Bridge Burners Dbq

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Tyler Aiken 12/06/2017 American history BRIDGE BURNINGS OF 1861 Throughout Greeneville history there has been great historic men and women that have paved the way for us today. The East tennessee bridge burners of (1861) where a big example of men standing up and fighting for what they believed in.The bridge burners where a guerrilla operation ran by union sympathizers in confederate territory. These men were ordered by President Abraham Lincoln to destroy nine bridges located in east tennessee and alabama. Throughout this paper i will discuss how the bridge burners took shape and what caused the guerilla operations , next i will talk about the attacks of the bridges And lastly i will discuss the aftermath and the effects of the bridge …show more content…

The railroads made it a lot easier to travel due to the appalachian mountains and rivers. In 1861, London Haynes warned the railroad . Their was a petition wrote bye the town of Greeneville ,which was planning to take down the railroad bridges, the petition was rejected. Carter then traveled to Kentucky to Camp Robinson were a large sum of unionist where fleeing to.Their London told the general unionist about his plan to take down the bridges and slow down the confederate forces. After Camp Robinson ,Carter went to D.C to meet with Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln decided to aid Carter in the Bridge burnings by Ordering for a raid after the bridge burnings where to take place .Lincoln was also trying to get Union help to the area with Union loyalists, so they can get out from under Confederate occupation. Dr. William E. Hardy said “many people label Tennessee an early secessionist state, but it actually took two votes to get the number needed to withdraw from the Union” (Benton,1). Some communities in the mountainous east, like Cleveland, still held onto their loyalties, while more rural areas often supported secession (Benton, 1). While Abraham Lincoln was trying to start a Unionist revolt in tennessee. He gave 2,500 dollars to native and minister William B. Carter to organize the uprising

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