Chapter XLIII: Appendix: NOTE X: Page 307

MARTYRDOM OF UNION PEOPLE.

Mr. N. G. Taylor undertook after the war ended, to collect materials for its “Unwritten History” in East Tennessee, and they not only confirmed but enlarged the knowledge he acquired in 1861-’2 and ’3 concerning the cruel treatment of Union people during those years. His estimate of those unarmed, who were put to death in various ways throughout that region, is founded upon diligent inquiries. In writing to a friend, February 22, 1886, he says, “I was at some pains to gather up from the different counties the facts on this point, and the result showed an aggregate of 2,500 to 3,000 non-combatants massacred for their Union sentiments. I had at that time a list of those thus slaughtered in this (Carter) county, which aggregated 70 or 75; in Greene County over 200; in Washington County over 100, &c., &c.”

Hon. C. W. Hall, of Rogersville, Tenn., in 1861-2, in “Threescore Years and Ten, by a Lawyer” (Cincinnati, 1884), tells of such atrocities. He says: “Guerilla bands claiming to belong to the Rebel army, were engaged generally in the plunder of Union families. One of these bands was commanded by one William Owens. His company was a band of cut-throats, marauding around, seeking to shed blood. They found a lad of some sixteen years, whose name was Lizemore. His father was a Union man and quite aged. This gang of desperadoes arrested the old man, took the boy into the woods and deliberately murdered him. Whether the Confederate Commander in East Tennessee commissioned Owens to plunder and kill in order to subdue the loyal sentiment of that section, as Reynolds and others were trying to do in other counties is not stated. One fact is known, viz.: that Owens was recognized by the Rebel military as a Captain.” After detailing the cruel treatment to which Union people were subjected, Judge Hall adds: “These outrages were not confined to the more populous portions of the counties, but were often perpetrated in the hills and hollows, and usually upon men reputable at home, but bold enough to confess their loyalty. Indeed it was a rare thing to find a man who had a bad character before the war, advocating the Union cause.”