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Old Stringfield Cemetery
| Photograph of the Stringfield Cemetery Stonewall |
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The Stringfield Cemetery is located on the Hamilton Fort overlooking the Holston River and the Strawberry Plains Railroad Bridge, which was considered by Union and Confederate generals as the most important railroad bridge in East Tennessee. The fort was used during the Civil War to guard against enemy attacks on the bridge.
On June 20, 1863, the Confederates fell back to the cemetery for protection against a much larger advancing Union
force. The cemetery's four-foot stonewalls, consequently, minimized the Confederates losses.
The Old Stringfield Cemetery, adjacent to the Holston River, is where William Stringfield's father, mother, two brothers, and a sister
are buried. William Stringfield is interred at Green Hill Cemetery, Waynesville, North Carolina.
Recommended
Reading: East
Tennessee and the Civil War (Hardcover: 588 pages). Description: A solid social, political,
and military history, this work gives light to the rise of the pro-Union and pro-Confederacy factions. It explores the political
developments and recounts in fine detail the military maneuvering and conflicts that occurred. Beginning with a history of
the state's first settlers, the author lays a strong foundation for understanding the values and beliefs of East Tennesseans. He examines
the rise of abolition and secession, and then advances into the Civil War. Continued below...
Early in the conflict, Union sympathizers burned a number
of railroad bridges, resulting in occupation by Confederate troops and abuses upon the Unionists and their families. The author
also documents in detail the ‘siege and relief’ of Knoxville. Although authored by a Unionist, the work is
objective in nature and fair in its treatment of the South and the Confederate cause, complete with a comprehensive index,
this work should be in every Civil War library.
Recommended
Reading: Bridge Burners: A True Adventure
of East Tennessee Underground Civil War. Description: When the East Tennessee and Virginia Railway line was completed, dignitaries
gathered in celebration as the final spike was hammered into the last tie in Greene
County. Opening new doors of growth and economic development in the Region,
the railroad would become a point of conflict only three years later. When the Civil War began, the line became a vital link
in transporting Confederate troops and supplies into Virginia.
Continued below...
The railroad was vulnerable since many hostile Unionists remained in the region. Confederate authorities
were understandably worried about the rail lines and how to protect them. Inevitably the stage was set and on a cold Friday
night, November 8, 1861, the Unionists proceeded with plans to burn the key railroad bridges of East Tennessee; President Abraham Lincoln
had approved the plan. This thoroughly researched, easy-to-read narrative tells the incredible true story of the people
and events in the ‘insurrection gone wrong’.
Recommended Reading:
War at Every Door: Partisan Politics and Guerrilla Violence in East
Tennessee, 1860-1869. Description: One of the most divided regions of the Confederacy, East
Tennessee was the site of fierce Unionist resistance to secession, Confederate rule, and the Southern war effort.
It was also the scene of unrelenting 'irregular,' or guerrilla, warfare between Union and Confederate supporters, a conflict
that permanently altered the region's political, economic, and social landscape. In this study, Noel Fisher examines the military
and political struggle for control of East Tennessee from the secession crisis through the
early years of Reconstruction, focusing particularly on the military and political significance of the region's irregular
activity. Continued below...
Fisher portrays in grim detail the brutality and ruthlessness
employed not only by partisan bands but also by Confederate and Union troops under constant threat of guerrilla attack and government officials frustrated
by unstinting dissent. He demonstrates that, generally, guerrillas were neither the romantic, daring figures of Civil War
legend nor mere thieves and murderers, but rather were ordinary men and women who fought to live under a government of their
choice and to drive out those who did not share their views.
Recommended
Reading: Touring the East Tennessee Backroads (Touring the Backroads) (380 pages) (John F Blair Pub;
2 edition) (October 1, 2007). Description: The historical facts in the first edition of Touring the East Tennessee
Backroads have not changed much since the book was first published in 1993, but highway construction and development has altered
the routes of the 13 tours. For this second edition, the author drove over 3,000 miles to update the tours where people such
as Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett, Sam Houston, Andrew Jackson, Sequoyah, Nancy Ward, and Clarence Darrow once traveled the same
backroads.
Recommended
Reading: Mountain Rebels: East Tennessee Confederates and the Civil
War, 1860-1870 (240 pages) (University of Tennessee Press). Description:
In this fine study, Groce points out that the Confederates in East Tennessee suffered more for the ‘Southern Cause’
than did most other southerners. From the first rumblings of secession to the redemption of Tennessee
in 1870, Groce introduces his readers to numerous men and women from this region who gave their all for Southern
Independence. He also points out that East Tennesseans were divided in their
loyalties and that slavery played only a small role. Continued below...
Groce goes to great lengths to expose the vile treatment of the Region’s defeated Confederates during
the Reconstruction. Numerous maps, pictures, and tables underscore the research.
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