Lincoln County in the Civil War

Lincoln County in the Civil War. A Confederate Stronghold. , Lincoln County was a Confederate stronghold during the Civil War. Local men formed companies for the Confederate army before Tennessee seceded. In April 1861, Col. Peter B. Turney organized the 1st Confederate Infantry Regiment (first in the state) in nearby Winchester, and it departed for Virginia the following month. The county provided almost 5,000 Confederate soldiers who served in at least six infantry regiments, three cavalry units, and an artillery battery. Some residents enlisted in the U.S. Army, but no Union companies were raised here., Federal forces entered Fayetteville in April 1862 and then withdrew two months later. They returned the next spring and remained until the end of the war. The courthouse, surrounded by a six foot-high brick wall, became a stable for Union horses and a temporary fort. Union Gen. William T. Sherman’s army marched through Fayetteville and crossed the Elk River on the old stone bridge en route to Chattanooga from Memphis in November 1863. Completed in 1861, the 450-foot-long, six-arch limestone bridge provided an excellent crossing place for both armies. Sherman’s order to destroy the bridge was not carried out., Foraging parties from both armies stripped the county’s resources and committed numerous depredations. Confederate partisans led by “Bushwhacker” Johnson, Lemuel Mead, and Peter and Joel Cunningham raided the countryside and skirmished continuously. In June 1864, Union Gen. Eleazer A. Paine ordered three civilians, John R. Massey, Franklin Burroughs, and William Pickett, executed after they refused to guide him to a Confederate camp. Confederate guerrilla Robert B. Blackwell’s retaliatory raid resulted in the killing of ten captured Union soldiers at Wells’ Hill (now Skinem)., “Elk River Valley has heretofore contributed largely to supply the enemy, and to be fair the people should do as much for us.” , Gen. William T. Sherman to Union Gen. Grenville M. Dodge, November 9, 1863, (captions) , (upper left) Elk River stone bridge, photo ca. 1890s, collapsed 1969 Courtesy Jim Davidson , (upper center) Lincoln County Courthouse, 1886 Tennessee State Library and Archives , (upper center) Peter Cunningham Courtesy Beck Cunningham Raby , (upper right) Lt. John Y. Gill, 55th Tennessee Infantry, fought at Perryville, Shiloh, Stones River, Chattanooga and Chickamauga. After the war, he served as county clerk and Fayetteville mayor. From Biographical Sketches and Pictures of Company B (1902)