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The Civil War in the Upper Cumberland Plateau: Effects on Local Residents

A guide for teachers and others on the major themes and events related to the Civil War in Fentress, Morgan, Pickett, & Scott counties, TN, and McCreary County, KY. Covers military and civilian perspectives.

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The Civil War in the Upper Cumberland Plateau: Effects on Local Residents

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  1. The Civil War in the Upper Cumberland Plateau, Including Effects on the Local Residents: A Guide for Teachers and Others Presentation by Dr. W. Stephen McBride Kentucky Archaeological Survey, University of Kentucky In cooperation with the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area 2012

  2. Basic Project Goals and Structure • Provide a Teacher Guide covering the major themes and events related to the Civil War in Fentress, Morgan, Pickett, & Scott counties, TN, and McCreary County, KY • Focus is not just on military events but also the effects on and responses by the Civilian population • Please contact the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area for a more detailed printed guide to go along with this PowerPoint.

  3. Nine Themes Identified Theme I. The Secession Crisis Theme 2. Military Occupation Theme 3. Military Enlistment Theme 4. Large Battles/Campaigns Theme 5. Skirmishes Theme 6. Guerrilla warfare Theme 7. Other Effects on and Responses by Civilians Theme 8. The End of Slavery Theme 9. Post-War, Long Term Effects

  4. Study Area During the Civil War

  5. Theme 1. The Secession Crisis • Following election of Lincoln, Republican (Abolitionist Platform), 7 states secede between Dec. 1860 and Feb 1861 (SC, GA, FL, AL, MS, LA, TX). • They explicitly state that protection of slavery is the reason for secession. • Following April, 1861 SC attack on Fort Sumter and Lincoln’s Call to Arms, 4 more states secede (TN, ARK, VA, NC).

  6. In Kentucky….. • Never secedes. • Gov. Beriah Magoffin declares the state neutral after Call to Arms, but Pro-Union Legislature elected in July, 1861 and Sept. 1861 overturns this policy and Magoffin resigns. • Kentucky is one of 4 slave states to remain in the Union (with Maryland, Missouri, and Delaware).

  7. In Tennessee…. • Voters defeated referendum supported by pro-secession Gov. Isham Harris on whether to call a secession convention in Feb 1861. • After Fort Sumter, legislative approved ordinance calling for secession in May 1861. • June 1861 – voters approved it (No Convention) • Tennessee Upper Cumberland Counties – most voted against convention in Feb 1861 and against secession in June 1861.

  8. And Scott Co. sends petition to secede from Tennessee. It is Ignored.

  9. Theme 2. Military Occupation In Kentucky… • Intermittent Union Army Occupation by small forces in Upper Cumberland Plateau. Pro-Union Home Guard organized. Protect border, watch for Confederate invasion. • Some US recruitment camps set up nearby. Camp Clio, Pulaski County. • Harassment of Pro-Confederate citizens and curtailment of trade with Tennessee. • Before Battle of Mill Springs, Dec. 61- Jan. 62, large Confederate force in Pulaski and Wayne Counties • After Knoxville Campaign of August-Sept. 1863, some Union occupation, but area seen as backwater. Still some effects as soldiers take livestock and goods.

  10. In Tennessee… • Confederate Occupation July 1861 (District of East Tennessee, Zollicoffer, Kirby Smith, Buckner at Knoxville) until Aug-Sept 1863. CSA recruitment camps at Travisville and Overton Co. • Small forces guarding border, suppressing Pro-Union activities, arresting Pro-Union leaders, raiding Pro-Union farms. Suppressed local government and services, since controlled by Pro-Unionists. • Most Upper Cumberland and E. Tenn. population Pro-Union. • November 1861. Pro-Union men under William Carter burn 7 of 9 railroad bridges. Leads to martial law and crackdown on Pro-Union citizens. Supposed to be pre-cursor to Union invasion, but it was called off by Gen. Wm. Sherman in Kentucky. • Lincoln wanted to capture Pro-Union E. Tennessee since the beginning of the war.

  11. Executed Bridge Burners

  12. Mid Nov. 1861 – 3565 Confederate under Zollicoffer camped at Wartburg, Nov. 22-24, left for Kentucky, Battle of Mill Springs January 19, 1862. • March 1862 – Andrew Johnson appointed U.S. Military Governor of Tennessee after Battle of Fort Donelson. Most of Tennessee except East Tennessee under Union control. • After April 1862, Confederates begin the draft. In East Tennessee, this led many men to flee, hide, or join Pro-Union guerrillas. • U.S. Army Occupation after Sept. 1863, Fall 1864, local government reestablished. • U.S. Army sends various Cavalry units to fight Pro-Confederate guerrillas. Mostly unsuccessful until Summer 1864, when they begin harsher policy against Pro-Confederate citizens.

  13. Encampments These often entailed some destruction of property, such as for firewood, and troops foraging for food. • Summer 1861- Travisville, Pickett Co., Confederate recruitment camp. • Summer 1861- Overton Co., Confed. Camps Zollicoffer and Meyer. • Feb 1862 – Morgan County, (4 miles east of Wartburg), Confederate Camp Schuyler (or Schooler), 1st and 2nd Tennessee Cav (C.S.) • 1862+ - Southern Pulaski County. Camp Clio, Union camp • May 1862 – August 1862 – Hill near Huntsville. Camp of 7th Tennessee Inf (U.S.), 250 to 400 men. • November 15-25, 1862 – Wartburg, Morgan County. 3500 Confederates under Gen. Felix Zollicoffer encamp before Battle of Mill Springs (Jan 19, 1862).

  14. Encampments Continued • Summer 1863- McCreary County, Golf Course near Stearns. US. Army encampment. • August 26-28, 1863 – Flat Gap, near Winfield, Scott County, U.S. Camp Chitwood. Large force of Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside’s Army of the Ohio. Earlier Home Guard camp. • August 30-31, 1863 – White Oak Creek (1 mile east of Sunbright). U.S. Camp Ragweed. Burnside’s army. • February 1864 – Wartburg, Morgan County. U.S. camp under Lt. William Estrada, 2nd E. Tennessee Cav. • n.d. – Three Forks of Wolf River, Pickett County. Camp McGinnis Confederate guerrilla base of Champ Ferguson’s men. • n.d. East Fork of Obey River, Fentress County. Mountain Cove, base of Tinker Dave Beaty.

  15. BSF Civil War Map, Tennessee

  16. Buell 1861 Map of Southern Kentucky with Beaty Salt Works

  17. Theme 3. Military Enlistment • One of largest impacts of the Civil War was the enlistment of men into both armies. Many men left the area, some never to return. The loss of these men had a major economic, political and social impact on the region. Numerous men also joined local Home Guard Militia and guerrilla bands. • Summer 1861- Travisville, Pickett County and Camp Zollicoffer, Overton County. C.S. enlistment camps. • Aug-Sept 1861 – Camp Dick Robinson (Garrard County, Kentucky) founded as U.S. army enlistment center. • Sept 1861 – approximately 1000 East Tennessee men enlisted at Camp Dick Robinson • March 1862 - approximately 4000 East Tennessee men enlisted at Camp Dick Robinson • A total of 20- 30,000 East Tennessee men joined the U.S. Army. • Most Upper Cumberland area Kentucky and Tennessee men joined the Union Army, but some did join the Confederate Army. These Units were mostly in action in the Western Theatre. Some US and CS units performed local anti-guerrilla activity.

  18. Upper Cumberland Enlisted Men US CS Scott 541 19 Wayne 448* ? Whitley 501* ? Pulaski 1032* ? * July 1863

  19. Regiments Joined by Local Men • 12th, 13th, 18th, 26th, 30th, 32nd, 49th Kentucky Inf. (US), • 1st, 6th, 7th, Kentucky Cav. (US), • 1st Mt., 2nd, 4th Mt., 7th, 8th, 11th Tenn. Inf. (US), • 1st, 4th Tennessee Cav. (US), • 1st Tenn. Light Art. (US). • 10th Kentucky Cav. (CS), • 8th, 25th, 28th Tennessee Inf. (CS), • 4th and 13th Tennessee Cav. (CS).

  20. African-American Enlistment • At least 47 men from Wayne County enlisted as U.S. Colored Troops (1864-5) Anthony Washam of Wayne Co

  21. Theme 4. Large Battles/Campaigns Only large battle nearby – Jan. 19, 1862 Battle of Mill Springs/Logan’s Crossroads in Pulaski County, Kentucky. Large Confederate force under Gen. Felix Zollicoffer moved through Big South Fork area to Wayne County and southern Pulaski County in Nov.-Dec. 1861. Engaged US force under Gen. George Thomas Jan. 19, 1862. Confederates defeated and retreated. Zollicoffer killed. Thomas stopped from invading Tenn.

  22. Regional Civil War Map

  23. Knoxville Campaign June/Aug.-Sept. 1863. under U.S. Gen. Ambrose Burnside’s Army of the Ohio. U.S. Cavalry raid under Col. William Sanders, 1500 men, June 1863. Scout, burn bridges Main army (16,000 men) marches through Big South Fork August 20 – Sept 3 to Knoxville. Goes through Jamestown, Williamsburg, Pine Knot, Chitwood, Huntsville, Montgomery, Wartburg. Encamps numerous places.

  24. -- Prior to the march, Burnside commissions Union guerrillas in Tennessee counties and orders them to spy and harass (bushwhack) Confederate forces.-- Locals help guide Main US force over bad roads in BSF area. Stories of this from local informant France Miller, via Will and Bill Miller, horses in matched color teams. -- Knoxville abandoned by Conf. Gen. Simon B. Buckner, Sept 1863. Union victory in Battle of Knoxville, Nov. 1863, and Battle of Chattanooga Nov. 1863, lead to Confederate abandonment of Big South Fork area and most of East Tennessee.

  25. Burnside Enters Knoxville

  26. Smaller Raids • July 1862- Confed. Col. John Hunt Morgan’s Cavalry (900 men) passed through Wayne, Fentress, Overton Counties on return from “First Raid” into Kentucky. • June 1863- Passed through Fentress on “Great Raid”.

  27. Theme 5. Skirmishes A few skirmishes involving regular troops occurred in the Upper Cumberland area. Some were between regular CS and US troops, others involved local partisans against regulars.

  28. Skirmish of Travisville Sept. 29, 1861 – Travisville, Pickett County – 1st Kentucky Cav (U.S.) and Kentucky Home Guard surprised and dispersed about 100 Confederates encamped at Travisville (often called the first battle in Tennessee).

  29. Skirmishes in Morgan Co. • February 2, 1862 – Morgan County, NW of Wartburg. 1st Tennessee Cav. (C.S) under Lt. Col. J. W. White skirmished with Union Home Guard who retreated. 5 Union killed. • March 28, 1862 – Morgan County, near Montgomery. Confederates clash with local Pro-Union forces who retreated. Confederates had five killed, 12 wounded. Pro-Union, 15 killed, 7 prisoners.

  30. In Scott County • April 1-2, 1862 - Brimstone Creek, Scott County. Capt. John C. Vaughn (C.S.) surrounded house of Capt. W. H.H. Robbins, 7th Tennessee Inf (U.S.), but Robbins on ridge above and attacked Vaughn’s men. U.S. held ground on ridge, Confederates withdrew. • April 13, 1862 – Battle of Huntsville, Scott County. Col. William Clift and 250 men of 7th Tennessee Inf. (U.S) had fortified a hill southwest of Huntsville. They were attacked by Confederates (600 Infantry, and 300 Cavalry) under Capt. T. M. Nelson. U.S. forces defeated and retreat.

  31. Upper Cumberland Plateau During the Civil War

  32. More in Scott and Morgan Counties • January 15, 1863 – “Battle for the Bacon”, New River, Scott County, Confederate Capt. Thomas Butler attacked U.S. detachment under Capt. Noah Doherty. Six U.S. soldiers killed or wounded, rest escaped. Butler captured 2000 lbs of bacon. • June 1863 – Scott and Morgan Counties. Col. William P. Sanders (U.S.) and 1500 men raided into East Tennessee as a precursor to the Knoxville campaign. Passed through Pine Knot, Huntsville, Wartburg, Montgomery. Captured a Confederate garrison of 104 soldiers in Wartburg.

  33. Skirmishes to the West • Jan. 1864- Col. William B. Stokes, 5th Tenn. Cav. U.S. sent to defeat Confed. guerrillas. Engages them near Livingston and Sparta. Kill 17 guerrillas. • Feb. 22, 1864- Company of Stokes’ men ambushed on Calfkiller River, White Co. by Champ Ferguson’s men. 30 U.S. soldiers killed, many after surrendering.

  34. Theme 6. Guerrilla Warfare

  35. From the beginning of the war, irregular warfare between Pro-Confederate and Pro-Union partisans or guerrillas (sometimes called Home Guard, Independent Scouts, etc) took place. This activity actually increased from 1862 to early 1864 as the area had less regular military presence. Sometimes these guerrillas fought regular troops (CS and US), but often they fought each other or raided/terrorized the farm families on opposite sides. While a few of these raids may have had military objectives, most were related to maintaining local power and control, acquiring supplies, horses, or money, spreading fear and terror, or settling personal vendettas.

  36. Quote from Historian James A. Baggett’s “Homegrown Yankees” • “More than anywhere else in Tennessee and the adjacent areas of Kentucky, the Cumberlands possessed the conditions to foster guerrilla warfare. The section’s isolated territory, much of it “rough and inaccessible,” made it suitable terrain for irregular warfare. Moreover its population clung to those traditions that encouraged the growth of guerrilla bands: retribution in kind, family feuds, class conflicts, vigilantism, and backwoods wars against authority.”

  37. No Quarter in Guerrilla War

  38. Guerrilla activity lead to numerous deaths (murder); property destruction – buildings, livestock, crops- and depopulation. Also, danger was so great that many men involved could not live on or work their farms. • Leaders – Some had official military affiliation, others did not. Those that did, often on “detached” duty and behaved as guerrillas.

  39. Confederate Leaders • Lt. Col Oliver Hamilton (Hamilton’s Cav. Batt.), • Capt. James W. McHenry (Co D. 4th Tenn. Cav), • Captain Rule • Captain James Gatewood Capt. Scott Bledsoe (Co. F, 4th Tennessee Cav) Champ Ferguson

  40. Union Leaders • Elam Huddleston • Tinker Dave Beaty • Capt. Rufus Dowdy Capt. Rufus Dowdy Grave Marker (Co. D, 1st Tenn. Mt. Inf.). Jonathan Hale (left) and Tinker Dave Beaty (right) (Independent Scouts)

  41. Huddleston Skirmish, Pickett Co. • Summer 1861 – Pro Union citizen Elam Huddleston and others recover his confiscated goods from his house. Pursued by cousin Col. Stokely Huddletson, C.S., Tennessee Militia. Col. Huddleston shot and killed and Elam escapes to Kentucky.

  42. Guerrilla Activity in Fentress/Pickett • Nov.- Dec. 1861- Ferguson murders William Frogge (in bed sick) in Clinton Co. and Rueben Woods. • March 1862 – Monroe Compromise to stop guerrilla war. Agreement broken by April. • April-May 1862 – Fentress County and Clinton County, Kentucky. Champ Ferguson and gang kill Alexander Huff in Fentress and others in Clinton. John Duncan and John Rich also killed by Conf. • June 1862 – Fentress County. Champ Ferguson and gang kill James Zackary. • Late 1862- John Riley on Wolf River killed by Union guerrillas. • Sept. 1862- W. Lafayette Allen killed by Union guerrillas at Hale’s Mill, Pickett. Ferguson’s men burn mill and nearby houses. • Oct. 1862- Tinker Dave’s men raid into Fentress/Pickett. Kill Milligan and Henry Richardson.

  43. Fentress/Pickett Guerrilla Raids cont. • Jan. 1863- Ferguson’s men kill Elam Huddleston in Adair Co. and capture brother Moses and cousin David. Peter Zachary killed at home of Rufus Dowdy in Fentress by Ferguson. • Summer 1863- Peter Beach (of Beaty’s gang) captured and killed at Three Forks of Wolf River • Fall 1863- Conrad Pile captured and killed by Confed. guerrillas in Fentress. • Jan. 1864- Near Forbus, skirmish between Ferguson’s and Beaty’s forces. Three of Ferguson’s men killed. • Spring-Summer 1864- Fountain Frost and Jefferson Pile killed by Beaty’s men near Gilbreath’s Mill and Three Forks, respectively. George Y. Carpenter, Bruce Martin, Simon Huddleston, US soldiers, killed at Poplar Grove and Pickett while visiting home. • Winter-Spring 1865- Beaty’s men kill old man Robert Richardson (has two sons in Confed. Army) and Captain Barton.

  44. Scott County Guerrilla Raids Examples: • Summer 1862 – Scott County. Confederate guerrilla raid on homes of Jimmy Slavin, Esquire Blevins, and Hiram Marcum. The latter on Buffalo Creek. Here 16 year old Julia Marcum (at right) fought and killed a rebel guerrilla with an ax. She lost an eye and finger. • October/November 1862 – Scott County. Confederate guerrillas raid Parch Corn Creek, No Business Creek and Buffalo Creek. Hit farms of Mr. Chitwood, Carroll Cross, Dennis Trammel, and James Chitwood. Burn houses, steal 103 horses and capture two men whom they hanged. At head of Buffalo Creek they skirmish with Pro-union (7th Tennessee Inf) under Capt. James Duncan. Four Confederate guerrillas killed.

  45. May/June 1863 – N. Scott County. Confederate guerrillas (11+) under Captain Rule or Alec Evans travel down Rock Creek from Pickett County (entered McCreary as Martin Bertram killed), raid No Business Creek area. Raid farms of Armpie Blevins, Widow Miller, and Peter Burke. At Peter Burke’s cabin (above) (on Big Branch of Big South Fork) they are ambushed by 30-50 Pro-Union Home Guard under Hutson Burke, and nine Confederate guerrillas killed at house, 1 killed or drowns in river.

  46. Other Major Guerrillas Related Events • Summer 1863 – Big South Fork area. Tinker Dave Beaty commissioned by Maj. Gen. Burnside to disrupt and spy on Confederate forces. • August-November 1863 – East Tennessee. Most of East Tennessee captured by U.S. Army under Burnside and Sherman. But lack of large occupying force leads to continued raiding and killing. • January-February 1864 – Fentress, Overton, White Counties. U.S. Col. William Stokes (5th Tennessee Cav) and Col. Thomas Harrison (8th Indiana Cavalry) sent to defeat Confederate guerrillas. Engaged Col. John Hughs, Bledsoe, and Ferguson numerous places, some victories, but this didn’t end raiding.

  47. U.S. Anti-Guerrilla and Relief Activity • Feb 1864 - East Tennessee Relief Association founded to help fund donations into region from the northern states. • Summer 1864 – Fentress County. Dave Beaty writes Gov. Andrew Johnson that people in Fentress were starving and livestock gone. • July 1864 – White, Overton Counties. Maj. Thomas Reeves (4th Tennessee Inf., U.S.) raids Sparta, burns houses, takes livestock, and arrests citizens that won’t inform on Pro-Confederate guerrillas. Total war by U.S. Army. Pro-Confederate citizens begin to tire of the war and turn against guerrillas.

  48. April – May 1865 – U.S. Civil War ends. Amnesty given to all Confederate irregulars/guerrillas who will surrender (except Champ Ferguson). Those that fail to surrender will be considered outlaws. Almost all turn themselves in. • April 26 – May 1865 – Fentress County, Clinton County. Champ Ferguson and gang kill Van Duvall and John Hurt in Clinton County, capture and shoot Dave Beaty in Fentress County, but Beaty escapes.

  49. May 26, 1865 – White County. Champ Ferguson captured. Charged with killing 53 men. • October 20, 1865 – Nashville. Champ Ferguson hanged

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