Tennessee Terrorist, known to locals as Knoxville Nate, was a family man and farmer, who rode at night and eventually reaped the whirlwind of Knoxville Revenge. Eastern Tennessee was racked by violence resulting from the division created by the Civil War. Supporters, both North and South, exacted retribution on family, friends and neighbors if their political views were not eye to eye. Most of the depredations were carried out by Confederate sympathizers, who intimidated, plundered, beat and murdered their neighbors who had a Pro-Union inclination. Most of these raiders were local farmers, who rode and attacked at night, in order not to be recognized by their victims.
Nate was raised North of Knoxville and grew up laboring on his family’s farm. Hard working and reliable, Nate, was church going and could always be counted on by neighbors to lend a helping hand. His father and mother were natives of the hill country and so were all their kin, their families came from Kentucky in the late 1790’s. Nate fell in love with his childhood sweetheart, cuter than a speckled pup, who lived about a mile down the creek. They soon married and within a couple of years, were the proud parents of a strapping son and a girl, who was the image of her mother.
The winds of a political divide swept the Eastern Tennessee region and many of the families and their neighbors ended up at different ends of the civil strife. Nate’s family favored the Confederate cause and the men and boys enlisted in the Army of the Rebellion. Nate decided to join a local partisan militia, that would ensure and enforce the Confederate philosophy on the residents of the Knoxville area. This militia would work their farms during the day and masquerade as Tennessee Terrorists by night. The boys of the rebel militia didn’t warn any of their perceived enemies. The men folk would be dragged from the home, beaten, shot or hung, the house and farm ransacked and occasionally burned to the ground.
On one of these rides, Nate and the boys, rode up and pounded on the door of a neighbor and demanded that the man come outside. The resident farmer confronted the raiders and as soon as he opened his mouth in protest, was cut down by a blast of buckshot, tied to a tree and set on fire. His wife ran out grief-stricken and one of the riders tossed a torch through the front door. Screams, smoke and flames filled the darkness and as Nate and his raiders rode away, he heard the hysterical wife, scream his name and swear her revenge.
Early one morning, several days later, a posse of deputized law, surrounded Nate’s farm-house and arrested him without incident. The young family man proclaimed his innocence of any crime and adamantly demanded to know his charges. The spokesman of the posse, looked at Nate with contempt and stated, “Three counts of Capital Murder, you scoundrel, not only did you boys kill the father, but you burned the house down on the twin infants in the back bedroom.”
Nate was hauled to Knoxville and held for trial. The citizens were up in arms and rumors of a lynching were rampant. Alcohol fueled, the residents were contemplating a severe dose of Knoxville Revenge. Soon an unruly mob formed, stormed the jail and dragged Nate to a nearby bridge, tied a rope to a truss and looped a noose around the young family man’s neck. The Tennessee Terrorist was asked if he had any last words or prayer, Nate closed his eyes and remorse, for his heinous acts, welled up inside him. He suddenly heard his wife screaming, that the war was over, his children were calling to their father and his Knoxville neighbors and friends were loosening the noose, releasing him. His fall was short, the rope reached the end of the tether and snapped Nate’s neck.
Knoxville’s Revenge and the Tennessee Terrorist had reached the end of their rope.
Bummer
