Chapter XXXVIII: Appendix: NOTE S: Page 246

[The night ride of Refugees to Kentucky.]

One of the party of refugees from Knoxville, as Longstreet approached it, relates: “The attention of wayside inhabitants, on the occasion of this escapade was the sharper, because the news of Longstreet’s advance had already spread through the country; and many were the questions with which the excited and curious population plied the fleeing party; such as “What is the matter,” etc., etc. The discomfort of the travellers was especially relieved by the tongue of an elderly woman whom they encountered. In order to relish the amusement her sallies afforded them it should be remembered that “Parson Brownlow” as he was often called, not only had great popular notoriety, but was as highly esteemed by one party to the strife as he was intensely hated by the other. By the rebels he was thought to be,

“The very head and front of their offending.”

By the Union people he was everywhere known as their fearless and indomitable champion; and the idea of his giving way before the coming of their foes, could find place in their minds only along side of a desperate emergency.

As we plunged along with the north star for our main guide, we were continually hailed to know what was the trouble, and what was the state of things at Knoxville? It is specially remembered that just after entering Anderson County, we were saluted by one of the numerous families peculiar to that region, headed by the matron, torch in hand:

‘What in the name of goodness does all this mean? and where are you men going? Is Burnside retreating? or who are you any how?’

It was mildly answered to her by one of the more polite-mannered gentlemen of the party, that Gen Burnside, so far from being able to retreat, was in all probability a prisoner with his whole army.

‘And are you running,’ exclaimed she, ‘without firing a gun?’ ‘Oh no!’ said an elderly gentleman; ‘we are simply retiring in good order, to save the country.’

‘Yes!’ said she, as she flamed her torch with a sort of patriotic fierceness; ‘I expect the next thing I’ll hear will be that Old Bill Brownlow is running too!’

At this juncture, the reverend gentleman so irreverently referred to, in a subdued tone of voice, remarked:

‘Gentlemen, this is no place to make a stand; I think I’d rather encounter Longstreet’s army, or Vaughn’s cavalry, than that woman.’”[65]

Capt. A. J. Ricks, the military escort of the party says: “One man of the group, from the beginning of the hazardous ride, impressed me with the coolness, judgment and courage, with which he confronted dangers, and advised as to the best means of avoiding them; and it was soon apparent that the distinguished band looked to him as leader and adviser. And when, at an hour that all agreed my orders required me to leave them to their own chances and I parted from them with many misgivings as to their safety, I noticed that they all instinctively turned to John Baxter, as pilot and commander.”

They did so with good reason, for he had quick and accurate judgment and a powerful will. Mr. Ricks, now of Massilon, Ohio, in his address at a meeting of the bar of northern Ohio, held at Cleveland, Ohio, April 6, 1886, concerning the recent death of the Hon. John Baxter, of the U. S. Circuit Court, related some interesting incidents in the Judge’s personal history during the civil war.

“No one of all the famous Union men of that conspicuously loyal section, (East Tennessee,) was more fearless, consistent or aggressive in the struggle against secession than our departed friend. He was a leader in the historic Union Convention of 1861, which held its session, planning open opposition to the Confederacy, while rebel regiments by the train load, destined for Virginia, were passing by within hailing distance. Johnson, Maynard, Brownlow, Nelson and Baxter were the leading spirits in its deliberations.

“Although the disposition of many members of that convention to make organized armed resistance at once, and to put Baxter in command of the forces was not approved by his knowledge of the environment, he was recommended from Greeneville to President Lincoln for a Brigadier General’s commission in the army. This honor was tendered, but for satisfactory reasons was declined.

“In 1862, while on professional business at Memphis, he was arrested by the Confederate military authorities and confined to prison sixteen days, refusing to take the oath of allegiance to the Southern Confederacy, but finally, he was unconditionally released.

“In 1861, he defended three Union men[66] before a Confederate Military Commission. They were charged with having burned railroad bridges in aid of the Union cause. He argued against the jurisdiction of the tribunal, contending that so long as the civil courts were open and the due course of legal proceedings was uninterrupted, the citizens arraigned were entitled to a trial by jury, after indictment by a grand jury, a doctrine long afterwards affirmed by the Supreme Court, in the Milligan case.

“In 1862, a gallant band of Ohio soldiers, known as the Mitchell raiders, who, in a lawful military expedition, had seized some engines and cars and run them towards the Federal lines, were captured and tried before a court-martial as spies. Baxter volunteered to defend them and made a fearless argument for them before the court-martial at Knoxville, urging that they were not spies engaged in a sneaking expedition, but that taking the risks of war, they had made an open venture as soldiers under legitimate military orders, and were entitled to be treated as prisoners of war, subject to exchange, &c. But the spirit of animosity was then so great, that the argument of the Union lawyer was of no avail, and seven of the brave men were shot as spies, while five others escaped during the excitement of a retreat. One of them is now a prominent Methodist clergyman of this State.

“One other incident of this stormy and eventful part of his life, forcibly illustrates his fearless character. In 1861, happening one day to step into the Court-house, he found a meeting of citizens called to devise means for raising troops for the rebel army. A person in the audience, unfriendly to him, and desiring to provoke him to talk in the presence of soldiers, suggested that perhaps Colonel Baxter would make them a speech. He did so, and made quite a different speech from what they wanted to hear. He compared the resources of the North and South--told them that superior numbers and wealth and advantages in arming and equipping forces were sure to give the North success; and that the war, if prosecuted long, would end in the liberation of their slaves, loss of life and treasure and final defeat. He also argued against the policy of conscripting Union men for the Confederate army, and advised the soldiers present, that such men would be of no service or aid to them. A garbled report of the speech was published in a Confederate paper, making it even more obnoxious than it was as delivered. A Georgia regiment stopped a few days afterwards, on the way to Virginia, and a few personal enemies of Baxter supplied them with drink and copies of the paper containing the garbled speech and suggested that he ought to be hanged. They proceeded to the Court-house where, it was reported, that Colonel Baxter was engaged in the trial of a case. His friends, learning of the danger that threatened him, reached the Court-house in advance of the soldiers and advised him to flee for his life. Instead of doing so, he walked out of the Court-house in the midst of the soldiers and inquired if they were looking for him. One of the leaders thrust a copy of the rebel paper into his hands and asked him if he was the man who made that speech? He told them in a cool, deliberate, fearless manner of the circumstances under which he had made a speech and of the character of the one actually delivered--of the spirit that actuated the men in calling on him for the speech, and of the motive that prompted the publication of it in a garbled form; and then portrayed the cowardice of those who had incited them through drink to come by hundreds to take the life of an unarmed and unprotected man. He asked them if they proposed to be the tools of such men, who dared not confront him personally? His manner, his tact, his manly courage, first startled them, then arrested their attention to his defence and finally won their admiration. Instead of hanging him, they applauded his pluck and approved his denunciation of his enemies. And it is believed that he could easily have turned their fury against his assailants, if he had made the attempt.”