A Unionist in East Tennessee

The Civil War that tore America in two also pit one Tennessean against another—with deadly consequences . . . During the Civil War, Tennessee was perhaps the most conflicted state in the Confederacy. Allegiance to either side could mean life or death, as Union militia captain and longtime Tennessee resident William K. Byrd discovered in the fall of 1861 when he and his men were attacked by a band of Confederate sympathizers and infantrymen. This unauthorized raid led to the arrest of thirty-five