Help with the renovation of the Old Jail in Tazewell and the rebuilding of the Claiborne County Historical and Genealogical Society. Print this brochure out in Word Format and send the membership application to us today!!


Stonewall Jackson Memorials near Manassas, Virginia Click on pictures for more.

Grandfather Joseph Phillips Palmetto (Palmito) Hill on Paletto Ranch, Texas. Where his grandfather Jehu Phillips fought in the Last Battle of the Civil War.

For those that attended the Battle of Tazewell event I think we owe these people a big thank you. It was an event that I hope will continue. Since it commemorated the Confederate and Union Soldiers in such a fair assessment of events I would like to dedicate the above pictures and their meaning to those that were responsible for the event held over Labor Day at David Stanifer Manor - Roundtop.

Although many say that the Federal Fortification that stood on top of the hill above Tazewell was the cause of Tazewell's demise during the Civil War, I think that it not only protected this area from the marauding Rebel bands, I think that if HISTORY was represented realistically that we would find that it presented more determent than just that. And I have heard it said that the town was destroyed by Federal cannon's but I am sure it was destroyed by Confederate artillery not able to reach the fortification that stood on Breastwork Hill. I would also mention that although I support the reclamation of the Breastwork Hill cemetery and fortification I don't support the removal of one landmark, namely a cannon mount, that was taken during the reclamation. Someday someone with more knowledge of how important that particular fortification was will tell the story as it should be and a true monument befitting all those brave men both North and South will be erected. But until then we have the Confederate version as seen below. Notice the flag laying at the feet of the Confederate troops.

The accurate accounts of the August 1862 Battle of Tazewell


Grant vs. Lee by Gail Jarvis An admittedly BIAS comparison by an intelligent man.

"Meeting of the General's" at Lincoln Memorial University, "Battle of Cumberland Gap", on AVI.


Along the same lines I have noticed that since AOL Hometown has taken it's files offline that my link to W.H. Younce's "Adventures of a Conscript" is no longer accessible. I did download his file and will consider contacting the copyright owner to place it back online. In the meantime you might consider this 2001 article instead:

John Inscoe, Robert C. Kenzer, eds. Enemies of the Country: New Perspectives on Unionists in the Civil War South. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2001. vii + 242 pp. $45.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-8203-2288-9.

The entry on Civil War Knoxville establishes Robert Tracie McKenzie as the preeminent period historian of the city. He followed the response of Knoxville's elites to the rhetoric of the indefatigable East Tennessee Unionist Parson Brownlow, revealing the intricate relationship between economics, race, and allegiance in the South. Knoxville's Unionists and secessionists both agreed in protecting southern rights and the preservation of slavery, but differed in judgment about whether war was the best means to these ends. Although most of Knoxville's elites sided with the Confederacy, those who were Unionists rejected Brownlow's call to arms against Confederate rule, and instead, they decided to make the most of their situation while maintaining silence and "strict neutrality of conduct" until the crisis was resolved. (p.90)

Return to Joe Payne's Genealogy Page