CIVIL WAR HISTORY

Mountain Rebels intertwines economic, political, military, and social history to present a poignant tale of defeat, suffering, and banishment. By piecing together this previously untold story, it fills a void in Southern history, Civil War history, and Appalachian studies.

Whether one thinks of him as dashing cavalier or shameless horse thief, it is impossible not to regard John Hunt Morgan as a fascinating figure of the Civil War. He collected his Raiders at first from the prominent families of Kentucky, though later the exploits of the group were to attract a less elite class of recruits. Morgan was able to lead these men into the most dangerous adventures by convincing them that the honor of the South was at stake; yet he did not always succeed in appealing to that sense of honor when temptations of easy theft drew the Raiders from military objectives to wanton pillage. In John Hunt Morgan and his Raiders, Edison H. Thomas gives us a balanced view of these controversial men and their raids. In a fast-paced narrative he follows the cavalry unit for the evening the first group set out from Lexington to join the Confederate forces until the morning of Morgan's death in Greeneville, Tennessee. Basil Duke, St. Leger Grenfell, Lightning Ellsworth, and the beautiful Martha Ready all receive their due, and the truly remarkable story of the Raiders' newspaper is told. A special contribution is the insight this account offers into the disruption of rail communications carried out with such enthusiasm by Morgan and his men. Thomas' study of the railroad records of the period has enabled him to present this part of the Raiders' story with rare detail and understanding.

When the East Tennessee and Virginia Railway line was completed in 1858, dignitaries gathered in celebration as the final spike was hammered into the last tie in Greene County. Opening new doors of growth and economic development in the area, the railroad that proved such a peacetime boon would become a point of conflict only three years later. When the Civil War began, the line became a vital link in transporting Confederate troops and supplies from the deeper South into Virginia. The railroad was vulnerable, however; and East Tennesseans had voted more than two to one against secession. With so many hostile Unionists in the region, Confederate authorities were understandably worried about the rail lines and how to protect them. Inevitably the stage was set and on a cold Friday night, November 8, 1861, the Unionists proceeded with plans to burn the key railroad bridges of East Tennessee. However, the promised Federal invasion did not come. From the “Prelude to Conspiracy” and a bold plan approved by President Abraham Lincoln, through the tragedy described in the “Aftermath,” all of the people involved and all of the events are covered in detail. Written by a nationally known author of historical novels, this thoroughly researched, easy-to-read narrative tells the incredible true story of insurrection gone wrong.

General Blaine Rayburn moves his Confederate Carolina Calvary Division down the long valleys of Virginia in 1861. Ride along with the division and experience the battles and hardships of the soldiers as they move through the narrow valleys with Union troops laying in wait.

Historians usually assume that the battles fought in Southwestern Virginia, Eastern Kentucky, and Eastern Tennessee played an insignificant role in the outcome of the Civil War. This book challenges that assumption. Focusing on the career of Colonel Andrew Jackson May, for whom the defense of the region was a personal crusade, Professor Perry shows that the victories which the Confederates won in this theater, allowing them to retain control of Preston’s Saltworks and the Virginia-Tennessee railroad, preserved the integrity of the Confederacy and thereby prolonged the war. Using letters, diaries, battle reports, and other primary sources, he fashions an absorbing narrative that finally does justice to long-neglected subjects like the Battle of Ivy Mountain, the Battle of Princeton, Marshall’s three invasions of Eastern Kentucky, Toland’s Raid on Wytheville, and the Battle of Saltville. If you are looking for a detailed, well-researched account of these events, this is the book for you.

BETWEEN THE STATES: BRISTOL TENNESSEE/VIRGINIA DURING THE CIVIL WAR by V.N. (Bud) Phillips is the second in a series of books on Bristol’s history gives a vivid account of her most trying years—the Civil War period. It begins with a look at slavery as it existed in the new town in those years just prior to the beginning of the War. For a town its size, Bristol had a surprising number of slaves. Information given in the opening section of the book was largely obtained from the writings of two persons who lived in the new town at that time. Thus a valuable insight into slave life is given by those who saw it firsthand. As in all his historical writings, the author has tried to avoid merely repeating that which is well known or has previously been published. Much of this work is based on recently discovered eyewitness accounts of early Bristol residents. In this book may be found a vivid, new look at a very dark period in Bristol’s unique past.

During the Civil War, fully two-thirds of East Tennessee’s citizens remained loyal to the Union. When their state was declared “an independent nation” and then negotiated a military alliance with the Confederate government, it was against the will of the majority of East Tennesseans. Samuel P. Carter of Elizabethton, the daring “sailor on horseback” and a naval officer, led the Yankee cavalry in a raid from Kentucky into East Tennessee—into his own backyard. This was part of a long-term effort by the Federal government to utilize the loyalty of East Tennesseans to destroy the Southern rebellion. The author relates an exciting story of “the first long-distance raid staged by the Union cavalry” in this chronicle of a significant and often overlooked turning point in the Civil War.

THE CIVIL WAR DIARY, REPORTS, AND LETTERS OF COLONEL WILLIAM HENRT ASBURY SPEER (1861-1864). Colonel William Asbury Speer fought in sixteen major battles of the Civil War. He was wounded twice in combat, served time in Northern prison camps, participated in Pickett’s charge, marched with Jackson around the Union Army at Chancellorsville, and only weeks before his death, was elected to the North Carolina Senate. His Civil War diary and letters provide vivid accounts of battles at Hanover Court House, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Wilderness, and Spotsylvania, all of which will interest scholars, military historians, and Civil War buffs. The story appeals to a rather broad reading audience because of the poignant, often poetic, power of the narrative. Speer was something of a philosopher, and because of his pensive nature, he was predisposed to suffer greatly as he wrestled with conflicting loyalties. Though he opposed slavery and secession, he was proud to be a Southern patriot. He attempted to honor his father and mother, who adamantly condemned the war, yet he believed it dishonorable to betray the South. Speer acknowledged that there was “some national sin hanging over us,” and reasoned that “if the South would agree to emancipate the slaves in thirty years, the war would end.” Most of his countrymen, at least those serving in the Confederate Army, were “on the other side of the question.” However, many from Yadkin County had little sympathy for secession, which adds an interesting twist to the story. According to Speer’s letters, there was a rather large contingent of deserters and recalcitrant conscripts nesting in the woods of Yadkin County. Speer’s two brothers, one being the high sheriff and the other serving in the home guard, were charged with rounding up these Union men. For Speer’s family and friends, it was incredibly difficult to watch the people they loved, many of them Union sympathizers, endure a war fought on two fronts: the battlefields of northern Virginia and the rolling hills of the Yadkin River valley. Voices From Cemetery Hill describes this war within a war. It is a story of love, suffering, and endurance; but most of all, it deals with Asbury Speer’s commitment to home, family, and religious faith.

October 11, 1864. The Civil War rages on in Kentucky, where Union and Confederate loyalties have turned neighbors into enemies and once-proud soldiers into drifters, thieves, and outlaws. Stephen Gano Burbridge, radical Republican and military commander of the district of Kentucky, has declared his own war on this new class of marauding guerrillas, and his weekly executions at Louisville's public commons draw both crowds and widespread criticism. In this time of fear and division, a Kentucky journalist created a legend: Sue Mundy, female guerrilla, a "she-devil" and "tigress" who was leading her band of outlaws across the state in an orgy of greed and bloodshed. Though the "Sue Mundy" of the papers was created as an affront to embarrass Union authorities, the man behind the woman -- twenty-year-old Marcellus Jerome Clarke -- was later brought to account for "her" crimes. Historians have pieced together clues about this orphan from southern Kentucky whose idealism and later disillusionment led him to his fate, but Richard Taylor's work of imagination makes this history flesh -- an exciting story of the Civil War told from the perspective of one of its most enigmatic figures.

This magazine is the first of two volumes of the biographical history of Wise County's Civil War. It includes a short history of the war and how it affected Wise County. Along with the second volume, "Between Brothers", it provides a historical overview of the more than 1500 soldiers, both Union and Confederate, who had connections with Wise County. During research it was discovered that the majority of men who lived in present day Dickenson County were part of the Walker District of Wise County until 1880 and are therefore included in this biographical history.