of good judges in the ninth district, who lived in Bradley throughout the war, estimated the Con- federate money owned by Union men in the county, while it was in circulation, as having been worth to them on an average from twenty to twenty-five cents to the dollar. Individuals, of course, will differ on this subject; yet those who give it a candid and thorough investigation, will probably admit that this committee of the ninth dis- trict was not far from the truth.
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HISTORY OF THE REBELLION
CHAPTER VI.
THE FIRST CLIFT WAR.
HAVING conducted the reader to the edge of the mael- strom into which Bradley was precipitated, and in which she floundered for nearly three years, we must turn aside for a moment to include a brief sketch of a somewhat re- markable scene, which, though not enacted in Bradley, is nevertheless a part of its war history, and cannot with propriety be separated from it. By way of introduction, we will present another short extract from the editorial of the Cleveland Banner. It is found in the issue of Sep- tember 27th, 1861, and reads as follows :
"Old Clift, down in Hamilton, who has been rather obstrepulous for a few weeks, we learn. has cooled down and concluded to 'ground arms' and demean himself like a loyal citizen hereafter. Sensible conclusion that, and come to just at the nick of time, because it would have been a pity to disgrace the scaffold with such an old imbecile as he has proved himself to be."
Of all the national commotions which the world has ever witnessed, this great Southern Rebellion has devel- oped the greatest variety of characters in its line-char- acters filling the measure of every human medium, others circumscribing all human extremes excepting extreme greatness, executing and leaving for our backward view the most extensive field of scientific and unscientific mil- itary maneuvers, tragic events and comic scenes-charac- ters prescribing and proscribing respectively every form of government both for communities and individuals ; prescri- bing and proscribing every form of philosophy, morals and religion-characters presenting or inhering the sublimest ranges of humanity and Christianity, side by side with every evil work produced by other characters, with a lengthened category of cases of the strangest combina-
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IN BRADLEY COUNTY, EAST TENNESSEE.
tions of human weakness and efficient qualities in the same individuals-qualities fitted for accidental and im- promptu strokes of power and success, but impossible of adjustment with even, systematic and sure progress ; the whole of which during the last four years have moulded the most gigantic mass of facts and forms for the intellect of man-facts and forms which will follow in the realm of thought and tinge the literature of the world for the next thousand years.
As a solitary individual or figure helping to make up this mass of phenomena, one that will be remembered by the people of Bradley, Hamilton, Polk, Reah, Meigs, McMinn, and those of other counties, during the present generation at least, WILLIAM CLIFT stands pre-eminent in East Tennessee, his active individuality in 1861 having given rise to what is known, in that region, as the famous Clift war.
This brave and patriotic Tennesseean, at the opening of the rebellion, was living in Hamilton County, on the north-west side of the Tennessee, on a small stream named Soddy, about three miles from where it empties into that noble river, twenty-five miles above Chattanooga. He was an early settler in the country, from which time to the commencement of the war, he had amassed consider- able property, was an owner of mills, &c., rather a lead- ing character in his vicinity-known to be honest, indus- trious, a fair and liberal dealer, a good citizen, prompt, short, direct, outspoken, uncompromising-having not the least of the non-committal or secretiveness in his compo- sition. Being a strong Union man, a worshiper of the flag of his ancestors, he was one of the first in his section to denounce secession-opposing the rebellion in all its fea- tures. So decided was his course, and so fearlessly were his Union sentiments expressed from the beginning, that he soon became known not only in his own county but in the adjoining counties, as a more than usually active Union man and vehement friend of the old Government ; and was as much dreaded and hated by the rebels as he was favorably regarded by the Union people.
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HISTORY OF THE REBELLION
Near the close of the summer of 1861 Union men began to flee from East Tennessee and Northern Georgia through Kentucky to the Federal army. Col. Clift, as just stated, being known throughout the country as an enthusiastic friend to the cause ; and living near the Tennessee river, also on the refugee route of travel to the Northern army, the vicinity of his plantation soon became the converging point for crossing the river to those who were thus flying from the fires of rebellion. Refugee pilots acquainted with the country would secretly conduct companies of Union men to the river opposite Clift's premises; when by his aid, or aid which he had previously prepared, they were slyly crossed over and concealed till arrangements could be made for their departure to the Northern lines. This system of operations continued and increased from about the middle of the summer, 1861, the time it com- menced, till after the middle of the following September, Col. Clift's plantation being both receiving and distribut- ing refugee headquarters.
For his own convenience and for the comfort of the refugees, Clift took possession of a Cumberland Presby- terian camp ground, situated not far from his own home, and on a small stream called Sails Creek. The refugees now quartered in the board tents left standing upon this ground, while the work of organizing them into com- panies, fitting them out with pilots and supplies necessary for their trip through Kentucky, could be accomplished.
Not long after Clift took possession of these tents, his numbers so increased that all attempts perhaps at secresy were thrown off; and the premises began to assume the appearances of a military camp, so much so, that the movement was soon interpreted by rebel citizens as in- cipient rebellion against the Confederate States. News of Clift's Union activities had been spreading for some time through the country; but the erection of this camp gave a new impetus to rebel fears, and the Confederate authorities at Chattanooga, Knoxville and other places thought it quite time to put a stop to the Lincolnite pro- ceedings on Sails Creek. Accordingly Capt. Snow of
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IN BRADLEY COUNTY, EAST TENNESSEE.
Hamilton, Captains Crawford and Guess of Rhea, and Capt. Rogers of Meigs, collectively commanding about three or four hundred men, were ordered to repair to Col. Clifts camp, and if they could not capture, disperse him and his men. This rebel force reached the vicinity of Clift's operations about the 15th of September, 1861. From cowardice or some other cause, the rebels did not make an immediate attack; but halted in Rhea county, at a place called "The Cross Roads," six or eight miles from Clifts' headquarters.
When it became known that this rebel force was ordered to dislodge Col. Clift, many of the leading Union men of Bradley and perhaps a few from other counties, some of whom had sons with Clift, knowing that he was in no condition to make a successful defence, and knowing also that he would not run, but would fight, if attacked, whether the chances were against him or not, thought proper to visit the scene of hostilities and lend their influ- ence to prevent an encounter which would doubtless occasion loss of life, and which could not, whatever the immediate result, benefit the Union cause in the end. These men reached the ground in time to confer with Clift, who, yielding to their advice took advantage of the delay of the rebels to attack him-broke up and vacated his camp, allowing his men to disperse, each one disposing of himself as he thought best. Immediately after this, and while the rebels were yet at "The Cross Roads," the rebel Assistant Inspector General of the State, James W. Gillispie, having been sent from Knoxville to superintend operations against Col. Clift, appeared on the ground. He arrived on the evening of the 18th, and being informed that the Union camp had already been voluntarily aban- doned, sought an interview with Col. Clift and his citizen councillors, endeavoring to extort a promise from them, that thereafter they would discourage all Union men in their respective communities from leaving their homes. and especially from going to the Federal Army. He also endeavored, particularly, to obtain a promise from Col. Clift, that he would not again allow his premises to be-
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HISTORY OF THE REBELLION
come the rendezvous for Union refugees ; and more par- ticularly still, that he would organize no more such camps as that he had just abandoned. Gen. Gillispie, however, found it no easy matter, notwithstanding the presence of three or four hundred rebel troops, to bring Col. Clift and these few Union men to subscribe to his terms.
They argued, that Union men not only had been, but were then being seized at their houses, and oppressively forced into the rebel armies, and compelled to fight against what they conscientiously felt to be their lawful Government, and for a cause which they as conscien- tiously believed to be treasonable-a cause that must ultimately fail and involve all connected with it in ruin. They contended that Union men had the same right to their political opinions, that rebels had to theirs, and while rebel recruiting officers, and the rebel soldiery were, at the point of the bayonet, compelling Union men to enter their ranks and fight the battles of the rebellion, it was right for these Union men to escape, in any way they could escape, to the Federal army or any where else. These arguments were too consistent, and were too forci- bly urged for Gen. Gillispie to make head against them altogether; and he found himself necessitated, before he could effect anything like a settlement on peaceable terms, to yield at last half the contested ground. He therefore obligated himself that Union men should there- after be unmolested and allowed to remain at their homes in peace-that under no circumstances, would the rebel authorities allow their soldiery to force them into the Con- federate ranks to fight against the Government of the United States. Accordingly, he drew up the following singular article of treaty stipulations, as obligatory upon both parties.
WHEREAS, the State of Tennessee has separated from the United States, by a vote of a large majority of the citizens of the State, and adopted the permanent Constitution of the Confederate States of America; and we, as members of the Union party, believing that it becomes necessary for us to make an election between the North and the South, and that our interests and sympathies and feelings are with our countrymen of the South, that any further divisions and dissentions among us, the citizens of East Tennessee, is only calcu-
.
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IN BRADLEY COUNTY, EAST TENNESSEE.
lated to produce war and strife among our homes and families. and desolation of the land, without any material influence upon the con- test between the North and the South.
We hereby agree, That we will in future conduct ourselves as peaceable and loyal citizens of the State of Tennessee, that we will oppose resistance or rebellion against the Constitution and laws of the State of Tennessee, and will use our influence to prevail upon our neighbors and acquaintances to co-operate with us in this behalf; We having been assured by the military authorities of the State, that no act of oppression will be allowed toward us or our families. whilst we con- tinue in the peaceable pursuits of our several domestic occupations. Sep- tember 19th, 1861.
The general wording of this document did not har- monize with the feelings, either of Col. Clift or any of his citizen advisers. They especially objected to that statement "our interests and sympathies and feelings are with our countrymen of the South." As this document, however, promised immunity to Union men from rebel oppression for the future, upon the authority of the Assis- tant Inspector General of the State, and as Gen. Gillispie was not disposed to yield more, having the power at hand to enforce his own measures; after a lengthened discus- sion, without fully committing themselves to the moral position it required of them, Col. Clift and his friends con- sented to the conditions of the treaty, promising that so far as hostile demonstrations were concerned, its terms, on their part, should be faithfully kept, so long as they were observed by the rebels ; and thus, the famous "Cross Roads Treaty," between Gen. Gillispie and Col. Clift ter- minated the first " Clift War."
When the news of this treaty reached Bradley, and the people became acquainted with its character, dissat- isfaction, or rather a disposition to ridicule it, was the result among Union men. Some were disposed to com- plain because Col. Clift and his friends had submitted to anything of the kind. But a few weeks transpired, how- ever, before it was discovered that "The Cross Roads . Treaty," though farcical enough at the beginning, was nevertheless resulting in considerable good. Gen. Gillis- pie, to his credit, no doubt intended that the provision of this agreement, on the part of the rebels, should be faith- fully kept, and exerted himself with the rebel authorities
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HISTORY OF THE REBELLION
to this end. Rebel abuses in Bradley were so manifestly checked for a season by "The Cross Roads Treaty" that many Union men were heard to say that it was the most fortunate thing for their side that had occurred since the rebellion commenced.
Should this page, at some future day, meet the eye of Gen. Gillispie, he will doubtless wonder at the accidents that preserved and finally gave publicity to his profound diplomatic stipulations upon Sails Creek.
THE SECOND CLIFT WAR.
Whatever were the efforts of certain individuals en- gaged in the rebellion to conduct it, so far as they were concerned, upon principles of justice, the fact that the great scheme was fundamentally wrong, made it impossi- ble for any of its parts long to remain untainted with the central wickedness.
"The Cross Roads " 'agreement, so far as Gen. Gillispie was concerned, proposed to secure something like justice to the Union people of the country, and to some extent for a short time had this effect. As the rebellion rose in its might, however, the obligations of this measure were swept away, and Union people soon became the subjects of the same persecutions as before; consequently they again attempted to save themselves by flight to the Northern army. The contract being thus broken by the rebels, Col. Clift felt himself released from its obligations, and immediately opened his house and offered his prem- ises again for the protection of Union refugees.
Upon this renewal of hostilities the refugees flocked in upon Clift in such numbers that he not only found his old camp ground on Sails Creek indispensable to their com- fort, but he was induced to institute a system of opera- tions entirely different from any by which he had previ- ously operated.
It was unnecessary in his opinion for Union people to fly to the North either for protection or for an opportu- nity to fight ; and acting upon this principle he proposed to organize his refugee friends into a regiment and pre-
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IN BRADLEY COUNTY, EAST TENNESSEE.
pare for defence, making his premises their base of opera- tions. Whether Col. Clift's plan was altogether approved or otherwise, many if not all that were with him yielded to his solicitations, and the result was that in a few days their camp had assumed quite a formidable appearance as a military post.
At this stage of the proceedings it was rumored that the notorious Wm. Snow, of Hamilton, with his gang of cut-throats, was quartered in a Methodist camp ground in the north-west part of Bradley, recruiting rebel soldiers, and, as usual, arresting Union men and pressing them into the rebel service. Ascertaining this report to be true, Clift proposed to lead his men against Snow, whom he thought it would be easy to dislodge if not capture, with his whole party. For want of arms or from some other cause, this enterprise, notwithstanding its impor- tance, as well as its practicability, was not undertaken, and Snow and his men, after desolating the country and abusing Union people to their satisfaction, left at their own convenience. Although Col. Clift's anxiety of offen- sive movements against Snow was not gratified, yet his diligence preparatory to defensive operations was not slackened, he and his men making the best of their time and means to strengthen their position. Clift's men, how- ever, were poorly armed, a deficiency which, in his locality and condition, it was difficult to supply. His genius, how- ever, when in a strait, was as strangely inventive as his spirit was brave; and he at once set to work to remedy the serious evil under which he labored. Procuring an old iron pipe, which, perhaps, had formerly been some part of a steam-engine, he improvised it into a heavy
ece of ordnance, and, in some way, mounted it behind his breastworks, in readiness to use as artillery in case of an attack. This novel invention, whether it could have been of any service in beating back an enemy or not, had the effect very much to enlarge the fame of Col. Clift as a warrior of determined spirit, and, also, once more to arouse the fears of the rebel authorities, and cause them 6
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HISTORY OF THE REBELLION
a second time to turn their attention to their old and vig- orous enemy on Sails Creek.
Accordingly, Col. Wood, of Chattanooga, commanding a regiment of Alabama troops, Captains Brown and Hard- wick, of Cleveland, Capt. McClellan, of Charleston, Brad- ley county, Capt. McClary, of Polk, Capt. Smith, of McMinn, Capt. McKinsey, of Meigs, with two other Cap- tains of home guards in Rhea county, with their com- mands, comprising a rebel force of fifteen hundred or two thousand men, were ordered to concentrate in the vicin- ity of Clift's operations, and, as soon as possible, make a descent upon his camp that would effectually silence an enemy that had entrenched himself in the very midst of the rebellion, defying the whole Confederacy, and one that had already given the rebel authorities in Tennessee so much trouble.
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