CAPT. JOHN P. GATEWOOD'S CONFEDERATE GUERRILLA BAND
There is some uncertainty as to Gatewood's origins but it has been claimed that he originally rode with Champ Ferguson's Confederate Tennessee guerrilla band for about a year. There are indications in some sources that he was to have been commisioned by General Joseph Wheeler to recruit in Sherman's rear.ere is some uncertainty as to Gatewood's origins but it has been claimed that he originally rode with Champ Ferguson's Confederate Tennessee guerrilla band for about a year. There are indications in some sources that he was to have been commisioned by General Joseph Wheeler to recruit in Sherman's rear.
Gatewood was based in Georgia near the Tennessee border and had around 50 men. He operated from August 1864 until the end of the war. The night of 29 November, 1864, his band raided both Polk and Bradley Counties in Tennessee. Bertil Haggman, author Director, SCANCO bertil.haggman@helsingborg.se
Excerpts from History of Walker County, Georgia, by James Alfred Sartain (re-printed by Thomasson Printing & Office Eqpt. Co., Inc. Carrolton, Georgia, 1972). I obtained a copy of the book at the headquarters of the Walker County Historical Society in Chickamauga, GA., for about $24.00. It was first published in the 1930's. I expect if you wrote to them at the above address, they would be proud to send you a copy. As far as I can tell the book is part of the public domain, but if anyone has information otherwise please advise me via my e-mail address.
Pages 120-125 CIVIL WAR TERRORISTS. DURING the latter part of the Civil Chart especially foliowing the Battle of Chickamauga, three separate bands of irregulars, or terrorists operated in Walker county. It is difficult to des-ignate these groups by an adjective sufficiently descriptive. The old citizens of the county' in discussing them use such adjectives as Raiders, Guerrillas, Tories, and Bushwhackers; but none of these names exactly suits.
A man named Gatewood was the leader of the most important of these bands file claimed to be southern in his sympathies and, of course, his operations were directed mainly against those citizens who were Union in their sympathies. He had no official status. Because of the unsettled condition of the country, and the fact that the civil authorities were weak and unable to cope with such bands—all able-bodied men being at the front, only women and children and aged men were left in the county—he scouted the county time and time again with his banad of irresponsibles, pillaging ravaging, plundering and killing. The number of men attached to this band varied from time to time. At times there are said to have been two or three hundred, but as a rule the number was much smaller, probably as low as 10 to 25;
Gatewood's area of operations was mainly in Northwest Georgia, but he often went into Tennessee and Alabama. Besides the states mentioned, this author has had reports of his operations in Dade, Chattooga, Floyd, Whitfield, Catoosa, Murray and probably other counties, in addition to Walker. They traveled horseback and usually scattered themselves throughout the section in which they happened to be. When in need of a horse, or if they happened to find a horse in better condition than one of their own, they simply took it and went on. At meal time they presented themselves at the homes in the neighborhood 4 or 5 or more at a place and ordered the meal prepared. In the mean time they fed their mounts from whatever could be found about the place.
Mr. J. T. Ashworth, an Octogenarian, who lived at that time in Whitfield County, relates an exciting experience he recalls of one of Gatewood's incursions into Doigwood Valley, north of Villanow. On this occasion he is said to have terrorized the countryside and relieved the community of several horses which were needed, besides committing other depredations. Several old citizens of the county tell the following story: Some time after the Chickamauga battle the Yankees had a large bunch of cattle feeding near Rossville and being guarded by Yankee soldiers. Gatewood, with his band,surprised them, taking the cattle, said to have been several hundred, and capturing the soldiers whom he took and killed by cutting their throats. Those who tell this say it has been related to them in this manner for many years and they have no doubt of its correctness. Whatever may be said as to the taking of the cattle, there is no one, surely, who can condone the treatment of the soldiers.
There is no means of knowing, at this late day, just how many men were killed by Gatewood's band. The author, in discussing the matter with many old citizens, has asked for the names of men whom they know of, or have heard of, who were killed by this band. In this way he has recorded the following names: Dan Clarkson, Bill Clarkson, Jim Johnson, Tom Evitt (Evitt was reputed to be a northern sypathiser who had been warned to stay in his home, he did not do so, and therefore grandpa put a bullet through him), Jim Cordell, Dave or Green Corde]l, Mr. Head, Sam Hixon, Mr. Lumpkin; Henry Blaylock, John Burton, Jake Bird, Joe Hammonds, Baseomb Hendrix, Jack Reed (My personal note here, Jack Reed or Redd rode with the yankee partisans, Reed had siad "I am going to kill Jones Andrews before I have my breakfast, hell, before I have my coffee." Whereupon he went to take Jones; my grandpa promptly put a pistol ball through Reed's Adam's Apple), Theron Poe, Elias Keys, Bill Campbell, Mr. Carlock. These were all citizens of the county or at least were killed in the county. Many others were reported as having been killed in other counties.
It is likely that this is only a small part of the men who met death at the hands of this band. Nor is there any means of knowing just why each man was killed. Some were known to be Union men while others were Southern. Some were killed while at home on furlough; some, it is said, were Scouting out to evade service lit the front, and were killed for that reason. But what authority had Gatewood to do this, even if that were true? Does this make him any less an outlaw? Many were killed, it is said, because of suspicion. Gatewood feared for his own life and for that of his men, and so, being suspicious of any man would be Sufficient cause in such a character to take life.
There is no doubt that Gatewood was a brave man. He was a born fighter. Mr. Seab Shaw tells the following story which he had from an eyewitness: on one occasion, Gatewood, with his band, came into collision with the John Long (Reed was reputed to have ridden with Long) band of guerrillas at LaFayette. He had Long's band on the run and sitting on his galloping horse in hot pur-suit, was holding his horse's reins in his teeth and with a revolver in each hand was shooting at the fleeing men in front.: Mr. Lee H. Dyer tells a similar story as follows: Near Ringgold, Gatewood was preparing to storm the town in which were many Yankees. Lining up his men ~ he said, "Boys, if any of you are afraid, fall out". Then with his horse's reins in his teeth, each hand free to use his firearms, they stormed the town. Many such stories as these have been related to the author. The following, related by a citizen now 80 years of age, probably happened at the time of Long's escape at LaFayette, as noted above: After his escape, Long continued toward the Cove where he had his headquarters. Reaching the foothills of Pigeon Mountain and being overtaken by night, he turned aside from the main road and arriving at a farmhouse,went in and as was the custom announced that he with his men would spend the night. So picketing his horses about the porch he set a watch and lay down to sleep. Gatewood, in the meantime, was in hot pursuit, but it happened that in the darkness, he lost trail of Long, and so missed him. My informant relates this with some degree of pride and pleasure, feeling, as well he may, that had Gatewood not missed the trail in the darkness, there would probably have been no John Long's band and no people living in that house the next morning.
The following story was related to me by Mrs. Mary Lowery, 87, of the Chestnut Flat District, who has since died: She knew the vic-tim personally, but says, by the way, that he was a rather worthless character. She remembers well the circumstance: A man named Burton was hanged by Gatewood in the eastern part of the county. His body was left hanging to a tree on the road side with a note attached forbidding anyone to take it down under penalty of like treatment. Because of this his body remained suspended for many days and until animals and vermin devoured the lower limbs. Finally, some one cut him down and buried him. Mr. Tom Arnold in discussing this matter gives the following information: The victim above referred to was cut down by George McKensie's 5th Tennessee Cavalry while passing through Georgia. Also, that John Gatewood was a native of Sparta, in White County, Tennessee; that Gatewood married a Miss Cain of Gaylesville, Alabama, and emigrated to Texas after the War. He saw her at the Confederate Reunion at Atlanta in 1898 and that Gatewood was dead then.
In personal appearance, Gatewood was a handsome man. His hair, which was a reddish-brown color, was worn'rather long. He was ath-letic and active with clear blue and piercing eyes. The "War of the Rebellion, Official Records of the Union and Con-federate Armies" has several references to Gatewood's band. Series 1, Vol. 4S, page 980 says, "Gatewood and other guerrillas in Broomtown to the number of about 400. Captain Pope of Gatewood's party, a Texan Ranger, had been in McLemore's Cove and carried off a man by name of Wm. Brooks". Again, pg. 990, Gatewood is referred to as un-worthy of consideration, "except for the damage inflicted upon loyal citizens". Also, pg. 1193, "My scouting parties have returned, and report that the band of guerrillas who committed the depredation yesterday number about fifty, under command of Gatewood, I have the names of six men who were murdered; others are reported killed or wounded".
The Official Records above referred to, Series 1, Vol. 49, pg. 605, says:
Headquarters Department of the Cumberland. Nashville, May 4, 1865.
Maj. Gen. G. H. Thomas, U. S. Army,
General: The following is a memorandum of the information com-municated to you this morning by myself:
The terms of surrender between Generals Judah and Wofford were handed you, and an omission pointed out in the last article. The date of the actual surrender was fixed for the 12th proximo, and the place, Kingston, in order to give General Wofford time to collect his forces. These consist, nominally, of all the Confederate and State forces in Northwestern Georgia, amounting, on paper, to about 10,000. General Wofford did not expect to be able to collect more than about a third-of them; but of those who will not be present, many are deserters from the C. S. Army, who are quietly at home, and many others are men who have avoided the rebel conscription and will remain quietly at home, having never taken up arms. These two classes, General Wof-ford considers, will comprise by far the larger part of his absentees.The remainder will be guerrillas of the Gatewood class, who have so far successfully resisted General Wofford's efforts to compel them to submit to his authority. These latter, he thinks, will number probably 500. * * * My own opinion is that the country would be better without troops for the present, unless the guerrillas render the occur pation of it necessary. * *
I am, general, very respectfully, etc.
Louis Merrill, Col. U.- S. Vol.
It is seen from the above, not only that Gatewood had no authority from Confederate powers, but that he actually refused to obey those in authority. General Wofford at the time above mentioned had con-trol of the Confederate forces in Northern Georgia. Gatewood refused to obey him; he acknowledged no authority. He could be classed only as an outlaw. The next band of guerrillas in importance was that headed by John Long and Sam Roberts. These men and their followers were Union in their sympathies. They operated principally in McLemore's Cove, but often crossed the mountain and raided the county round about. This was just about such another gang of outlaws as that of Gatewood, except, perhaps, not so large in numbers. They pretended to offer protection to all Union men and sympathisers, while opposing and persecuting men of opposite opinions. In a general way a description of Gatewood's actions and movements may be applied to that of the Long-Roberts gang. Long was a native of the Cove; he was not, however, related to the Longs in the lower part of Chattanooga Valley. There was deadly enmity between the bands of Long and Gatewood When they met there was pretty sure to be some little excitement, and very likely some one to bury. So far as the author has been able to ascertain by inquiry among the old citizens of the county the following men were killed by Long's band: Atlas Andrews (This was my great-grandpa' nephew, we theorize that this caused him to jine up with Gatewood), Wm. Stewart, Hiram Cochran, the two McSpadden boys, and sometime after the war Long killed Blevins Taylor on Lookout Mountain and was given a life sentence by the courts of Alabama but after serving 30 years was pardoned and soon afterward died. The slaying of the two McSpadden boys was a most deplorable as well as most brutal affair. It seems that they were at home on fur-lough from the Confederate Army. One of them was seriously, perhaps dangerously ill. The other was nursing his brother. Anticipating trouble from the Long-Roberts gang, they left home and were hiding in Dirt Town in Chattooga County. Here they were discovered by Long and Roberts and were brutally murdered, one of them in bed. In the melee Roberts had his thumb shot off by his opponents. (See Miss Orpha Center's account of this elsewhere). Mr. C. C. Ransom, 85, an eye witness, relates this circumstance: Soon after the war, at old Liberty Church, in the Cove, there was preaching one night, when Long, under the influence of drink, came in. He first sat down along the aisle, then got up and sat in the "Amen" corner. All this time he was muttering about something. Finally he arose and left the house and as he did so was heard to mutter that he cared not a d-m for anyone present, and that they had better not follow him either. No one followed. It was only a short time after this that he killed Blevins Taylor on Lookout Mountain. He escaped and was at large for some time, but as there was a handsome reward for his capture, and knowing that sooner or later he would be apprehended, he decided to surrender. So going to a house near Cassandra. he went in and surrendered to Temperance Kirkes, saying he would rather surrender to a woman than to a man. He was carried to Alabama, tried, convicted, and given a life sentence. There was a third band of these guerrillas who occasionally visited the county. This was known as the Doc Morse gang. They operated mainly in Tennessee and the counties in Georgia east of Walker; however, upon occasion, they came as far as Rock Spring and adjacent territory. Not much is known by our people about this band; hoxvever. the people in the Peavine section remember that they were much to be dreaded. The author has been informed that a band of these Raiders occasionally visited Whitfield county led by a man named Edmonson from Murray county. It was just such another band of irresponsibles as Walker county had to contend with during the Civil War. It is probable that these bands were present and operated in practically every community in the South during the Civil War. Since the strength of our manhood was at the front fighting, the sheriff, if there was one, and the other civil authorities, were unable to cope with such bands of men, and so the country was left to their mercy. It is probable, also and it has often been so stated, that in many cases the adherents of Gatewood were not in sympathy with his methods or his purposes, but were attached to him for their own safety, and as soon as possible escaped from him. It is said too that Gatewood was suspicious of his own men was afraid of them. At night when possible he would slip off to find a sleeping place where no one could find him, probably fearing for his own life. In discussing these bands of outlaws among the citizens of the county this chronicler has frequently almost universally heard them remark that Gatewood was just as bad as Long, and Long as bad as Gatewood—six of one and a half dozen of the other. From the contribution of Judge John W. Maddox, printed else-where, it might be inferred that Gatewood had some kind of semi-of-ficial standing, at least among the subordinate officials of the Con-federate army, that they "winked at", so to speak, some of his acts of irregularity. But it is difficult to believe that the higher authorities of the Southern Confederacy gave him such status, and the official records above quoted show that it did not.
Pages 232 - 234 SKIRMISH AT LAFAYETTE AS REMEMBERED BY ONE WHO PARTICIPATED.
By Judge John W. Maddox
Having been requested by the historical committee of the U. D. C. to elate some of my personal experiences during our late war between the tates, I have selected one that happened at LaFayette.
I was a member of the Sixth Georgia Cavalry. In the fall of 1863 it was attached to the command of General Wheeler. As my recollection serves me, it was about the middle of August, 1864, while we were at Atlanta, General Wheeler was ordered to make that long raid in the rear of General Sherman's way up in Tennessee near Nashville, for the purpose of cutting his communications etc. On our return we came out through middle Tennessee, crossed the Tennessee river at Muscle Shoals n Alabama and started on our way back to Georgia to join General Hood. Then we arrived in the neighborhood of Cave Spring, Georgia, we were ordered to strike the W. & A. R. R. between Resaca and Dalton, and destroy the track, trains, and bridges.
Our regiment was ordered to LaFayette to guard the left flank of general Wheeler while he was moving on Dalton. We had been marching ll day when this order was received. We at once started for LaFayette, crossed the Coosa river at Veal's Ferry, twelve miles south of Rome, and reached the Bouchillon place (now known as Sprite) on the Central Railroad, where we stopped for some hours and fed our horses. We then counted and resumed our march for LaFayette, going directly to Summerville, and then to LaFayette, arriving there, as I now remember, about 10 o'clock in the morning. In LaFayette we stopped behind the old court house and dismounted. Pickets were thrown out on the roads leading east, west and north. Very soon after our arrival the noted guerrilla, Gatewood, with five or six of his men, came into LaFayette from the east, where it wag reported that they had hung a man that day or the day before by the name of Burton. Lieut. Joel Weathers, with two or three men, was sent out on the road north on a scout. The balance of us were soon asleep on the ground. Major John T. Burns was in command and was lying on the porch of the old Caldwell hotel that stood on the west corner of the square. Col. Hart had stopped back at Mr. Pat-ton's on the south side of the creek to prepare some dispatches. While we were so asleep, being completely worn out, the bugel sounded, "mount up." We sprang to our horses immediately. Major Burns rushed from the portico, where he had been asleep, sprang on his horse, and ordered the first and second squadron to form on the north side of the court house and the third and fourth to form where they stood. This order was instantly obeyed, and before we had gotten into line on the north side we heard a number of shots fired in the direction of Chattanooga, at the same time we saw Lieut. Weathers and the pickets coming down the road, about where Mrs. Warthen lives, about as fast as they could. Immediately behind them was a company of Yankee cavalry charging upon us with drawn sabres, and yelling like mad men. Major Burns ordered us to follow him, and he made a dash for them right up the road toward Chattanooga. This was wholly unexpected by the Yankees, as they thought no one was in LaFayette except a few scouts as we after-wards learned. They soon discovered they had a fight on their hands. They turned to run, and it was then a race till they were all killed or captured. It is my recollection now that only one of their men escaped. He was mounted on a white horse and he got away by simply out-running us. We could not catch him on account of the exhausted condition of our horses, although some of our men followed him almost to Rock Springs. Our horses were already exhausted before this chase began. About a mile north of LaFayette, as I now remember, we gathered all of our prisoners together in a field. About that time Col. Hart caught up with us, and Gatewood, who had joined with us in the chase, came up and demanded that the prisoners be turned over to him. Col. Hart had evidently never seen Gatewood before for he at once demanded to know who he was, and when inforrned, he immediately, in that sharp and decisive manner for which he was noted, informed Gatewood that the prisoners had been captured by his men and that they would be turned over to the regularly constituted authorities authorized to receive them by the Confederacy. Up to this time the prisoners thought they had been captured by the guerrillas and expected to be shot, but when they were informed that they were in the hands of the regular soldiers and would be treated as prisoners of war, this information made them the happiest men I ever saw. We did not need any guard to keep them, for they stuck to us like brothers. We picked up the wounded and carried them back to the old Goree house and left them with Dr. Gordon, who lived there then. Col. Hart detailed one or two of the prisoners to stay and wait on them. These plead with Col. Hart not to leave them, as they were confident the guerrillas would kill them. Col. Hart sent for Gatewood and told him of the fears of these men, said he was going to leave them in Gatewood's charge, telling Gatewood that if a hair of their head was hurt he would hold him personally responsible. What became of them I do not know. That night we camped in a pine thicket just east of Mr. Clemon's house, three miles south of LaFayette. The next morning we joined our brigade at Villanow and moved on to Dalton. This incident about which I have written was in October, 1864. Anyone interested in this incident and desiring to get fuller particulars as to it can call on my friend and comrade, whom I am glad to say is still alive and lives near LaFayette, Wiltz Boss, who was in this "scrap" and knows all about it.
LITERATURE SUGGESTED BY Bertil Haggman, author Director, SCANCO bertil.haggman@helsingborg.se
Noel Charles Fisher, "War at Every Man's Door: The Struggle for East Tennessee, 1860 - 1869" (1993).
Hurlbut, J.S., _History of the Rebellion in Bradley County, East Tennessee_, Indianapolis: Downey & Brouse, 1866. (pp. 130 - 133 and Appendix, pp. 6-13).
Roy G. Lillard, _Bradley County_ (Memphis: Memphis State University Press, 1980), pp. 63-64.
Williams, A.J., _Confederate History of Polk County, Tennessee, 1860 - 1866 (Nashville, McQuiddy Printing Company, 1923), p. 28.
Colonel Horace Boughton to Captain H.A.Ford, Cleveland, November 30, 1864, OR 45, 1, p. 1193.
I am seeking more information on Captain John Gatewood's Guerilla Command. Please e-mail anything you may have on this outfit to the following address:
email - rifleman@cei.net