The Tennessee Coal Mining Company in Briceville dismissed convict labor in February 1892 and sold stock in the company to miners. After attempts to persuade Gov. Buchanan to remove troops from the watershed failed, miners attacked at this location in the summer of 1892. Soldiers repulsed the attacks with Gatling guns. The miners then changed tactics and captured Col. Kellar Anderson, commander of the fort, one night while he was in the town of Coal Creek. General Sam Carnes arrived with reinforcements to impose marshal law, holding local townspeople hostage until the commander was released.