USA > Tennessee > The loyalists of Tennessee in the late war : a paper read before the Ohio Commandery of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, April 6, 1887 > Part 2
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After the organization of the first two or three regiments of loyal Tennesseeans, recruiting officers made frequent trips into East Tennessee, carrying on their operations in a clandestine way. It was a hazardous piece of business, in which not a few lost their liberties, and some their lives. While on such an expedition, Captain Spencer Deaton was arrested. He was charged with being a spy, of which he was innocent, and taken to Richmond, where he was con- demned and hung. Captain David Fry took hundreds of men across the mountains, and spent some time in a Con- federate prison. Captain Shade T. Harris was arrested and kept in prison until he became a mere shadow of his former self. Seth Lea, an old man of more than three score years, was arrested while carrying mails from the soldiers to their friends.at home, and was confined for more than a year in Confederate prisons. The list might be multiplied by scores. I myself had a brief experience as a recruiting officer in the enemy's country. It was in the fall of 1862, soon after General Geo. W. Morgan had been forced to retreat from Cumberland Gap, an event very discouraging to the East Tennessee soldiers in the field and to their friends at home. Starting from Louisville, Ky., after passing Crab Orchard, I traveled on foot to a point near Knoxville, more than one hundred miles, almost the entire distance after night. In about ten days after my arrival in that vicinity, the Confederate authorities having been informed of my whereabouts, a squad of cavalry was sent out to accomplish my arrest. While sitting in my father's house one afternoon, five of them rode up to the gate. A sister responded to their call, and their first inquiry showed her what they wanted, and at the same time that they were not fully posted as to the precise locality of their game. She
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gave them a misleading answer, and they soon rode on. While they were talking with her, I wast hinking rapidly. Being well armed, I had determined that I would not be arrested to be taken to a Southern prison-perhaps to the gallows-without fighting ; and I was sure that in a fight the casualties on their side would be greater than on mine, as they were exposed, while I was under cover. Thanks to a sister's promptness in grasping the situation, and tact in its management, the test did not come. After being gone a short time, the Confederate soldiers returned and searched the house from cellar to garret ; but the humble object of their search had found it convenient to be elsewhere. The attempted arrest interfered somewhat with the recruiting scheme, but nothing more. I soon recrossed the mountains and rejoined my regiment at Murfreesboro, just after the battle of Stone River, fully satisfied to leave recruiting to others who might have a taste for that kind of work.
I have incidentally alluded to the private mail line estab- lished between the soldiers in the field and their friends within the Confederate lines. The recruiting officers often carried such mails. They were known as " pilots," from the fact that they piloted the Union refugees across the mountains. But some men made it a business, and often the East Tennessee soldier paid a greenback dollar note for carrying a letter to his wife, mother, or sweetheart in "Dixie." This would now be considered a high rate of postage, but the men who carried the letters earned every dollar they received. It was a perilous thing to do, and required the exercise of wisdom as well as courage.
The day of relief came at last. In July, 1863, General Sanders, with a force of mounted men, crossed the moun- tains, and penetrated as far south as Knoxville. Consterna- tion seized hold of the Confederates-the Union men were greatly rejoiced. In the September following, General Burn- side, at the head of a gallant command, entered Knoxville, and there was rejoicing everywhere. Old men and women wept for joy when they once more beheld the flag they
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loved proudly borne aloft by men who were their friends. The name of Burnside is still held in reverence by a large number of people in East Tennessee, and up to the day of his death he had their sympathies in his every movement and aspiration. The sympathies and aid of these people were of great service to him when he and his troops were gallantly resisting the approach of General Longstreet to Knoxville, and especially when they were being besieged within the narrow limits of that city. Hundreds of the brave men who participated in that memorable campaign never saw their Northern homes again. More than three thousand of them sleep in the national cemetery at Knox- ville, and from the windows of my home I look out every day upon the flag which floats over the sacred city of the dead, and see the white stones which mark the spot where their ashes repose, far from kindred and friends. On some of these the names of deceased patriots are inscribed, while others have lost their identity in the confusion in- cident to war, and their names are unknown. They were from Obio, Indiana, Illinois, and elsewhere. These East Tennessee people have not forgotten that they died for freedom's cause, and in defense of their homes. On each 30th day of May, following a beautiful custom, while the graves of soldiers everywhere in the Union are being decorated with nature's sweetest and choicest offerings. the people of East Tennessee leave their farms, shops. offices, factories, and counting rooms ; gather together on the spot where sleep the nation's dead; and fair hands strew beautiful flowers upon the graves of the men who died that they and their children might be free-that the Government might be saved and the Union of States for- ever perpetuated. Though they sleep far from homes made disconsolate by their absence, they are nevertheless in the midst of friends, who take a mournful pleasure in paying tribute to their memory.
No history of the great civil war is complete that does not contain a chapter devoted to the noble, patriotic women
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of America. One of our most popular American poets has said :
" The wife who girds her husband's sword, 'Mid little ones who weep or wonder, And bravely speaks the cheering word, What though her heart be rent asunder, Doomed nightly in her dreams to hear The bolts of death around him rattle, Hath shed as sacred blood as e'er Was poured upon the field of battle !
The mother who conceals her grief While to her breast her son she presses,
Then breathes a few brave words and brief, Kissing the patriot brow she blesses,
With no one but her secret God To know the pain that weighs upon her,
Sheds holy blood as e'er the sod Received on freedom's field of honor !"
When the first six regiments of Tennessee loyal troops organized, were compelled to turn their backs upon the homes they loved, and retreat from Cumberland Gap in the fall of 1862, it appeared as if all were lost. The com- mand under General George W. Morgan fell back to the Ohio River, and was for a few weeks on Ohio soil. There are hundreds of them yet living, who can never forget the cheering words of welcome and encouragement spoken, and the kind deeds done by the patriotic women of the Buckeye State. God only knows what the wives, mothers, and sisters of men who braved the perils and hardships of war did endure. The sufferings and sacrifices of those of East Tennessee were beyond description. A majority of the men were plain farmers, and I know of instances where wives were left with from three to six children. for whom they not only made bread, but spun and wove the cloth for their clothing, and then cut and made it into gar- ments. This was kept up in many instances for two years, up to the time of General Burnside's entry into East Ten- nessee. After that the soldiers could send their money home to be used in support of their families ; before, it would have been in the nature of treason to use the green-
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back money if they could have had it. It is no wonder - that the approach of General Burnside with his boys in blue brought tears of joy to the eyes of so many thousands of these East Tennessee women.
In a section where the people were divided upon such a question at such a time, bitter strife might of course be ex- pected, and fatal feuds. As a result, excesses were committed on both sides. Many thrilling stories might be told of the times, showing that truth is stranger sometimes than fiction." In the summer of 1861, it was generally rumored among the loyal people that the goverment had deposited arms at Cincinnati, or somewhere in Kentucky, for the use of such loyalists of East Tennessee as might choose to enlist in the Union Army. Communication by mail with the loyal States had been cut off, so that there was no means of verifying this rumor except by a special messenger sent over for that purpose. A gentleman who afterward became a field officer in one of the Tennessee regiments decided to go and see for himself. He crossed the Cumberland Mountains one night at an unfrequented place, on horseback. The next morning, as he was riding down Elk Valley, now traversed by the Knoxville & Ohio Rail- road, he passed by a number of persons at work on the public highway. He knew some of them, and, stopping his horse, held a brief conversation. Most of them were Union men, but among them was one rebel, who grew insolent, and while not addressing himself directly to the gentleman in question, swore that if he could have his way, Union men riding about the country where they had no business would be "hung up to the limb of a tree." The hero of my story, who is a proud spirited man, was stung to the quick, and his first impulse was to draw his revolver, shoot the man who had wantonly insulted him, and then make his escape to the Union lines. The Confederate troops were stationed near, and he quickly reflected that, while he could be easily revenged, others might become involved, and a whole community perhaps suffer. So he
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took no notice of the insult and rode on, but swore in his heart that time at last would " set all things even."
His mission across the mountains was successful, and in a few weeks he, with hundreds of others, recrossed and entered the Union Army. He became adjutant of his regiment, which was one of the first organized. The follow- ing spring a detachment of his own regiment and two companies of Kentucky cavalry went over into Powell's Valley as a reconnoitering party. As they came upon Jacksboro, théy surprised a detachment of Confederate cavalry, and charged upon them. Just the day before, he had come into possession of a strong and spirited horse. He started to charge with the cavalry, and by some means the curb-chain of his bridle was broken and his horse became unmanageble. He went dashing on, and was soon considerably ahead of the cavalry and rapidly gaining upon the Confederates. Two Confederate officers dropped behind, and the adjutant drew his revolver and began firing upon them. After firing four out of the six shots of his revolver at them, one of the officers, who afterward proved to be a surgeon, reined his horse aside, threw up his hands, and surrendered. Still pursuing the other, and his horse rapidly gaining upon him, he reserved his fire until, when only a few rods away, he took deliberate aim and fired ; but the officer rode on apparently unhurt. He had only one shot left, and he could see that in a moment he would pass the object of his pursuit, who would then have the advantage of him. So he made up his mind to reserve his final shot until in the act of passing the Confederate officer. when he thought he could make sure work of it. As he was about to fire again, he noticed blood running out of the officer's throat, and could see that he was seriously wounded. And the strange part of the story is, he saw that it was Captain G- who had insulted him in Elk Valley less than a year before. The adjutant was avenged after the cir- cumstances had doubtless passed out of his mind. He is a brave man, and did what he could to make the last hours of
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his dying antagonist as comfortable as possible. But the story does not end here. He was promoted, and became major of his regiment. In one of the numerous engage- ments in East Tennessee, in 1863, he and a large part of his regiment were captured. He was sent off to Libby Prison in Richmond. He received orders one morning to report to the commandant of the prison. Obeying. he was asked his name and regiment, and on replying, was asked further if he-did not murder Captain G- near Jacksboro in the spring of 1862. Being a frank man, he told the whole truth. He was sent back to his quarters, and never heard of the matter again. He is yet living, a leading business man and universally respected.
Hundreds of Union men fell martyrs to the cause, as dear to them as life itself. Some were killed outright. while Thornburgh, Pickens, Trewhitt, and a score of others died in Southern prisons. At the end of the four years of terrible strife there was scarcely a household that did not mourn over a vacancy in the home circle, or the loss of a near and dear friend. The ugly wounds made by the hands of "grim-visaged war" in this section healed slower. and unsightly scars were visible longer, than in other parts of the country, where the people were either all for the Union or all for the rebellion. But, happily, the bloody chasm has been bridged over, and the men who wore the blue live fraternally with the men who wore the gray. Peace has come hand in hand with prosperity, and in this goodly land, which was the scene of so much strife. there are none left to color with rage or turn pale with fear, when it is said " the Yankees are coming." In those days every one who wore the blue was, in the vernacular of the period, a " Yankee." Not a few who went down there during the war remained with us, and many others have made their homes there since. At one time, many of us longed to see them come, while others stood ready to wel- come them "with open arms to hospitable graves." Now all want the " Yankee " to come, whether from the land of
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" baked beans," or from the great pushing, driving, rest- less Northwest ; and the more of him the better. The flag that he followed, thanks to his prowess, patriotism, and perseverance, is our flag, and his country is our country. Now, instead of the flashing flames from burning cottages, log cabins, and more pretentious homes, which lit up the hills and valleys of this "Switzerland of America," we can show a far more pleasing picture. We can show dense clouds of black smoke curling aloft from hundreds of smoke-stacks, that mark the location of busy manufac- turing establishments, the products of which are the con- tributions of the New South to the Nation's wealth. The sullen roar of artillery on bloody fields where hostile armies meet in deadly conflict; the shouts of contending foes mingled with the rattle of musketry; the ominous crack of the assassin's rifle and the shrieks of his victim, are sounds no longer heard. The music which now greets our ears every hour in the day and night is the shrill whistle of the locomotive, the ponderous blows of the trip- hammer, the clinking of the quarryman's drill, the rattle of looms, and the hum of thousands of spindles, making a grand melody which brings perpetual gladness to the hearts of the children of men. Time works great changes, and the people of whom I have spoken are perhaps losing something of their individuality, and becoming more cos- mopolitan in their character. Many who participated in the stirring events of the war period have gone into bivouac with the silent battalions on the other shore. As the years go by, others will answer to the roll-call of the pale mes- senger, until not one will be left to tell the story of anxious days and sleepless nights, and of that long deferred hope which maketh sick the hearts of men.
But the events of this most eventful period in American history have been told time and again, around hundreds of firesides, and are still being repeated to youthful but ever interested listeners. The spirit which animated fathers and mothers in the trying times of the past, is impressed
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upon the children ; and if in the future the flag of our restored Union should be insulted, or the liberties of the people threatened, strong men will be found in these mountain homes ready to respond to their country's call, to follow where duty leads, and to make any sacrifice neces- sity demands, in defense of freedom, justice, and equality.
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