The remarkable career of Daniel
Ellis as a daring and successful scout
and pilot, and the extraordinary service
rendered to the United States Government
in conducting 4000 men from East
Tennessee, Southwest Virginia and
Western North Carolina into the Federal
lines, swelling the Union ranks by that
large number of brave men at a time when
they were greatly needed to uphold the
Union cause, deserves more than a
passing notice. We therefore devote this
chapter to a sketch of the life and
ad-ventures of this unpretentious
citizen and soldier whose services were
no less helpful and important to the
Union people, especially of Carter and
Johnson counties, Tenn., than they were
to the Government he served so
faithfully and well.
A description of the man, and an account
of his early environments, and the
distinctive personality that fitted him
for the peculiar service that made him
famous will no doubt be read with
absorbing interest by those who enjoy
reading about the romantic or heroic
phases of human life.
Daniel Ellis was born in Carter county,
Tenn., December 27, 1827. His father,
Wiley Ellis, though a small land holder,
was comparatively poor and he and his
children. eight in number, were
compelled to labor to secure a modest
living.
Daniel was not of a literary turn of
mind and if he had been he had poor
opportunities to improve his mind, as
the schools in the neighborhood were
poor and his father was not able to send
him off to school. Hence he grew up to
manhood with little learning or
knowledge of the world. His youth had
been spent working on a poor farm,
hunting, fishing and indulging in the
usual sports and pastimes of the
ordinary backwoods boy of that day.
Being full of patriotism and fond of
adventures, he, together with a large
number of young men from Carter and
Johnson counties, responded to the call
for volunteers to go to Mexico. He
enlisted in Captain Patterson's company
of the 5th Regiment, Tennessee
Volunteers, in March, 1847. His company
left Jonesboro, Tenn., about the 1st of
March, 1847. It went in flat boats to
Chattanooga, Tenn., where the boats were
taken in tow by steamboats and taken to
Memphis, and from there to New Orleans.
The regiment reached Vera Cruz, Mexico,
about April 1, 1847. The war ended
before this regiment got into any very
exciting service.
Ellis, together with his comrades from
Carter and John-son counties, returned
to their homes. He then served an
apprenticeship as wagon and
carriage-maker at Jonesboro, Tenn. After
learning his trade he married in
Washington county, Tenn., and returned
to his native county, where he settled
down. He divided his time thereafter
between farming and working at his
trade. There was nothing in his
character to distinguish him from the
ordinary citizen until after the
beginning of the Civil War. He had seen
a little more of the world, perhaps, on
his trip to Mexico than fell to the lot
of most of his neighbors. The Civil War
found him a man 34 years of age, in the
prime of his manhood. He was six feet
high, of athletic build and with sinewy
muscles. His complexion was slightly
dark, with black hair and keen black
eyes.
He had rather a handsome face with
nothing about it to betray to the
ordinary observer the resolute character
he afterwards displayed. He was regarded
as a man of considerable native ability
and good judgment, of kind disposition
and an honest, law-abiding citizen.
Having been born in the mountain region
he loved the hills and streams and
delighted in the hunt and chase. He was
a natural woodsman and seldom lost his
way. While he never studied the stars
and planets which point the way of the
mariner across the seas, he was enabled
to make hi; way through the woods and
mountains for long distances, even in
the darkness of the night, with no path
to guide him on his journey, directed by
what seemed to be that natural instinct
that enables birds and animals to keep
their course from one end of the
continent to the other with unerring
precision.
Of course he was not guided altogether
in this way, but once learning the
general topography of a country, and the
course of its rivers and streams, and
guided in his directions by the moss on
the trees and other infallible
sign-boards which Nature has provided,
and which are familiar to woodsmen, he
rarely lost his direction. His early
life having been spent largely in the
mountains and woods, often hunting game
by night as well as by day, his senses
of vision and hearing became highly
developed. enabling him to see objects
in the night that were invisible to the
ordinary individual, and hear sounds
that others could not hear, so that he
was peculiarly fitted for the daring and
successful adventures that made him so
famous during the Civil War.
Having followed the flag in Mexico, and
possessing that spirit of loyalty and
devotion to the Union that characterized
the majority of the people of East
Tennessee, he entered in the plans and
purposes of the Union people with all
his might and strength, soon exhibiting
the qualities of energy, intelligence
and courage that made him a noted man.
He was first engaged in the bridge
burning and the Carter county rebellion,
and afterwards in piloting refugees from
the conscript officers, and escaped
prisoners from upper East Tennessee,
Southwest Virginia and Western North
Carolina, into the Federal lines, at
first in Kentucky, and later, to
Nashville, Gallatin and Knoxville, Tenn.
At this period of Ellis' life he was a
man of pleasing manners and averse to
bloodshed. In the early part of his
career as a pilot he carried no arms but
depended entirely upon strategy and
outwitting the enemy. He has been heard
to say that at the beginning of the
Civil War he could not have been induced
to shed the blood of his fellow-man in
personal combat as he believed his
conscience would give him no peace
afterwards should he do so, but after he
had made a number of hair-breath
escapes, and had seen his countrymen
shot down in cold-blood, and a price had
been set on his own head, ha did arm
himself and when the exigencies of the
situation demanded it, he used his arms
with most deadly effect. He was a man,
however, when not aroused, of kindly
disposition, little resembling the
shaggy-browed heroes of fiction, or even
the stern-looking heroes we read of in
history.
To thoroughly understand the dangers and
hardships to which Ellis was exposed it
is necessary that the reader should have
a clear conception of the situation then
existing in East Tennessee, and
especially in the two counties of
Johnson and Carter. It is also necessary
that the reader should know something of
the route over which he traveled so
often.
We can give our readers no better idea
of the condition prevailing in these two
counties, and in the whole of East
Tennessee, than by giving a quotation
from a speech de-livered in New York by
Hon. Champ Clark, of Missouri, at a
banquet in honor of General Grant's
birthday, April 25, 1892. Mr. Clark said
among other things :
"In Missouri the war was waged with
unspeakable bitterness, sometimes with
inhuman cruelty. It was fought by men in
single combat, in squads, in companies,
in regiments, in the fields, in
fortified towns and in ambush, under the
stars and stripes, under the stars and
bars and under the black flag. The arch
fiend himself seems to have been on the
field in person, inspiring, directing,
commanding."
This description applies equally well to
East Tennessee, and, indeed, wherever
there was a sufficiently strong Union
sentiment in the South to attempt to
assert itself. No language could more
truthfully portray the situation that
existed in East Tennessee when Daniel
Ellis was making his trips backward and
forth to Kentucky.
Now to show the physical endurance
necessary to accomplish what Ellis did
the reader should know that in making
his trips to Kentucky he had the
following obstacles to encounter. First,
the Doe and Watauga rivers ; often so
swollen they could not be crossed for
days at a time, or in Winter running
with mush-ice, keeping his men in
waiting and exposed to capture, which
often meant death. Then came the North
and South Forks of the Holston river,
presenting a formidable obstacle,
especially when swollen, or in the
Winter when it often had to be swam or
waded, regardless of the temperature.
Then came Bays and the Clinch Mountains,
steep and rugged ranges over which the
travelers must pass, and then the Clinch
river, another large stream must be
crossed. Next came a steep ridge, called
Coffer Ridge, and a large stream, almost
a river, called Coffer Creek. Then came
Powell's Mountains, tall rough and
rugged, and Waldens Ridge, the Wildcat
Mountain and then Powells river, and
then the great Cumberland Mountain and
the large and swiftly flowing Cumberland
river. It would seem now a herculean
task for a man to start to the interior
of Kentucky on foot, and by night, even
over the public highways, but then the
river crossings and most of the mountain
passes were guarded and the valleys were
swarming with rebel soldiery.
In the beginning Ellis was wholly
unaware of his adaptability to the
profession (as it may be termed) of
pilot, but it is said that great
occasions produce men suit-able to the
emergency, and immediately after the
bridge burning and Carter county
rebellion there was great need of some
strong, bold man, to guide the fugitives
from the wrath of the Southern soldiery
to a haven of safety across the rugged
ranges of the Cumberland mountains.
ELLIS' FIRST ADVENTURE.
Ellis' first real adventure occurred
near what was then known as "O'Brien's
Old Forge," now Valley Forge. On the
16th of November, 1861, Gen Leadbetter,
having dispersed the Union forces at the
Doe River Cove who had been engaged in
rebellion, sent a company of soldiers
down Doe River in the direction of
Elizabethton, arresting Union men
indiscriminately. The officer had with
him Stanford Jenkins, the guard captured
and released by the bridge burners at
Zollicoffer, for the purpose of
identifying bridge burners. Among others
arrested was Daniel Ellis. While the
column was halted in front of Elbert
Range's house, Jenkins identified Ellis
as a bridge burner. The rebel officer in
charge said to Ellis : "You d—d
scoundrel, you shall not live two
minutes." Ellis, notwithstanding there
were rebel soldiers all about him, made
a dash through an open gate and through
an open porch or entry between the
kitchen and main building of Range's
house, shedding his bear-skin overcoat
as he went. The house screened him for
some distance, and the soldiers were too
much surprised at his audacity to think
of firing until he was some distance
away; but as he went up the hill, in
plain view, through the open field, the
shots came thick and fast, and the
cavalryman followed him shouting and
yelling, but he made his escape into the
friendly shelter of a cedar thicket
unharmed.
After this adventure Ellis made his way
to the Pond Mountain in the eastern part
of Carter county and went into a camp
with Col. Dan. Stover and others far
back in the mountain where they were
waiting with much anxiety for the advent
of the Federal army, which at that time
was daily expected to come to the relief
of the Union men. As Ellis was known to
be a good woodsman, trusty and capable
of much endurance, he was selected to go
back into the vicinity of Elizabethton
to convey letters to the men's families,
learn the news and bring back letters
and such articles of necessity as he
could carry back to the camp.
ELLIS'
FIRST TRIP TO KENTUCKY.
Not being able to learn anything
about the movements of the Federal army,
Ellis at length determined to go to
Kentucky and see for himself what the
prospects for the relief of the Union
people were. Accordingly about the 1st
of April, 1862, he started out on his
first journey through the mountains to
Kentucky, not as a pilot, for as yet the
way was unknown to him, but in company
with one other man as far as Bays
Mountain in Sullivan county, Tenn. He
parted with his companion after learning
the names of a number of Union men along
the way he expected to go, and traveled
alone until he fell in with a company
of. Union men who were being piloted to
Kentucky by a man named William McClain.
He found in this company a number of his
acquaintances from Carter county, and in
company with them made the journey
through the mountains, enduring much
suffering for want of food and water,
and undergoing much fatigue from
climbing the precipitous hills and
mountains, but at length reached
Cumberland Gap in safety. This place was
then occupied by Federal troops under
Gen. G. W. Morgan. One of the Federal
brigades of Tennessee troops was
commanded by Gen. S. P. Carter, whom
Ellis had known from boyhood.
Gen. Carter treated him with great
kindness, but gave him little hopes of
early relief for his friends, and after
resting a few days he determined to
return to Carter county and make known
to his friends there the true state of
affairs. In company with McClain he
started on his return, crossing the
Cumberland and Powell's mountains,
Wailing's ridge, and wading rivers and
streams; after a tedious and toilsome
journey of five days, he reached his
home.
He gained much valuable information on
this trip relative to the country,
directions, dangerous places, where to
find friends and where to be on the
lookout for enemies. both from his own
observations and what. information he
obtained from McClain.
The Union men who were hiding in the
mountains soon learned of Ellis' return
home and began to importune him to pilot
them at least as far as Sullivan.
county. A here they hoped to fall in
with McClain. After resting a few days
he consented, and on the night of the
28th of August, 1862, started from a
point near Elizabethton with 75 men,
under promise to conduct them to what
was called the boat-yard, in Sullivan
county, Tenn., a distance of thirty
miles from Elizabethton. After traveling
through a most terrific storm the first
night, the second right he succeeded in
reaching the boat-yard, and turning the
men over to McClain who piloted them the
remainder of the way to Cumberland Gap.
While on his return he came very near
falling into the hands of some rebel
soldiers, but with his usual quick wit
managed to elude them.
These were his initial trips, and upon
his return home he found J. W. M.
Grayson. who was afterwards a Major in
the Thirteenth Tennessee Cavalry, with
100 recruits waiting to be taken through
the lines. The position of pilot was not
sought by Ellis but thrust upon him.
Every mountain pass and river crossing
was now closely guarded. Rebel cavalry
could be seen riding through the valleys
by the men as they rested upon the
mountain sides, concealed from view.
during the day. Dangers menaced them on
every hand. but by the skillful
management of their leader this large
body of men got safely through. Having
piloted so large a body of men safely
through the lines, while many other
companies of men under other pilots had
been captured at different points in
East Tennessee, Ellis' 'reputation was
established, and his services sought on
every hand. But we cannot follow him, as
for more than three years he continued
in this hazardous business going
sometimes to Cumberland Gap.
Barboursville, Camp Dick Robinson and
Lexington, Kentucky, and later across
the mountains of Washington, Cocke,
Greene and Sevier counties, and across
the Nola Chucky, French Broad and
Holston rivers, to reach Knoxville,
Nashville and other points in Tennessee.
He made his return trips all alone, and
at one time came onto three putrid
bodies of men; near a spring, who had
been captured and hanged and left to be
devoured by the buzzards. He often found
the skeletons of men in the mountains,
some of whom had probably been shot and
others had given out on the way and had
perished from starvation. When he would
return to his native county the fact was
soon made known, often through his
indiscreet friends to whom he had
brought letter, money and valuable
packages from their friends in the army.
We shall not attempt to follow him
through all his escapades in his many
marches across the mountains with his
men, or on his lonely trips as he made
his way back burdened with letters and
tokens of love and remembrances that he
was bearing back to the mother, wife,
sister or sweetheart, from the loved
ones in the army. Nor shall we attempt
to describe his feelings, when, though
the familiar landmarks told him he was
approaching the play place of his
boyhood and the home of his manhood that
held all that was dear to him in life,
he knew deadly foes were lurking there
to kill or capture him.
But his friends compared him to an "old
red fox" because the fox is sly and hard
to catch napping, and very often when
its pursuer thinks he has it hemmed on
all sides, Reynard slips out in some
mysterious way. So it was with Ellis,
there seemed to be a charm about his
life.
Once, when returning from one of his
trips to Kentucky he came in sight of a
crossing place on the river, but rebel
soldiers were continually passing back
and forth in squads of two, three or
more, going to a distillery nearby. The
river was swollen and he could not wade
or swim it. He was pinched by hunger,
having traveled' long without eating. He
remained for several hours watching from
his place of concealment and at last all
were out of sight except one rebel
soldier, but he had a gun. He was
preparing to take the boat to the
opposite side of the river. Ellis
watched his opportunity and when the
soldier was not looking towards him, he
stepped into the path and walked,
unconcerned, towards him, hailed him and
asked him to set him across tae river.
The soldier scrutinized him for a moment
and seeing nothing about him to arouse
suspicion, told him to get in the boat.
They entered into conversation, Ellis
telling him he lived in the neighborhood
and was taking some things over to Mr.
Blank, mentioning the name of a
welt-known rebel citizen he knew lived
in the neighborhood. The soldier told
him they were on the lookout for a
notorious Lincolnite, named Ellis, that
piloted renegades through the lines and
asked Ellis if he had ever seen him.
Ellis told him he had never seen him but
had heard a good deal of him and knew he
was a bad man. The soldier then said :
"Well, if we catch him he will not pilot
any more Lincolnites through the lines."
Reaching the shore the soldier asked him
to go to the still-house with him and
get some liquor, but Ellis declined,
thanked the soldier for taking him
across the river and walked slowly away
until out of sight when he walked as
only Dan. Ellis could walk in those
days.
At another time, having taken about 25
men to Kingsport on the way to Kentucky,
he concealed them uncle: the banks of
the river while he went to the house of
a Union man who was well-known to him to
ask for the use of his canoe, and find
out whether there were any rebels in the
vicinity. The friend told him there was
a company of rebels there, and a squad
of them had charge of the canoe and were
at that moment watching for him, and the
best thing he could do would be to get
away from there as quickly as possible.
Ascertaining the exact location of the
squad of men who had charge of the
canoe, Ellis concealed his men under the
bank of the river some distance below
them and then started cautiously towards
them. The night was quite dark, and
approaching quite near to them he found,
as he had hoped, that they were all
lying down and probably asleep, for it
was late at night, or rather early in
the morning, for it was long past
midnight. Ellis now lying flat upon his
belly moved himself, almost by inches,
towards the canoe which was within 20
feet, or less, of the guard. At this
moment he made a slight noise,
unintentionally, and quick as thought a
soldier sprang to his feet with his gun
in his hand. Ellis thought for a moment
his fate was sealed but the soldier
peered around in the darkness, and
seeming to satisfy himself that the
noise he had heard was but the splashing
of the waves or a false alarm of some
kind, lay down again. Ellis lay
perfectly still, scarcely daring to
breathe, until he thought the soldier
had time to get back to sleep, and then
crawled up to the canoe, which was but
slightly drawn up on the bank, he
gathered up the chain in a bunch and
laid it gently in the bottom of the
canoe, then gradually loosening it from
its moorings floated with it silently
out into the stream. He reached his men,
and when they were all safely across,
pushed the canoe out into the river, so
it could not be used to follow him. The
party then made their way hurriedly to
Bays Mountain, about three miles
distant, where they concealed
themselves. The next morning, from their
hiding place in the mountain, they could
see the rebel soldiers galloping back
and forth and hear them shouting and
cursing, for they were doubtless angry,
even with themselves, because they had
let the "old red fox" outwit them.
But it must not be assumed that Ellis'
courage consisted in performing only
such feats as we have described, though
it must be admitted they required no
small amount of nerve and daring; but,
when the chances were anything like
equal, he never hesitated to meet an
enemy fact to face in the open. His
courage was tested on many occasions,
both during and since the Civil War. No
man when confronted with danger could
more truthfully than he, make use of the
language imputed to Fitz James when
confronted by the hosts of Rhoderick Dhu
:
"Come one, come all, this rock shall fly
From its firm base as soon as I."
Ellis made a mistake in writing an
autobiography. He is too modest to make
a display of his own heroism. His story
should have been written by another who
was familiar with his daring and his
brave deeds. None but a Caesar or a Paul
Jones could gracefully make a hero of
himself. We can mention here but a few
more incidents of his life as a scout
and pilot; for this history in full, we
refer our readers to his book entitled
"Adventures of Daniel Ellis, the Union
Guide," published by Harper Bros., New
York, in 1867, which we understand is
still in print.
DEATH OF
CAPTAIN YOUNG.
We have referred to the danger
attending Ellis when he would return
from Kentucky The fact of his return
always became known, even lo the
Confederate officers and soldiers, and
many ineffectual efforts were made to
capture him. But he had many friends who
gave him warning of approaching danger.
Sometimes, however, he made very narrow
escapes. At one time some rebel soldiers
got within a few feet of him while he
was in a house at Hampton, Tenn., before
he knew they were wear. The men who were
with him were captured, but he knew that
with him, capture meant death, so he
made a break for the Jenkins mountain
closely pursued by several soldiers who
were firing on him at every step. He
returned the fire but as the odds were
greatly against him, continued to
retreat and finally escaped by having
superior endurance. But his power of
endurance was severely tested on this
occasion, and after running up the steep
mountain side he fell exhausted and it
was sometime before he could recover his
breath.
At another time he escaped from Capt.
Young's men at his home. This time he
got to his fleet-footed horse and saved
himself by flight. These efforts to
capture or kill him aroused all the
vindictiveness of his nature and he
determined upon revenge. After his
flight from Young it was alleged that
that officer allowed his men to rob
Ellis' house and abuse his wife. Soon
after this Capt. Young with his company
were on the road from Doe River Cove to
Elizahethton. Ellis was in waiting for
them near a ford of Doe river known as
the "Skin-Pine" ford. The company had
passed whet e Ellis was concealed when
Captain Young. who for some reason was
some distance in the rear of the
company, came along, Ellis stepped out
into the road and halted him and
immediately opened fire on him with his
Spencer rifle, killing him almost
instantly. Captain Young's son visited
the place where his father was killed a
few years ago and marked the spot with a
stone upon which was engraved his
father's name and the date of his death,
but the inscription has been defaced by
some one.
DEATH OF
CAPTAIN PARKER.
There was in Johnson county a company
of men known as the "Johnson county
home-guards," commanded by Captain
Parker. They were active in hunting down
Union men in that county and it was
alleged were most cruel and inhuman in
their treatment of old men and even
women and children. These men made
frequent incursions into Carter county
and were charged with hanging and
shooting five Union men at one time near
what is now the Fish Spring. The act was
committed just across the line in
Johnson county, but some of the men were
citizens of Carter. Other Carter county
men were killed by Parker and his men.
Ellis was called upon to try to put a
stop to what the Union people regarded
as inhuman and needless butchery of
citizens who had committed no offence
except that of loyalty to the Union.
Ellis went up into Johnson county and in
company with other Union citizens who
knew Parker personally, took a position
near the road along which Parker and his
men were expected to pass. The company
passed but Parker was not with them.
Presently, however, he came riding along
alone. As in the case of Young, Ellis
stepped into the road and halted him and
opened fire on him. Parker fell from his
horse, and when his friends returned to
look for him they found his coat and hat
but could find no trace of him. Several
weeks passed and his body was found at
last in the woods near a farm-house. The
surroundings gave evidence of a horrible
death hastened by starvation. After
being wounded he had crawled a distance
of perhaps two miles but had been unable
to attract the attention of any person.
Little sympathy was expressed for this
man, whose name was William Parker,
especially by the Union people, as he
had gained the reputation of being a
most cruel and heartless individual.
Other tragedies in which Ellis had a
hand will be mentioned in the chapter of
tragedies.
Ellis had much to arouse his passions
and when once aroused he was found to be
a dangerous enemy. He usually had about
him a few friends who were as brave and
daring as himself. Among them were
Elbert and Robert Treadway. Towards the
last of the war these men, as well as
Ellis himself, were armed with repeating
rifles, and each had two six-shooting
army pistols. Being excellent marksmen
these three men were foes not to be
despised by a whole company of the
enemy..
At one time a squad of twenty or thirty
rebel soldiers who was encamped on the
Watauga river, went out to the vicinity
of Ellis' home. Robert Treadway was off
some distance but Ellis and Elbert
opened fire on the soldiers and after
wounding several of them put them to
flight. Hearing the firing Robert
hurried to the scene and joining Ellis
and his brother, the three men drove the
squad of soldiers several miles back to
their camp. People who still remember
this fight say the firing was so rapid
that it sounded as if there was at least
a company engaged on each side.
Ellis gained such a reputation for his
fighting qualities and for the accuracy
of his aim that few men, even brave.
soldiers, cared to venture within range
of his gun. There is little doubt that
when it was seen by the reckless men on
the other side that shooting was a game
that two could play at, the shooting and
hanging did not occur so frequently. If
the truth were told in regard to
one-half of the acts of inhumanity
committed by Parker and his men, his
horrible death was not only a just
retribution for his misdeeds but a
salutary lesson to men of hi; class to
teach them " as ye sow, so shall ye
reap."
CAPTAIN
DANIEL ELLIS.
ELLIS AS A SOLDIER-HIS LIFE SINCE THE
WAR.
Daniel Ellis assisted in recruiting
Company A of the Thirteenth Tennessee
Cavalry and was tendered the Captaincy
of that company in 1863, but the service
he had been able to render the
Government at that time as well as the
Union men as a pilot in taking them out
of danger and the advantage to the
Regiment in bringing in recruits induced
Col. Miller and others to advise him not
to accept a commission in the army. In
fact, the restraints and discipline of
military life were not suited to him. We
are free to say that though possessed of
the greatest courage and intelligence,
we do not believe he would have brooked
the restraints of a line officer in the
service sufficiently to have made him a
success in that capacity. He preferred a
free hand and a loose rein. He could
direct others but did not care to be
commanded.
Give him 100 brave men, or even a
smaller number, and turn him loose and
his name was a terror to an enemy.
This was demonstrated when in March,
1865, having been appointed Captain of
Company A, Thirteenth Tennessee Cavalry,
he accepted the commission as his
service as Pilot was not now greatly
needed. He asked for a detachment of men
from the Regiment to go to Carter and
Johnson counties where a few rebel
soldiers still lingered and he wanted to
have the honor of driving them away. He
was given a detail of 32 men, including
Lieut. Andrew Campbell, who had been
promoted for killing Gen. Morgan. He
started from Knoxville with this
detachment on the 14th of March, 1865.
They were all well armed, but not
mounted, as they expected to mount
themselves by capturing horses from the
enemy.
Before giving details of this expedition
we desire to say we have gleaned a
greater part of the facts from Ellis'
history, written soon after the close of
the war. when men's passions were still
running high on both sides, and when all
were laboring under the passions and
prejudices that had been engendered by
the war. The men who were with him were
nearly all Carter and Johnson county men
who felt that they and their families
had been wronged and mistreated by
Confederate soldiers and' citizens. They
were no doubt filled with the spirit of
hatred and revenge that prevailed at
that time.
Looking back from this distance at some
of the acts that were committed by some
members of this detachment we are not
prepared to approve them, but it may be
said they were in retaliation for acts
of like character that had been
committed by others. The killing of
Henry and Isaac Nave as well as young
Godfrey Stover, if the facts have been
told, were acts greatly to be regretted.
It has been alleged that Stover was shot
after he surrendered, and the Naves were
not permitted to surrender. In
extenuation of these charges, even if
they are true, it may be said that the
men who killed them claimed to have been
the victims of the malice and hatred of
these men, and that they had been the
instigators of the death of their
friends. It is not our province,
however, either to approve or condemn,
but to relate the facts. It should he
the duty of the historian, however
humble his sphere, to make known such
palliating circumstances as can he
truthfully told that would relieve the
dark shadow that hung over many deeds
that were committed in these counties,
on both sides, under the impulses that
then ruled men's thoughts and actions.
This detachment, after several days hard
travel on foot, reached Elizabethton,
near which place was Captain Ellis'
home. He had heard before reaching that
place there was a squad of rebel
soldiers there, but when he approached
the town it was learned they had
decamped. He then proceeded leisurely to
the "Laurel," in Johnson county, going
by way of Stony Creek and Shady. Up to
this time he had met with no startling
adventures. The Union people gave the
little detachment o royal welcome, for
even up to this late day they were
accustomed to seeing only the "Gray "
and looking upon them as enemies, and
with the greatest dread, but now they
saw the blue, under the old banner, and
the old men who had seen it in Mexico,
and others who had been taught to
reverence it, wept with joy.
Capt. Ellis learned through an old Union
man that there was a company of rebel
soldiers a short distance from where he
was camped. A number of his men had
dropped out at their homes in Carter
county, but he had been joined by
several armed Union citizens so that his
detachment still numbered 25 or 30 men.
The enemy was encamped about a log barn
and that night Captain Ellis moved his
men up to within striking distance of
the barn and awaited daylight to make
the attack. At daylight, dividing his
men into two squads, he made a rush for
the enemy who was preparing breakfast in
the barn lot. The enemy was greatly
surprised and some of the men retreated
in haste, others took refuge under the
barn, but about 15 of them stood their
ground and made a gallant resistance,
but Ellis' men had superior arms and
finally succeeded in capturing them.
Those who had concealed themselves under
the barn were brought out and made
prisoners. Ellis captured 36 good horses
with bridles, saddles and blankets,
besides a quantity of arms and
provisions. Among the prisoners was a
Kentucky captain and lieutenant. The
Kentuckians were not all "colonels" in
those days.
Being now well mounted, Captain Ellis
went back in the direction of
Elizabethton where he learned a
detachment of rebel soldiers under Capt.
Olford Smith had been looking for him,
and were still in the town. He concealed
his men about two miles from town and
about daylight on the following morning,
dividing his men into three squads, he
charged into town on different streets
completely routing the squad of rebels,
who fled in different directions. Capt.
Ellis being mounted on a fast animal
came up with three of the enemy who
stopped and showed fight. He was by
himself at this time, having left his
men in his rapid pursuit of the enemy.
He had also emptied his pistols and had
no time to reload. He engaged in a hand
to hand fight with the men, and his life
was probably saved by the timely arrival
of W. W. Williams of Company A, who came
up and shot one of the men who had
loaded his gun and was in the act of
shooting Captain Ellis. Before this time
one of the rebel soldiers had been
killed in Doe river, near where the
foot-bridge now stands. It has been
stated that this man whose name was
Camper, gave "the grand-hailing sign of
distress" of the Masonic fraternity, but
this did not save him as it was not
recognized by any of Capt. Ellis' party.
Three men were killed on the side of the
rebels, viz : Camper, Clark and Godfrey
Stover, and eleven captured. Captain
Smith and one other man who was wounded,
made their escape. Captain Smith was a
native of Carter county and in this
fight the spectacle was presented of
neighbors fighting and killing each
other, though this was nothing uncommon
in East Tennessee during. the Civil War.
DEATH OF
ISAAC L. AND HENRY C. NAVE.
In April, 1865, Captain Ellis made a
raid into Sullivan county, Tenn. That
county is on the border of Virginia, and
a majority of the citizens were
disunionists during the war. When Ellis
came into Carter county a number of
rebel citizens of that county took
refuge in Sullivan ; among others were
Isaac L. and Henry C. Nave, two
prominent citizens who lived on the
Watauga river a few miles east of
Elizabethton. Isaac L. Nave had been a
prominent farmer and politician before
the war, and Henry C. Nave was also a
prominent farmer. Both men had always
been regarded as good men and good
citizens. They both espoused the
Southern cause, and it was alleged, took
an active part in persecuting Union men
and pointing them out to the Confederate
authorities. Henry C. Nave had a son
Jacob, who was a Lieutenant in the
Confederate army, and it was said it was
exceedingly vindictive towards the Union
people, even those who had been his near
neighbors and school-mates. For these
reasons there was a strong feeling
against them among the Union people.
When Captain Ellis' detachment went into
Sullivan county they ran on to the two
elder Naves, Isaac L. and Henry C. and
shot them. Captain Ellis' version of the
.the killing is as follows: "After
pursuing our journey a little farther,
we saw two men run out of a violent old
rebel's house. Some of the men commenced
shooting and calling on them to halt;
but the more we called on them to halt
the faster they ran. When I got up
closer I heard one of my men say, 'That
is Henry Nave.' I instantly turned my
horse in another direction and rode off,
for I did not wish to see him killed and
I knew it would be perfect folly to
endeavor to prevent the men from killing
a man who had been such a desperate
enemy to them and their families. As I
rode up towards the other man that some
of my men were pursuing 1 heard the gun
fire that killed him. When I got closer
to the other man, to my great surprise,
I found it was Isaac L. Nave. He would
not surrender, and being well armed, he
continued to shoot as long as he could;
but he was soon killed."
Other versions of the killing of these
men have been given out to the effect
that they were shot down in cold blood
without an opportunity to surrender, but
as Captain Ellis' character for truth
and veracity has never been impeached,
to our knowledge, we can but accept his
version of the story as being true as he
saw it. Yet we can but regret that the
lives of these men as well as those of
many others, once happy and prosperous
citizens of Carter and Johnson counties,
were a sacrifice to the ambition of men
who stirred up the passions of the
people to a state of frenzy that made
civil war in our beloved country
possible.
MEETING OF
THE BLUE AND THE GRAY.
We will close this sketch of Capt.
Ellis' war record by relating an
incident that occurred at Elizabethton
near the close of hostilities. During
almost the entire war period the Union
men who remained in Carter county were
compelled to conceal their sentiments or
hide in the mountains, but now the
tables were turned and it became
necessary for the rebels to conceal
themselves.
While Captain Ellis' men were in the
country a party of rebels who had been
in the Confederate army, but realizing
the cause was lost, though hostilities
had not yet ceased, came to the vicinity
of their homes and formed a camp on the
Holston mountain a few miles north of
Elizabethton. Among these men were Major
H. M. Folsom, Captain G. W. Folsom, Col.
N. M. Taylor, John S. Thomas and others.
Captain Ellis and these men had known
each other from boyhood, and he and
Major Folsom had always been special
friends. One morning the Major hearing
there were no Yankees in Elizabethton
came in town to visit his family. He had
been at his home but a short time when
Captain Ellis, Lieut. Campbell and
Elbert Treadway rode up to his gate and
hallooed. Mrs. Folsom came to the door
and Captain Ellis inquired if Major
Folsom was at home. The latter, who had
followed his wife to the door, and was
standing near, told her to tell him he
was. Ellis told her to tell him to step
out to the gate. Folsom walked out to
where they were and shook hands with
Ellis. The latter told the two men,
Campbell and Treadway, to ride on
towards the public square as he wanted
to talk to Major Folsom, but. said for
them to keep within sight of him. Major
Folsom had on his Confederate uniform
and Captain Ellis the Federal blue. The
latter was armed, but Folsom was not. He
knew he was at Ellis' mercy if his
intentions were hostile towards him, but
Ellis had greeted him pleasantly and he
could not believe he would harm him, yet
for a few moments the situation was
anything but pleasant. When the two men
had gone Ellis said. "Major, I have
known where you and your friends were
for sometime and could have captured you
at any time, I want to say to you, go
and tell them to return to their homes,
and you remain at your home, not one of
you shall be molested." Ellis then told
the Major that he and his friends were
going to have a fox chase on the Lynn
mountain the next day, and invited him
to go with him. The Major declined the
invitation, saying to Ellis, "Dan, I
have no fear of you, but I do not
believe it would be wise in me under the
present state of feelings, to do this;
while I am sure you would do me no
injury, others might, besides you know I
have never been a hunter or sportsman
and would not enjoy the chase." Ellis
replied that he would not insist on his
going, but told him to remain at his
home and said : "I will shoot any man
that dares to molest you." He then rode
away.
The time had not come for men to readily
trust each other; years of bitterness
and hostility had destroyed all faith
and confidence in men, and it would
require other years to restore it. Major
Folsom returned to his companions in the
mountains and told them of his
unexpected interview with Ellis, and
what the latter had said, but they did
not then return to their homes but
sought a more secure retreat.
CAPTAIN
ELLIS, AFTER THE CIVIL WAR.
Captain Ellis was mustered out of
service with the Regiment at Knoxville,
Tennessee, September 5, 1865, and
returned to his home in Carter county
and went to work, manfully, to try to
restore his home and provide a living
for his family.
We would state here that during the time
he was engaged in piloting men through
the lines, many who were able to do so,
paid him handsomely for his services,
and the soldiers were always willing to
compensate him for carrying letters and
packages back to their friends when he
would accept pay. In this way he made a
considerable amount of money, but there
were hundreds of men who had nothing to
pay, and for these he generously paid
out his own money to supply them with
food.
In one instance he was entrusted with a
valuable package of money and
merchandise amounting to over $500 by
one officer, besides a large number of
other smaller packages. He brought them
through safely and left them in the
hands of a well known Union man, Richard
C. White, to be distributed to the
families for whom they were intended.
Mr. White indiscreetly wrote a note to
the lady to whom the most valuable
package belonged, advising her that it
was at his house, and sent the note to
her by a boy. The boy was intercepted by
rebel soldiers and they went to the
house of White and forced him to deliver
all the packages to them. Though Ellis
had tried to do his duty in the matter,
he felt he was in honor bound to make
the loss good, and he paid to the
officer's wife, and others who had
sustained losses, the large sum of
$1800. For this reason and owing to his
great expense in procuring food, and
traveling so much, and his generous use
of money for the benefit of distressed
Union people, he had very little means
when he came out of the army. He wrote
his book soon after the war, and there
was great demand for it locally.
Everybody that had heard of Ellis wanted
the book, and many bought it and paid
for it, but in his open-handed way he
let everyone have a copy and many were
sold that were never paid for, so that
most of his profits went in that way.
To add to his financial misfortune,
being of a disposition that he could not
deny a favor to a friend, he became
responsible for a large sum of security
debts. This threatened to involve him in
utter financial ruin, but, fortunately,
through the influence of friends. he.
received the appointment of messenger in
the House of Representatives at
Washington. He went there and lived in
the most economical way, saved up his
salary and vindicated his honor by
paying it on his security debts. About
this time the Government allowed him the
sum of $3050 for services rendered in
taking recruits to the army. This was
but slight compensation for almost three
years of hazardous and toilsome labor.
For some years after the war his life
.was frequently threatened by men whose
friends had been punished by him for
their misdeeds towards himself and his
Union friends. During this time he was
never without the best arms, pistols and
guns, that could be procured. He knew he
had made bitter enemies by the
publication of his book, in which he had
denounced, in the strongest terms, many
prominent men who had been active in
persecuting the Union people.
At that time he often wore what was
called a "hunting shirt," made of heavy
woolen material and worn outside the
trousers. It was open in front, and worn
but-toned up and tied in a knot, the
waist part hanging loose, similar to the
men's shirt-waists worn at the present
day.
When in the vicinity of home he usually
carried a Winchester rifle or a shot
gun. When he went off some distance he
took with him two pistol-stocked 20-inch
barrel, Smith and Weston guns, which he
could conceal under his hunting shirt,
and which could be brought into almost
instant use. At one time when traveling
on the railroad, there was a man on
board the car whom Ellis knew had a
grudge against him. The man finally
approached him and asked him if his name
was Dan. Ellis. Ellis replied : "I
answer to that name here, or anywhere
else, sir," at the same time looking the
man in the eye and quietly putting his
hand into the bosom of his hunting
shirt. The man asked no further
questions.
At another time a man approached him on
the streets of Jonesboro and said to him
: "Your name is Dan Ellis," he replied,
"that's my name." The man said, "you
published me in your book," at the same
time reaching back for his pistol. In a
moment Ellis covered him with one of his
long-barrelled pistols and ordered him
to about face. He then marched the man
out to the edge of town and told him to
take the road and leave town or he would
shoot him like a dog.
Many years ago Captain Ellis joined the
M. E. church. and became an active
worker in the church and Sunday school,
and is liberal in paying ministers. He
has spent years in reading and studying
the Bible, and other religious works,
and is well informed on the scripture
and Bible doctrine. A few years ago he
became interested in the history of
Mormonism, and the "Latter Day Saints"
and bought and read all the books he
could find pertaining to that church. He
has also been a great reader of history,
especially that of the Civil War, and
until recently was the owner of an
extensive library, consisting largely of
religious and historical works.
In May, 1901, he had the misfortune to
lose his home by flood—a comfortable
brick house. recently built in a quiet,
secluded place in the country. He also
lost most of his household goods and
many valuable books and papers.
Being now too old, as he says, to read,
he gave what was left of his library, to
his son. He has secured a very
comfortable home at Hampton, Tenn., a
small village near the place of his
birth. He is yet quite strong for his
advanced age, being now (1902) in his
75th year.
When he has but a few miles to go he
usually walks rather than ride on the
cars or horseback, and he sometimes
makes trips of ten and fifteen miles on
foot. He traveled on foot so much during
the war that he seems to prefer it. We
have extended this sketch of Captain
Ellis because his has been an
interesting and eventful life, and
because we feel sure that not only his
many friends in Tennessee, but hundreds
who have read of his adventures in the
National Tribune will read this sketch
with much interest and pleasure.
Captain Ellis' wife, Mrs. Martha Ellis,
is still living. She is a woman of far
more than ordinary intelligence, and she
is still quite active and as bright,
mentally, as in her youth. She was a
very brave and helpful companion to her
husband during the Civil War. She was
often harshly treated and her home
robbed on account of the prominence of
her husband. But her home was always
open to the hungry and distressed and
she was tireless in ministering to the
wants of the needy.
Many strangers, visiting this part of
the country, have called at Captain
Ellis' home through curiosity to see a
man who had served in two wars, and who
had braved so many dangers and made so
many miraculous escapes. Capt. and Mrs.
Ellis have raised a family of seven
children, five of whom are now living.
One son, Dr. Hooker Ellis, is a
prominent practicing physician residing
at Hampton, Tenn. Another son, U. S.
Grant Ellis, resides near Valley Forge,
Tenn., and is a prominent member of the
County Court of Carter county. Tenn.,
the other son, Daniel Ellis, Jr.,
resides at Valley Forge, Tenn. One
daughter, Mrs. Elizabeth E. Hathaway,
lives at Hampton, Tenn., and the
remaining daughter, Mrs. Barbara E.
Bowers, lives at Siam, Tenn.
FINIS.
One year ago (November, 1901) we made
our first bow to our readers in the
shape of a "preface," as writers of
anything sufficiently pretentious or
extended as to claim for it the dignity
of "a history."
We announced that it was to attempt to
rescue from oblivion the names of the
officers and men who composed the
gallant Thirteenth Regiment of Tennessee
Cavalry, U. S. A., and the names of the
royal men and women of Carter and
Johnson counties "who dared so much and
endured so much" for country and
humanity, that we assumed this honorable
but responsible task.
Since then we have gone back. in memory,
to the happy ante-bellum days, and by
the aid of that blessed faculty of the
mind we have re-peopled our dear old
home-town. and brought hack what are now
but dream-faces whose smiles blessed our
infant years, and whose hands directed
our tottering steps in paths of peace.
We have recalled the peaceful homes and
cheerful firesides, the songs of cheer,
the voices of love, the gatherings of
friends, the house of worship, the words
of prayer and all that entered into the
joys and sorrows of a happy, contented
people. We have seen again their mirth
and festivities as well as the clouds
that came to all in this life, for
"Into each life some rain
must fall,
Some days be dark and dreary."
Then we have seen the clouds of civil
war gathering upon the people and
startle them as the ring of the hunter's
rifle startles the deer in the forest.
We have seen the peaceful homes alarmed
and men and women like the parent-birds
when danger threatens their brood, hurry
to and fro and utter notes of alarm and
danger, and try to gather their loved
and helpless ones under their wings we
have seen the cloud burst upon them in
all its fury and witnessed the pale
faces of mothers. wives, sisters and
daughters, who, having interposed their
prayers and tears and pleadings in vain,
saw their dear ones marched off to
prison or death, or shot down before
their eyes; we have heard again their
agonizing cries and stifled sobs.
We have seen again the hunted refugee, a
homeless wanderer on the earth—and
though perhaps he has been a child of
luxury, a parent's hope, but for the
friendly hospitality of strangers he
would not have "where to lay his head."
We have seen him again climb the rugged
mountain side or wade the cold, icy
river up to his armpits, and when he
reached the shore, naked, and the wind
cutting his skin like a knife, he runs
to the distant mountain for safety but
when at last he is greeted by the sight
of his country's flag his heart is
filled with gladness and his eyes with
tears of joy. All this and more came
rushing back to us in a flood of
memories.
We have seen again the men steal away
from home. fall back with Burnside's
army and organize the Thirteenth
Tennessee Cavalry. We have gone with
them and seen them in the camp and
marches and battles, through heat and
cold, sunshine and storm, in victory and
disaster; we have seen them in the
charge and the retreat ; we have seen
them fall on the battle-field, and their
mangled and bleeding bodies born back to
the rear; we have seen them lie down by
the way-side from weariness and
exhaustion. Again we have seen them in
the hospitals racked with pain, and have
seen their eyes closed in death.
Finally, we have heard their loud
huzzas, their shouts of triumph, their
ringing laughter and heard their last
good-bye.
Our task is done. We will now endeavor
to bow ourselves out as gracefully as we
may with no expectation of "great and
prolonged applause," but with the
earnest hope that we may have
accomplished our purpose so far as to
have brought back to the memory of many
people, still living, interesting,
though painful scenes, such fortunately,
come to men and women rarely in this
world, but which, when they do come
leave their impress upon the ages.
It was our further purpose in the
beginning of this work to point out to
those who shall come after us the heroic
courage and unfaltering devotion
manifested by their ancestors. whether
citizens or soldiers, for the Union
cause, and the sublime faith they
exhibited in its ultimate triumph; and
to leave upon record a few of their
names, at least, to the end that they
may be perpetuated, and receive from the
generations to come the honor and praise
which their sacrifices so richly
deserve. Nor, as we have repeatedly
observed, do we claim this honor for the
soldier alone who battled so nobly for
the cause, but it is as justly due, in
even greater measure, if possible, to
those noble men and women whom we do Lot
misname when we call them the "Heroes
and Heroines of Carter and Johnson
counties."
To whatever extent we have accomplished
this purpose, and have revived in the
memory of men a remembrance and
appreciation of the splendid service and
gallant conduct of the brave men of the
Thirteenth Tennessee Cavalry, and the
men of other organizations who strove
with them to free their homes and "place
on high" again the glorious flag of
liberty—the emblem of our country— to
that extent our efforts will not have
been in vain.
If our readers have found in this book
an honest effort to do justice to the
character of the living and the memory
of the dead who participated in these
turbulent scenes we shall accept with
equanimity the criticisms our humble
efforts may invite, feeling that he (or
they) who performs his duty as best he
can in whatever field that chance or
destiny may assign him, though it be an
humble part in the great drama of life,
has done well.
So, readers, comrades and friends, we
make our final bow, asking you to join
us in an invocation to Deity that our
beloved land may never again be
"drenched in fraternal blood," but that
peace, unity and brotherhood may
continue forever, and forevermore.
THE END. |
