American Civil War Records
American Civil War Records
Robert Atherly (Union) Documents
Sergeant Robert Atherly was born in Scotland and later immigrated to the United States, where he enlisted in Company G of the 79th New York Infantry on May 28, 1861. Known as the “Highlanders,” the 79th was a proud Scottish-American regiment celebrated for its discipline, bravery, and distinctive tartan heritage. Atherly rose through the ranks and was promoted to sergeant on November 1, 1863, earning the respect of his fellow soldiers. Though fighting far from his homeland, he served with valor in several key campaigns across the South. He was killed in action during the Battle of Fort Sanders in Knoxville on November 29, 1863, his service remembered as part of the storied legacy of the 79th Highlanders.
Dr. John Mason Boyd (Confederacy) Documents
Dr. John Mason Boyd is remembered as one of Knoxville’s most prominent physicians. He was a surgeon for the Confederate Army during the Civil War. After the war, he was the University of Tennessee’s physician for forty years, as well as a trustee for the Tennessee School for the Deaf. Dr. Boyd practiced medicine in Knoxville for 53 years and had an arch erected in his honor by a group of patients in 1911. The arch stands at 300 Main St SW in Knoxville, TN.
Alexander C. Caldwell (Union) Documents
Private Alexander C. Caldwell was born on March 26, 1842, in Tennessee and enlisted in the Union Army’s 3rd Tennessee Infantry Regiment on February 12, 1862, at Flat Lick, Kentucky. Serving with a regiment made up largely of loyal East Tennesseans, he took part in operations around Cumberland Gap, a key gateway between Tennessee, Kentucky, and Virginia. Alexander died on September 1, 1862, during the (brief) Union occupation of the Cumberland Gap, as disease and hardship claimed many soldiers in the rugged mountain stronghold. His death was recorded in the regimental muster rolls, and he was later re-interred in the Knoxville National Cemetery, Section B, Site 3149. Honored posthumously, Caldwell’s brief but faithful service reflects the courage and sacrifice of Tennesseans who fought to preserve the Union.
Tinbrook Chamberlain Baker (Union Army) Documents
Private Tinbrook Chamberlain Baker was born in Monroe, Michigan, in 1834 and lived there with his family before enlisting in the Union Army during the Civil War. He served bravely in Company A of the 8th Michigan Cavalry, a regiment noted for its service in Kentucky and Tennessee. Mustered in on December 30, 1862, Baker participated in campaigns leading up to the Battle of Knoxville. He died in Knoxville, Tennessee, of dysentery in 1863 at General Hospital No. 2, a facility now known as the Tennessee School for the Deaf. He is buried in Knoxville National Cemetery, where his service and sacrifice are memorialized among his fellow Union soldiers.
Joseph Alexander Cooper (Union) Documents
Brevet Major General Joseph Alexander Cooper was a Kentucky-born Union officer who made his name as a hard-fighting leader during the American Civil War. He began his service in 1861, organizing the 1st Tennessee Infantry, and earned the nickname “Fighting Joe” for his bravery in battles such as Mill Springs, Stones River, Chickamauga, the defense of Knoxville, and the Atlanta Campaign. Rising through the ranks to command a division in the XXIII Corps, he was brevetted major general for gallantry and meritorious service. Years later, Cooper returned to duty during the Spanish–American War, serving as a brigadier general of volunteers, where his long military experience was once again called upon by the nation. He died in 1910 and was laid to rest in Knoxville, Tennessee, remembered as a soldier whose career spanned two of America’s defining wars.
Major General Dana (Sultana Disaster) Document 1 | Document 2
Major General Dana (Union Commander of the Department of Mississippi) was also an investigator. He was cautious with assigning blame to any one person and saw the situation as complicated. When Hoffman pressed him for an answer (needed for Hoffman to continue the investigation), Dana stated “Captain Speed was intrusted with the transfer and shipment of the prisoners,” and “Captain Kerns, quartermaster in charge of transportation, responsible for the character of it.”
Samuel “Champ” Ferguson (Confederacy) Documents
Samuel “Champ” Ferguson was from Clinton County, Kentucky, but moved to White County, Tennessee, before the Civil War. He ran a group of guerrilla fighters who were loosely connected with the Confederacy. They were infamous for stealing horses and killing nearly 120 men across Tennessee throughout the war, including wounded soldiers at a Union Field Hospital after the Battle of Saltville. He was captured in August 1865 by Union soldiers, tried for his crimes, and executed on October 25th, 1865.
Daniel Marvin Foster (Confederate Army) Documents
Private Daniel Marvin Foster was born in 1824 in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama. He enlisted in the Confederate Army on May 16, 1862, joining Company H of the 43rd Alabama Infantry Regiment, which fought in several key battles of the Western Theater during the Civil War. Foster was killed in action in 1863 during the Battle of Knoxville, Tennessee, where his regiment took heavy losses. He was buried at Bethel Cemetery in Knoxville, alongside many of his fallen comrades. Coming from a family with a proud military tradition, Foster’s relatives had previously served in the War of 1812, continuing a legacy of Southern military service across generations.
John Franklin (Union First Colored Heavy Artillery Regiment) Document
John Franklin (born ~1842 in Knoxville, TN) was a Knoxville resident and a member of the Union First Colored Heavy Artillery Regiment. Being a member of this regiment, his duties more than likely consisted of manning forts, standing guard, and watching over passing infantry. After the regiment was mustered out in March 1866, Franklin remained in Knoxville, where he would marry and retire. On 22 June, 1894, John Franklin passed away in his hometown of Knoxville.
Ellis Harper (Confederate Army) Documents
Captain Ellis Harper was born in what is now Portland, Tennessee, in 1842. He enlisted in Company 1 of the 30th Tennessee Infantry Regiment of the Confederacy. His regiment was captured by Ulysses S Grant at the Battle of Fort Donnelson, after which he escaped his Union Prison and formed a guerrilla band to invade the North, where he ravaged Kentucky and parts of Ohio before turning himself in near the end of the war in 1865. After a brief prison stint, he gave birth to John Booth Harper and lived a fairly normal life before being shot and killed after a political argument in 1908.
Colonel Reuben B. Hatch (Sultana Disaster) Document 1 | Document 2
Colonel Reuben B. Hatch was the chief quartermaster of the Department of Mississippi. Most scholars agree that he is the most to blame for the Sultana Disaster. His military career pre-Sultana was highly boosted by nepotism, with several instances where his connections got his misactions excused, including embezzlement of government money. He was not held accountable for the Sultana, he retired right after it happened and refused to appear in court as a witness for the investigation. Many people (in 1865 and Sultana scholars) believe these actions show Hatch felt responsible/guilty for the disaster and wanted to avoid accountability. Scholars like Guarneri have been interested in examining his professional actions before the Sultana and comparing them to the Sultana disaster.
William Kerns (Sultana Disaster) Document 1 | Document 2
William Kerns was the assistant quartermaster to Colonel Hatch and master of transportation for Post Vicksburg. Hatch accused Kerns of accepting a bribe to cover that Hatch had accepted a non-contract boat, and used this claim to convince Speed to approve the Sultana. He strongly protested against the Sultana being overcrowded, and fought to have half of the prisoners placed on the Carroll, Sadly, because Hatch had planted the idea of Kerns being bribed, he was assumed to have ulterior motives and his requests were ignored. Kerns continued to attempt to lessen the number of passengers on the Sultana until it left land.
Edward Kline (Union Army) Documents
Edward Kline was born in 1842 in Roane County, Tennessee. Kline was a veteran of the Union Army, enlisting in the First Colored Heavy Artillery Regiment in 1864. Serving three years in the regiment, Kline became a sergeant and oversaw troops within the FCHAR. After military service, Kline remained in East Tennessee, where he would live and work. Around where he lived, he would become known as one of the most intelligent people in the area, with his obituary regarding him as “the most intelligent colored man in town.” In September of 1892, Edward Kline died in Loudon County, Tennessee.
John Wesley Legg (Confederate Army) Documents
John Wesley Legg was the original owner of the Legg-England house, built in 1846, located at 8010 Rutledge Pike, Knoxville. The home served as an inn, tavern, and stagecoach stop — a key location because Rutledge Pike was a stagecoach route to Washington, D.C. When the Civil War came around, the home was passed to his daughter and her husband, Payne, and Mary Jane England. The house was rumored to be used as a hospital and a possible command post for either the Union or Confederate armies. No matter which it was, the family appears to be confederates, as a few of Legg’s sons were a part of a raid where they stole multiple horses from Union men. There is also the incident of William, Adam, and James being suspected of shooting George Majors near his country home in 1865. The motives for this murder were partially for money and political revenge. The financial aspect may have been fueled by their father’s issues with debt, as evidenced by a sheriff’s sale of his property to John Tunnell.
Sergeant Thomas Lillard (First Colored Heavy Artillery Regiment) Documents
Sergeant Thomas Lillard was born in 1841 in McMinn County, Tennessee. Lillard enlisted in the First Colored Heavy Artillery Regiment on 4 February 1864 in Knoxville, along with nine other young men from his county. Just after enlistment, Lillard was almost instantly promoted to Quarter Master Sergeant of Company A. During his service as a sergeant, Lillard was in charge of supervising his own company. After service, Lillard would continue to live and work in Knoxville. In August of 1911, Sergeant Thomas Lillard died in Blount County, Tennessee.
J. Cass Mason (Sultana Disaster) Document 1 | Document 2
J. Cass Mason was partial owner and captain of the Sultana. He wanted the highest number possible of prisoners to transport. Mason was after the money set to be paid per prisoner transported and believed he was “owed” prisoners to transport since Hatch promised soldiers to him to transport. He was in financial trouble and needed the money. He knew the previous problems the boilers showed during the last few trips and ignored it. In the months before the disaster, Mason sold off large parts of his ownership of the Sultana. During loading, Mason communicated that the Sultana had enough people, but at that point he did not have any control of the situation. He assured multiple people multiple times that the Sultana could handle the transport easily.
William Price Sanders (Union Army)
William Price Sanders was born in Kentucky in 1833. He went to West Point and was dismissed by Robert E. Lee, but was saved from dismissal by Jefferson Davis, who was his cousin. Ironically, despite his strong connections to major Confederate Leadership, he became a Union hero in the Civil War. He was chosen by Ambrose Burnside to command the Army of the Ohio after his heroics at the Battle of Antietam. In 1863, leading the Army of the Ohio, he tore from Kentucky into East Tennessee, destroying railroad lines, burning railroad bridges, cutting telegraph wires, and seizing artillery, leading up to Knoxville. He led the Army of the Ohio during the majority of the Knoxville Campaign until he was shot on November 18, 1863. Rumor has it that a sharpshooter poised at the top of the Bleak House, the Confederate headquarters of James Longstreet, fired and struck Sanders while he was poised at what is now Second Presbyterian Church. Although this is a legend, it is confirmed that he died at the Lamar House, now the Bijou Theatre on Gay Street, the next day. He was initially buried at Second Presbyterian Church before his body was exhumed and reburied at the Chattanooga National Cemetery. The Fort Sanders Neighborhood bears his name.
John A Shannon (Union Army)
In 1826, John A Shannon was born in Wyandot County, Ohio. He married Lucy A. Basset, and the couple had three children: Anna Alice Shannon Caple, Lillian E. Shannon Caple, and Alpheus G. Shannon. Shannon mustered into the 100th Ohio Infantry as a Captain in 1862, where he eventually attained the rank of Major. After the U.S. Colored Troops were formed, Shannon was discharged to accept a promotion into the USCT 1st Heavy Artillery as a Lieutenant Colonel. With his ascension to the 1st HA in May of 1864, Shannon joined the men in fortification and construction duties, and would soon take command of the regiment as Colonel in January of 1864. Under his leadership, the regiment advanced to forage for the starving Union armies at Dutch Bottom, Tennessee. Fearing “an attack that might prove disastrous” should he scatter the 1st HA to forage or advance, Shannon requested more forces from Brigadier General Davis Tillson. It may have been at this point that Shannon implicitly violated an order from Tillson by declining to split his forces and advance, because he was ordered “in arrest” back to Knoxville by the general. After a February court-martial ended in his acquittal in March, Shannon returned to command of the regiment at Mossy Creek. But just a month later, Tillson again demanded that he return “in arrest” in Knoxville. It was under these conditions that Shannon resigned his command after arrival to Knoxville on May 27th, 1865. After the war, Shannon returned home to Ohio, where he died and was buried next to his wife in 1894.
Moses “Mose” Smith (United States Colored Heavy Artillery Regiment) Document
Moses “Mose” Smith was a Black soldier who enlisted in Company A of the 1st United States Colored Heavy Artillery Regiment out of Knoxville, Tennessee during the Civil War. He enlisted on February 3rd, 1864, and served all the way through the regiment’s existence until mustered in March 1866. He served as a sergeant of the regiment, often supervising and disciplining Black troops within his company. After the regiment was mustered, he returned to Knoxville, and was hired as the first Black police officer of Knoxville in 1882. Moses Smith died of a severe concussion on November 10th, 1886.
Captain Frederic Speed (Sultana Disaster) Document 1 | Document 2
Captain Frederic Speed was the temporary commissioner of exchange during the time the Sultana sank, in charge of transportation for prisoners out of Camp Fisk. He volunteered for the job because he felt he knew the soldiers at Camp Fisk well enough to get the job done. In an order, Speed directed the release of prisoners from Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa, adding that “the Quartermaster’s Department will furnish the necessary transportation.” Speed was at Camp Fisk the day the Sultana was loaded. The official investigation attempted to hold him accountable for the Sultana’s fate. The charges were dropped and Speed was not convicted.
Timothy Spillane (Union Cavalry) Documents
Timothy Spillane was born in Ireland in 1842. Hardly any information is readily available on his arrival in the United States; however, it is known that he enlisted in the 16th Pennsylvania Cavalry and fought in the Battle of Hatcher’s Run, where he was twice wounded and continued fighting. It was for this bravery that President Rutherford B Hayes awarded him the Medal of Honor. He passed away in Knoxville on December 3, 1901, and was buried at Knoxville National Cemetery. He is one of two Medal of Honor recipients to be buried in Knoxville National Cemetery.
