AnarWiki/markdown/McMinn_County_War_(1946).md

The **McMinn County War** or **Battle of Athens** was a
[rebellion](List_of_Revolutions "wikilink") in Athens and Etowah,
Tennessee, [United States of
America](United_States_of_America "wikilink"), against the local
government in
[August](Timeline_of_Libertarian_Socialism_in_North_America "wikilink")
[1946](Revolutions_of_1943_-_1949 "wikilink").

## Background

The citizens, including some [World War II](World_War_II "wikilink")
veterans, accused the local officials of predatory policing, police
brutality, political corruption, and voter intimidation.

## Events

### Water Works polling place

Polls for the county election opened August 1, 1946. Normally, there
were about 15 patrolmen on duty for the precincts, but about 200 armed
deputies were on patrol for the election, with many of these
reinforcements from other counties and states. In Etowah, a GI poll
watcher requested a ballot box to be opened and certified as empty.
Although he was allowed by law to make the request, he was arrested and
taken to jail. In Athens, Walter Ellis protested irregularities in the
election and was also arrested and charged with what was explained to
him as a "federal offense".<sup>\[9\]</sup>

Around 3:00 p.m. local time, C.M. "Windy" Wise, a patrolman, prevented
an elderly African American farmer, Tom Gillespie, from casting his
ballot at the Athens Water Works polling place. When Gillespie and a GI
poll watcher objected, Wise struck Gillespie with brass knuckles, which
caused Gillespie to drop his ballot and run away from the deputy. Wise
then pulled his pistol and shot Gillespie in the
back.<sup>\[2\]\[9\]</sup>

Wise was the only person to face charges from the events of August 1–2,
1946, and was sentenced to 1–3 years in prison.<sup>\[11\]</sup>

### Response

GIs gathered in front of L.L. Shaefer's store which was used as an
office by campaign manager Jim Buttram.<sup>\[2\]</sup> Buttram had
telegraphed Governor McCord in Nashville and U.S. Attorney General Tom
Clark asking for help in ensuring a lawful election, but received no
response.<sup>\[2\]</sup> When the group learned that Sheriff Mansfield
had sent armed guards to all polling places, they convened at the
Essankay Garage where they decided to arm themselves.<sup>\[2\]</sup>

Sheriff Mansfield arrived at the Water Works and ordered the poll
closed. In the commotion that followed, Wise and Karl Nell, the deputies
inside the Water Works, took two poll watchers, Charles Scott and Ed
Vestal, captive. By one account, Scott and Vestal jumped through a glass
window and fled to the safety of the crowd while Wise followed
behind.<sup>\[2\]</sup> By another account there was a guns-drawn
confrontation between Jim Buttram, who was accompanied by Scott's
father, and Sheriff Mansfield. A third account argues that when Neal
Esminger from the *Daily Post-Athenian* showed up to get a vote count,
his entrance was a distraction that allowed Scott and Vestal to break
through a door and escape. In any case, the escape was followed by
gunfire which sent the crowd diving for cover.<sup>\[9\]</sup>

Someone in the crowd yelled, "Let's go get our guns," causing the crowd
to head for the Essankay Garage. Deputy Chief Boe Dunn took the two
deputies and the ballot box to the jail.<sup>\[2\]</sup> Two other
deputies were dispatched to arrest Scott and Vestal. These deputies were
disarmed and detained by the GIs, as were a set of reinforcements. GI
advisor, Republican Election Commissioner and Republican Party Chairman,
Otto Kennedy, asked Bill White what he was going to do. White said, "I
don't know Otto; we might just kill them." According to White, Kennedy
grew alarmed and announced "Oh Lord, oh Lord, oh Lord\! No\! I'm not
having nothing else to do with this. Me and my brother and son-in-law is
leaving here."<sup>\[13\]</sup> Lones Selber in *American Heritage*
magazine says Kennedy "left, vowing to have no part in
murder."<sup>\[2\]</sup> The crowd and most GIs left. The remaining GIs
took the seven deputies-turned-hostages to a woods ten miles from
Athens, stripped them, tied them to a tree and beat
them.<sup>\[2\]\[13\]</sup>

### Twelfth Precinct Polling Place

At the twelfth precinct the GI poll watchers were Bob Hairrell and
Leslie Doolie, a one-armed veteran of the North African theater. The
polling place was commanded by Mansfield man Minus Wilburn. Wilburn
tried to let a young woman vote, who Hairrell believed was underage, and
had no poll tax receipt and was not listed in the voter
registration.<sup>\[9\]</sup> Hairrell grabbed Wilburn's wrist when he
tried to deposit the ballot in the box. Wilburn struck Hairrell on the
head with a blackjack and kicked him in the face. Wilburn closed the
precinct and took the GIs and ballot box across the street to the
jail.<sup>\[2\]</sup> Hairrell was brutally beaten and was taken to the
hospital.<sup>\[9\]</sup>

In response to cussing and taunts from the deputies, and the actions so
far that day, Bill White, leader of the "fighting bunch," told his
lieutenant Edsel Underwood to take 5 or 6 men and break into the
National Guard Armory to steal weapons. The GIs took the front door keys
from the caretaker and entered the building. They then armed themselves
with sixty .30-06 Enfield rifles, two Thompson sub-machine guns and
ammo. Lones Selber says White went for the guns himself.<sup>\[2\]</sup>
Bill White then distributed the rifles and a bandoleer of ammo to each
of the 60 GIs.<sup>\[14\]\[*non-primary source needed*\]</sup>

### Polls closing

As the polls closed, and counting began (sans the three boxes taken to
the jail), the GI-backed candidates had a 3 to 1
lead.<sup>\[2\]\[9\]\[15\]</sup> When the GIs heard the deputies had
taken the ballot boxes to the jail, Bill White exclaimed, "Boy, they
doing something. I'm glad they done that. Now all we got to do is whip
on the jail."<sup>\[14\]</sup>

The GIs recognized that they had broken the law, and that Cantrell would
likely receive reinforcements in the morning, so the GIs felt the need
to resolve the situation quickly.<sup>\[16\]</sup> The deputies knew
little of military tactics, but the GIs knew them well. By taking up the
second floor of a bank across the street from the jail, the GIs were
able to reciprocate any shots from the jail with a barrage from
above.<sup>\[16\]</sup>

By 9:00 PM, Paul Cantrell, Pat Mansfield, George Woods (Speaker of the
State House of Representatives and Secretary of the McMinn County
Election Commission), and about 50 deputies were in the jail, allegedly
rummaging through the ballot boxes. Woods and Mansfield constituted a
majority of the election commission and could therefore certify and
validate the count from within the jail.<sup>\[16\]</sup>

## Battle

Estimates of the number of veterans besieging the jail vary from several
hundred<sup>\[15\]</sup> to as high as 2,000.<sup>\[11\]</sup> Bill
White had at least 60 under his command. White split his group with Buck
Landers taking up position at the bank overlooking the jail while White
took the rest by the Post Office.<sup>\[14\]\[*non-primary source
needed*\]</sup>

Just as the estimates of people involved vary widely, accounts of how
the Battle of Athens began and its actual course disagree.

Egerton and Williams recall that when the men reached the jail, it was
barricaded and manned by 55 deputies. The veterans demanded the ballot
boxes but were refused. They then opened fire on the jail, initiating a
battle that lasted several hours by some
accounts,<sup>\[11\]\[15\]</sup> considerably less by
others.<sup>\[17\]</sup>

As Lones Selber, author of the 1985 *American Heritage* magazine article
wrote: "Opinion differs on exactly how the challenge was issued." White
says he was the one to call it out: "Would you damn bastards bring those
damn ballot boxes out here or we are going to set siege against the jail
and blow it down\!" Moments later the night exploded in automatic
weapons fire punctuated by shotgun blasts. "I fired the first shot,"
White claimed, "then everybody started shooting from our side." A deputy
ran for the jail. "I shot him; he wheeled and fell inside of the
jail."<sup>\[2\]</sup>

In 2000 Bill White claimed he said "Boys, ... I'm going to tell them to
bring the ballot box out of there, and if they don't we're gonna open up
on them.' I hollered in there, I said, 'You damn thieve grabbers, bring
them damn ballot boxes out of there.' 'That's just what I said. He
didn't make a move down there and finally one of them said, 'By God I
heard a bolt click.' Down there—one of them grabbers did, you know—they
started scattering around. And I had a pistol in my belt with a shotgun.
I had a shotgun and a rifle. And I pulled the pistol out and started
firing down there at them. Well, when I did that, all that whole line up
there started firing down there in there. A lot of them got in the jail,
some of them didn't, some of them got shot laying outside. And the
battle started."<sup>\[14\]</sup>

Byrum wrote in 1984 that there was a volley of fire that lasted for
"several hours," although gives no exact time for the end of hostilities
or an account of the course of the battle. He noted that the deputies
surrendered at 3:30 AM.<sup>\[16\]</sup>

The day after the battle, the *New York Times* front page reported a
sheriff had been killed, and that the shooting had started with a shot
through a jail window and with the demand the hostages be released. Then
the *Times* reported the deputies refused and the siege ensued. The
account followed, revealing the *Times*'s source as Lowell F. Arterburn,
publisher of *The Athens Post Athenian*. Arterburn reported shots being
fired, 2,000 persons milling around, and "at least a score of fist
fights were in progress."<sup>\[18\]</sup>

An attempt by deputies outside the jail to reinforce (or take refuge in)
the jail was thwarted by Bill White's "fighting band". Some people in
the jail managed to escape out the back door.<sup>\[14\]\[*non-primary
source needed*\]</sup> The fleeing people threw down their weapons and
ran off, so White ordered his forces not to shoot the
escapees.<sup>\[19\]</sup> One of the escapees was George Woods who had
telephoned Birch Biggs, the boss of next door Polk County, requesting
that Biggs send reinforcements to break the siege. Biggs replied "Do you
think I'm crazy?"<sup>\[2\]</sup>

For the veterans it was either win before morning or face a long time in
jail for violating local, state, and federal laws.<sup>\[16\]</sup>
Rumors spread that the National Guard or state troopers were
coming.<sup>\[2\]</sup> White made hourly demands for surrender. The GIs
attempted to bombard the jail with Molotov cocktails but were not able
to throw them far enough to reach the jail.<sup>\[14\]</sup> The GIs
decided to resort to dynamite. At about that time an ambulance pulled up
to the jail. The GIs assumed it was called to remove the wounded and
held fire. Two men jumped in, and it sped off carrying Paul Cantrell and
Sheriff Mansfield to safety out of town.<sup>\[2\]</sup>

Then the dynamite was deployed. Bill White said, "We'd put two or three
sticks of dynamite together and tape it together and put a cap in there
and a fuse. And we'd rear back and throw them. Well, we couldn't get
them all the way to the jail, but we got them out to them cars. They'd
blow them cars up in the air and turn them over and land them back on
the top. Several cars down there were blowing up."<sup>\[19\]</sup> That
first bomb landed under Bob Dunn's cruiser, flipping it on its
back.<sup>\[2\]</sup> Bill White, commander of the "fighting bunch" knew
the GIs had to do better: "I ... said, 'We're going to have to get some
charges up there on that jail.' I said, 'Make a couple charges there....
We'll go down there and we'll place some charges.' So I made up a couple
charges and I crawled up and put a charge on the jailhouse
porch."<sup>\[19\]</sup> In fact three bombs went off almost
simultaneously. One destroyed Mansfield's car, one landed on the jail
porch roof, and one went off against the jail wall. The bombs caused
some damage to the jail and scattered debris.<sup>\[2\]</sup>

As with the beginning of the battle accounts of the end differ:
*American Heritage* states, "In the end, the door of the jail was
dynamited and breached. The barricaded deputies—some with
injuries—surrendered, and the ballot boxes were
recovered."<sup>\[2\]</sup>

The *New York Times* observed in an article the night was "bloody" and
that it ended after the GIs detonated 3 "home-made demolition
charges."<sup>\[20\]</sup>

### End of the battle and vote counting

Byrum reported the end of the battle thusly: "By 3:30 a.m., the men
holding the jail had been dynamited into submission, and by early
morning George Woods was calling Ralph Duggan to ask if he could come to
Athens and certify the election of the GI slate. Bill White reported
that "when the GIs broke into the jail, they found some of the tally
sheets marked by the machine had been scored fifteen to one for the
Cantrell forces." When the final tally was completed, Knox Henry was
elected.<sup>\[16\]</sup>

During the fight at the jail, rioting had broken out in Athens, mainly
targeting police cars.<sup>\[11\]\[15\]</sup> This continued after the
ballot boxes were recovered, but subsided by morning.<sup>\[17\]</sup>
The mob also destroyed automobiles of the deputies, many bearing
out-of-state plates.<sup>\[20\]</sup> During the disorder the Mayor of
Athens was on vacation and the city policemen were "nowhere to be
found."<sup>\[21\]</sup>

The morning of August 2 found the town quiet. Some minor acts of revenge
happened, but the public mood was one of "euphoria that had not been
experienced in McMinn County in a long time."<sup>\[22\]</sup> Governor
McCord initially moved to activate the National Guard but quickly
rescinded the order.<sup>\[21\]</sup> The morning saw the GIs call a
meeting. GI Non-Partisan League Treasurer Harry Johnson opened the
meeting observing it was necessary because "for some reason or other,
the Sheriff's force is not around."<sup>\[20\]</sup> The approximately
400 persons in the court room elected a special committee headed by
Methodist minister Bernie Hampton, joined by C.A. Anderson and Gobo
Cartwright, both members of the Business Men's Evangelical Committee, to
preserve law and order. George Woods, the escaped Secretary of the
County Election Commission, sent a written missive saying: "Next Monday
at 10 A.M. I will sign an election certificate certifying that the GI
ticket was elected." Later the veterans turned responsibility for
maintaining order in Athens to Police Chief Herbert Walker. The GIs said
they were still "holding control" of McMinn County until September 1
when Knox Henry was to be installed as sheriff.<sup>\[20\]</sup>

August 2 also saw the return to McMinn County of Sheriff-elect Knox
Henry, who had spent the night of August 1–2 in safe keeping in the
Sweetwater jail. Sheriff Henry, a 33-year-old former Army Air Force
Sergeant, observed "They were going to kill me yesterday, and I had to
leave town."<sup>\[20\]</sup>

## Nearby conflicts

In adjacent Meigs County, another use of weapons to effect electoral
change occurred. On August 5 the Meigs County Election Commission
certified Republican Oscar Womac as sheriff. Womac admitted to a
reporter that he had ordered some associates to burn "a bunch of
ballots." The ballots, he claimed, were found in the Meigs County
Courthouse the previous day. It was reported in *The Chattanooga Times*
that Sheriff J.T. Pettit claimed the Peakland ballot box was taken at
gun-point by Womac and companions from the County Clerk's office the day
before the ballot burning. "There was little we could do to stop him, he
was armed, and the four men with him were armed," Sheriff Pettit
said.<sup>\[23\]</sup> In Monroe County, east of McMinn County and north
of Polk County, 65 year old county sheriff Jake Tipton was shot and
killed during a dispute at the Vale precinct.<sup>\[24\]</sup>

## Aftermath

The recovered ballots certified the election of the five GI Non-Partisan
League candidates.<sup>\[17\]</sup> Among the reforms instituted was a
change in the method of payment and a $5,000 salary cap for officials.
In the initial momentum of victory, gambling houses in collusion with
the Cantrell regime were raided and their operations demolished.
Deputies of the prior administration resigned and were
replaced.<sup>\[17\]</sup>

The ballots, when tallied, proved a landslide for the GI Non-Partisan
League. Scores of veterans were present when Speaker of the state House
of Representatives and secretary of the McMinn County election
commissioners George Woods was marched into the County Courthouse under
the guard of ex-GIs. Speaker Woods had fled after the gun
battle.<sup>\[23\]</sup> League member Knox Henry received 2,175 against
1,270 for Sheriff Cantrell. The League also won the other races: 2,194
to 1,270 for Frank Carmichael as trustee; George Painter won the county
clerk race 2,175 to 1,198; the circuit court clerk broke 2,165 to 1,197
for Charles Picket.<sup>\[23\]</sup>

Bill White, leader of the "fighting bunch," was made a sheriff's deputy.
"They put me in as a deputy. Because, one of the reasons they put me in
as deputies was to scare them GIs. (Laughs) They wanted me to control
the GIs. Which they did—they fired into them people's houses and
everything else. And that was my job to get out there and keep the GIs
straight. And I did. I had sixteen fights in one weekend. Fighting GIs,
keeping them from shooting them people's houses and beating up people.
My fists got so sore I couldn't stick them in my pocket ... If you fight
them with your fists, they had respect for you. But you didn't use
blackjacks or guns on them. If you did they'd gang up on you and kill
you."<sup>\[8\]</sup> According to deputy Bill White the fee basis for
deputy pay continued for four more years. It was only the last four
years he served that he was paid a salary.<sup>\[8\]</sup>

In early September the fall of the County political machine was followed
by the resignation of Athens' Mayor, Paul Walker, and the town's four
Aldermen. The resignations met with popular approval. The resignations
came after a night time shot-gun blast through the front of Alderman
Hugh Riggs's home.<sup>\[25\]</sup> Mayor Walker had previously refused
a demand to resign made immediately after the gun-fight by the McMinn
County American Legion and VFW posts.<sup>\[26\]</sup>

The "Battle of Athens" was followed by movements of veterans in other
Tennessee counties promoting a statewide coalition against corrupt
political machines in the upcoming November elections. Governor McCord
countered an attempt to form a "Non-Partisan GI Political League" by
directing the Young Democrats Clubs of Tennessee to recruit ex-GIs.
There were strenuous efforts by the "Crump Organization," based in
Shelby County, to counter the nascent GI organization.<sup>\[27\]</sup>
A convention was held in Alamo, Tennessee, with the intention to
establish a new national party. The convention was dissuaded by General
Evans Carlson, USMC, who argued that the GIs should work through the
existing political parties.<sup>\[28\]</sup>

The new GI government of Athens quickly encountered challenges including
the re-emergence of old party loyalties.<sup>\[29\]</sup> On January 4,
1947, four of the five leaders of the GI Non-Partisan League declared in
an open letter: "We abolished one machine only to replace it with
another and more powerful one in the making."<sup>\[30\]</sup> The GI
government in Athens eventually collapsed. Tennessee's GI political
movement quickly faded and politics in the state returned to
normal.<sup>\[11\]\[31\]</sup> The Non-Partisan GI Political League
replied to enquiries by veterans elsewhere in the United States with the
advice that shooting it out was not the most desirable solution to
political problems.<sup>\[25\]</sup>

## Legacy

Joseph C. Goulden, in his history of immediate post-war America, *The
Best Years 1945-1950*, discussed the Battle of Athens, how it sparked
political ex-GI movements in three other Tennessee counties, as well as
other boss-ruled Southern states, led to a convention with
representatives from several Southern states, and how it raised fears
that veterans would resort to further violence.<sup>\[28\]</sup> The
Battle of Athens came in the mid-1940s, when there was much concern that
returning GIs would be dangerously violent. Those concerns were
addressed in an opinion piece by Warden Lawes, the author of *Twenty
Thousand Years at Sing Sing*, in a *New York Times* opinion
piece.<sup>\[32\]</sup> In a newspaper column, Eleanor Roosevelt had
expressed a somewhat popular opinion that GIs should be checked for
violent tendencies before they were demobilized. Bill White, the leader
of Athens' "fighting band", came to see her point.<sup>\[33\]</sup> One
of the reasons the GI League collapsed was the continuing GI related
violence in McMinn County.<sup>\[34\]\[35\]</sup> The Battle of Athens
initially received criticism in the press. Coverage however quickly
faded, and after Alan J. Gould, an executive with the Associated Press,
told the Conference of State Directors of the Veterans Administration
that the AP would try to suppress the use of the word "veteran" in
conjunction with crime stories, the story of GI violence began to
disappear.<sup>\[36\]</sup>

The 1992 made-for-television movie *An American Story* (produced by the
Hallmark Hall of Fame) was loosely based upon the McMinn County War but
set in a Texas town in 1945. It was nominated for two 1993 prime time
Emmy Awards and one American Society of Cinematographers
award.<sup>\[37\]</sup> The battle is also mentioned in the 1996 pro-gun
rights novel *Unintended Consequences* and in the 2007 film *Shooter*.
In 1996, C. Stephen Byrum, author of the history of McMinn County,
published *August 1, 1946. The Battle of Athens, Tennessee*.