Scott County, Tennessee
Civil War Records

This page was created 06 Sep 2008

The Battle for the Bacon

ca. January 15, 1863 Skirmish in Scott County near the New River settlement

From the Richmond Enquirer, Jan. 20 [1863]

Capt. THOMAS BUTLER has been the hero of quite a gallant little achievement, on the edge of Scott County, Tenn. It appeared that at the New River settlement there had recently been stationed two companies of Federal soldiers, under command of Capt. NOAH DOHERTY, a Tennessee renegade from Anderson County. Capt. BUTLER, on learning of their presence, at the head of thirty men, started in search of them. On reaching the spot where they varmints [sic] were encamped, Capt. B. demanded the surrender of the whole party, which was responded to by a volley from ten or fifteen muskets. One ball grazed the Captain's lip, and trimmed his moustache in the; most approved style of the tonsorial art. A brisk skirmish ensued, in which six of the Abolitionists were killed, a number wounded and several captured. The remainder took to the woods.

The fruits of this little skirmish were the capture of some fifteen or twenty horses, a like number of Belgian rifles, two or three thousand pounds of bacon, and a like amount of flour, besides the capture of a Captain and eight or ten men.  (Source:  New York Times, 25 Jan 1863)

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