Limestone Cove, Tennessee

 
  History is full of little moments, little events that make up a larger picture. The gruesome events at Limestone Cove, in present-day Unicoi County, Tennessee, in November 1863, are the pieces of a small event in a much larger piece of history.

   From the fall of 1862, after the passage of the Confederate Conscription Act, there seems to be a steady stream of Unionists and dissidents crossing over the mountains of North Carolina and into Tennessee, attempting to get to Union lines. Often, these men had guides. Sometimes it was just a handful of men, but at other times, there were scores attempting to get through. At times, these groups were able to find sympathetic families who provided food. Many times, they were forced to steal for sustinence. The Confederate and state governments used home guard battalions and regular troops to try and stem the tide of men crossing over.

   John Q. A. Bryan spent the first part of November recruiting in Wilkes County, North Carolina. He gathered more than fifty new recruits for the Tenth Tennessee Cavalry (US), and soon they were making their way through the mountains toward Knoxville. On the morning of November 19, 1863, the group could be found at the home of Dr. David Bell in present-day Unicoi County. Born in Ireland, Bell had moved his family to Carter County in the 1850s. The Bells were affluent, slave owners, and pronounced Unionists. 

   From out of nowhere, elements of the Thirty-Fourth Battalion, Virginia Cavalry, burst upon the scene. As the mounted troops came into view, the Unionists broke for the brush. The majority escaped, and the Confederates were only able to capture seven. All seven were killed. Calvin Cartrel was shot, and then his brains "knocked...out"; John Sparks "was shot in the head... which completely tore the top of his head off, leaving his brains perfectly exposed"; William Royal was shot at least once, and then a "fence-stake" was used to "beat his head into the earth"; Elijah Gentry was shot and killed instantly; Jacob Lyons was shot and fell into a creek; B. Blackburn was shot in the shoulder, then beaten to death; and Preston Prewett was shot, and while imploring his captors to send word of his demise, had his brains knocked "out with the butts of their guns." Others were wounded. Jacob Pruitt sought a pension after the war for wounds sustained in the attack. A doctor testified that Pruitt was shot near the Bell home, "the ball having entered his body on the left side of spinal column, passing out through the stomach about one half of an inch above the naval." John W. Brooks was shot in the knee but hid behind a log and escaped death. Bryan was reported to have escaped, killing a soldier who pursued him. Just how many others were wounded and escaped is unknown. 

   Returning to the home, James Bell was dragged outside. His wife followed, attempting to intercede for Bell. The soldiers drove her back in the house, "threatening to shoot her if she offered to speak again in his behalf." According to an article written a few months later, Bell was "forced to lay his head on a chunk in the road, and with stones and clubs they beat his brains out. They took some of the blood and brains and rubbed them under his wife's nose, cursing her, and telling her to smell them!" Next, the band turned their attention to the home, which was burned. Those killed were buried close by the house in a cemetery now known as the Bell Cemetery. A Tennessee Historical Marker denotes the cemetery.

   You can read more on an earlier post here.

   I last stopped in the cemetery in April 2019.