Appalachian Figures Silas Harlan’s short life sits at the crossroads of early Kentucky settlement, George Rogers Clark’s western campaigns, and the last major battle of the Revolution in the Ohio Valley. Harlan helped build a Salt River station, scouted for Clark, wrote home about a plan to fortify the “Iron Banks” on the Mississippi, and fell at Blue Licks in 1782. In 1819, the legislature created Harlan County and named it for him.

Appalachian Figures Wallace Clayton “Wah Wah” Jones grew up in Harlan, Kentucky, and carried Appalachian grit onto some of the biggest stages in American sport. He starred at Harlan High, then for the University of Kentucky in basketball, football, and baseball, and in the summer of 1948 he helped the United States win Olympic gold in London.

Appalachian History Series Why Carter’s Station mattered In the fall of 1863 the railroad crossing at Carter’s Station (often called Carter’s Depot) and the Watauga River fords west of Jonesborough formed the hinge between East Tennessee and southwestern Virginia. Whoever controlled the bridge and the river line could screen Knoxville, pressure Bristol, and menace the East Tennessee & Virginia Railroad lifeline.

Appalachian History Series Setting the stage On October 10, 1863, Ambrose Burnside’s Army of the Ohio cracked Confederate Brig. Gen. John S. Williams’s line at Blue Springs, between Bull’s Gap and Greeneville. Burnside sent infantry straight at the position while ordering a mounted column to slip to the rear near Rheatown, aiming to block the retreat route along the East Tennessee and Virginia Railroad.

Appalachian History Series Why East Tennessee mattered in 1863 When Union Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside moved into East Tennessee in late summer 1863, his columns relied on thin railroad guards to keep the East Tennessee and Virginia line open. One of those guard posts sat at the Limestone Creek railroad bridge and nearby depot at Telford. A short, sharp fight there on September 8 became one of the most lopsided small actions of the campaign.

Appalachian History Series Where and why Mossy Creek mattered After the siege of Knoxville, both armies probed across East Tennessee’s roads and creek valleys. Union cavalry under Brig. Gen. Samuel D. Sturgis protected the railroad corridor near Mossy Creek and Talbott’s Station. Confederate cavalry under Maj. Gen. William T. Martin covered Longstreet’s winter positions and kept pressure on the Federal outposts.

Appalachian History Series Blountville, the old Sullivan County seat on the road between Knoxville and Bristol, saw a sharp engagement on September 22, 1863. The fight came amid Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside’s East Tennessee operations, when Federal mounted troops probed toward the Virginia line to secure the railroad and pressure Confederate forces back toward the Holston River and the saltworks beyond.

Appalachian History Series On the foggy morning of November 6, 1863, Confederate cavalry swept into Rogersville and struck the Union outposts along Big Creek. The short fight ended with Federal batteries and wagon trains in Confederate hands, hundreds of prisoners on the road south, and a shaken Union command regrouping toward Morristown and Knoxville.

Appalachian History Series On December 14, 1863, in the hills where Hawkins County meets Grainger County, Confederate Lieutenant General James Longstreet tried to spring a trap at Bean’s Station. His infantry struck hard at Brigadier General James M. Shackelford’s mixed force of Union cavalry and mounted infantry, but darkness, rain, and missed connections let most of the Federals slip away toward Blain’s Cross Roads.

Appalachian History Series Blue Springs, known locally as the community around Midway and today within Mosheim, sat on the East Tennessee and Virginia Railroad. On October 10, 1863, Union forces under Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside met Confederate cavalry under Brig. Gen. John S. “Cerro Gordo” Williams here and drove them from the line.

Appalachian History Series Bull’s Gap sits where the railroad and the road squeeze through Bays Mountain between Greene and Hawkins counties. In the fall of 1864 the gap again became the key to East Tennessee. Across three days, November 11 to 13, Major General John C. Breckinridge pressed a smaller Federal force under Alvan C. Gillem, roughly 2,500 effectives, with about 3,000 Confederates on the field.