Civil War
The Civil War brought more bloodshed to the Dragon and surrounding areas. There is a gravesite located near mile marker 6.5 giving testimony to the times. It is where Union soldier Bas Shaw age 50 was buried after being killed in 1864 on the Old Tennessee River Turnpike.
HAMILTON, WILLIAM DOUGLAS. RECOLLECTIONS OF A CALVARY MAN OF THE CIVIL WAR AFTER 50 YEARS, 1861 – 1865. COLUMBUS, OHIO: F. J. HEER, PRINTING CO., 1915 EXECERPT: P: 248 – 51.
Editor's Note: Memoir by a Union Army Colonel from the Ninth Ohio Calvary. After the war, Hamilton became a coal, iron, and railroad industrialist.
This locality is filled with weird legends of bygone days. Here in full view of the "Gregory Bald" and "Fodder Stack" mountains is where "Charles Edgar Caddock" that well-known female writer created the legend of "The Prophet of the Great Smoky Mountains". NOTE: Caddock was a pseudonym for Mary Noailles Murfree (1850-1922).
Here, during the war, a squad of North Carolina cavalry scooped down into the valley and captured an old Union soldier and started back across the mountains. They were pursued, and looking across a bend in the road near the top of the mountain, they saw the Union cavalry in hot pursuit. As they found their captive in the way, they hastily tied him to a tree and shot him, then mounting their horses scattered among the rocks and made their escape. When their pursuers reached the spot they found their comrade dead and his murderers beyond reach. They dug a hole as best they could and covered the body. Soon afterwards it was discovered that some animal had uncovered an arm and eaten the flesh; ever since it has been regarded as a part of the religion of those loyal mountaineers, in passing that lonely spot to lay another stone upon "Shaw's Grave".
During the war the few who resided in the Appalachian Mountains were called "outliers". Most of the mountain people wanted no part of either side. Raiding parties from North Carolina raided Tennessee while the Tennesseans stole from the North Carolinians. The mountain crossings themselves were primarily guarded by Confederate troops. When they could not capture passing bands they reverted to shooting them.
Shaw, a relative of John Jackson "Bushwack" Kirkland (photo) by marriage, was taken prisoner on the Little Tennessee River by Confederate soldiers. While en route to Asheville Bas Shaw was shot and killed December 8, 1864. It is unknown if he had tried to escape or was just murdered. He was buried on a ridgeline just uphill from US 129 (the Dragon). Many believe that his uncle John Kirkland pulled the trigger. Kirkland had killed two of Shaw's sons the year before who were Union soldiers.
Another incident in the area during the winter of 1864 involved Confederates pursuing several escapees along the Little Tennessee. Jeff Deavers and brothers George and Bartley Williams had stolen horses from the barn of William Coleman. The three were located near A. B. Welch's house on the Little Tennessee some 15 miles from Coleman's. All three were killed. They were buried along the Little Tennessee Turnpike where they had been shot. The bodies were later moved to the National Military Cemetery in Knoxville.
Another story cited in many histories describes a family that was robbed and taken into the woods next to the Turnpike by the Kirklands who were waiting to hold-up a Union soldier carrying pay to nearby units. The family's young baby began to cry threatening to give away the gangs location. When the parents were unable to quiet the infant, the gang killed the baby and stuffed it into a hollow tree trunk.
John Kirkland was so feared that lawmen refused to chase him into the remote forests. There were two known hideouts for the gang; one near present day Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest and the other near the horse stables in Cades Cove. Kirkland relocated into Polk County, Tennessee where he died in 1902. He had never been arrested.
Gangs, such as the Kirkland Bushwhackers, often attacked patrols whether they were northern or southern. The bushwhackers preyed on anyone who happened their way. They killed two of Bas Shaw's sons nearby. The forested mountains offered the perfect hiding place to escape detection and law officers feared venturing after them as well.
Another incident involving U. S. Army Captain Lyon's raiding party took place near Robbinsville. It is likely they crossed from Tennessee at Deals Gap and descended on the Belding Trail into present day Graham County. They killed Jesse Kirkland, brother of Bushwhacker John, and several others on Isaac Carringer's Creek. Moving into Robbinsville they killed a Cherokee Indian. Retreating along the Santeetlah River they over-nighted at Stratton Meadow before crossing back into Tennessee.