Granville, an important Cumberland River port in the nineteenth century, experienced the Civil War much like many rural Upper Cumberland communities. When Tennessee seceded in 1861, most residents backed the Confederacy. Granville became a contested area for Confederate and Union cavalry from 1863 to 1865. In the spring and summer of 1863, the 8th Texas Cavalry (CSA) was stationed there while preparing to attack Union-occupied Carthage in neighboring Smith County. In the fall of 1864, the 1st Tennessee Mounted Infantry (USA) used Granville as a base and also camped across the Cumberland River from town. Several Granville residents served in the Confederate army. Sidney Smith Stanton, a prominent Granville attorney and state senator at age 30, strongly encouraged secession. He enlisted as a private in Co. F, 25th Tennessee Infantry (CSA), in July 1861, recruited more than 1,000 men from neighboring counties, and after promotion to colonel organized the 84th Tennessee Infantry in 1862. After surviving several battles, he was killed during the Atlanta Campaign. Sgt. Thomas Jefferson Lee of Co. K, 17th Tennessee Infantry (CSA), was captured in Granville in 1864 while recruiting volunteers. He was later among a group of Confederate soldiers pardoned by President Abraham Lincoln on April 14, 1865, one day before the president's death. Lee returned to Granville to marry Tennessee Stanton, a relative of Col. Stanton, and is buried in the family cemetery on Martins Creek Road. On October 24, 1885, 5,000 Confederate veterans reunited in Granville to pay tribute to Col. Stanton's memory, and Thomas J. Lee's Co. K, 17th Tennessee Infantry, held reunions there with both Confederate and Union veterans from 1885 to 1920.