The Battle Of Rogersville
PROTECTED CONTENT
If you’re a current subscriber, log in below. If you would like to subscribe, please click the subscribe tab above.
Username and Password Help
Please enter your email and we will send you a password reset link.
Submitted by David Jeffers, Scott County Historical
Society, President
There were no major battles in Scott County but there were several skirmishes and several accounts of mischeiviousness from small bands of Confederate forres as well as the Union forces. A large contingent of the men who volunteered for the Union Army from Scott County were in the 2nd Tennessee Infantry, This unit contained well over 100 of the 893 men who fought in the war of the 2nd Tennessee Infantry. It was commanded by Colonel, James P.T. Carter and Lt. James Melton.
On Nov. 5, 1863 Col. Carter and Lt. Col. Melton were on furlough from the unit, leaving command to Major, Daniel A. Carpenter. At this time the 2nd Tennessee was detached to the 7th Ohio or the Army of the Ohio Valley commanded by Col. Israel Garrard. They were stationed at Rogersville, Tn.
For several days Col. Garrard had received reports of Confederate, Col. William Jones and his Division’s movements around Rogersville, according to accounts from the Adjutant Gen., for Col. Garrard, which was more than enough time to mount a frontal assault. Col. Garrard never acted. On the morning of Nov. 6, 1863 the Army of the Ohio the 2nd Tenn and the 2nd Illinois Light Artillery found therrselves surrounded by Confederate forces commanded by William
Jones. Within minutes of the beginning of the battle, Col. Garrard ordered a retreat of the 7th Ohio but left orders for Maj. Carpenter and Capt. William Bolton of the 2nd Illinois to hold their ground at all cost. The Army of the Ohio lived to fight another day but it cost many men from Scott County their lives. Of the 893 men of the 2nd Tenn and 2nd Illinois, 608 were captured and 418 of them died in the prison camps of either Belle Isle or in Andersonville, Ga.
Adkins, John
Epperson, Wm
Buttram, Iredell
Everett, James
Chitwood, Daniel
Holloway, Hugh
Chitwood, Henry Looper, Emerson
Chitwood, James
McDonald, Geo
Chitwood, John
McDonald, Jms
Cook, William
McDonald, Samuel
Cross, Thomas
Patterson, Gaston
Phillips, John
Phillips, Timothy
Robinson, Alxndr Robinson, James C
Robinson, Joel
Robinson, Obediah
Robinson, Wm B
Robinson, Wm M
Ryan, Cicreo
Sexton, Hiram
Shelton, Robert
Smith, Caswell
Stonecipher, David Thomas, Joseph
West, Wm T.
* Referrence to the battle is from the Theodore Allen Story, Adjutant and aide to Col. Israel Garrard.
CAPT. Bill
HEMBREE, SCOTT COUNTY HOME GUARD
Born August 15, 1836 in Knox Co. Ky. he was the son of Meshack and Martha (Carroll) Hembree. The first that Meshack Hembree is in Scott County is the 1860 Scott County Census. On July 24, 1857 William Alexander “Bill” Hembree married Emily Shoopman the daughter of John and Elizabeth (Low) Shoopman, in Scott County.
During the formation of the Scott County Home Guards, Bill was chosen as a Captain. This unit was formed to protect the area of marauding Confederate forces who would come through and harrass the residents. They would take food, livestock or anything of value that they wanted. Sometimes they would burn the houses and in some instances would rape or kill anyone trying to stop them. Capt. Bill Hembree fought in many skirmishes with these Confederate forces. It has been said that he had been shot Many times. In one instance the Confederates caught Bill and beat him in the head with the butts of their rifles, cracking his skull. They tried making his horse trample him by running it back and forth across his body, the horse would not step on him so they shot the horse on the spot. It is believed that another member of the Home Guard brought his body to his mothers home, it is said that she placed her finger into his hand and she felt him squeeze it and she knew he would live. Martha nursed him back to health and Bill continued fighting with the Home Guards until the end of the war. Bill would wear a heavy wool coat, sometimes he wore two coats with extra padding to protect himself from being shot. When he was wounded or if he needed to hide from the Confederates he would hole up an area in Smokey Creek called Caves Branch, where there is supposed to be a hidden cave until his wounds would heal or when it seemed to be safe enough to travel.
Bill Hembree and his wife Emily had ten children and lived to have a long and respected life. They were burried in the Hembree Cemetery in the Shacks Creek area of Smokey Creek.
*Accounts are from descendants of Capt. Bill Hembree.
JULIA MARCUM
Julia, at age 16 the daughter of Hram C. Marcum, a ranking officer of the Home Guards of the Buffalo Community, killed a Confederate soldier with an axe. In 1934 at the age of 90, Julia gave an account of her life changing encounter with the Rebel soldier who was said to be well over 200 pounds.
“One morning about 2 A.M. a band of Rebels surrounded the Marcum home looking for her father Hiram. They were threatening to burn the home and kill the Marcums. Julia, then 16 went upstairs to get a large candle for the family to huddle by downstairs. She carried an axe with her. One of the Rebels broke into the house and followed her upstairs threatening to kill her. She turned on him and hit him several times in the chest with the axe. The Rebel fired at her in the darkness and only hit her finger. They fought on and she slashed his chin, then he thrust his bayonet into her forehead which caused her to lose sight in her eye. Hiram, who was hiding below the stairs and was one of the most wanted officers of the Home Guards by the Confederates, fired on him and missed. By this time the fight was almost over with blood all over the house the Rebel collapsed and died. Julia was severly wounded as well it took her three months to recover. The Confederates heard of the death of their comrade and came to recover the body. A Confederate doctor treated Julia’s wounds. One soldier suggested occupying the home but the commanding officer promised that the family would not be further molested. Two years later they burned the Marcum home in the process a bullet grazed her head and killed a cousin of hers.
At the end of the War, Julia moved to Williamsburg, Ky. She began teaching school, she held that position until she couldn’t do it any longer. She was pursuaded to file for a Civil War Veterans pension and one was granted. She drew $35 per month and she exclaimed that it was plenty enough to live on.