Thunder in the Valley

Thunder in the Valley. Civil War in Sequatchie County. The outbreak of the war divided Sequatchie County families, and local men served on both sides of the conflict. Union and Confederate armies marched through the county, civilian law broke down, and marauders used the conflict as an excuse to rob, kill, and settle old scores. The William Rankin house, the first dwelling built in Dunlap, was pillaged, and Rankin fled., Thousands of soldiers marched on the county's roads and turnpikes. In August 1862, Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg's army passed through on its way north to invade Kentucky. Late in the summer and fall of 1863, after the Battle of Chickamauga, the county served as a base for both Union and Confederate armies at different times during the battles for Chattanooga. Union Col. John T. Wilder reported that his arrival here in August 1863 proved timely for "surprising and capturing a party of 14 rebels and releasing 5 Union prisoners they were about to hang.", The fight for Chattanooga directly touched the southern part of the county on October 2, 1863, when Confederate Gen. Joseph Wheeler's cavalry attacked a Union wagon train headed for Chattanooga on the treacherous Campbell and Anderson Turnpike. The train had more than 1,000 wagons full of supplies, pulled by an estimated 4,500 mules. Wheeler's successful raid destroyed a vast quantity of Union property., Federal forces occupied Sequatchie County for the remainder of the war, but marauders still roamed the mountains and valley harassing and stealing from the residents. The war and its aftermath created enduring resentments and wrought profound changes on Sequatchie County as on the nation.