The Friends of Fort Defiance

With Fort Defiance being closed due to the construction of the new interpretative center, the Friends of Fort Defiance were forced to move the Living History Encampment, one of their signature events to Rotary Park this year.

The primary purpose of the Living History Encampment is to educate people about the history of Clarksville, and the Civil War. Many people living in Clarksville know absolutely nothing about the history of our city, something the friends of Fort Defiance hope to change. Clarksville is located in an area of intense activity during the Civil war,   with Fort Donelson and Fort Henry  in nearby Stewart County, and the city of Nashville just a short distance up river.  Fort Defiance was intended to help guard the river approaches to Nashville.

An image from the past, nah just one of the many reenactors

The Confederates started building the Fort in November 1861, but before the construction is complete Fort Donelson and Fort Henry were taken by the Union General Ulysses S. Grant in Feburary 1862. A few days later faced with Union Troops advancing up river, The Confederates fled the city. Both the Fort and the City of Clarksville was surrendered without anyone firing a shot. After the Union occupied the area, the Fort was renamed to Fort Bruce.   In August 1862, for a short time the Fort and the City of Clarksville was retaken by Confederate troops. Days later Union Soldiers dispatched from Fort Donelson re-took both the Fort and the City for the final time.

The Living History Encampment gives visitors a glimpse into the lives of soldiers and civilians through reenactors dressed in period costumes, with period equipment. Demonstrations include quilting, dress making, medical care, childrens toys and games, and of course military activities.

Mock gun battles were staged, giving visitors a feel for what combat was like during the Civil War. The battles also  included hourly firings by a 4 gun battery of canons.

Flame erupts from a canon as it is fired, at the Living History Encampment at Rotary Park

The Living History Encampment continues tomorrow at 9:00a.m. with a Church service. The camp will be open from 10:00 a.m. till 1:00 p.m.

The Civil War activities continue next weekend at Fort Donelson.

FORT DONELSON NATIONAL BATTLEFIELD WELCOMES THE 50TH TENNESSEE INFANTRY (CSA) FOR LABOR DAY WEEKEND
Date:  9/4/2009, 9/5/2009
Time:  10:00 AM to 3:00 PM, 1:00 AM to 1:00 AM
Location:  Battlefield

Interpretive programs and Civil War musket firings will be the highlight for Labor Day Weekend at Fort Donelson National Battlefield. This year’s programs, hosted by the 50th Tennessee Infantry (CSA), will also include a Civil War surgeon’s program. The Civil War camps will be set up on September 4 and 5, 2009.  The historic Dover Hotel will also be open for visitation during Labor Day Weekend from noon – 4:00 p.m.  All events are free.

The 50th Tennessee Infantry was organized as a regiment on Christmas Day, 1861 at Fort Donelson, and they comprised part of the Confederate garrison until February 1862. The 50th Tennessee Re-enactor regiment has been conducting programs for over 30 years at the park. Their camps will be opened from 10 am – 3 pm on September 4th and 5th, 2009.

Photo Gallery

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The logo of the Correctional Corporation of America

In 1997 the Tennessee branch of the AFL-CIO made an agreement with the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) to support the privatization of Tennessee’s state prison system. This opened the door for Tennessee’s prison labor being used to compete with private industry.  Currently the highest-paying prisoner in Tennessee earns 50 cents an hour to produce jeans for K Mart and JC Penney, among other things.

Of all the states, Tennessee unions should have been the last ones to support prison labor. The reason lies more than a century in the past, in the days following the end of slavery.

Worse than Slavery

Use of convict labor in Southern industrialization prompted criticism

With the end of the Civil War, employers all over the south were confronted by the reality of the end of free labor. They appealed to their state representatives for help and their representatives responded by finding a pool of free labor previously untapped – prisoners. It was called Convict Leasing. The prisoners would work for companies during the day outside of prison, and then return to their cells at night. Neglect, brutality, and abuse of the prisoners were rampant, as was official corruption. The conditions were so harsh that prisoners rarely survived longer than 10 years, but everyone was making money from it (except for the prisoners, of course) so the system remained.

In fact the system was so successful that there was a need for more labor. In many states simple assault carried sentences of seven and eight years of hard labor. Larceny could get you twenty years in prison. Stealing five dollars worth of goods could net you twelve months. Even the theft of a rail fence could put you in prison stripes.

Of course, this reality wasn’t true for everyone (read: white people). If it was then there would be a political backlash. Instead these inhumane laws fell disproportionately on the recently freed black community.

Image of a Cumberland Plateau coal miner, 1875, from the TSLA Blue Book Collection, RG

At Tennessee’s main prison in Nashville, African-Americans represented 33 percent of the prisoners in October of 1865. In 1866 Tennessee passed it’s convict leasing law. By 1869, 64% of the prison was African-American, and it kept climbing in the following years. The benefits of this new slavery fell on a select few – the rich. Poor whites workers found themselves at a disadvantage in this system when their interests conflicted with the upper-class.

In January 1871, free white miners in Tracy City struck for higher wages against the Tennessee Coal and Iron Company (TCI). TCI brought in convict labor as strikebreakers. The strike ultimately failed and was broken.

By 1889, TCI was contracting, or sub-contracting out 60 percent of all of Tennessee’s prison population for over $100,000 a year. Strikebreaking of this sort would pop up several more times in the following twenty years. Whenever the miners tried to organize for better wages and working conditions, the companies would use the threat of convict labor. In the words of TCI company vice-president A. S. Colyar, “an effective club to hold over the heads of free laborers.”

This stalemate ended in 1891.

The New South Rebellion

“Kill a man, get another; kill a mule, buy another.”
- a familiar phrase in the mines the convicts worked

In 1866, right around the end of the War between the States, coal began to be mined in an area of Anderson County known as Coal Creek. By 1870 this sparsely populated area contained 10 businesses, three of them saloons.

Governor John Buchanan

In 1890 John P. Buchanan become governor of Tennessee with the Farmers’ Alliance and Laborers’ Union party.

This labor-friendly political environment emboldened the miners of Coal Creek Valley to make two demands. One demand was the end of company script. The miners wanted to be paid in cash rather than being forced to pay for overpriced goods at the company store. The other demand was to be able to elect their own checkweighmen – the specialist who weighed the coal the miner produced, and thus determined the miner’s wages – rather than the checkweighmen the company hires.

Since state law already barred scrip payment and company-hired checkweighmen, most of the coal companies agreed to these demands. However, the Tennessee Coal Mining Company (TCMC) rejected the demands, and on April 1, 1891, they shut down their mine near Briceville. Two months later they demanded the miners agree to a yellow-dog contract before working in the mine. The miners refused.

The Coal Creek Mine

On July 5, TCMC reopened the mine with convict labor. The company had torn down several houses in order to build the stockade for the prisoners. On Bastille Day, 300 armed miners surrounded the Briceville stockade. After the guards surrendered without a fight, the 40 convicts and the guards were marched to Coal Creek where they were loaded onto a train and sent to Knoxville. The miners then sent a telegram to Governor Buchanan, stating their actions were taken to defend their property and wages, and asked for his intervention. The Governor responded by accompanying three state militia companies, and the prisoners, back to Briceville.

Free miners waiting at Thistle Switch near Fraterville for the arrival of Governor Buchanan on July 16, 1891

At Thistle Switch several hundred angry miners confronted the governor. He assured them he was a champion of labor, but as governor he was obligated to enforce state contracts. He didn’t mention the state laws concerning cash wages and checkweighmen. The governor left 107 militiamen to guard the stockade and fled the area.

On the morning of July 20, 2,000 armed miners again surrounded the Briceville stockade. Their numbers had been bolstered by union miners from surrounding regions, including Kentucky, which had removed their own convicts from mines several years earlier.

The militia, seeing the futility of resistance, surrendered. Once again the convicts and guards were marched to Coal Creek and put on a train back to Knoxville. The miners then marched to the nearby Knoxville Iron Company mine, which also used convict labor. Just like at Briceville, the guards surrendered and they were all put on a train to Knoxville.

The following day the governor met with a committee of local leaders friendly to the miners, especially United Mine Workers organizer William Webb. He convinced them to agree to a 60-day truce while he called for a special session of the legislature where he recommended the convict leasing law be repealed. The miners agreed.  Much to the chagrin of the miners, the only action the legislature took was to make it a felony to interfere with the leasing system. A court challenge of the system was also defeated in October.  On October 28, 1891, the committee representing the miners resigned and denounced the legislature. The path to violence was now open.

The Coal Creek War

The Coal Creek War

On October 31, a large group of armed miners surrounded, and then burned down the convict stockade at Briceville. The prisoners were supplied with food and civilian clothing and then turned loose into the surrounding woods after being urged not to commit any more crimes. The Knoxville Iron Company stockade was also seized that day, and several company buildings were destroyed in the process. All told 300 prisoners were released by the miners. On November 2, another prison stockade at the Cumberland mine in Oliver Springs was burned and another 153 prisoners were released. Another truce was negotiated which allowed the return of the convicts to Coal Creek and Oliver Springs, but not to Briceville (TCMC president B.A. Jenkins had grown disenchanted with convict labor).

The state dispatched an 84 man militia detatchment under the command of J. Keller Anderson. Anderson constructed Fort Anderson, equip with a gatling gun, atop “Militia Hill” to guard the stockade at Coal Creek. The convicts returned on January 31, 1892.

Looking up at Militia Hill

In the following months miners and soldiers at Coal Creek shot at each other indiscriminately. Both sides blamed the other.

The Revolt Spreads

The use of convict labor, and the violence associated with it, had given the practice a bad name. Most coal companies were moving away from convict labor, with one major exception – TCI.  When Cumberland Coal decided against using convict labor at the Oliver Springs mine, TCI purchased the mine lease. TCI then began minimizing the use of free labor.

On August 13, 1892, free miners tore down the stockade at Tracy City and freed hundreds of convicts. On August 15, convicts from the TCI stockade at Innman were also freed.  On August 17, a group of miners attacked the TCI stockade at Oliver Springs, but were beaten back by the guards. However, the miners regouped and enlarged their numbers. The guards then surrendered. The stockade was burnt down and the convicts and guards were put on a train to Nashville.

Coal Creek in 1899

The following day in Coal Creek, militia commander Anderson was captured by the striking miners. The miners then sent a demand to Fort Anderson’s second-in-command, Lieutenant Perry Fyffe, to surrender. When Fyffe refused the miners charged the fort and a fierce firefight ensued. The miners failed to capture the fort, but two militiamen were killed by snipers.

Governor Buchanan declared martial law in the Coal Creek region. He dispatched 583 militiamen under the command of General Samuel T. Carnes. He also ordered sheriffs in effected counties to organize posse.  Most of the sheriffs ignored the command, however volunteers in Knoxville organized themselves and marched on Coal Creek to relieve Fort Anderson. As the volunteers descended Walden Ridge they were ambushed by a group of miners and two of the volunteers were killed. The rest fled back to where they came.

Carnes arrived on August 19 and quickly restored order. He negotiated the release of Anderson, and then conducted a sweep of the entire Coal Creek region.  Carnes arrested hundreds of miners, which in effect ended the Coal Creek War.

Aftermath

The Coal Creek Mine in Tennessee

Some 300 miners were put on trial, but the jurors only convicted two – D.B. Monroe and S.A. Moore, for conspiracy. Neither of which served more than a year in prison. Most of the violence associated with convict labor was spent, although there was a failed attack on a stockade in Tracy City in 1893. Buchanan was attacked by both miners and mine owners for indecisiveness. He failed to win his party’s nomination for governor in 1892. The legislature proved more willing to address the subject of convict leasing in their 1893 session. They agreed to construct a new state penitentiary and abolish convict leasing at the expiration of the lease contract in 1896.

About Garrett Johnson

Garrett Johnson is a free-lance writer who’s been published in the San Francisco Independent. He is a political activist, economics enthusiast, history buff, and a frequent contributor to such blogs such as the Daily Kos and Economic Populist. In his spare time he is an IT Specialist, beer drinker, pool player, backpacker, and all-around geek. This article is republished here with the generous permission of the author.

Kraig Lawson and Jack Barnhart, owners of the collection, will display their collection in the Visitor Center, located on Hwy 79 in Dover. This exhibit contains personal items from U.S. soldiers, army and navy uniforms, and relics from the ironclad the USS Cairo (recovered in 1963). Lawson will also display one of his replica model ironclad gunboats, which take approximately 3-5 years to construct. Lawson and Barnhart, both from Ohio, have been life-long Civil War enthusiasts. Both men were part of the 35th Ohio Infantry re-enactor group, and have been “extras” in mini-series like “The North and the South,” “The Blue and the Gray,” and even the motion picture film, “Glory.”

They have collected Civil War artifacts for at least 25 years and created the Army-Navy Exhibit to share their enthusiasm and knowledge with others. The exhibit will be located in the visitor center on Friday, July 4th, 9 am – 4 pm, Saturday, July 5th Noon—7 pm, and Sunday, July 6th, 9 am—3 pm. The program is free.

Fort Donelson National Battlefield preserves the site of the 1862 battles of Forts Henry, Heiman, and Donelson, including the earthen fort, defenses, surrender site, and national cemetery. For additional information about this program, contact William Bazar at 931-232-5706 x102.

Cannon fire [Photo by Mark Haynes]

A highlight of the day was cannon fire; In the heat of the afternoon, soldiers tamped the powder into the cannon and loaded it, pulling the trigger from a short distance away, flinching from the boom and the smoke as each shot was fired.

Canvas tents were tucked into the landscape, taking advantage of a bit of shade under the trees. In the shelter of a tarp, “Abe Lincoln” (above) sat a small table littered with papers. The camp doctor’s case of apothecary items was open for display, as were the elements for cooking over open fires.

Set apart from the battlefield, visitors could watch wool being spun, samples of women’s clothing from the Civil War era, and myriad items from our collective history were on display. There was no shortage of Civil War enthusiasts ready to discuss this vital part of American History.

A Civil War symposium was held from 11-2 on Saturday, with a number of speakers addressing wartime issues, local history and chronology of the Civil War.

The four acre Fort Defiance park features earthen fort and walking trails. The Fort is located at 120 A Street in Clarksville.

We offer a glimpse of history revisited in the following photos:

Photos by Mark Haynes

Thousands of scribbled signatures cover the fragile walls of this living underground environment. One visitor commented, “I wonder if there was a time when each person was handed a marker as they were going into the cave?” Visitors also see little of natural stalactites or stalagmites; many of them were taken down either through vandalism or for grinding up into mineral waters.

Nathan Smith, David Britton and Ranger Adam Neblett

A one-quarter mile length of cave on the tour shows very tiny drips of new growth on the ceilings and floors. The cave owners since 1973, the State of Tennessee, have been preserving the cave from vandalism.

Before the State of Tennessee purchased the site, Dunbar Cave was owned as a resort ; it provided 58 degree natural air conditioning at the mouth of the cave.

Other amenities were added to take advantage of this natural coolant: a dance floor, food and bingo booths, then a bigger dance floor, swimming pool, and a man-made lake with paddle boats. The scene was a source of fun, romance and entertainment from the 1930’s through 60’s. The cave had lights in it, which have since been removed. Countless visitors walked its paths.

This picture shows tour guide smoking as he’s leading a tour. Behind him, the wall of the cave is covered with graffiti.

Only a few years ago, as Larry Mathews was writing a book about Dunbar Cave, a picture in the cave was noted and later carbon dated by experts. Experts attributed the cave art to Mississippian Era Indians, often referred to as Mound Builders, and dated the art around or before the 14th century. You can watch Fox News coverage of Artifacts, on the Friends of Dunbar Cave web site at http://www.dunbarcave.org/

Finding graffiti made by Indians was an exciting discovery, staff at the cave continues to peer through the graffiti to spot more Indian art. To tour the cave and see the art, you must make a reservation with the State Park. Tours run between March and November. Call (931) 648-5526 and visit the Dunbar Cave web site, http://www.state.tn.us/environment/parks/DunbarCave/index.shtml

Three of Dunbar Cave’s staff have recently made some other discoveries about the graffiti in Dunbar. One signature in particular caught their interest: it said, “Capt.,” “southern” and “1863. ” After a lot of study they surmised it said:

Capt. G. Holt, Southern 3d Ky reg(iment) August 1863, Beware Yankee

David Britton’s research proved the findings: Captain Gustavus Holt was a Confederate soldier. Along with most significant Southern Civil War battles, his regiment participated in the battle of Shiloh. In 1864, the year after he signed his name in the cave, he was made a lieutenant colonel and within that same year made a colonel. In 1865 he returned to Murray, KY, to practice law.

The question arises to those who know Clarksville history: since Clarksville was under Union occupation in August of 1863, how did this Confederate Captain manage to sign his name on the cave wall? One speculation suggests that while the Union was having a picnic on August 18, Captain Holt dressed in civilian clothes, entered the cave and signed his name under the enemy’s nose to despite the occupying forces. Anyone with any information is invited to contact Dunbar Cave State Natural Area @ (931) 648-5526.