BGuthrie Photos: TN -- Blountville

TN -- Blountville:

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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. BLOUNT_150814_014.JPG: Battle of Blountville "…the best portion of the town was destroyed" This is the Sullivan County Courthouse. Its interior was burned during the Union attack on Blountville on September 22, 1863, as Confederate and Federal forces vied for control of the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad, located a few miles east of here. Union Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside needed the railroad for a supply line to Knoxville; the Confederates wanted it for a supply line to Virginia. After several days of skirmishing at Blountville and along the railroad at Carter's Depot and Zollicoffer, the Confederates occupied Blountville while Federal forces held the south bank of the Watauga River. Union Col. John W. Foster led his cavalry brigade across the river at 9 A.M. on September 22. Confederate Col. James E. Carter's 1st Tennessee Cavalry defended Blountville. For four hours in the afternoon, as Foster occupied Cemetery Hill to your left, the two sides fought an artillery duel until Foster ordered a charge that drove Carter's men out of town. During the fight, exploding shells set fire to the courthouse and other buildings. Foster reported that "the shells of the enemy set fire to the town, and a great portion of it was consumed." Mrs. Walter E. Allen, however, later wrote that "a shell from the Federal guns entered the courthouse, setting it on fire, and soon all the best portion of the town was destroyed."
2. BLOUNT_150814_020.JPG: Sullivan County Courthouse, constructed 1854, ca. 1900
3. BLOUNT_150814_026.JPG: Sullivan County Tennessee's Second Oldest County Sullivan County was established by the North Carolina Assembly's October 1779 session; its north of the Holston River section formerly in Washington County, Virginia; and its south of the river section formerly in Washington County, North Carolina. Sullivan County included Hawkins, Hancock and part of Claiborne Counties until 1786. The piney flats area was added to Sullivan County in 1789. The first Sullivan County officials were: Col. Isaac Shelby, Commandant; Henry Clark, Lieutenant-Colonel; David Looney First Major; John Shelby, Second Major; John Rhea, Court Clerk, Nathan Clark, High Sheriff; Court Justices-Isaac Shelby, David Looney, Gilbert Christian, Anthony Bledsoe, George Maxwell, John Anderson, Joseph Martin. Sullivan County remained part of North Carolina until 1789 (some county areas supported the Franklin State movement 1784-1786), when it was placed in the United States Territory south of the river Ohio. In 1796 it became part of Tennessee.
4. BLOUNT_150814_039.JPG: Battle of Blountville Here on September 22, 1863, Confederate forces commanded by Colonel James E. Carter fought a Union brigade led by John W. Foster. After delaying the Union advance for more than four hours, Carter withdrew toward Zollicoffer, now known as Bluff City. During the battle, artillery shells set fire to the courthouse and much of the town burned. Skirmishing continued until news of the bloody battle at Chickamauga reached General Ambrose Burnside, and Union General Henry Wager Halleck ordered a retreat toward Knoxville.
5. BLOUNT_150814_051.JPG: Old Deery Inn Refuge from the Storm In September 1863, Confederate Gen. Samuel Jones's command and Union Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside's forces contested control of the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad a few miles east. On September 22, Union Col. John W. Foster's brigade engaged the forces of Confederate Col. James E. Carter at Blountville. When the firing began, the women and children gathered the sick and elderly and sought refuge in the cellars of the most solid buildings; the St. John residence and the Old Deery Inn. "In the thick of the fight and more dangerously exposed than the soldiers of either side were the fleeing women," historian Oliver Taylor wrote in 1909. "In the confusion of such a hasty departure distracted mothers became separated from their children; cavalrymen dashed across their path, while bullets and bombs whistled above them. They went through Brown's meadow and finally found a safe retreat beyond the hills." Exploding shells set much of the town on fire. William Deery constructed this trading post and tavern, later known as the Old Derry Inn, early in the 1800s. As Deery prospered, he added to the building, including a three-story hewn stone structure in the rear. After his death about 1845, his widow lived here until the Cate family purchased it after the Civil War. Although Deery's children had left Sullivan County years before, they did not escape the war's effects. Eldest daughter Martha married Col. William Churchwell, who died at Cumberland Gap in 1862. Seraphina, the youngest daughter, married Col. Randal McGavock, a colonel in the 10th Tennessee Infantry Regiment (CSA) who was killed at the Battle of Raymond.
6. BLOUNT_150814_056.JPG: Old Deery Inn, 1927
7. BLOUNT_150814_067.JPG: Old Deery Inn Built shortly after 1785 by William Deery. Stopping place for many distinguished travelers of early days, Andrew Jackson, James K. Polk, the Marquis de Lafayette, Prince Louis Phillipe, Andrew Johnson and others enjoyed its hospitality. It operated as an inn until shortly before 1930.
8. BLOUNT_150814_071.JPG: Anderson Townhouse The log section of Anderson Townhouse was built in 1792/95. It housed the first town commissioners of Blountville: Richard Gammon (1750-1833), Major George Maxwell (1751-1821) and Colonel John Anderson (1750-1817). All these men served the American Revolution and held important civil offices. John Anderson, who lived and worked at the Townhouse when in Blountville on commissioner duties, was the owner of the well-known Blockhouse on the famed Wilderness Road. In addition to the town commissioners, the house has been home to a number of Presbyterian and Methodist ministers as well as Joseph Anderson, one of the founders of modern Bristol. The kitchen burned about 1811. Successive owners by 1826 added the frame back wing and made general improvements in the interior. As part of America's Bicentennial Celebration, the house was purchased in 1974 by the Sullivan County Historical Commission with funds donated by individual clubs and businesses and a grant by the American Revolution Bicentennial Administration.
9. BLOUNT_150814_076.JPG: Ralph Blizard 1918-2004 Ralph Blizard, a Hall of Fame long-bow fiddler, was a pioneer entertainer on radio stations WOPI, WJHL and WKPT, at first with his high school classmates. He recorded and toured with the New Southern Ramblers across the United States and the British Isles. He and his wife Mildred reared sons David and Mark, in Blountville. In 2002, Blizard co-founded the Traditional Appalachian Musical Heritage Association. He was a recipient of the Tennessee Arts Commission's Governor's Award and the National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellowship. Blizard was a Navy veteran of World War II.
10. BLOUNT_150814_095.JPG: The Cannonball House Narrowly Missed Destruction You are standing in front of the Miller-Haynes house, known as the Cannonball House because of structural damage it sustained from Union cannon fire during the Battle of Blountville on September 22, 1863. During the artillery exchanges, Confederate forces were largely behind and east of the house, while Col. John W. Foster's Union forces were positioned west of here at Blountville Cemetery. Several cannonballs struck the house's western side. It was fortunate that artillery fire did not destroy the house completely. Kentucky Confederate Edward O. Guerrant wrote in his diary on September 25: "Twelve dwellings, the Court House, Jail & both hotels were burned by the enemy's shells. About the half (& better half) of the little town was destroyed." Foster, in contrast, reported on the day of the battle that "the shells of the enemy set fire to the town, and a great portion of it was consumed." In 1849, Elbert S. Miller had purchased the house and lot from J. Irwin's heirs; Miller later sold the home to Matthew T. Haynes, who lived there during the Civil War with his wife Kate Snapp Haynes and other members of the Snapp family. Haynes held the Confederate office of state receiver and was responsible for acquiring the confiscated property of Union sympathizers. Haynes's brother, Landon Carter Haynes, was one of the region's most vocal Confederates and represented Tennessee at the Confederate Senate in Richmond. These photographs show shell damage to exterior clapboard in the rear of the house, now protected by plexiglass, and to an interior door.
11. BLOUNT_150814_127.JPG: Battle of Blountville Confederate Position You are in the former schoolyard of the Masonic Female Institute, where Confederate troops stood as they defended Blountville on September 22, 1863. Col. James E. Carter's 1st Tennessee Cavalry withdrew that morning of 1863 from the Watauga River to positions such as the one here that had already been prepared to block the Union Col. John W. Foster's cavalry brigade after it crossed the river. Foster took up a position on Cemetery Hill on the western end of town early in the afternoon, and a destructive artillery duel ensued. After four hours of fighting and shelling, the Confederates withdrew to Carter's Depot on the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad a few miles east of here as Federals charged through the town near dusk. Carter lost a cannon and about fifty men captured in battle. The next day, he evacuated the depot, leaving it in Foster's hands. White Side Lodge No. 13 constructed the Masonic Female Institute in 1855 "to promote female education." Jefferson Academy, the boys' school, which stood near Cemetery Hill, contributed funds for the construction of the girls' school. The academy was closed about 1900, and the girls' school then became the Masonic Institute for both girls and boys until 1919.
12. BLOUNT_150814_134.JPG: Masonic Female Institute, 1907
13. BLOUNT_150814_136.JPG: White Side Lodge No. 13 constructed the Masonic Female Institute in 1855 "to promote female education." Jefferson Academy, the boys' school, which stood near Cemetery Hill, contributed funds for the construction of the girls' school. The academy was closed about 1900, and the girls' school then became the Masonic Institute for both girls and boys until 1919.
14. BLOUNT_150814_140.JPG: Blountville, looking east from near the Union position, with the Masonic Female Institute at upper right, ca. 1900
15. BLOUNT_150814_151.JPG: Battle of Blountville Federal Guns on Cemetery Hill This is where Union forces stood as they attacked Blountville on September 22, 1863, during a campaign to control the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad. On the day of the attack, the Confederates occupied Blountville while the Federal forces held the south bank of the Watauga River. Union Colonel John W. Foster led his cavalry brigade across the river at 9 A.M., drove off pickets from Confederate Col. James E. Carter's 1st Tennessee Cavalry, and then occupied Cemetery Hill. Foster shelled Carter's positions in Blountville in front of you, then ordered a charge about sundown that pushed Carter's regiment from the town. Foster reported that he suffered six killed and fourteen wounded. The next day, he occupied Carter's Depot as the Confederates withdrew. The cemetery here was created before 1824 on land that later belonged to the adjacent Blountville Presbyterian Church. Although churches typically had their own burying grounds, the local Presbyterian, Methodist, and Baptist churches, which stood near here, all shared this cemetery.
16. BLOUNT_150814_158.JPG: Blountville from Cemetery Hill -- Copyright Anita B. Long (2002) Blountville Presbyterian Church, which burned during the war. It was rebuilt later (shown with a red roof in the painting). Photograph ca. 1900
Wikipedia Description: Blountville, Tennessee
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Blountville is a census-designated place (CDP) in and the county seat of Sullivan County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 3,074 at the 2010 census. It is the only Tennessee county seat not to be an incorporated city or town.

Blountville is part of the Kingsport–Bristol (TN)–Bristol (VA) Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is a component of the Johnson City–Kingsport–Bristol, TN-VA Combined Statistical Area – commonly known as the "Tri-Cities" region.

History

The area that is now Blountville is thought to have been the location of a longhunter fort prior to its permanent settlement. The site of the town was part of a tract of about 600 acres (240 ha) of land bought by James Brigham in 1782. In 1792 Brigham gave 30 acres (12 ha) to Sullivan County for use as a county seat and established a hotel nearby. Blountville was laid off as a town and established as the county seat in 1795. The county's first courthouse and jail was a log structure. In 1825 it was replaced with a brick building. By 1830, the settlement had 209 residents, two churches, six stores, two taverns, ten mechanics, one doctor, and one lawyer.

On the afternoon of September 22, 1863, during the Civil War, the town was the scene of the four-hour-long Battle of Blountville. During a major expedition into East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia, a Union Army unit attacked Confederate troops at Blountville. The town was shelled in the fighting and the courthouse was burned in the battle, which forced the Confederates to withdraw. The courthouse was rebuilt within the old walls in 1866. The current courthouse dates from a major construction that was done in 1920; it also includes additions made in 1958.

If Blountville were an incorporated town, it would qualify as the second oldest municipality in Tennessee (second only to Jonesborough); however, it was unincorporated at one point in order to avoid having redundant government services for such a small area and population. This unique status has led to some odd results, including a lawsuit in which it was ruled that neighboring Kingsport was not allowed to annex areas of Sullivan County within a defined distance of the courthouse, in effect ensuring that the county seat could not be annexed out of existence.

Historic district

Several of Blountville's surviving 18th and 19th century buildings are included in an historic district listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Deery Inn was built in the late 1700s and consists of three buildings: a two story log home, a three story stone house and a two story frame building. All buildings are next to each other and attached. The home is a private residence.
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