Civil War story of Sacrifice
Smith memorializes Civil War veteran ancestors from story
Cynthia Elvira Gambill Smith probably heard them ride up. She probably peeked out the window and saw them tie their horses to a tree. With her husband in North Carolina and her three oldest sons fighting on both sides of the Civil War, she only had herself to rely on as Union soldiers pushed through the front door.
Thanks to a little book that a local principal stopped to write, Mona Isbell Smith and her family have learned a hair-raising story. Best of all, it’s a story that happened right here in Concord — on Northshore Drive.
Beulah Lee Smith Pratt, the granddaughter of a Civil War soldier, was principal at Bluegrass Elementary School when she wrote “I Remember Granny” about Cynthia Elvira Gambill Smith.
“If she hadn’t written it, I wouldn’t know any of this,” said Mona Smith, longtime local resident and historian.
“James Monroe Smith was my husband’s great-great-grandfather and my great-great-granduncle,” she added. “He ran a saltpeter mine in North Carolina and was a Confederate sympathizer, selling the saltpeter for their use in making gunpowder during the Civil War. Consequently, he was gone a lot during the war.”
The house he owned is still there: a two-story, brown brick beauty sitting on the corner of Keller Bend Road and Northshore Drive. But it really doesn’t belong there, squeezed in between offices and stores. It belongs in another time, when land spread around it and 10 children ran up and down its stairs. It belongs back in the 1800s, when James Monroe Smith, his wife, Cynthia, and their children lived on the plantation.
“The two oldest sons, Marcus and Francis, were fighting for the Confederates. The younger son, William Swan, was supposed to stay home and take care of his mother and the younger children,” Smith said, “but he joined the Confederacy, too. His father found out and brought him back home and beat him unmercifully and told him to take care of his mother and the farm, but he left again and joined the Union to spite his father.”
With the menfolk gone, it was up to Cynthia to hold down the fort. “She had a trapdoor in the kitchen with a rug over it,” Smith said. “That’s where they kept a lot of supplies. She also had meat hanging upstairs [she’d emptied the smokehouse]. She had put coverings over the upstairs windows to hide the meat. When they came to raid the place, she was sitting on something with her hoop skirt hiding the trapdoor.”
“They were going to go upstairs,” Smith added, “and Cynthia said, ‘Go on! Go on up there!’ They were afraid it was an ambush, so they didn’t go. The Union soldiers took the cows, sheep hogs, chickens and all the horses except for an old blind horse.”
Cynthia’s heart had to be beating fast, deciding what to do next. “She took the carpets from the floors and made blankets out of them,” Smith said. “Then hitched that horse and loaded up the blankets in a wagon and took them to the Confederates so they could stay warm.”
They got through the lines and delivered the blankets, but on her way home, she was stopped by Union soldiers who were sent to capture her. A nanny also was accompanying her who also was wearing a hoop skirt. Cynthia ushered her young son, James Polk, who was then 5 years old, underneath it to hide. The soldiers allowed the children’s nanny to leave, but took Cynthia captive, keeping her imprisoned until the siege of Knoxville was over.
“Mrs. Pratt wrote that she got on the good side of the guards, joked and played cards with them,” Smith said. “I guess that shows a part of her personality.”
After Cynthia was released, word came to James Monroe at the saltpeter mine that two of his children were dying of cholera.
“He was warned not to come home,” Smith said. “The Union sympathizers in this community had told him he better stay where he was, but he came anyway.
“The Union came looking for him. He had taken off his uniform and put on some old clothes and was lying on the couch," she added. "The soldiers told Granny they had come for Jim Smith. Granny told them that one of her little girls had just died and another one was very sick and that the old man was there to help her.
“One of the Union soldiers came in to verify her story, saw Jim Smith, and returned to report that Granny was telling the truth — that Jim Smith was not there. She often said that she wished she had been able to thank him and at least she knew that one of the Union soldiers had a heart.
“Not long after that, James Monroe was on his way to Knoxville when some men hiding in the woods near the present-day entrance to Sequoyah Hills shot and killed him.
“After their father’s death,” Smith said, “the two Confederate sons were forced to leave this area because they had sided with the South. One settled in Roane County and the other went to Middle Tennessee.
“I’m so thankful that Mrs. Pratt had taken the time to write about Granny,” she added. “Without that book, many stories of this colorful woman would not have been here to pass along to future generations. My granddaughter, Savannah Beth Smith, 5, now sits at my knee and is learning of her rich and interesting family history.”
James and Cynthia are now six generations from little Savannah,” Smith added.
They are buried at Concord
Cynthia gave the brick house to her son, William Swan, and moved to Roane County to live with her son, Marcus. Years later, Marcus swapped the Roane County property for the farm in Lenoir City, which was owned by Henry Lenoir, where the Smith family still lives today.
Masonic Cemetery. James was originally buried in the family plot at the brick house, but at Cynthia’s death and at her request, he and the two children who died of cholera were disinterred and their bodies were moved to Concord Masonic. That grave is the oldest one in the cemetery.”
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n Carolyn Evans cevans@farragutpress.com
Cynthia Elvira Gambill Smith probably heard them ride up. She probably peeked out the window and saw them tie their horses to a tree. With her husband in North Carolina and her three oldest sons fighting on both sides of the Civil War, she only had herself to rely on as Union soldiers pushed through the front door.
Thanks to a little book that a local principal stopped to write, Mona Isbell Smith and her family have learned a hair-raising story. Best of all, it’s a story that happened right here in Concord — on Northshore Drive.
Beulah Lee Smith Pratt, the granddaughter of a Civil War soldier, was principal at Bluegrass Elementary School when she wrote “I Remember Granny” about Cynthia Elvira Gambill Smith.
“If she hadn’t written it, I wouldn’t know any of this,” said Mona Smith, longtime local resident and historian.
“James Monroe Smith was my husband’s great-great-grandfather and my great-great-granduncle,” she added. “He ran a saltpeter mine in North Carolina and was a Confederate sympathizer, selling the saltpeter for their use in making gunpowder during the Civil War. Consequently, he was gone a lot during the war.”
The house he owned is still there: a two-story, brown brick beauty sitting on the corner of Keller Bend Road and Northshore Drive. But it really doesn’t belong there, squeezed in between offices and stores. It belongs in another time, when land spread around it and 10 children ran up and down its stairs. It belongs back in the 1800s, when James Monroe Smith, his wife, Cynthia, and their children lived on the plantation.
“The two oldest sons, Marcus and Francis, were fighting for the Confederates. The younger son, William Swan, was supposed to stay home and take care of his mother and the younger children,” Smith said, “but he joined the Confederacy, too. His father found out and brought him back home and beat him unmercifully and told him to take care of his mother and the farm, but he left again and joined the Union to spite his father.”
With the menfolk gone, it was up to Cynthia to hold down the fort. “She had a trapdoor in the kitchen with a rug over it,” Smith said. “That’s where they kept a lot of supplies. She also had meat hanging upstairs [she’d emptied the smokehouse]. She had put coverings over the upstairs windows to hide the meat. When they came to raid the place, she was sitting on something with her hoop skirt hiding the trapdoor.”
“They were going to go upstairs,” Smith added, “and Cynthia said, ‘Go on! Go on up there!’ They were afraid it was an ambush, so they didn’t go. The Union soldiers took the cows, sheep hogs, chickens and all the horses except for an old blind horse.”
Cynthia’s heart had to be beating fast, deciding what to do next. “She took the carpets from the floors and made blankets out of them,” Smith said. “Then hitched that horse and loaded up the blankets in a wagon and took them to the Confederates so they could stay warm.”
They got through the lines and delivered the blankets, but on her way home, she was stopped by Union soldiers who were sent to capture her. A nanny also was accompanying her who also was wearing a hoop skirt. Cynthia ushered her young son, James Polk, who was then 5 years old, underneath it to hide. The soldiers allowed the children’s nanny to leave, but took Cynthia captive, keeping her imprisoned until the siege of Knoxville was over.
“Mrs. Pratt wrote that she got on the good side of the guards, joked and played cards with them,” Smith said. “I guess that shows a part of her personality.”
After Cynthia was released, word came to James Monroe at the saltpeter mine that two of his children were dying of cholera.
“He was warned not to come home,” Smith said. “The Union sympathizers in this community had told him he better stay where he was, but he came anyway.
“The Union came looking for him. He had taken off his uniform and put on some old clothes and was lying on the couch," she added. "The soldiers told Granny they had come for Jim Smith. Granny told them that one of her little girls had just died and another one was very sick and that the old man was there to help her.
“One of the Union soldiers came in to verify her story, saw Jim Smith, and returned to report that Granny was telling the truth — that Jim Smith was not there. She often said that she wished she had been able to thank him and at least she knew that one of the Union soldiers had a heart.
“Not long after that, James Monroe was on his way to Knoxville when some men hiding in the woods near the present-day entrance to Sequoyah Hills shot and killed him.
“After their father’s death,” Smith said, “the two Confederate sons were forced to leave this area because they had sided with the South. One settled in Roane County and the other went to Middle Tennessee.
“I’m so thankful that Mrs. Pratt had taken the time to write about Granny,” she added. “Without that book, many stories of this colorful woman would not have been here to pass along to future generations. My granddaughter, Savannah Beth Smith, 5, now sits at my knee and is learning of her rich and interesting family history.”
James and Cynthia are now six generations from little Savannah,” Smith added.
