Contested Town

The Civil War experiences of Granville, an important Cumberland River port in the nineteenth century, were similar to many rural Upper Cumberland communiteis. When Tennessee seceded in 1861, most residents backed the Confederacy.

Granville was contested area for both Confederate and Union cavalry from 1863 to 1865. In the spring and summer of 1863, the 8th Texas Cavalry (CSA) was stationed in Granville while preparing to attack Union-occupied Carthage in neighboring Smith County. In the fall of 1864, the 1st Tennessee Mounted Infantry (USA) used Granville as a base and also camped across the Cumberland River from the town.

Several Granville residents served in the Confederate army. Sidney Smith Stanton, a prominent Granville attorney and state senator at age 30, strongly encouraged secession. He enlisted as a private in Co. F, 25th Tennessee Infantry (CSA), in July 1861. Stanton recruited more than 1,000 men from neighboring counties. Promoted to colonel, he organized the 84th Tennessee Infantry in 1862. After surviving several battles, Stanton was killed during the Atlanta Campaign.

Sgt. Thomas Jefferson Lee, Co. K, 17th Tennessee Infantry (CSA), was captured here in 1864 while recruiting volunteers in Granville. Lee was one of a group of Confederate soldiers pardoned by President Abraham Lincoln on April 14, 1865, just one day before the president's death. Lee later returned to Granville to marry Col. Stanton's relative Tennessee Stanton, whom he had promised to marry when she was just a baby. Lee is buried in the family cemetery on Martins Creek Road.

On October 24, 1885, 5,000 Confederate veterans reunited at Granville to pay tribute to Col. Stanton's memory. Thomas J. Lee's Co. K, 17th Tennessee Infantry, held reunions in Granville with both Confederate and Union veterans from 1885 to 1920.

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Show me all markers in:  Granville, TN  |  Jackson County  |  38564  |  Tennessee  |  United States of America

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