USA > Tennessee > Notable men of Tennessee, from 1833 to 1875, their times and their contemporaries > Part 8
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All in all the career of Judge Butler has in it something en- tirely unique .* 1
*Judge Butler died in the latter part of 1902.
ROBERT K. BYRD.
Bold Leader-Slaveholder-Born in Roane County-Farmer-Entered Into Agreement at Greeneville Convention to Raise Troops-The First Tennessee, Colonel Byrd.
THE boldest, most active, and the leading Union man in Roane County was Robert K. Byrd. He was not a speaker, though he did sometimes speak, but he was a busy and an earnest talker. Positive and confident in his opinions, he en- couraged the timid and gave firmness to the vacillating. His boldness and positiveness were a tower of strength in dealing with men in times of danger and alarm. During all the stormy days from December, 1860, till June, 1861-the period of doubt, of fear, of revolution-his clear voice was heard in denunciation of the parricidal crime of secession. A slaveholder himself, the taunting epithets, "Abolitionist," and "Lincolnite," so com- monly applied to Union men, had no terror for him. He went bravely and defiantly along the broad way of duty.
Mr. Byrd was born in Roane County, and was a farmer by occupation. In 1861 he was a member of the Knoxville-Greene- ville Convention. In the convention he entered into an agree- ment with Joseph A. Cooper, R. M. Edwards, E. Langley, and Samuel Honeycutt to go home and commence raising and drill- ing troops in their respective counties. In Roane County, two companies of "Home Guards" were raised, but whether or not by the direct action of Mr. Byrd I am unable to say. On the 9th of August, the State having previously voted in favor of separation and secession, he left home secretly, and by stealth made his way through the mountains to Kentucky, becoming an exile and a wanderer for the sake of his country. On his arrival in this land of refuge, he began enlisting men for the Federal Army among the refugees from East Tennessee, thousands of whom were then as if by common impulse pouring into Kentucky. Roane County, following his example, sent him hundreds, yea, a thousand or more, among them, August 11th, the brave Major H. Crumless, the friend of Byrd. In a month the First Tennessee Infantry, of which Mr. Byrd was made
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Colonel, was organized, he being the first Colonel of the thirty- one regiments which Tennessee furnished to the cause of the Union. Glorious title and distinction ! And every one of that regiment had to go to a sister State for the privilege of en- listing.
On his many battlefields-at Wildcat, at Mill Spring, in the capture of Cumberland Gap, at Stone River, in a fight with Wheeler at Kingston, in all the battles under Sherman in the immortal Georgia Campaign, and in many smaller engagements, often commanding brigades, bravely did Colonel Byrd sustain the high honor he had received, and the distinction won by the regiment of being the First Tennessee. In August, 1864, he left the army, after three years of continuous service in the field, without a stain upon his splendid record as a brave officer, or a spot upon his reputation as an honorable gentleman and a gallant soldier. He was always ready for a fight, and when en- gaged in one bore himself with the coolness and courage of one born to command.
Colonel Byrd married the daughter of Dr. James W. Lee. Mrs. Byrd was a woman of heroic spirit-worthy to be the wife of such a man. No one could look into her piercing eyes with- out recognizing that there was within her fragile form an un- conquerable will and a dauntless spirit. She was so pronounced in the advocacy of the Union, and so daring that in May, 1862, she was arrested by the Confederates as a dangerous enemy. By cunning and boldness she eluded her guards and made her way through the mountains into Kentucky, though they were guarded at every pass and everywhere patrolled by Confederate cavalry.
Colonel Byrd departed this life in 1885, deeply lamented by his friends. He was a large, powerful man, of military air and bearing. To this commanding appearance may be at- tributed in part his influence over men. Added to this he had great boldness and fearlessness. In him was combined every quality for leadership. His was a life of honor, three years of full maturity having been given to the defense of his country.
DANIEL A. CARPENTER.
Born in Kentucky-One of First Volunteer Soldiers-After Number of Engagements, Destroyed Mill at Cumberland Gap-Captured near Rogersville, Taken to Libby Prison and Charleston-Sheriff of Ander- son County-Mayor of Knoxville-Pension Agent-Receiver Southern Building and Loan Association-Natural Leader.
ONE of the influential Union leaders of East Tennessee in 1861 was Daniel A. Carpenter. Born in Rockcastle County, Kentucky, in 1837, he removed to Tennessee, 1857. He settled in Anderson County and went into the retail dry goods and grocery business in Clinton. When the troubles of 1861 came on he was an ardent Union man. In July of that year a notable meeting was held in Clinton at which Joseph A. Cooper, Car- penter, and a few other Union men resolved to go to Kentucky and enlist in the Union Army. They pledged one another that whatever might be the course of others, they would give their services to their country. Mr. Carpenter was sent to Kentucky to obtain information, and in a few days returned, having succeeded in obtaining the information desired. Early in August he again went to Kentucky, immediately joining the army. He was one of the earliest refugees from the State, and one of its first volunteer soldiers. He was made Ist Lieu- tenant in Co. C, 2d Tennessee Infantry, commanded by Joseph A. Cooper.
A year later the regiment was mounted, and Mr. Carpenter was made Adjutant, and in 1862 was promoted to be Major. Most of his service was in Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. He was at the battle of Wild Cat, Kentucky, in 1861; in the battle of Fishing Creek, Kentucky, in the winter of 1861 and 1862; took part in the battle of Stone River in 1862; returned to Kentucky, pursuing General Morgan on his famous raid through Indiana and Ohio; accompanied General Burnside on his march to East Tennessee in 1863; had charge of the advance guard from Williamsburg, Ky., to Lenoirs, on the Southern Railway; from Lenoirs to Loudon he skirmished with the enemy and saw the bridge which crossed the Tennessee
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River burned; returned to Knoxville, having charge of the advance guard from Knoxville to Cumberland Gap.
At this time about four thousand Confederates were in possession of Cumberland Gap or the fortifications at that place. General Burnside's command embraced both sides of the Gap, and completely inclosed the enemy. The question was how to procure a surrender without storming the strong forti- fications, or the delay of a siege. General Shackelford was in command of the Union forces on both sides of the mountain, General Burnside not yet having come up. Major Carpenter was sent into the Gap with a flag of truce to demand a sur- render, and he got far enough to discover that the fortifica- tions were about as they had been left by General George W. Morgan when he retreated from them a few months previous. He further learned from the Confederates that they were short of rations, and that all the corn and wheat they had for bread was stored in a mill situated within the fortifications and rifle pits. These facts Carpenter reported to General Shackelford, giving it as his opinion that a small force could enter the Gap at night, fire the mill, and thus destroy the supplies of the enemy. But in a council of the colonels, commanding the several regi- ments, with General Shackelford, this plan was rejected.
Afterward Major Carpenter proposed to General Shackel- ford to volunteer to go inside the fortifications and destroy the mill. This proposition was accepted, the General agreeing to detail, at the request of Carpenter, seventy-five men from the 2d Tennessee, and an equal number from the 9th Michigan Cavalry, with one section of H. Clay Crawford's Battery. The attempt was made and proved entirely successful; the mill and all its contents were destroyed, with the loss of only one man
and the wounding of another. Major Carpenter led his men in silence until he struck the pickets of the enemy, when, with a yell and a fusillade of musketry, and the rapid discharge of cannon stationed on Poor Valley Ridge, he rushed forward to the mill, which in a few minutes by means of lighted fagots was in a blaze. The pickets fled in consternation. The noise, the yells, the firing created the impression on the enemy that it was an attack by the whole army. In a brief while the mill was in ashes. Meantime, the enemy's artillery from all the over- hanging mountain was thundering forth peal after peal in a tempest of fury, emitting balls and terrific flames of fire.
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Major Carpenter, immediately after accomplishing his object, led his men back to camp. The conception of this daring plan, in all its details, originated with him, and he was the successful leader in executing it.
General Burnside arrived the next morning, and Major Car- penter was sent again with a flag of truce to demand the uncon- ditional surrender of the forces in the Gap. The demand was acceded to, and General Frazier, with four thousand men, marched out and laid down their arms.
Carpenter, with a large portion of his regiment, was cap- tured near Rogersville, Tenn., in November, 1863. The pri- vates were sent to Belle Isle and the officers to Libby prison. Here he remained six months, when he was sent to Macon, Ga. After remaining there about one month, he and forty-nine other officers, the highest in rank held by the Confederates, were sent to Charleston, and placed under the fire of Federal guns, com- manded by General Foster, who was then shelling that city. There was no exchange of prisoners at that time. General Foster had an equal number of Confederate prisoners brought from the North, and notified General Beauregard, who was then in command, that if he continued to keep the Federal officers in a position where their lives were endangered, he (Foster) would place the Confederate officers on board of monitors and attack the land batteries. General Beauregard replied that in that case he would place the Federal officers he held on the parapets of the fortifications, and if they were fired on, it would be at their peril. Correspondence was then renewed between the governments, by which an agreement was reached that the fifty Confederate officers should be exchanged for the fifty Federal officers, which exchange was accordingly made.
Major Carpenter, after his release in October, 1864, re- turned to his former home and again went into business. In 1866 he was elected sheriff of Anderson County. He was ap- pointed Collector of Internal Revenue by President Johnson, 1867, with headquarters at Knoxville, and removed at once to Knox County.
In 1887 he was appointed U. S. Pension Agent by President Cleveland, to fill the unexpired term of Governor Robert L. Taylor, and was reappointed by Mr. Cleveland under his second administration. In 1876 and again in 1877, Major Carpenter was elected Mayor of Knoxville.
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During the administration of Governor Turney, Major Car- penter was one of his staff officers, with the rank of Inspector General, serving four years.
On the failure of the Southern Building and Loan Associa- tion Major Carpenter was appointed receiver by the Chan- cellor at Knoxville and wisely managed its complicated affairs, extending over most of the Southern States and embracing over two million dollars assets.
In the public trusts held by Major Carpenter his conduct has been marked by the highest intelligence, capacity, and honesty. Few men have held so many responsible positions and left them with so spotless a record.
He is a man of positive convictions, with the courage at all times to speak what he thinks. In conversation he is im- pressive. His frankness, his sincerity, his power of clear think- ing and of plainly and earnestly expressing himself, gave him a marked influence over his neighbors in 1861, when their minds were taking shape in reference to the dissolution of the Union. Daniel A. Carpenter is a natural leader, and was born to com- mand. I have never known one more so. Voice, eye, indomitable determination at once give him ascendency. His courage, too, inspires and awes, and withal he is a kind, good citizen. His reputation is one of which any man may be proud.
ALFRED M. CATE.
In Army-Personally Popular-Actor in Bridge Burning-Escaped to Kentucky-Member of Legislature.
THERE was no better Union man than Alfred M. Cate. His loyalty was manifested both by words and deeds. He proved it by fleeing from a government he hated, becoming a fugitive and an exile, entering the army, and giving three years of his life to the service of his country.
Alfred M. Cate was born in McMinn County, Tennessee, in 1822, and died September 13, 1871. His father was Elijah Cate, and his mother Nettie D. Cate, both of Jefferson County. Mr. Cate's family is large in East Tennessee and exceedingly respectable. In 1861, when the question of secession was agi- tating the minds of men he was an earnest and bitter opponent of that revolutionary scheme. He was active and unceasing in his opposition, and exerted a large influence in that behalf. His personal popularity and his pleasing address were potent factors in behalf of the Union. By reason of this influence he was largely instrumental in fixing Union sentiments so deeply in the minds of the people of his county that they could never be shaken.
In November, 1861, Mr. Cate was a conspicuous actor in burning the railroad bridges in lower East Tennessee. It will be remembered that this daring project originated in the fertile brain of W. B. Carter of Carter County, that it had the official endorsement of Mr. Lincoln, Mr. Stanton, Secretary of War, and of General Mcclellan, commanding the armies of the United States; and that its execution was entrusted solely to Mr. Carter. The plan contemplated the simultaneous destruction of all the railroad bridges in East Tennessee, together with the long bridge over the Tennessee River at Bridgeport, Ala.
The destruction of the bridges in lower East Tennessee was entrusted to Alfred M. Cate, a most wise selection. These were the bridges at Bridgeport, Ala., over the Tennessee, two bridges over Chickamauga Creek, one on the road leading from Atlanta to Chattanooga, one on the East Tennessee and Georgia
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railroad, and one over the Hiwassee River on the last-named road. The burning of the bridge at Bridgeport was intrusted by Mr. Cate to R. B. Rogan and James D. Keener. At the time appointed they repaired to the bridge, but finding it strongly guarded by Confederate soldiers, they were compelled to abandon their design. The destruction of the two bridges over Chickamauga Creek was intrusted to W. T. Cate, a brother of A. M. Cate, and to W. H. Crowder, who were completely suc- cessful in their work and escaped without being detected. Mr. A. M. Cate reserved for himself the burning of the larger bridge over the Hiwassee, and the more hazardous undertaking, because it connected two villages situated on the opposite sides of the river, thereby greatly enhancing the danger of detection. He se- lected as his associates in this daring enterprise Adam Thomas, Jesse F. Cleveland and his son Eli, and Thomas L. Cate, a brother of the leader. All of these men are now dead except Thomas L. Cate, who resides at Cleveland, Tenn., nearing the close of a well-spent life, respected and honored for his virtues and uprightness by a host of friends throughout East Tennessee.
The party headed by A. M. Cate was completely successful. They destroyed the Hiwassee bridge, and returned to their homes without leaving behind the slightest trace by which they could be identified. They were never suspected, and for nearly thirty-five years the mystery of the destruction of these three bridges remained as a secret of the grave. Their neighbors and most intimate friends, even the Union men, meeting them on the streets every day, were no wiser than the Con- federate authorities who employed every means and device to ferret out and run them down. Mr. Cate and his associates must have employed admirable skill and cunning in hiding all traces of their tracks. It was well for them that they were guided by a discreet and wise leader, that they were not detected and arrested, for the fury of the Confederates broke out in such a storm of rage that they would as certainly have been hanged as Hensie and Fry were hanged at Greeneville, and as Haun and the two Harmons were at Knoxville. The wild- est and the most unreasonable excitement prevailed throughout East Tennessee. The prisons were filled with arrested men. Five men were hanged, and hundreds, perhaps a thousand, sent South without trial, and nearly every one of them on mere suspicion, to languish in filthy prisons, some of them to die.
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Mr. Cate, realizing his danger from the outburst of wrath his acts and those of his confederates had created in the country, left his home on the 14th of November, 1861, with about twenty well-armed men, with the view of escaping to the Federal lines in Kentucky. At twelve o'clock that night, before reaching a small Union organization gotten up by William Clift, he was informed that about 1400 Confederate soldiers were approach- ing from different directions to destroy Clift and himself. Hav- ing no sufficient force with which to meet this array against them, Clift and Cate allowed their followers to disperse in the mountains. He himself sought shelter in cliffs and caves, where all his comrades deserted him. He remained there eight days, in bitter cold weather, changing location from cave to cave as safety demanded, seeing squads of soldiers searching for him every day.
Mr. Cate then returned to his home secretly and came very near being arrested. He then set out stealthily for Kentucky, and was forty days and forty nights on the way, traveling over three hundred miles on his second trip, arriving at Sommer- set in January, 1862-after nearly two months of wandering and hiding in the hills and mountains since he left his home in November.
Of the hardships incident to the flight of the twice ten thousand Union refugees from East Tennessee, but few suf- fered more, or showed a higher courage than A. M. Cate. On his arrival in Kentucky he was made a Captain and appointed Commissary, and finally became such in Brigadier-General James G. Spears' Brigade. He remained in the army three years, making a faithful, capable, and honest officer.
In 1865 Mr. Cate, having become a citizen of Hamilton County, was elected to a seat in the Legislature as a State Senator, and in 1867 he was re-elected. This was the recon- struction period of the State, and many important and exciting questions came before the body for consideration. Mr. Cate performed his duty in this and the succeeding Legislature with wisdom and fidelity, shrinking from no duty.
He was a brave and conscientious citizen and public servant, highly esteemed by those who knew him, on account of his in- tegrity and many noble qualities. He was public spirited, and by his fine sense and shrewdness contributed to the public wel- fare. It was a great misfortune that he died so young.
WILLIAM BLOUNT CARTER.
Great-grandson of John Carter-Washington College and Princeton- Church at Rogersville - Whig-Interview with Lincoln, Seward, McClellan-Bridge Burning-Member of 3d Knoxville-Greeneville Con- vention-Pocahontas Blood.
WILLIAM BLOUNT CARTER, the subject of this sketch, and one of the noted Union leaders of East Tennessee in 1861, was born in Carter County, September 15, 1820. He was a great-grand- son of John Carter, the President of the Council of Five, which administered the celebrated Watauga Association for a number of years with signal success. John Carter was a Virginian, and is believed to have been a Cavalier by descent. The Carter family was both numerous and prominent in Virginia long before the Revolution. John Carter was one of the first settlers on the Watauga, and from his advent became a leading spirit in that infant community. From that day to the present time the Carter family has exercised a leading, at times a supreme, influence in Carter County. By intermarriage the Carters and the Taylors-the descendants of General Nathaniel Taylor- became related, and for three-fourths of a century the influ- ence of these two families dominated that county. With wealth and education, they had more than average capacity, and were, as a rule, guided by high principles. Nathaniel Taylor, the founder of the house in Tennessee, was a Scotch Covenanter- commonly called Scotch-Irish. He was not one of the original settlers, but came at a later day. He served in the War of 1812, and was a Colonel in the battle of New Orleans, winning distinction and promotion by his bravery. From him all the Carter County Taylors are descended. It has always been understood that through Elizabeth McLin, the wife of Landon Carter, a son of John, the Carter and Taylor families inherited the blood of the celebrated Pocahontas of Virginia. Many members of these two families show in their complexion signs of foreign blood. Many of the men have been remarkable for their striking appearance, and the women for their beauty. A certain delicate carving of the nose and chin, and an elegance
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of face and person, gave evidence of the highest type of man- hood and womanhood. William B. Carter, the uncle of the subject of this sketch-the President of the Constitutional Con- vention of Tennessee in 1834 and three times a member of Congress-was one of the handsomest men of his day. Major General Samuel P. Carter, of the Federal Army in the late Civil War, and later an Admiral in the Navy, was an un- usually handsome man. The Rev. Nathaniel G. Taylor, the father of Governor Robert L. Taylor and Hon. A. A. Taylor, -twice a member of Congress,-was distinguished in appear- ance.
William B. Carter, at an early age, was destined by his fond parents for the Presbyterian ministry. He attended Washing- ton College, Tennessee, then went to Princeton, where he finished his course in the literary and the theological departments. Returning to Tennessee early in the forties, he took charge of a church at Rogersville, where he remained a number of years. Finally, on account of ill health, he surrendered his charge, gave up active work in the ministry, and returned to his old home in Carter County, where he devoted himself to the manage- ment of his father's estate, consisting mostly of farms. The Civil War of 1861 found him thus engaged.
As a minister, Mr. Carter was faithful and able. His ser- mons evinced research and learning, were weighty with thought, and pervaded by intense earnestness. Clear-cut and pointed, they went directly home to the minds and hearts of men. While he employed few graces of rhetoric, his style was remarkably terse, compact, and lucid, and he made men think by the force of his own thoughts.
The Carters and the Taylors had all been Whigs in politics. When the contest of 1860-61 came on, Mr. Carter naturally espoused the cause of the Union, and as he was a man of posi- tive opinions, he gave the Union no half-hearted support. He entered into its defense with all the energy and intensity of determined conviction. When secession swept over the South, carrying State after State into the fatal vortex, finally threatening Tennessee, Mr. Carter took the stump to help arrest its progress, appealing to his neighbors and his countrymen in behalf of the old government with an earnestness and ability surpassed by few men of the Union leaders. Impressive in manner, the occasion and the profound magnitude of the issues
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involved lent additional solemnity to the warning that fell from his lips, and with all the intensity of an ancient oracle or a He- brew prophet he pointed out the evils to be avoided.
On the topic of secession Mr. Carter was bitter and uncom- promising. When the State voted by a large majority in June in favor of linking its destiny with that of the Southern Con- federacy, he remained unconvinced and defiant. In the Greene- ville Convention, which assembled after the result of that elec- tion was known, he gave his support to the most extreme measures proposed in that body. Being defeated in his policy in that Convention, soon after its adjournment he started North, being perhaps the second refugee from his home. He conceived in his own prolific mind, precisely at what date it is impossible to tell, a daring scheme for the relief of East Ten- nessee. This was the simultaneous destruction, by fire, of all the railroad bridges in East Tennessee, on the Memphis & Charles- ton, the Atlantic & Western, the East Tennessee & Georgia, and on the East Tennessee & Virginia roads, including the bridge over the Tennessee River at Bridgeport, Ala. These roads constituted the main line, in the middle South and South- west for the transportation of troops and supplies from those regions to the Confederate troops in Virginia, and were there- fore of vital importance to the South. In September, 1861, Mr. Carter went to Washington, where, having secured an audience with Mr. Lincoln, Mr. Seward, and General Mcclellan, he laid his plans before them. With his persuasive manner, and his forcible speech, he won them over to his views. The President and the General in command became warmly interested in the project, promising the co-operation of an army to seize and hold the railroads immediately after the bridges should be burned. Both Mr. Lincoln and General Mcclellan wrote to the Federal commander in Kentucky urging the importance of an independent military expedition into East Tennessee simultaneously with the destruction of the bridges.
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