The Union flag. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1865-187?, 1865-10-13
Aetribution In East Tenne ssee-
Laurel Crock Massacre.


newspapers in this State, some con :
trolled by men who have been active
rebels and others by apos,atcs from
the Union party, have been stigmatz.
ing the Unionists Of East Tennessee
rs outlaws, and mobocrats, because
in some nigh boihood, returned Union
soldiers who once fed from the coun.
ties of Bradley, Knox, Greene and
Washington by night, to escape the
wrath Of their ncighbors- who hid by
day in caves, and after dark made
their way TO Camp Dick Robertson,
and after enIisting in the army,
served for four long years, under the
national flag-tEose men, we say hav-
ing taking summary revenge on their
old prosecutors, BY driving them out
OF tho country, arc stigmatized as
lawless scoundrels, by mon who either
kept silent or approved when deeds
OF violence were done by the rebels in
1861. Have those returned Union
soldiers had no provocaton to nuke
them overstep the letter Of tho law,
when they meet their prosecutors, after
an exile Of four years, by the side of
their wasted homes, and desolated
FARMS. Are there no palliating
circumstances to shield our long.suf-
crlng trends, who have fought for us
SO hcroicalIy, from the same censurc
which has justly been hcaped on tho
head of Isham Il. Harris vigilanc
committees ard Champ Furguson's
guerillas? Let it be remembered that
no people in tho country were so
terribly outraged and cXaspcrated by
the rebels rs We're the East Tennessee
Unionists. Every insult and wrong
conceivable was heaped upon them.
One of these enormous atrocities was
the Laurel Creek massacre, which &C.
Cured in February, 1862, on the State
line, among the Great Smoky Noun.
tains, between Tennessee and North
Cnrolina.-The rebels ut the Virginia
salt works had refused to lot the
Union men obtain salt, A brave fell
low named Kirk, got some wagons
and company Of armed men, went
to the town OF Monroe, broke open the
storehouse where salt was kept, and
man ched off in triumph. Word was
sent to Col. Allen, Of Aliens lie zion,
at Knoxville, who with Col. Keith,
took II body Of cavalry and started to
the Laurel creek settlements, where
the Union men lived. They marched
down the valley burning up the houses
in their way. A little BIOS some ten
years old, was sitting on 'ibe fence,
before one Of the houses. A soldier
fired at him and broke his arm in
two places. The poor boy shricked
and ran off, when the soldiers poured
u volloy after him and riddled his
little body before the face Of his mo-
Their. They kept on their way burn
ing and destroying. They entered Il
house where there were IN old lady
and young married woman. They
tied the former up BY her wrists, and,
taking the young woman, repeatedly |
outraged her person, She is now u
maniac. BY dint Of torture, threats
and promises, they at last found the
hiding places Of thirteen Union men.
Col. Keith placed them in n line and
had them shot down. in the presence
Of over three hundred women and
whom he had driven along
like cattle, to witness the Massacre OF
their husbands, friends, and neighbors.
A rebel officer, Major Garrett, who
beheld the awful sight, told the tale
TO our informant. 1t so shocked him
that he left tho service in disgust
Such was the conduct of Colonel AL |
lens Legion in East Tennessee. in the
Laurel Creek settlement, whose mas
sacrc rivals that at Lawrence by |
Quantrcll.
At GreenvilIc, q regiment Of Indi-
ans, commanded by Cot Thomas, and
afterward by Major StringfcId,
camped around the house of tho Hon.
A. J. Fletcher, now Secretary Of
State, part Of them pitching their
tents in his back yard. Mr.. Fletcher,
to save his life, had previously cscap-
cd, A party of Indian savages, pilot.
ed by one of his neighbors, tracked
him for two days over the mountains
towards Kentucky. Tho Indians
were kept in East Tennessee a year,
chiefly tor the purpose Of following |
up the refugees, over the mountains,
tho Indians, in this respect, being
equal to tho blood.hounds used in
other quarters. These crimes
brought no disgrace on their,perpc-
traitors with tho rebel authorities. A
widow woman Of Greene county,
afflicted with epilcptic fits, had son
sevehtcen.ycars of age. Tho con-
script officer called for him but ho had
fed. The woman refused to tell
where her son had gone, and soldier
in attendance, named Thomas, delib-
cratcly shot her dead. In one
month the murderer was promoted
And yot If the sons of tho victims Of
laurel Creek, or tho son of this MUIR
dcred widow, should take summary
yengennce on tho murdorcrS of their