GOODSPEED'S HISTORY OF HUMPHREY'S COUNTY TN
For the great civil war, Humphreys County furnished sufficient soldiers to
the Confederacy to form a full regiment. All through the latter part of
1860 and the early part of 1861 the war fever was high and the excitement
intense in Humphreys County, and long before the cloud burst it was
evident that when war was declared her citizens would promptly array
themselves on the side of the South. Much indignation was occasioned by
President Lincoln's proclamation, issued April 15, 1861, calling for
volunteers, and served only to prepare a hearty welcome for the call for
volunteers which followed soon afterward; and when the election was held,
June 8, 1861, to take the sense of the people on the question of
separation or no separation from the Union, not one dissenting voice was
heard, the entire vote, 1,042, being cast in the affirmative. Upon the
receipt of Gov. Harris' proclamation for the formation of the provisional
army, the raising and equipping of soldiers was inaugurated in the county,
and on May 6, 1861, the first company left for Nashville under command of
Capt. Joseph H. Pitts, which was assigned to the Eleventh Tennessee
Infantry. In a few days the second company, under command of Capt. H. R.
Lucas, left for the same destination, and was assigned to the same
regiment. In the following October Capt. John G. O'Neil organized an
Irish company at McEwen, and joined the Tenth Tennessee Regiment, and
Capt. Frank Maney's "Humphreys' Light Artillery " was organized and went
to the front. Then followed in quick succession Capt. A. A. Wilson's
company, which joined the Fiftieth Tennessee; Capt. S. A. Napier's
company which joined the Tenth Tennessee Cavalry; Capt. R. Garrett's
company, and Capt. J. M. McAdoo's company, both joining the Fifty-fourth
Tennessee, and the four companies of cavalry, under command of Capts. W..
H. Bass, S. D. Whitfield, 0. Alexander and W. W. Hobbs, all of which
joined the Tenth Tennessee Cavalry, under command of Gen. Forrest, and
also a battery of artillery under command of Capt. Samuel Burns, which
was attached to the Fifty-fourth Tennessee. The above companies and
batteries were with their respective regiments throughout the four years
of the war, and participated in all the campaigns and engagements against
the enemy, their history and that of their regiments being identically the
same, of which an account in full is given elsewhere in this work. A
company of independent scouts was also organized and commanded by Capt.
B. L. Phillips, but their movements were confined to the county entirely.

Some time in August following the fall of Fort Donelson Capt. Flood, in
command of a raiding party of Federals, came out from the fort and
skirmished and raided through the county, but no lives were lost on either
side. After the battle of Chickamauga, Gen. Grant, in laying plans for
the campaigns of 1864, determined to complete the Northwestern Railway
(now the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railway) from White Bluff, in
Dickson County to the Tennessee River, and thus establish an additional
line of communication with Cairo Ill., from which point he could draw his
stores and supplies. Accordingly in the latter part of 1863 the troops
were put to work building the railroad to Johnsonville. The work was done
by the Twelfth and Thirteenth United States Infantry (colored), and
johnsonville was made a depot of supplies for the armies of Grant and
Sherman, and was in charge of Col. Charles P. Thompson. The Eighth Iowa
Cavalry, under command of Col. John B. Dorr, and the First Kansas
Battery, under command of Capt. Marcus D. Tenny were stationed at Waverly
in December, 1863, to guard the railroad, and remained until November,
1864.

Gen. Sherman went South after the battle of Atlanta in 1864, and Gen.
Hood started toward Nashville. Gen. Forrest, with his cavalry, was sent
to cut off all communications between the Federals at Johnsonville and
Nashville, and seize or destroy the immense amount of supplies at the
former place. Gen. Forrest reached the Tennessee River in November,
1864, going through West Tennessee, and attacked and destroyed the tin-
clad boats of the Federals stationed a few miles below Johnsonville, and
then moved on up the river on the west bank to opposite Johnsonville, and
opened fire on the town and shipping. Twenty-seven transports and three
tin-clad gun-boats were at the Johnsonville Landing, and the latter were
sunk by Forrest's batteries. Apprehending that the Confederates would
succeed in crossing the river, Col. Thompson, in command of the Federals,
ordered the transports and stores set on fire, and between 3 million and
5 million dollars worth of property was soon in ashes. After the cannonading
ceased Col. Thompson was re-enforced by a portion of the Twenty-third
Army Corps, under command of Gen. John M. Schofield, and Gen. Forrest
then withdrew to Decatur, Ala., rejoining Gen. Hoods army, while the
Federals withdrew to Nashville by way of Clarksville, the troops stationed
at Waverly and other points in the county going with them. After the
battle of Nashville, however, the Thirteenth United States (colored)
troops came back into the county to guard the railroad and bridges.

The guerrillas and Federals carried on a bushwhacking war in the county
during the Rebellion, and several on each side were killed. W. J. Kemp,
living on Hurricane Creek, was killed by the Federals in 1863. Washington
Box was arrested at his home one night during the same year by a party of
Jayhawkers, from West Tennessee, and taken to a hollow near his house,
where he was shot and his body buried near a tree; - and Henry Box was
arrested by Federals in 1864 and carried to an old mill on Big Richland
Creek, where he was shot. James F. Leonard, a private of First Kansas
Battery, was killed by guerrillas on Dry Creek, while on his way to
Waverly Landing; and Fletcher A. Willey, a private of the same battery,
was also killed by guerrillas about three miles east of Waverly, some time
in June, 1864. Edward Barnes, a Federal sympathizer, was called to his
Door one night in 1864 and killed by guerrillas near Waverly, and Thaddeus
Holland was arrested by Federals in 1865 and shot on Tennessee River.
Trace Creek Baptist Church was burned by the Federals in 1863, and also
much property in Waverly. In the early part of 1863 Bob Edwards and Right
Price, two notorious characters, were caught stealing horses from farmers
in the Big Bottoms, and were hung by Judge Lynch. Bitter as the feeling
was during the war, all animosity toward the North has long since died out
of the breasts of the people of Humphreys County, and a hearty welcome is
extended to all Northern men who may go among them.