George Washington Kirk

George Washington Kirk (born June 25, 1837 in Greeneville , Tennessee , † February 17, 1905 in Gilroy , California ) was an American officer , businessman and farmer.

Early years

George Washington Kirk was born in Greene County in 1837 and grew up there. His youth were overshadowed by the economic crisis of 1837 and the following years by the Mexican-American War . He received a liberal upbringing. In 1860 he married Marie L. Jones.

Civil war

It is not known if Kirk volunteered or was recruited into the Confederate Army at the start of the Civil War . His convictions, however, were decidedly unionist. In this context, he left the state in 1862 to join the Union Army. He has been promoted several times.

The Major General John McAllister Schofield authorized Kirk on February 13, 1864, which at that time in the Second North Carolina Mounted Infantry served, a regiment of unionists from East Tennessee and Western North Carolina dig. This regiment became known as the Third North Carolina Mounted Infantry Regiment . Although it was actually an infantry regiment , Kirk was authorized to equip it with his own or captured horses. The first company was set up on June 11, 1864. Kirk was appointed Colonel in the Third North Carolina Mounted Infantry Regiment. In April 1864 he was operating in the Shelton Laurel area in Madison County, North Carolina.

On June 13, 1864, he set out with about 130 men from Morristown, Tennessee, for an attack on Camp Vance near Morganton, North Carolina. The soldiers marched through Bull's Gap in Greeneville and Crab Orchard, Tennessee. They passed the North Carolina border and then waded the Toe River about six miles south of the Cranberry Iron Works. Then they crossed the Linville River on the afternoon of June 26th and Upper Creek at nightfall on June 27th, 1864. They marched all night and reached Camp Vance at the alarm on June 28th, 1864. Camp Vance was a training camp for Recruits who were not yet under arms. The training camp was handed over. In the further course 40 conscripts immediately committed themselves under Colonel Kirk. With the exception of the sick and medical officers, all remaining prisoners were taken to Tennessee. The medical officers were released on their word of honor, while the sick (about 70 men) were let go because the Union soldiers did not have time to release them on their word of honor. According to a Confederate report, the sick weren't really sick. They were on the sick list and were admitted to the hospital by the medical officers to successfully prevent their capture. One of the Confederate medical officers reported the following:

"Col. Kirk claimed to be a regular US Officer, carried a US Flag, and his men were all in Federal uniforms. "

In another Confederate report on this incident is reported that most men of Kirk with Spencer - Repetiergewähren were armed. Despite several minor skirmishes on the way back, Kirk returned safely to Tennessee with his men and prisoners.

In late September 1864, Colonel Kirk and his men were left in Bull's Gap to hold their position while Major General Alvan Cullem Gillem's remaining troops drove Confederate troops from Rheatown, Greeneville and Carter's Station across the Watauga River . Confederate scouts then reported in late October 1864 that Kirk and his men had returned to Knoxville .

On December 9, 1864, Kirk left Knoxville with his regiment, which was to act as a scouting party, heading for Upper East Tennessee. On December 29, 1864, he was at the Red Banks of Chucky River near the North Carolina border in a battle with 400 Confederates, infantry and cavalry, which were under the command of Colonel James Keith. Keith and his men were from the 64th North Carolina . Colonel Kirk reported that 73 rebels were killed and 32 captured, while on his side only 3 were wounded. On January 14, 1865, Kirk and his men returned to Knoxville.

In late February and early March 1865, Colonel Kirk carried out a series of surprise attacks ( raids ) across most of North Carolina's western counties, including: Caldwell County , McDowell County , Haywood County , Watauga County, and Macon County . The Third North Carolina Mounted Infantry Regiment was commonly known as Kirk's Raiders as the unit often pillaged and pillaged the area. In one of these surprise attacks, he and a small force of 400 cavalrymen and 200 infantrymen left Newport, Tennessee on February 4, 1865 for Haywood County. The Kirk's Raiders reached the county seat of Waynesville in their surprise attack over the old Cataloochee Turnpike . There they looted shops, stole several horses, killed 20 men and burned several houses, including the home of Lieutenant-Colonel James R. Love and the former residence of his grandfather, Robert Love, a hero from the Revolutionary War . The Kirk's Raiders then attacked Waynesville Prison, freed the prisoners and burned the prison down.

The end of the Confederate States was imminent in 1865. Therefore, Colonel Kirk believed that he and his men would encounter minimal resistance once they reached the West North Carolina communities on their raid. But they were opposed by the Thomas' Legion, which had a troop strength of 2,500 soldiers and consisted of local Highlanders and Cherokee Indians. Lieutenant-Colonel William W. Stringfield of the Thomas' Legion reported:

"... it had been reported in Tennessee that Kirk's troops would be welcomed in North Carolina. They were, but with bloody hands to hospitable graves. "

Lieutenant-Colonel Love's regiment and Lieutenant Robert T. Conley's snipers of the Thomas' Legion eventually forced the Kirk's Raiders to retreat across the Balsam Mountains at Soco Gap. This point is on an elevation of 4,345 feet and is 13 miles northwest of Waynesville. The Cherokees refer to the Soco Gap as Ahalunun'yi or Ambush Place.

On the morning of March 6, 1865, Lieutenant-Colonel Stringfield and a battalion with many Cherokees from Jackson County and Swain Counties attacked the Kirk's Raiders at Soco Creek, which were in retreat. The Cherokees refer to Soco Creek as Sagwa'hi or One Place. The Kirk's Raiders were pushed from there over the Smoky Mountains towards Sevierville (Tennessee). The Confederates claim to have killed some Union soldiers and wounded several. They are also said to have captured some horses. The Thomas' Legion had surrounded the Kirks Raiders. The fact that each soldier in the Thomas' Legion had only about five bullets left prevented worse for Kirk and his men.

Colonel Kirk was hoping to capture Cherokee chief Thomas, the commanding colonel of Thomas' Legion, during his numerous surprise attacks in West North Carolina. In contrast, Kirk and his men at Soco Gap and Soco Creek almost were captured, killed, or even scalped. This was Kirk's toughest fighting in West North Carolina.

On March 24, 1865, Major General George Stoneman initiated the Stoneman's Raid . In connection with this, he left Morristown, Tennessee for a surprise attack on Southwest Virginia and West North Carolina. The primary objective of this operation was the destruction of railroads in Virginia and North Carolina and the anticipated retreat of General Robert Edward Lee from Virginia. As part of this operation, the 2nd and 3rd North Carolina Mounted Infantry, under the command of Colonel Kirk, were sent to Boone, North Carolina. There you occupied the strategic position at Deep and Watauga Gaps to keep the roads over the mountains to Tennessee clear. This should allow Stoneman's troops to return home once their mission was accomplished.

In April 1865 Brigadier General Davis Tillson ordered Colonel William C. Bartlett (2nd North Carolina Mounted Infantry) and Colonel Kirk (3rd North Carolina Mounted Infantry) to advance into West North Carolina and surprise the remaining Confederate forces in the mountains during the Stoneman's Raid . General Tillson had the United States Military Academy in West Point ( New York visited). His foot had to be amputated because of a serious foot injury. He then left West Point.

Lieutenant Robert T. Conley and F Company , which he commanded in the James R. Love Regiment, Thomas' Legion, soon attacked Colonel Bartlett and his men at Waynesville. Bartlett and his men were surrounded by the Cherokee Battalion and Loves Regiment on the night of May 6, 1865, while they were enjoying the looted property from Waynesville.

On May 10, 1865 Union troops took the Confederate President Jefferson Davis in Irwinville ( Georgia ) caught. The Cherokee chief Thomas had previously capitulated on May 9, 1865. On May 12, 1865, the survivors of the battalion of Lieutenant-Colonel William W. Walker of the Thomas' Legion, which was under the command of Captain Stephen Whitaker, surrendered to the troops of Macon County Court House in Franklin, North Carolina Colonel Kirk. This was the last formal surrender by Confederate forces east of the Mississippi River . A mural in the Franklin courthouse commemorates this event. Captain Whitaker and Company E of the Thomas' Legion's First Battalion were stationed near Franklin, North Carolina. They participated in a brief skirmish at Hanging Dog in Cherokee County and were headed for White Sulfur Springs to join Thomas when they were captured.

Late years

After the end of the war, Kirk lived for a short time in Asheville and in Rutherfordton, North Carolina, where he opened a small shop. However, he soon returned to Tennessee, where he mainly devoted himself to agriculture in the Washington Count . In 1867 he got an officer's license in the Tennessee Militia . Two years later he commanded a regiment that occupied Jackson County and Overton Counties . During this time he arrested several members of the Ku Klux Klan .

During a visit to Washington, DC in June 1870 as a war claims agent , he was hired by Governor William Woods Holden to raise a North Carolina militia regiment in the mountains to investigate the atrocities of the Ku Klux Klan in Alamance County and Caswell Counties knock down. He recruited over 600 men, some of whom were fellow soldiers in his arms. About a third of them were from Tennessee. In July 1870, he moved with 200 men to Alamance County and Caswell County. There he arrested about 100 men for murder and other serious crimes. Opponents of his accused the militia of atrocities, but prisoners from Kirk witnessed fair treatment. There were a few exceptions where they were not under his direct control. Although the so-called Kirk Holden War finally brought down the Klan and their activities in the two counties, the prisoners were never punished for collusion with local officials and the inability of the governor to bring them to a special tribunal. The campaign also had a negative impact on Republicans . The Democrats won the North Carolina general election in August 1870. In the following years they sought a successful impeachment proceedings against Governor Holden.

Kirk faced immediate legal retaliation from his former prisoners. After the militia was paid off in September 1870, he moved to Raleigh to avoid arrest of sheriffs on an ordered federal detention warrant and the court deliverers. Kirk was acquitted of federal charges in December 1870. However, a mob threatened him, so he secretly and indirectly returned to his home in Tennessee.

Soon after, he moved to Washington, DC, where he served as a police officer guarding government buildings. He then worked in the patent office for several years. Then he returned to the mountains. He worked in mining. He reportedly made and lost several fortunes. Due to heart and kidney disease in 1898, he settled in California. In the following years he moved around several times, especially in the mining areas. In 1900 he lived in Oakland . Kirk died in Gilroy in 1905. He was survived by his wife and two sons: John A., an architect and Highway Construction Official in Gilroy, and WTS, a mining engineer in Alameda .

Web links

• George Washington Kirk on the ncpedia.org website
• George Washington Kirk on the rootsweb.ancestry.com website
• George Washington Kirk on the thomaslegion.net website

Individual evidence

1. ^ North Carolina Civil War Sesquicentennial - North Carolina Voices
2. ^ 64th North Carolina Infantry Regiment (Allen's) , thomaslegion.net
3. ↑ Thomas' Legion: The 69th North Carolina Regiment , thomaslegion.net
4. ↑ William Stringfield Papers, Diary, and Memoirs , thomaslegion.net
5. ↑ General Davis Tillson (1830-1895) , franmuse.com
6. ^ Lieutenant Colonel William C. Walker , thomaslegion.net