East Tennessee bridge-burning conspiracy
Encyclopedia
The East Tennessee bridge-burning conspiracy was a Civil War
-era guerrilla warfare
operation carried out by Union
sympathizers in Confederate
-occupied East Tennessee
in 1861. The operation, which was planned by Carter County
minister William B. Carter (1820–1902) and authorized by President Abraham Lincoln
, called for the destruction of nine railroad bridges and a subsequent invasion of the region by Union forces from southeast Kentucky
. While the pro-Union conspirators managed to destroy five of the nine targeted bridges, the Union Army
reneged on its half of the plan, and did not invade East Tennessee until 1863, nearly two years after the incident.
While the destruction of the bridges, which were quickly rebuilt, had little impact militarily, the incident caused a shift in how Confederate authorities dealt with East Tennessee's large number of Unionist sympathizers. Parts of the region were placed under martial law
, dozens of Unionists were arrested and jailed, and several suspected bridge burners were hanged. These actions by Confederate authorities placed increased pressure on Lincoln to send troops into East Tennessee. Pro-Union newspaper publisher William G. "Parson" Brownlow
used the arrests and hangings as propaganda in his 1862 anti-secession diatribe, Sketches of the Rise, Progress and Decline of Secession.
n highlands, remained loyal to the Union. Slavery was not as important to the East Tennessee economy, and the region had been at odds with the state government for decades over lack of state appropriations for internal improvements. Furthermore, the Whig Party
and its successors dominated large parts of East Tennessee, and its adherents viewed with suspicion the actions of the predominantly-Democratic
Southern legislatures.
When Tennessee voted to secede from the Union via referendum on June 8, 1861, nearly two-thirds of East Tennesseans rejected the referendum and remained sympathetic to the Union. At the Greeneville
session (June 17–20) of the East Tennessee Union Convention
, the region's Unionist leaders condemned secession
and petitioned the Tennessee General Assembly
to allow East Tennessee to separate into a Union-aligned state. The legislature rejected the petition, however, and Governor Isham Harris ordered Confederate forces under General Felix K. Zollicoffer into the region.
and the Deep South that did not require going around the bulk of the Southern Appalachian Mountains
. Both Union and Confederate leaders were aware of the railroads' importance. In July 1861, Confederate politician Landon Carter Haynes warned of the railroads' vulnerability, stating that at any moment he was "looking to hear that the bridges have been burned and the East Tennessee and Virginia Railroad torn up."
Shortly after the General Assembly rejected the Greeneville Petition, William B. Carter, a delegate of the Greeneville convention, travelled to Camp Dick Robinson
in Kentucky, where many of East Tennessee's Unionists had fled to join the Union Army. Here, he met with generals George H. Thomas and William T. Sherman, and his brother, Samuel P. Carter
, a naval officer who had been recently appointed a general in the Army. William Carter divulged his plan to destroy the region's main railroad bridges to pave the way for a Union invasion. Thomas liked the plan, and while Sherman was initially skeptical, he agreed after a short discussion.
Carrying a letter from Thomas, Carter travelled to Washington, D.C.
, to meet with President Lincoln, Commanding General George McClellan
, and Secretary of State William H. Seward
. Lincoln, under immense pressure from congressmen Andrew Johnson
and Horace Maynard
to provide some sort of aid to East Tennessee's Unionists, agreed with the plan. He allotted $2,500 for the operation, and Carter returned to Camp Dick Robinson to begin making arrangements.
at Union (modern Bluff City
); the bridge over the Watauga River
at Carter's Depot (modern Watauga
); the bridge over Lick Creek, near modern Mosheim
in Greene County; the bridge over the Holston at Strawberry Plains
; the bridge over the Tennessee River
at Loudon
; the bridge over the Hiwassee River
at Charleston
; two bridges over Chickamauga Creek in the vicinity of Chattanooga
; and the bridge over the Tennessee at Bridgeport, Alabama
. All were on the ET&V or ET&G lines with the exception of the Bridgeport bridge, which was on the Memphis and Charleston
, and one of the Chickamauga Creek bridges, which was on the Western and Atlantic
.
In mid-October 1861, Carter set up a "command post" in Kingston, Tennessee
. Captains David Fry and William Cross, two officers who had been assigned to the operation, were tasked with burning the Lick Creek and Loudon bridges, respectively (although Cross's role has never been fully verified). Carter recruited Alfred M. Cate (1822–1871) of Bradley County to oversee the destruction of the bridges in southeast Tennessee, and assigned the two bridges in northeast Tennessee to Daniel Stover, a son-in-law of Andrew Johnson. For the Strawberry Plains bridge, he recruited former Sevier County
sheriff William C. Pickens.
Each of Carter's "lieutenants" in turn recruited reliable men to assist them. Cate assigned R.B. Rogan and James Keener to the Bridgeport bridge, William T. Cate (his brother) and W. H. Crowder to the Chickamauga Creek bridges, and personally led the attack on the Hiwassee bridge, with the assistance of Thomas Cate (another brother), Adam Thomas, and Jesse and Eli Cleveland. Fry chose Greene Countians Jacob and Thomas Harmon, Jacob Hensie, Alex Haun, and Harrison and Hugh Self. Pickens recruited several fellow Sevier Countians, among them David Ray, James Montgomery, and Elijah Gamble.
, about 40 miles (64.4 km) from Cumberland Gap
, on October 31, and pleaded with Sherman to give the go-ahead. Sherman was unconvinced, however, and called off the invasion on November 7.
The bridge burners, unaware of the shift in strategy in Kentucky, proceeded with their plans on the night of November 8. The Chickamauga Creek and Hiwassee bridges were poorly guarded, and Cate and his men burned them with minimal effort. The Bridgeport, Loudon, and Watauga bridges were heavily guarded by Confederate soldiers, and conspirators abandoned attempts to the destroy them. The Lick Creek and Union bridges were guarded by one or two sentries each, whom the conspirators easily overpowered before setting fire to the bridges.
At the Strawberry Plains bridge, Pickens and his crew encountered a lone Confederate guard, James Keelan. When Pickens attempted to light a torch, Keelan spotted him, and attacked. In the ensuing melee, both Keelan and Pickens were badly wounded. Keelan fled, leaving the bridge exposed, but Pickens had lost the group's matches in the chaos and darkness. Unable to light a fire, the group aborted their mission and returned to Sevier County.
described as a "wild and unreasonable panic." The Confederate government in Richmond was flooded with exaggerated reports of rising Unionist activity in the region. Confederate district attorney J.C. Ramsey vowed to hang anyone involved in the conspiracy, and Zollicoffer, who had initially pursued a more lenient policy, rounded up and jailed dozens of known Unionists.
After some consideration by the military and Confederate government, Confederate War Secretary Judah P. Benjamin
ordered, "All such as can be identified in having been engaged in bridge-burning are to be tried summarily by drum-head court martial, and, if found guilty, executed on the spot by hanging in the vicinity of the burned bridges". Several were found guilty as such, and five were hanged. For those who had not participating in the burnings, but had otherwise been identified as part of the organized Unionists, Benjamin ordered, "All such as have not been engaged are to be treated as prisoners of war" and were to be transported and be held as such.
Among the detained Unionists were several Lick Creek bridge conspirators, the identities of whom were betrayed by one of the Confederate sentries they had captured and freed. Confederate authorities also arrested Samuel Pickens (father of William), physician Robert H. Hodsden, and Edmond and William Hodges, all of Sevier County; William Hunt and former Knoxville Register
editor John Fleming, both of Knox County; Montgomery Thornburgh, James Meek and Samuel Johnson, all of Jefferson County
; and Levi Trewhitt of Bradley County.
, citing lack of evidence, threw out many of the cases against the accused Unionists, agitating Ramsey and Confederate military authorities. On November 30, Zollicoffer suspended habeas corpus
and instituted martial law, implementing Benjamin's order to try the accused by court martial. Pro-Union attorneys John Baxter and Oliver Perry Temple provided legal defense, though they realized the accused stood little chance at acquittal, and typically had the accused read statements denouncing the court martial as illegal.
Among the conspirators, the Lick Creek bridge burners suffered the greatest number of executions. Jacob Hensie and Henry Fry were both tried and hanged in sight of the railroad at Greeneville on November 30, 1861. Alex Haun was tried and hanged at a gallows just north of Knoxville on December 10. Jacob Harmon and his son, Henry, were both hanged on December 17. Harrison Self was tried, convicted and sentenced to hang, but was released hours before his execution after his daughter, Elizabeth, obtained a last-minute pardon from President Jefferson Davis
.
As per Benjamin's order, Unionists not directly involved in the conspiracy were imprisoned in Tuscaloosa, Alabama
. Several died there, including Samuel Pickens, Montgomery Thornburgh, and Levi Hewhitt. In all, more than 150 people were arrested and jailed on suspicion of supporting the bridge burnings or inciting other acts of Union violence in East Tennessee.
District Attorney Ramsey, whose prominent Knoxville family had been on the receiving end of Brownlow's abusive harangues for nearly two decades, remained convinced of Brownlow's involvement. In spite of the Confederate government's promise of safe passage, Ramsey had Brownlow jailed after he had arrived back in Knoxville. Incarcerated with many of the bridge burners, Brownlow kept a daily journal in which he recorded several eyewitness accounts of the arrests, imprisonment, and executions of many of the conspirators.
in the Spring of 1862 and ordered to hang, but managed to escape. Union forces under Ambrose Burnside
finally invaded East Tennessee in mid-1863, and entered Knoxville unopposed in September of that year.
After his release in early 1862, Brownlow published his prison journal in his book, Sketches of the Rise, Progress and Decline of Secession. Aimed at northern readers, the book's chapter on the bridge burners focuses on atrocities committed by Confederate soldiers and politicians, and includes several engravings depicting the executions and last moments of some of the condemned conspirators. After his return to Knoxville on the heels of Burnside's invasion in 1863, Brownlow vengefully pursued all who had prosecuted the bridge burners.
Along with the detailed account in Temple's book, several accounts of the bridge burnings have been published. In 1862, Radford Gatlin, a Confederate who had been chased out of his Union-heavy namesake mountain town
, published a glorified account of James Keelan's actions at the Strawberry Plains bridge. Union supporters Thomas William Humes
and William Rule
, who were both in Knoxville when the bridges were burned, included brief accounts of the conspiracy in their respective works on the war in the late 1880s. Novelist William E. Barton published a fictional version of the bridge-burning conspiracy in the late 1890s. More recently, in 1995, Cameron Judd published a historical novel about the incident entitled, The Bridge Burners.
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
-era guerrilla warfare
Guerrilla warfare
Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare and refers to conflicts in which a small group of combatants including, but not limited to, armed civilians use military tactics, such as ambushes, sabotage, raids, the element of surprise, and extraordinary mobility to harass a larger and...
operation carried out by Union
Union (American Civil War)
During the American Civil War, the Union was a name used to refer to the federal government of the United States, which was supported by the twenty free states and five border slave states. It was opposed by 11 southern slave states that had declared a secession to join together to form the...
sympathizers in Confederate
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
-occupied East Tennessee
East Tennessee
East Tennessee is a name given to approximately the eastern third of the U.S. state of Tennessee, one of the three Grand Divisions of Tennessee defined in state law. East Tennessee consists of 33 counties, 30 located within the Eastern Time Zone and three counties in the Central Time Zone, namely...
in 1861. The operation, which was planned by Carter County
Carter County, Tennessee
Carter County is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of 2010, the population was 57,424. Its county seat is Elizabethton.Carter County is part of the Johnson City Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is a component of the Johnson City–Kingsport–Bristol, TN-VA Combined...
minister William B. Carter (1820–1902) and authorized by President Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
, called for the destruction of nine railroad bridges and a subsequent invasion of the region by Union forces from southeast Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
. While the pro-Union conspirators managed to destroy five of the nine targeted bridges, the Union Army
Union Army
The Union Army was the land force that fought for the Union during the American Civil War. It was also known as the Federal Army, the U.S. Army, the Northern Army and the National Army...
reneged on its half of the plan, and did not invade East Tennessee until 1863, nearly two years after the incident.
While the destruction of the bridges, which were quickly rebuilt, had little impact militarily, the incident caused a shift in how Confederate authorities dealt with East Tennessee's large number of Unionist sympathizers. Parts of the region were placed under martial law
Martial law
Martial law is the imposition of military rule by military authorities over designated regions on an emergency basis— only temporary—when the civilian government or civilian authorities fail to function effectively , when there are extensive riots and protests, or when the disobedience of the law...
, dozens of Unionists were arrested and jailed, and several suspected bridge burners were hanged. These actions by Confederate authorities placed increased pressure on Lincoln to send troops into East Tennessee. Pro-Union newspaper publisher William G. "Parson" Brownlow
William Gannaway Brownlow
William Gannaway "Parson" Brownlow was an American newspaper editor, minister, and politician who served as Governor of the state of Tennessee from 1865 to 1869 and as a United States Senator from Tennessee from 1869 to 1875...
used the arrests and hangings as propaganda in his 1862 anti-secession diatribe, Sketches of the Rise, Progress and Decline of Secession.
Background
While secessionist sentiment raged throughout the South in late 1860 and early 1861, a majority of East Tennesseans, like many in the AppalachiaAppalachia
Appalachia is a term used to describe a cultural region in the eastern United States that stretches from the Southern Tier of New York state to northern Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia. While the Appalachian Mountains stretch from Belle Isle in Canada to Cheaha Mountain in the U.S...
n highlands, remained loyal to the Union. Slavery was not as important to the East Tennessee economy, and the region had been at odds with the state government for decades over lack of state appropriations for internal improvements. Furthermore, the Whig Party
Whig Party (United States)
The Whig Party was a political party of the United States during the era of Jacksonian democracy. Considered integral to the Second Party System and operating from the early 1830s to the mid-1850s, the party was formed in opposition to the policies of President Andrew Jackson and his Democratic...
and its successors dominated large parts of East Tennessee, and its adherents viewed with suspicion the actions of the predominantly-Democratic
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
Southern legislatures.
When Tennessee voted to secede from the Union via referendum on June 8, 1861, nearly two-thirds of East Tennesseans rejected the referendum and remained sympathetic to the Union. At the Greeneville
Greeneville, Tennessee
Greeneville is a town in Greene County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 15,198 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Greene County. The town was named in honor of Revolutionary War hero Nathanael Greene. It is the only town with this spelling in the United States, although there...
session (June 17–20) of the East Tennessee Union Convention
East Tennessee Convention of 1861
The East Tennessee Convention consisted of a series of meetings held in 1861 on the eve of the American Civil War in which 29 counties in East Tennessee and one county in Middle Tennessee denounced secessionist activities within the state of Tennessee and resolved to break away and form an...
, the region's Unionist leaders condemned secession
Secession
Secession is the act of withdrawing from an organization, union, or especially a political entity. Threats of secession also can be a strategy for achieving more limited goals.-Secession theory:...
and petitioned the Tennessee General Assembly
Tennessee General Assembly
The Tennessee General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Tennessee.-Constitutional structure:According to the Tennessee State Constitution of 1870, the General Assembly is a bicameral legislature and consists of a Senate of thirty-three members and a House of Representatives of...
to allow East Tennessee to separate into a Union-aligned state. The legislature rejected the petition, however, and Governor Isham Harris ordered Confederate forces under General Felix K. Zollicoffer into the region.
Camp Dick Robinson
The East Tennessee and Georgia (ET&G) and East Tennessee and Virginia (ET&V) railroads were vital to the Confederacy, as they provided a connection between VirginiaVirginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
and the Deep South that did not require going around the bulk of the Southern Appalachian Mountains
Appalachian Mountains
The Appalachian Mountains #Whether the stressed vowel is or ,#Whether the "ch" is pronounced as a fricative or an affricate , and#Whether the final vowel is the monophthong or the diphthong .), often called the Appalachians, are a system of mountains in eastern North America. The Appalachians...
. Both Union and Confederate leaders were aware of the railroads' importance. In July 1861, Confederate politician Landon Carter Haynes warned of the railroads' vulnerability, stating that at any moment he was "looking to hear that the bridges have been burned and the East Tennessee and Virginia Railroad torn up."
Shortly after the General Assembly rejected the Greeneville Petition, William B. Carter, a delegate of the Greeneville convention, travelled to Camp Dick Robinson
Camp Dick Robinson
Camp Dick Robinson was a large Union Army organizational and training center located near Lancaster in rural Garrard County, Kentucky, during the American Civil War...
in Kentucky, where many of East Tennessee's Unionists had fled to join the Union Army. Here, he met with generals George H. Thomas and William T. Sherman, and his brother, Samuel P. Carter
Samuel P. Carter
Samuel Perry "Powhatan" Carter was a United States naval officer who served in the Union Army as a brevet major general during the American Civil War and became a rear admiral in the postbellum United States Navy. He was the first and thusfar only United States officer to have been commissioned...
, a naval officer who had been recently appointed a general in the Army. William Carter divulged his plan to destroy the region's main railroad bridges to pave the way for a Union invasion. Thomas liked the plan, and while Sherman was initially skeptical, he agreed after a short discussion.
Carrying a letter from Thomas, Carter travelled to Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, to meet with President Lincoln, Commanding General George McClellan
George McClellan
George B. McClellan was an American Civil War military leader, Presidential candidate and Governor of New Jersey.George McClellan may also refer to:*George McClellan , American physician who founded medical schools...
, and Secretary of State William H. Seward
William H. Seward
William Henry Seward, Sr. was the 12th Governor of New York, United States Senator and the United States Secretary of State under Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson...
. Lincoln, under immense pressure from congressmen Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson was the 17th President of the United States . As Vice-President of the United States in 1865, he succeeded Abraham Lincoln following the latter's assassination. Johnson then presided over the initial and contentious Reconstruction era of the United States following the American...
and Horace Maynard
Horace Maynard
Horace Maynard was an American educator, attorney, politician and diplomat active primarily in the second half of the 19th century...
to provide some sort of aid to East Tennessee's Unionists, agreed with the plan. He allotted $2,500 for the operation, and Carter returned to Camp Dick Robinson to begin making arrangements.
Recruiting
The nine bridges targeted were, from northeast to southwest: the bridge over the Holston RiverHolston River
The Holston River is a major river system of southwestern Virginia and east Tennessee. The three major forks of the Holston rise in southwestern Virginia and have their confluence near Kingsport, Tennessee. The North Fork flows southwest from Sharon Springs in Bland County, Virginia...
at Union (modern Bluff City
Bluff City, Tennessee
Bluff City is a city in Sullivan County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 1,733 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Kingsport–Bristol –Bristol Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is a component of the Johnson City–Kingsport–Bristol, TN-VA Combined Statistical...
); the bridge over the Watauga River
Watauga River
The Watauga River is a large stream of western North Carolina and East Tennessee. It is 60 miles long with its headwaters on the slopes of Grandfather Mountain and Peak Mountain in Watauga County, North Carolina.-Hydrography:...
at Carter's Depot (modern Watauga
Watauga, Tennessee
Watauga is a city in Carter and Washington Counties in the U.S. state of Tennessee. The population was 403 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Johnson City Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is a component of the Johnson City–Kingsport–Bristol, TN-VA Combined Statistical Area...
); the bridge over Lick Creek, near modern Mosheim
Mosheim, Tennessee
Mosheim is a town in Greene County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 1,749 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Mosheim is located at .According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , all of it land....
in Greene County; the bridge over the Holston at Strawberry Plains
Strawberry Plains, Tennessee
Strawberry Plains is an unincorporated community straddling the boundary between Jefferson and Sevier and Knox counties in the U.S. state of Tennessee. The United States Geographic Names System classifies Strawberry Plains as a populated place....
; the bridge over the Tennessee River
Tennessee River
The Tennessee River is the largest tributary of the Ohio River. It is approximately 652 miles long and is located in the southeastern United States in the Tennessee Valley. The river was once popularly known as the Cherokee River, among other names...
at Loudon
Loudon, Tennessee
Loudon is a city in and the county seat of Loudon County, Tennessee, United States. Its population was 4,476 at the 2000 census. It is included in the Knoxville, Tennessee Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city is located in eastern Tennessee, southwest of Knoxville, on the Tennessee River...
; the bridge over the Hiwassee River
Hiwassee River
The Hiwassee River has its headwaters on the north slope of Rocky Mountain in Towns County in northern Georgia and flows northward into North Carolina before turning westward into Tennessee, flowing into the Tennessee River a few miles west of State Route 58 in Meigs County, Tennessee...
at Charleston
Charleston, Tennessee
Charleston is a city in Bradley County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 651 at the 2010 census. It is included in the Cleveland, Tennessee Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:...
; two bridges over Chickamauga Creek in the vicinity of Chattanooga
Chattanooga, Tennessee
Chattanooga is the fourth-largest city in the US state of Tennessee , with a population of 169,887. It is the seat of Hamilton County...
; and the bridge over the Tennessee at Bridgeport, Alabama
Bridgeport, Alabama
Bridgeport is a small city in Jackson County, Alabama, United States. At the time of 2000 census the population was 2,728. Bridgeport is included in the Huntsville-Decatur Combined Statistical Area.-History:...
. All were on the ET&V or ET&G lines with the exception of the Bridgeport bridge, which was on the Memphis and Charleston
Memphis and Charleston Railroad
The Memphis and Charleston Railroad, completed in 1857, was the first railroad in the United States to link the Atlantic Ocean with the Mississippi River. Chartered in 1846 the railroad ran from Memphis, Tennessee to Stevenson, Alabama through the towns of Corinth, Mississippi and Huntsville,...
, and one of the Chickamauga Creek bridges, which was on the Western and Atlantic
Western and Atlantic Railroad
The Western and Atlantic Railroad of the State of Georgia' is a historic railroad that operated in the southeastern United States from Atlanta, Georgia to Chattanooga, Tennessee....
.
In mid-October 1861, Carter set up a "command post" in Kingston, Tennessee
Kingston, Tennessee
Kingston is a city in and the county seat of Roane County, Tennessee, United States, and is adjacent to Watts Bar Lake. Kingston, with a population of 5,264 at the 2000 United States census, is included in the Harriman, Tennessee Micropolitan Statistical Area....
. Captains David Fry and William Cross, two officers who had been assigned to the operation, were tasked with burning the Lick Creek and Loudon bridges, respectively (although Cross's role has never been fully verified). Carter recruited Alfred M. Cate (1822–1871) of Bradley County to oversee the destruction of the bridges in southeast Tennessee, and assigned the two bridges in northeast Tennessee to Daniel Stover, a son-in-law of Andrew Johnson. For the Strawberry Plains bridge, he recruited former Sevier County
Sevier County, Tennessee
Sevier County is a county of the state of Tennessee, United States. Its population was 71,170 at the 2000 United States Census. It is included in the Sevierville, Tennessee, Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is included in the Knoxville-Sevierville-La Follette, TN Combined Statistical Area. The...
sheriff William C. Pickens.
Each of Carter's "lieutenants" in turn recruited reliable men to assist them. Cate assigned R.B. Rogan and James Keener to the Bridgeport bridge, William T. Cate (his brother) and W. H. Crowder to the Chickamauga Creek bridges, and personally led the attack on the Hiwassee bridge, with the assistance of Thomas Cate (another brother), Adam Thomas, and Jesse and Eli Cleveland. Fry chose Greene Countians Jacob and Thomas Harmon, Jacob Hensie, Alex Haun, and Harrison and Hugh Self. Pickens recruited several fellow Sevier Countians, among them David Ray, James Montgomery, and Elijah Gamble.
The attacks
While Carter recruited conspirators, Union forces at Camp Dick Robinson prepared to march south to Knoxville. An invasion of Kentucky by Zollicoffer, though repulsed, changed the timing of the invasion, however, and following Confederate excusions into the western part of the state, Sherman became concerned that his line was stretched too thin. Thomas arrived at Crab Orchard, KentuckyCrab Orchard, Kentucky
Crab Orchard is a city in Lincoln County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 842 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Danville Micropolitan Statistical Area.-History:...
, about 40 miles (64.4 km) from Cumberland Gap
Cumberland Gap
Cumberland Gap is a pass through the Cumberland Mountains region of the Appalachian Mountains, also known as the Cumberland Water Gap, at the juncture of the U.S. states of Tennessee, Kentucky, and Virginia...
, on October 31, and pleaded with Sherman to give the go-ahead. Sherman was unconvinced, however, and called off the invasion on November 7.
The bridge burners, unaware of the shift in strategy in Kentucky, proceeded with their plans on the night of November 8. The Chickamauga Creek and Hiwassee bridges were poorly guarded, and Cate and his men burned them with minimal effort. The Bridgeport, Loudon, and Watauga bridges were heavily guarded by Confederate soldiers, and conspirators abandoned attempts to the destroy them. The Lick Creek and Union bridges were guarded by one or two sentries each, whom the conspirators easily overpowered before setting fire to the bridges.
At the Strawberry Plains bridge, Pickens and his crew encountered a lone Confederate guard, James Keelan. When Pickens attempted to light a torch, Keelan spotted him, and attacked. In the ensuing melee, both Keelan and Pickens were badly wounded. Keelan fled, leaving the bridge exposed, but Pickens had lost the group's matches in the chaos and darkness. Unable to light a fire, the group aborted their mission and returned to Sevier County.
Confederate response
News of the bridge burnings thrust East Tennessee's Confederate leaders into what Knoxville attorney Oliver Perry TempleOliver Perry Temple
Oliver Perry Temple was an American attorney, author, judge, and economic promoter active primarily in East Tennessee in the latter half of the 19th century. During the months leading up to the Civil War, Temple played a pivotal role in organizing East Tennessee's Unionists...
described as a "wild and unreasonable panic." The Confederate government in Richmond was flooded with exaggerated reports of rising Unionist activity in the region. Confederate district attorney J.C. Ramsey vowed to hang anyone involved in the conspiracy, and Zollicoffer, who had initially pursued a more lenient policy, rounded up and jailed dozens of known Unionists.
After some consideration by the military and Confederate government, Confederate War Secretary Judah P. Benjamin
Judah P. Benjamin
Judah Philip Benjamin was an American politician and lawyer. Born a British subject in the West Indies, he moved to the United States with his parents and became a citizen. He later became a citizen of the Confederate States of America. After the collapse of the Confederacy, Benjamin moved to...
ordered, "All such as can be identified in having been engaged in bridge-burning are to be tried summarily by drum-head court martial, and, if found guilty, executed on the spot by hanging in the vicinity of the burned bridges". Several were found guilty as such, and five were hanged. For those who had not participating in the burnings, but had otherwise been identified as part of the organized Unionists, Benjamin ordered, "All such as have not been engaged are to be treated as prisoners of war" and were to be transported and be held as such.
Among the detained Unionists were several Lick Creek bridge conspirators, the identities of whom were betrayed by one of the Confederate sentries they had captured and freed. Confederate authorities also arrested Samuel Pickens (father of William), physician Robert H. Hodsden, and Edmond and William Hodges, all of Sevier County; William Hunt and former Knoxville Register
Knoxville Register
The Knoxville Register was an American newspaper published primarily in Knoxville, Tennessee, during the 19th century. Founded in 1816, the paper was East Tennessee's dominant newspaper until 1863, when its pro-secession editor, Jacob Austin Sperry , was forced to flee advancing Union forces at the...
editor John Fleming, both of Knox County; Montgomery Thornburgh, James Meek and Samuel Johnson, all of Jefferson County
Jefferson County, Tennessee
*...
; and Levi Trewhitt of Bradley County.
Trials and executions
Confederate judge West H. HumphreysWest Hughes Humphreys
West Hughes Humphreys was a United States District Court judge, and a judge of the Confederate States of America...
, citing lack of evidence, threw out many of the cases against the accused Unionists, agitating Ramsey and Confederate military authorities. On November 30, Zollicoffer suspended habeas corpus
Habeas corpus
is a writ, or legal action, through which a prisoner can be released from unlawful detention. The remedy can be sought by the prisoner or by another person coming to his aid. Habeas corpus originated in the English legal system, but it is now available in many nations...
and instituted martial law, implementing Benjamin's order to try the accused by court martial. Pro-Union attorneys John Baxter and Oliver Perry Temple provided legal defense, though they realized the accused stood little chance at acquittal, and typically had the accused read statements denouncing the court martial as illegal.
Among the conspirators, the Lick Creek bridge burners suffered the greatest number of executions. Jacob Hensie and Henry Fry were both tried and hanged in sight of the railroad at Greeneville on November 30, 1861. Alex Haun was tried and hanged at a gallows just north of Knoxville on December 10. Jacob Harmon and his son, Henry, were both hanged on December 17. Harrison Self was tried, convicted and sentenced to hang, but was released hours before his execution after his daughter, Elizabeth, obtained a last-minute pardon from President Jefferson Davis
Jefferson Davis
Jefferson Finis Davis , also known as Jeff Davis, was an American statesman and leader of the Confederacy during the American Civil War, serving as President for its entire history. He was born in Kentucky to Samuel and Jane Davis...
.
As per Benjamin's order, Unionists not directly involved in the conspiracy were imprisoned in Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Tuscaloosa is a city in and the seat of Tuscaloosa County in west central Alabama . Located on the Black Warrior River, it is the fifth-largest city in Alabama, with a population of 90,468 in 2010...
. Several died there, including Samuel Pickens, Montgomery Thornburgh, and Levi Hewhitt. In all, more than 150 people were arrested and jailed on suspicion of supporting the bridge burnings or inciting other acts of Union violence in East Tennessee.
Brownlow's involvement
Confederate authorities immediately suspected William "Parson" Brownlow, the radical pro-Union editor of the Knoxville Whig, of engineering the bridge burnings. Brownlow had written in a May 1861 editorial, "let the railroad on which Union citizens of East Tennessee are conveyed to Montgomery in irons be eternally and hopelessly destroyed," and had suspiciously gone into hiding in Sevier County just two weeks before the attacks. Brownlow denied any involvement, however, and in a letter to William H. Carroll condemned the attacks. Lacking evidence of Brownlow's complicity, and wanting to be rid of his agitations, Confederate authorities offered him safe passage to the northern states.District Attorney Ramsey, whose prominent Knoxville family had been on the receiving end of Brownlow's abusive harangues for nearly two decades, remained convinced of Brownlow's involvement. In spite of the Confederate government's promise of safe passage, Ramsey had Brownlow jailed after he had arrived back in Knoxville. Incarcerated with many of the bridge burners, Brownlow kept a daily journal in which he recorded several eyewitness accounts of the arrests, imprisonment, and executions of many of the conspirators.
Later actions of the bridge burners
In the weeks following the bridge burnings, William Carter returned to Kentucky to continue to pressure Union commanders to invade East Tennessee. William Pickens, Daniel Stover, and Alfred Cate likewise all fled to Kentucky and enlisted in the Union Army. David Fry was captured in GeorgiaGeorgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
in the Spring of 1862 and ordered to hang, but managed to escape. Union forces under Ambrose Burnside
Ambrose Burnside
Ambrose Everett Burnside was an American soldier, railroad executive, inventor, industrialist, and politician from Rhode Island, serving as governor and a U.S. Senator...
finally invaded East Tennessee in mid-1863, and entered Knoxville unopposed in September of that year.
After his release in early 1862, Brownlow published his prison journal in his book, Sketches of the Rise, Progress and Decline of Secession. Aimed at northern readers, the book's chapter on the bridge burners focuses on atrocities committed by Confederate soldiers and politicians, and includes several engravings depicting the executions and last moments of some of the condemned conspirators. After his return to Knoxville on the heels of Burnside's invasion in 1863, Brownlow vengefully pursued all who had prosecuted the bridge burners.
Legacy
Having sworn an oath of secrecy, William Carter never revealed the names of anyone involved in the bridge-burning conspiracy, even in his later years after the war had been over for decades. As a result, many of the conspirators are still unknown. In 1871, the names of the southeastern Tennessee conspirators were made public when their leader, Alfred Cate, petitioned Congress for compensation for their actions. Oliver Perry Temple uncovered still more names through correspondence with known conspirators as he collected information for his book, East Tennessee and the Civil War, in the 1890s.Along with the detailed account in Temple's book, several accounts of the bridge burnings have been published. In 1862, Radford Gatlin, a Confederate who had been chased out of his Union-heavy namesake mountain town
Gatlinburg, Tennessee
Gatlinburg is a mountain resort city in Sevier County, Tennessee, United States. As of the 2000 U.S. Census, Gatlinburg had a population of 3,828. The city is a popular vacation resort, as it rests on the border of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park along U.S...
, published a glorified account of James Keelan's actions at the Strawberry Plains bridge. Union supporters Thomas William Humes
Thomas William Humes
Thomas William Humes was an American clergyman and educator, active in Knoxville, Tennessee, during the latter half of the 19th century. Elected rector of St. John's Episcopal Church in 1846, Humes led the church until the outbreak of the Civil War, when he was forced to resign due to his Union...
and William Rule
William Rule (American editor)
William Rule was an American newspaper editor and politician, best known as the founder of the Knoxville Journal, which was published in Knoxville, Tennessee, from 1870 until 1991. A protégé of vitriolic newspaper editor William G...
, who were both in Knoxville when the bridges were burned, included brief accounts of the conspiracy in their respective works on the war in the late 1880s. Novelist William E. Barton published a fictional version of the bridge-burning conspiracy in the late 1890s. More recently, in 1995, Cameron Judd published a historical novel about the incident entitled, The Bridge Burners.
External links
- The Bridge Burners: A True Adventure of East Tennessee's Underground Civil War — historical novel by Cameron Judd
- A Hero In Homespun: A Tale of the Loyal South — William E. Barton's 1897 novel about the bridge burners
- Famous Plainsmen — article about James Keelan (Keeling), the Confederate defender of the Strawberry Plains bridge