McClellan to Buell, Jan. 13, 1862. VII., p. 547. Buell to Jan. 13, 1862. W. R. Vol. VII., p. 548. and may force Johnston to detach. Its political CHAP. IV. If there be a question among military experts as to the momentary feasibility or local value of this East Tennessee movement, there can be none when considered in its influence and relation to the whole great theater of war. A glance at the map, and a study of attendant circumstances, can leave no doubt that it was entirely possible to have seized and held the mountain region of Eastern Tennessee, and that such an occupation would have been a severance of the rebel Confederacy, almost as Ibid., W. R. CHAP. IV. complete and damaging to its military strength as 1861. Branner to Nov. 9, 1881. W. R. Vol. IV., p. 231. the opening of the Mississippi. If, also, there had been any doubt about the earnestness of the Union sentiment of the people of Eastern Tennessee, events soon developed ample proofs of their patriotism and devotion to the Government. The reader will remember the transmittal of arms and ammunition by Nelson and Carter, and the formation of secret military organizations by the bolder Unionists. Rumors and promises of the coming of a Union army also reached them from time to time in such form as to excite their hope and measurably inspire their reliance. Had General Thomas been permitted to march his column to Cumberland Gap and Knoxville, as he desired, about the first of November, his presence would have been favored by extraordinary events. Startling news reached the rebel Secretary of War on the 9th of November. "Two large bridges," telegraphed a railroad president, " on my road were burned last night about twelve o'clock; also one bridge on the East Tennessee and Georgia Railroad at the same time, and an effort made to burn the largest bridge on my road. There is great excitement along the whole line of road and evidence that the Union party are organizing and preparing to destroy or take possession of the whole line from Bristol to Chattanooga." Two days later the commanding officer at Knoxville wrote further details. "My fears, expressed to you by letters and dispatches of the 4th and 5th instants, have been realized by the destruction of no less than five railroad bridges: two on the East Tennessee and Virginia road, one on the East Tennessee and Wood to Cooper, Nov. 11, 1861. W. R. Georgia road, and two on the Western and Atlan- CHAP. IV. Vol. IV., pp. 236, 237. CHAP. IV. Carter County, some 1200 or 1500 men, armed with a motley assortment of guns, in open defiance of the Confederate States of America, and who are awaiting a movement of the Federal troops from Kentucky to march forward and take possession of the railroad. These men are gathered up from three or five counties in this region, and comprise the Jefferson hostile Union element of this section, and never will be appeased, conciliated, or quieted in a Southern IV., p. 239. Confederacy." Graham to Davis, Nov. 12, 1861. W. R. Vol. To these appeals from persons of local prominence, Governor Harris of Tennessee added his earnest entreaty. "The burning of railroad bridges in East Tennessee shows a deep-seated spirit of rebellion in that section. Union men are organizing. 1861. W. R. This rebellion must be crushed out instantly, the Harris to Vol. IV., p. 240. Benjamin leaders arrested and summarily punished." The Richmond authorities were not slow to respond. Two regiments from Memphis and another from Pensacola were ordered to East Tennessee in all haste, with such miscellaneous companies and fragments as could be gathered up nearer the scene of disturbance. "Troops are now moving to Branner, to East Tennessee to crush the traitors," tele1861. W. R. graphed the rebel Secretary of War; "you shall be amply protected." There is little need to relate the quick and unsparing movements by the Confederate troops against the Union combinations. The uprising seems to have been ill-advised and ill-concerted. Unsupported as it was by Federal forces, the hasty gatherings of the loyalists were quickly dispersed, and many of the participants captured.1 Nov. 13, Vol. IV., p. 243. 1 The following extract from a "at the instance of a number of letter written by a Confederate, leading citizens, together with The course of the Richmond Government towards CHAP. IV. the East Tennessee "traitors," however, deserves to be remembered. In the eyes of Jefferson Davis "treason" to the Union was a holy duty, while "treason" to their usurpation was deserving of exemplary punishment, which in this instance was ordered with apparent relish. "I am very glad," telegraphed the Confederate Secretary of War, "to hear of the action of the military authorities, and hope to hear they have hung every bridge-burner at the end of the burned bridge." many officers of the army," to induce the Confederate Government to relax the extreme rigor of its East Tennessee policy, may probably be accepted as fair evidence of the transaction it describes : "Colonels Leadbetter and Vance moved their commands into that portion of the State bordering on the Virginia and Kentucky line, while General Carroll and Colonel Wood moved from the west in the direction of Chattanooga and Knoxville. Scouting parties were sent out in every direction, who arrested hundreds suspected of disloyalty, and incarcerated them in prison, until almost every jail in the eastern end of the State was filled with poor, ignorant, and, for the most part, harmless men, who had been guilty of no crime, save that of lending a too-credulous ear to the corrupt demagogues whose counsels have led them astray. Among those thus captured were a number of bridgeburners. These latter were tried and promptly executed. The rigorous measures adopted by the military commanders here struck still greater terror into those who had before been Union men, and to Ramsay, Benjamin Vol. VII., Young to Currin, Dec. 19, 1861. W. R. Vol. VII., pp. 777, 778. |