Divided Loyalties

Divided Loyalties. Scott County in the Civil War. As the prospect of war increased in 1861, the residents of remote Scott County wished to be left alone rather than be forced to take sides. But after U.S. Senator Andrew Johnson denounced secession in a fiery speech at the courthouse in June, the residents voted against it. When Tennessee seceded, the county court passed a resolution to form the "Independent State of Scott"., In September 1861, the war came home to 16-year-old county resident Julia Marcum (1844-1936) when a Confederate soldier forced his way into the house to search for her father, Hiram C. Marcum, a noted Unionist. Julia fought him off with an axe while suffering the loss of an eye and a finger. She recovered sufficiently to teach school for a time, but eventually her wounds rendered her incapable of working. After petitioning Congress, in 1885 she received a military pension for her actions., The county's residents endured frequent guerilla warfare. In December 1861, the Louisville Journal reported that "near the headwaters of Buffalo Creek the rebels encountered a number of Capt. Duncan's home Guards. A skirmish ensued, in which 4 of the rebels were killed and several wounded, the Home Guards sustaining no loss whatever. ...[The Confederates] captured Larkin Cross and Ransom Conover, both of whom they hanged in the apple orchard belonging to the widow Angel". Later, the Confederates routed the Home Guard at Huntsville, but were defeated at Brimstone. In August 1863, Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside and the Army of the Ohio essentially ended the Confederate threat here., [Caption]: Union soldier foraging. Courtesy Library of Congress , [Caption]: Union Private James L. Parham. Tennessee State Library and Archives , [Caption]: Julia Marcum. Courtesy Kentucky Historical Society , [Caption]: Mountain Region of North Carolina and Tennessee, 1865. Courtesy Library of Congress