Following Paine's transfer out of Gallatin, the zealously Unionist 8th Tennessee Cavalry was stationed in Gallatin on May 1st, 1864. By then end of May, the 9th and 13th Tennessee Cavalry had joined them. They were under direct command from Brig. General Andrew Johnson, who was trying to take control of the Union Army in Tennessee. The East Tennesseans "appeared to be harsh, but their rancor was directed more toward the freed blacks than to the Rebel whites. Many of them [were] less than enthusiastic about abolitionism. They had no patience with the blacks and seemed unable to understand why slaveholders esteemed them of any value at all."
(from Durham, Walter T. Rebellion Revisited, a History of Sumner County, Tennessee From 1861 to 1870 Sumner County Museum Association. Gallatin, Tennessee. 1982. p.197-8)
Alice Williamson Diary - Table of Contents
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