Stokes' Atrocity

During the War Between the States, four miles north of this site, an atrocity took place on March 12, 1864, when Federal Col. William B. Stokes and approximately 200 soldiers of the 5th Tenn. Volunteer Cavalry (Union) surrounded the homes of a southern sympathizer and shot six unarmed Confederate soldiers. Led by 2nd Lt. Robert S. Davis, the men included members of Terry's 8th Texas Cavalry Regiment and one Alabama cavalryman; they had become separated from their original outfit and had recently joined Captain Champ Ferguson's independent cavalry company. Days earlier, the Confederates had routed Col. Stokes' command in a skirmish at Dug Hill on the Calfkiller River. After the shooting at the house, Lt. Davis, the only Confederate wounded rather than killed outright, was taken into the yard, tied to a cedar gatepost, and his body was riddled with bullets. His last words were "you ought not to do this, I have never done anything but my sworn duty."

Monterey, Tennessee · United States