CIVIL WAR AND EMANCIPATION
The Drums of War
Maury County was torn asunder over the issue of slavery. Critical to the lucrative slave trade was the expansion of slavery into newly formed states as the westward expansion of America continued. With the election of Abraham Lincoln, the antislavery candidate of the Republican Party, expansion was doomed as was the continuation of slavery.
January 1861 – A statewide election was held in Tennessee regarding seceding from the union. THE STATE, INCLUDING MAURY COUNTY, VOTED NOT TO SECEDE.
February 1862 – Eleven states formed the Confederacy.
April 1861 – Confederate forces under the command of General Beauregard attacked Fort Sumter located in the Charleston Harbor.
This attack was regarded as an act of war, and with it the Confederacy began the Civil War. Tennessee joined its Southern neighbors and became the last state to join the Confederacy. It was the first to rejoin the United States.
Maury County was occupied by both Union and Confederate troops during the conflict. The most significant war event in Maury County occurred in Spring Hill. On the night of November 28, 1864, the army of Confederate General Hood camped in Spring Hill along the road leading to Franklin. The Union Army, with thousands of soldiers and hundreds of horse-drawn wagons, marched by the Confederate Army. Hood was told of the advance of the Union Army but took no action. Local historians asserted that Hood had become very intoxicated and had fallen into a stupor that evening. The next day, in a rage, he led his men to defeat at Franklin and later at Nashville.
The Civil War was the beginning of freedom for Black people. In Maury County, after the Battle of Fort Donelson and the defeat of the Confederacy, the Union Army occupied Columbia. William “Cap” Jordan, pastor of a Black Methodist church located at the northeast corner of Greenwood Cemetery, was given permission to establish a school to teach Black people. Later, when the Confederates occupied Columbia, the school was closed and Jordan received 26 lashes with a whip.
A Terrible Retribution: West Tennessee Unionists at Fort Pillow
The United States Colored Troops
In 1863 the United States Colored Troops of the Union Army were established. In Maury County, Black men rushed to serve the Union and fight their enslavers. Many of these Maury County soldiers served at the forefront of the Battle of Nashville. No black men served as soldiers in Confederate service. They served as slaves.
Records show 31,092 men from Tennessee enlisted in the Union Army. At least 20,133 were Black recruits, many from Maury County.
United States Colored Troops from Maury County
Black Soldiers in Other Wars
Revolutionary War
Ben Mayes, South Carolina
War of 1812
Charles Mayes
Spanish –American War
Scott Crosby
James Cecil
John Steele
Indian War
J.F. Counce
Emancipation
After Emancipation and the establishment of the United States Colored Troops, hundreds of Black men joined to take up arms against their former oppressors. Soon the law allowing Blacks to vote resulted in a landslide for the Republican party of Abraham Lincoln. This was short lived, though, as white legislators in the southern states began to enact restrictive laws aimed at taking away the rights of Black people.