Cageville in the Civil War

Cageville in the Civil War. Divided Loyalties. In 1861, this place was called Cageville, a small hamlet at an important West Tennessee crossroads. The residents here and at nearby Bells (then called Bells Depot) largely supported the Confederacy. In April 1861, 170 volunteers formed what would become Co. G, 27th Tennessee Infantry. The regiment fought as part of the Army of Tennessee for the next four years and suffered heavy casualties at the Battles of Shiloh and Stones River. Only three of the original volunteers survived the war., Some of the men who stayed home became a thorn in the side of Union troops as partisans. On July 18, 1863, the Unionist Memphis Bulletin reported that "for some weeks a considerable force of rebel cavalry, under command of Colonel Jesse Forest, has been annoying the defenseless citizens of Madison, Henderson. and Haywood counties. ... Colonel [Edward] Hatch sent a portion of his forces to make a detour in the neighborhood Of Cageville, where a rebel force had been recently committing some depredations." By September, the paper reported, Unionist home guards were patrolling here, searching for "several small bands of thieving bandits who assumed to rule tho county, and were amusing themselves by exercising the most outrageous insolence toward the people." The home guard captured three Confederates near Cageville: "Sam Grey, Alexander Waylor, and B.L. Bagby, who have made [their names] notorious by their unbridled conduct." The war's end in 1865 concluded the hostilities if not the hard feelings within the area., Crockett County was formed in 1871 from parts of Dyer, Gibson, Haywood, and Madison counties. The courthouse was completed in 1874., (captions) , Area map - Courtesy Library of Congress , Col. Edward Hatch Courtesy Library of Congress , Confederate cavalry raiders, Century Magazine (ca. 1880) , Crockett Co. Courthouse - Courtesy Tennessee State Library and Archives