The Battle of Athens (sometimes called McMinn County War ) was a rebellion led by residents in Athens and Etowah, Tennessee, USA, against local authorities in August 1946 Residents, including some World War II veterans, accused local officials of predatory predators, police brutality, political corruption and voter intimidation.
Video Battle of Athens (1946)
​​â € <â €
Concerns over the election of Abraham Lincoln led the Southern States to consider secession. South and North Central countries are opposed. The Tennessee people voted 69,675 to 57,798 against disunion. Most of the anti-splitting sounds come from the eastern parts of the Tennessee mountains, such as the McMinn county with 1,144 sounds and 904 supports. Following the attack on Fort Sumter, Tennessee broke away with the rest of the middle tier of the Southern State, although the mountainous areas of the state remained largely pro-Union. The mountainous districts of Virginia formed West Virginia while East Tennessee rose up in rebellion and fell into guerrilla chaos until the Union Army arrived in 1863. Then nearly 30,000 East Tennessee people joined the Union Armed Forces. McMinn County collects 12 regiments for the Union, but only 8 for the Confederation. Over the next 74 years, McMinn's county is politically divided, although many Republicans usually hold local offices.
In 1936 the political machine of E. H. Crump, who occupied Tennessee, appeared in the McMinn Territory with the introduction of Paul Cantrell as a Democratic candidate for the sheriff. Cantrell, who came from a money and influence family near Etowah, tied his campaign closely to the popularity of the Roosevelt government and rode his FDR counterparts to victory over his Republican opponent in what came to be known as "the 1936 vote" that sent McMinn County to Tennessee Crump Machine. Paul Cantrell was elected sheriff in the 1936, 1938 and 1940 elections, and was elected to the state senate in 1942 and 1944, while his former deputy, Pat Mansfield, a transplanted Georgian, was elected a sheriff. A state law enacted in 1941 reduced local political opposition to Crump officials by reducing the number of electoral districts from 23 to 12 and reducing the number of peace judges from fourteen to seven (including four "Cantrell men"). The sheriff and his deputies work under a fee system in which they receive money for everyone they order, incarcerate, and release; the more arrests, the more money they make. Because of this cost system, there are extensive "withdrawals" from tourists and tourists. Buses that pass through the area are often withdrawn and passengers are randomly ticketed for drunkenness, whether it is guilty or not. Between 1936 and 1946, this cost reached nearly $ 300,000.
McMinn County residents have long been concerned about political corruption and possible electoral fraud even though some complaints, especially at first, may be partisan parenting. The US Department of Justice has been investigating alleged electoral fraud in 1940, 1942, and 1944, but has not taken action. Cheating voters and voice control perpetuate the political problems of McMinn County. The tax manipulation of voting and vote counting is the main method, but not infrequently the voices of the dead appear in McMinn County elections. Political problems are increasingly undermined by the economic corruption of the political figures made possible by the gambling and legging boot they allow. Most of McMinn County's youths fought in World War II, allowing the appointment of some former prisoners as deputies. These deputies, among many others, continued the objectives of the political machine and scolded the citizens. While the machine controls law enforcement, its control is also extended to newspapers and schools. When asked if the Daily Post-Athenian local newspaper supported GI, Bill White, a veteran, replied: "No, they did not help us." White outlined: "Mansfield has full control over everything, the school, etc. You can not even be hired as a school teacher without a good job, or any other job."
During the war, two service men on leave were shot and killed by Cantrell's thugs. The McMinn County warrior heard what was going on and wanted to get home and do something. According to a contemporary article by Theodore H. White at Harper's Magazine, a veteran Ralph Duggan, who once served in the Pacific in the Navy and became a leading lawyer in the postwar period, "thinks more of McMinn County than he does about Japan. democracy is good enough to wear Germany and Japan, that's also good enough for McMinn County! "The scene was ready for a confrontation when GI McMinn County demobilized. When they got home, the deputies targeted the returning GIs, one reported: "Many boys who get out of the hospital get payrolls.Now, the deputies run about four or five people each time bite every GI they find and try to get the money from them, they are cost-handed, they get no salary then. "
In the August 1946 election, Paul Cantrell ran again for the Sheriff, while Pat Mansfield nominated the State Senate seat. Stephen Byrum, a local history writer, speculated that the reason for the transition was an attempt to spread corruption among themselves. Bill White, meanwhile, claimed the reason for the swap was because they thought Cantrell had a better chance of fighting the GI. The GIs are more motivated by the hostility towards Sheriff Mansfield and his deputy than against Cantrell whose government as a sheriff is relatively harmless.
McMinn County has about 3,000 returning military veterans, who constitute nearly 10 percent of the county's population. Several returned veterans decided to challenge Cantrell's political control by submitting their own nonpartisan candidates and working for fraud-free elections. A meeting called in May, a veteran ID is required to enter. A list of non-partisan candidates is selected.
Veteran Bill White menggambarkan motivasi para veteran:
There are several beer houses and honors tonks around Athens; we are pretty wild; we started having problems with law enforcement at the time because they started making the habit of taking GIs and fining them for anything - they were like making a fuss out of it. After long and difficult years - most of us are World War II core veterans - we used to drink our booze and beer without being harassed. When these things happen, the GIs get angry - the more GIs they catch, the more they hit, the crazy ones we get....
The members of the GI Non-Partisan League are very careful to list their candidates according to county demography, three Republicans, and two Democrats. A respected veteran and decorated North African campaign, Knox Henry, stands as a sheriff candidate in opposition to Cantrell.
The huge contribution made by local entrepreneurs to GI campaigns ensures that it is well-funded, although many McMinn County residents believe that the machine will cheat the election. The veterans capitalize on this belief with the slogan "Your Vote Will Be Counted As A Player."
Aware of the methods of Sheriff Mansfield and his criminals, the League organized counterattacks. The "fighters" are organized by Bill White "to prevent them from beating up the GI and preventing them from taking the presidential election." White creates his organization carefully; he then remembers: "I went out and started to organize with a group of GIs, well, I know that you get poor children from poor families, and people who become front-line fighters who do battle and do not care about cover your hat, I learn to do it, so that's what I choose, I have thirty people and... I take what pays the salary I get and buy a gun And some of them have pistols I have thirty people organized. Sheriff Mansfield also organized the upcoming elections, employing 200 deputies, mostly from neighboring states, some from out of state, for $ 50 per day (equivalent to $ 627 by 2017).
Maps Battle of Athens (1946)
Battle
Water Workplaces Polls
The poll for the regional elections opened on August 1, 1946. Usually, there were about 15 patrol officers stationed in the vicinity, but about 200 armed deputies were patrolling this election, with many reinforcements from other districts and states. At Etowah, a GI election observer asked the ballot box to be opened and certified as empty. Although he was permitted by law to file a request, he was arrested. In Athens, Walter Ellis protested irregularities in elections and was also arrested and charged with federal offenses.
Around 3:00 pm local time, C.M. "Windy" Wise, a patrolman, in racist terms, rejected an old African American farmer, Tom Gillespie, from a casting ballot in the Athens Water Works polling station. When Gillespie and an election observer of GI objected, Wise hit Gillespie with knuckles made of brass, which caused Gillespie to drop the ballot and escape from the deputy. The Wise then pulled his gun and shot Gillespie in the back.
Wise was the only person who faced the demands of the events of 1-2 August 1946, and was sentenced to 1-3 years in prison.
Response
GI gathered in front of the L.L store. Shaefer is used as an office by campaign manager Jim Buttram. Buttram had telegraph Governor McCord in Nashville and US Attorney General Tom Clark asked for help to ensure a valid election, but did not take the answer. When the group learned that Sheriff Mansfield had sent armed guards to all polling stations, they met in Essankay Garage where they decided to arm themselves.
Sheriff Mansfield arrived at Water Works and ordered the poll closed. In the ensuing commotion, Wise and Karl Nell, the deputies in Water Works, took two poll observers, Charles Scott and Ed Vestal, captives. With one account, Scott and Vestal jumped through the plate glass window and fled, to the security of the crowd while Wise followed behind. On the other side was a gun confrontation between Jim Buttram who was accompanied by Scott's father, and Sheriff Mansfield. The third account argues that when Neal Esminger of the Daily Post-Athenian appeared to get a vote count, the entrance was a distraction that allowed Scott and Vestal to break through the door and escape. However, the escape was followed by shots that made people take shelter for cover.
Someone in the crowd shouted, "Let's take our guns," causing the crowd to the Essankay Garage. Deputy Chief Boe Dunn took two deputies and a ballot box to the prison. Two other deputies were sent to arrest Scott and Vestal. These deputies were disarmed and detained by the GI, as well as a set of reinforcements. GI Advisor, Republican Electoral Commissioner and Republican Chairman, Otto Kennedy, asked Bill White what he would do. White said, "I do not know Otto, we might kill them." According to White, Kennedy began to worry and announced, "Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God! No, I have nothing to do with this, me and my brother and my son-in-law go from here." Lones Selber at American Heritage Magazine says Kennedy "went, vowed to have no part in the killing." Crowd and most of GI left. The remaining GI brought the seven deputies hostage to a forest ten miles from Athens, stripping them, tying them to a tree and beating them.
Twelfth Place of Voting
At the twelve levels of GI survey observers are Bob Hairrell and Leslie Doolie, a one-hand veteran at the North African theater. The polls were ordered by Mansfield's man Minus Wilburn. Wilburn tries to let a young woman, whom Hairrell believes to be a minor, chooses who has no tax revenue and who is not registered in voter registration. Hairrell grabbed Wilburn's wrist as he tried to put the ballot into the box. Wilburn hit Hairrell on the head with a blackjack and kicked his face. Wilburn closed the police station and took the GI and ballot box across the street to the jail. Hairrell was brutally beaten and taken to the hospital.
In response to the insults and ridicule of deputies, and actions so far, Bill White, the leader of the "warrior group," told his lieutenant Edsel Underwood to take 5 or 6 men and go to the National Guard Armory to steal weapons.. The GIs take the key of the front door of the guard and enter the building. They then armed themselves with sixty.30-06 Enfield rifles, two Thompson light machine guns and ammunition. Lones Selber says White goes for his own cannon. Bill White then distributed guns and ammo bands to each of the 60 GIs.
Polling Close
When the ballot was closed, and the counting began (without three boxes taken to jail), GI-backed candidates had a 3 to 1 advantage. When the GIs heard the deputies had brought the ballot boxes to the prison, Bill White exclaimed, "Boys , they do something, I'm glad they did that.Now all we have to do is whip in jail. "
The GIs recognize that they have broken the law, and that Cantrell is likely to receive help in the morning, so GI feels the need to resolve the situation quickly. The deputies knew little about military tactics, but the GI knew them well. By taking the bank's second floor across the street from the prison, GI was able to return fire from prison with a barrage of gunfire from above.
At 9am, Paul Cantrell, Pat Mansfield, George Woods (Chairman of the State Representative Council and Secretary of the McMinn Electoral Commission), and about 50 deputies are in jail, allegedly rummaging through ballot boxes. Wood and Mansfield are the majority of the election commissions and can therefore legitimize and validate the count from inside the prison.
Battle Begins
Estimates of the number of veterans who surround the prison vary from several hundred to 2,000. Bill White has at least 60 under his command. White divides his group with Buck Landers taking a position at the bank facing the prison while White takes the rest by the Post Office.
Just as the estimates of the people involved varied greatly, the story of how the Battle of Athens began and the way it actually disagreed.
Edgerton and Williams remember that when people reached prisons, barricades and manned by 55 deputies. The veterans demanded the ballot box but were refused. They then opened fire into prison, starting a few hours of fighting with multiple accounts, far less by others.
As Lones Selber, author of the 1985 American Heritage magazine article writes: "Different opinions about how exactly the challenge was issued." White said he was the one who said it: "Do you want those bastards to bring the damn boxes of voices here or we'll surround the prison and blow it up!" Moments later that night it exploded in an automatic weapon fire punctuated by a rifle explosion. "I fired the first shot," White claimed, "then everyone starts shooting on our side." A deputy ran to jail. "I shot him, he spun and fell inside the prison."
In 2000, Bill White claimed he said, "Boys,... I'll tell them to bring the ballot boxes out of there, and if they do not, we'll open them." I shouted there, I said, 'You, the hands of a fucking thief, take the damn boxes out of there.' "That's what I said He did not move there and finally one of them said, 'For God's sake I heard a click.' Down there - one of them catches, you know - they start scattering And I have a gun in my belt with a rifle I have a rifle and a rifle And I pulled the gun out and started shooting over there. do that, all the lines there start shooting there there.Many of them go to jail, some of them are not, some of them are shot outside.
Byrum writes in 1984, "One shot from prison, which in previous years was enough to dismiss an inappropriate crowd, answered by hours of firefight." Then his history of McMinn County became a breeze on the battlefield, and immediately headed to 3:30 am when the deputies gave up.
A day after the battle, the front page of the New York Times reported that the Sheriff had been killed, and that the shooting began with gunfire through the prison window and with the demands of the hostages being released. Later the Times reported that the deputies refused and the siege took place. The account was followed, revealing the Times source as Lowell F. Arterburn, publisher of The Athens Post Athenian . Arterburn reported firing shots, 2,000 people milling about and "at least one boxing match was under way."
Attempts by deputies outside the prison to strengthen (or take refuge in) the prison were thwarted by Bill White's "band of struggles". Some people in prison made it out the back door. Runners threw their guns and ran, so White ordered his troops not to shoot the fugitives. One of his escapes was George Woods who had called Birch Biggs, the boss next to Polk County, requesting that Biggs send reinforcements to break the siege. Biggs replied, "Do you think I'm crazy?"
For veterans, they win before the morning or face long sentences in prison for violating local, state and federal laws. Rumor spread that the National Guard or the State Forces will come. White makes hourly requests to give up. The GIs tried to fire the prison with Molotov cocktails but were unable to dispose of them far enough to reach the prison. The GIs decided to use dynamite. Around that time the ambulance stopped in jail. The GIs assumed that it was called to lift the wounded and hold fire. Two people jumped in, and darted with Paul Cantrell and Sheriff Mansfield to safety outside the city.
Then dynamite is deployed. Bill White said, "We'll put two or three sticks of dynamite together and tape them together and put the lid on it and fuse it and we'll come back and throw it in. Well, we can not get them all the way to jail, give them a car, they'll blow them up in the air and turn it over and land them back upstairs.Some cars there explode. "The first bomb landed under a Bob Dunn cruiser, flipping on his back. Bill White, commander of the "warrior group" knows that the GI should do better: "I... said, 'We must get the charges in that prison.' I said, 'Make some fees there.... We'll get down there and we'll file a number of charges.' So I made some accusations and I crawled up and loaded up on the prison's terrace. "Even three bombs exploded almost simultaneously. One Mansfield car was destroyed, one landed on the roof of the prison's terrace, and one went to the prison wall. The bombs caused some damage to the jail and debris scattered about. The larger bomb placed by Bill White on the prison wall did the job.
As at the beginning of the final battle story, the state of American Heritage states, "In the end, the prison doors are named and broken, the deputies are barricaded - some with wounds - surrendered, and ballot boxes rediscovered.
The NY Times, in an article on observing the night was "bleeding" and ended after GI blew up 3 "home-made demolition charges." End of Battle and Counting
Byrum in his history at McMinn County reported the end of the battle as follows: "At 3:30 am, the men who held the prison had dynamite to bow, and by morning George Woods called Ralph Duggan to ask if he could come to Athens and endorse GI slate selection Bill White reported that "when the GI goes to jail, they find several pieces of calculation marked by the machine have been scored fifteen to one for Cantrell's troop." When the final count was completed, Knox Henry was elected.
Bill White, who is always fussy, goes to greater detail about submission: "Woo! That way, the first thing I know here comes a bunch of white flags out the door. (Laugh) They've given up so that's about sixty of them in They came out with a gun hanging on their fingers and the other and we got out of the bank there and we would take their gun from their fingers and throw it there We beat some of them, you One shoot it black, you know, we throw it there and they like to kill it.Thank them to death, then they cut one... throat out there in the crowd and beat some of them, you know.Some of them were severely beaten badly, backed them around the courthouse, led them back, and put them in jail, all except twenty people badly beaten, and they were get them in the hospital. they cut her neck, they took her to the hospital, and they took a group of men whose arms were shot, legs shot, rough shot belly, you know, first one thing - there are some of them hurt very badly. But they are all alive, you know, it is a miracle. But they are all alive, we are not trying to save their lives, they are just... lucky. "
During the battle in prison, riots broke out in Athens, mainly attacking police cars. This continues even after the ballot box is rediscovered, but subsides in the morning. The mob also destroyed the cars of the deputies, many of whom carried plates outside the state. During the chaos, the mayor of Athens was on vacation and the city police "can not be found anywhere."
The morning of August 2 found the city quiet. Some small revenge action takes place, but the public mood is one of the "euphoria that has not been experienced in McMinn County in a long time." Governor McChord moved to activate the national guard but quickly canceled the order. Morning sees GI calling meetings. The Non-Partisan League treasurer, Harry Johnson, opened the meeting to observe that it was necessary because "for some reason or other, the Sheriff's power was not there." About 400 people in the courtroom elected a special committee headed by Methodist minister Bernie Hampton, joining the C.A. Anderson and Gobo Cartwright, both members of the Business Men Evangelical Committee, to preserve law and order. George Wood, Secretary of the fleeing District Electoral Commission, sent an official letter written: "Next Monday at 10 am I will sign an election certificate stating that GI tickets are elected." Then the veterans changed responsibility for maintaining order in Athens to Police Chief Herbert Walker. The GIs say they are still "in control" of McMinn County until September 1 when Knox Henry will be installed as a Sheriff.
August 2 also sees the return of McMinn County of Sheriff, Knox Henry, who spends the night on August 1-2 safely in Sweetwater, Tennessee. Sheriff Henry, a 33-year-old former Air Force Sergeant, observed, "They'll kill me yesterday, and I have to leave town."
Conflict adjacent
Near Meigs County, the use of other weapons to influence electoral changes took place. On August 5, the Meigs District Election Commission gave a statement of the Republic of Oscar Womac as Sheriff. Womac confessed to a reporter that he had ordered several colleagues to burn "a group of ballot papers." The ballot he claimed was found in the Meigs County Court the day before. Reported in The Chattanooga Times that Sheriff J.T. Pettit claimed the Peakland ballot box was taken at the semicolon by Womac and colleagues from the Cluster County office the day before the ballot. "There was very little we could do to stop him, he was armed, and the four men with him were armed," Sheriff Pettit said. In Monroe County, adjacent to and east of McMinn, and the North of Polk counties, 65-year-old Jake Tipton, was shot during a dispute at the Vale police station.
Aftermath
The restored ballot certifies the election of five Non-Partisan League candidates. Among institutional reforms are changes in payment methods and a $ 5,000 salary cap for officials. In the initial momentum of victory, gambling houses colluded with the Cantrell regime invaded and their operations were destroyed. The previous administrative deputy resigned and was replaced.
The ballot, when counted, proved to be a landslide for the GI Non-Partisan League. Dozens of veterans attended the Tennessee Council Representative Council, and George Woods's secretary of electoral commissioner was led to the County Courthouse under ex-GI guards. Speaker Woods has fled after a shootout. Knox Henry's league members received 2,175 against 1,270 for Sheriff Cantrell. The league also won other races. It's 2,194 to 1,270 to Frank Carmichael as trustee; George Painter won the local clerks' competition 2,175 to 1,198; the circuit officer decided 2,165 to 1,197 for Charles Picket.
Bill White, the leader of the "fighter group," was made the Deputy Sheriff, "They put me as deputy, because one of the reasons they put me as deputy was to scare them GI. (Laugh) They wanted me to control the GI. do - they're shooting at homes and everyone, and it's my job to get out and keep GI straight and I do it.I have sixteen battles over the weekend Fight against GI, keep them from firing at them and beat up people.. My fist feels so sick that I can not stick it in my pocket... If you fight them with your fist, they respect you but you do not use blackjacks or guns on them.If you do, they will attacking you and killing you. "According to Bill White's representative, the basic fee for a payroll representative continued for another four years. Only the last four years he served that he was paid salary.
In early September, the fall of the County's political machine was followed by the resignation of the Mayor of Athens, Paul Walker, and four Aldermen cities. The resignation met with popular approval. The resignation came after an explosion at night through the front of Alderman Hugh Riggs' home. Mayor Walker had previously refused a request to resign made shortly after a firefight by McMinn County American Legion and VFW posts.
"The Battle of Athens" was followed by a veteran movement in other Tennessee districts that promoted coalition across the state against corrupt political machinery in the upcoming November election. Governor Jim McCord avenged an effort to form a "Non-Partisan Political League" by directing the Young Women's Democratic Club to recruit former GIs. There was a great effort by the "Crump Organization", based in Shelby County, against the newly born GI organization. A convention was held in Alamo, Tennessee, with a view to forming a new national party. The convention was persuaded by General Evans Carlson, USMC, who argued that the GI should work through existing political parties.
The new GI government in Athens quickly faced challenges including the re-emergence of old party loyalties. On January 4, 1947, four of the five GI Non-Partisan League leaders declared in an open letter: "We remove a machine just to replace it with another and a stronger one in its making." The GI government in Athens, Tennessee collapsed. The GI Tennessee political movement quickly faded and politics in the country returned to normal. The GI's Non-Partisan Political League has answered questions by veterans elsewhere in the United States with the suggestion that dismissing them is not the most desirable solution to political problems.
Nationally, former GIs became a powerful political force over the next few decades. From 1952 to 1992 all US Presidents were World War II veterans.
In media
Joseph C. Goulden, in his post-war American history "Best Year 1945-1950," discussed the Battle of Athens, how he sparked political ex-GI movements in three other Tennessee districts, and another South-led boss declared, to a convention with representatives from several Southern states, and how it raises concerns that veterans will resort to further violence. The battle of Athens came at a time, 1944-1946 when there was much concern that returning the GI would be a dangerous violence. These concerns were discussed in an opinion by author Warden Lawes on "Twenty Thousand Years at Sing Sing", in a New York Times opinion article. In a newspaper, Eleanor Roosevelt has expressed a rather popular opinion that GIs may be examined for violent tendencies before they are demobilized. Bill White, the leader of Athens's "fight" came to see what he meant. One of the reasons why the collapsed GI League is the GI-related violence in McMinn county. The Battle of Athens initially received criticism in the media. Coverage quickly faded, and after Alan J. Gould, an executive with the Associated Press, told the Veterans Administration State Administration Conference that the AP would try to suppress the use of the word "veteran" in relation to the story of the GI Violence story begins to disappear.
The 1992 film made for An American Story television (produced by Hallmark Hall of Fame) is loosely based on the McMinn County War but set in the city of Texas in 1945. It was nominated for two 1993 prime time Emmy Awards and an American Society of Cinematographers award. The fight is also mentioned in the novel Unintentional Consequences and in the movie Shooter . In 1996 C. Stephen Byrum, author of the history of McMinn County, published "August 1, 1946. The Battle of Athens, Tennessee" book is now rare and very expensive.
References
External links
- Tap on the Battle of Athena
- Photo: Knox Henry became a sheriff after the battle. Archived Copies.
- Battle of the Voice Mail, Time Magazine, Monday, August 12, 1946
- The Battle of Athena, American Heritage Magazine, February/March 1985, Archived Copies
- Tennessee County History Series: McMinn County
Source of the article : Wikipedia
0 Comments