I am a proud son of the Tennessee mountains. I was never called a “hillbilly” at all, either in a joking or a pejorative sense, nor would I have taken offense. Occasionally when I was a young lad, I would see the Confederate flag, usually on a pick-up truck, and came to see it as a teen-age rebellion icon, nothing more. When I was older, I understood the true significance of this emblem, and I learned about a true local hero of the Civil War. He was not a “rebel”, nor were most of his neighbors. In fact, the mountains of East Tennessee were the home of mostly Union-loyal citizens in a secessionist state, under the thumb of the Confederate army.
Daniel Ellis, a local wagon-maker who was peaceful by nature, participated in a plot to burn key railroad bridges in the area, to hinder the Confederate Army—and became a marked man, having to live in the mountains apart from his family. He was offered a Captain's commission in the Union Army, but refused to carry weapons, because “My conscience would give me no peace—war makes men into devils.” However, being a tough and seasoned woodsman, he served as a guide, or “pilot”, helping men escape to Union lines through the mountains via the high ridges, enriching the Union Army with over 3000 volunteers during the course of the war.
His reputation as an elusive "Red Fox" grew, as he seemed to lead a charmed life, eluding capture and certain death, till one night the Confederates raided his home and abused his beloved wife, Martha. In a cold and terrible rage, Ellis hunted down and killed the officer responsible. From this moment on he was a dangerous man, a deadly accurate marksman, armed to the teeth, waging a ferocious guerilla war, eliminating several key Confederates. Toward the end of the war, Ellis finally accepted a Captain's commission in the Union Army, and went back to his hometown of Elizabethton with a company of men to drive out the remaining rebel troops. In the ensuing battle, Ellis faced certain death through his own reckless daring, but his life was once more saved by a stroke of luck.
Though he made peace with some former Confederates, in later years Ellis went nowhere unarmed, because of threats on his life. He offered himself as proof of his grim warning, “War makes men into devils.” Ellis was no romantic. He knew first hand the savagery of war.
Even allowing for some exaggeration in the accounts, the exploits of Dan Ellis in this bloodiest of all American wars are the stuff of legend. But aside from a few individuals and a historic marker by the highway near Ellis’s home, they are largely forgotten.
History could teach us, if only we would learn from it.
To learn more about Captain Dan Ellis, go to: http://sappho.nku.edu/~ellisa/danielellis/
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