IS IT COMING TO THIS?
amigo cabal
The Battle of Athens, Tennessee
As Recently As 1946, American Citizens Were
Forced To Take Up Arms As A Last Resort
Against Corrupt Government Officials.
Published in Guns & Ammo October 1995, pp. 50-51
On August 1-2, 1946, some Americans, brutalized by their county government,
used armed force as a last resort to overturn it. These Americans wanted
honest open elections. For years they had asked for state or federal
election monitors to prevent vote fraud (forged ballots, secret ballot
counts and intimidation by armed sheriff's deputies) by the local political
boss. They got no help.
These Americans' absolute refusal to knuckle under had been hardened by
service in World War II. Having fought to free other countries from
murderous regimes, they rejected vicious abuse by their county government.
These Americans had a choice. Their state's Constitution -- Article 1,
Section 26 -- recorded their right to keep and bear arms for the common
defense. Few "gun control" laws had been enacted.
These Americans were residents of McMinn County, which is located between
Chattanooga and Knoxville in Eastern Tennessee. The two main towns were
Athens and Etowah. McMinn County residents had long been independent
political thinkers. For a long time they also had: accepted bribe-taking by
politicians and/or the sheriff to overlook illicit whiskey-making and ;
financed the sheriff's department from fines-usually for speeding or public
drunkenness which promoted false arrests; and put up with voting fraud by
both Democrats and Republicans.
The wealthy Cantrell family, of Etowah, backed Franklin Delano Roosevelt in
the 1932 election, hoping New Deal programs would revive the local economy
and help Democrats to replace Republicans in the county government. So it
proved.
Paul Cantrell was elected sheriff in the 1936,1938 and 1940 elections, but
by slim margins. The sheriff was the key county official. Cantrell was
elected to the state senate in 1942 and 1944; his chief deputy, Pat
Mansfield, was elected sheriff. In 1946 Paul Cantrell again sought the
sheriff's office.
At the end of 1945, some 3,000 battle-hardened veterans returned to McMinn
County; the GIs held Cantrell politically responsible for Mansfield's
doings. Early in 1946, some newly returned ex-GIs decided to challenge
Cantrell politically by offering an all-ex-GI, non-partisan ticket. They
promised a fraud-free election, stating in ads and speeches that there would
be an honest ballot count and reform of county government.
At a rally, a GI speaker said, "The principles that we fought for in this
past war do not exist in McMinn County. We fought for democracy because we
believe in democracy but not the form we live under in this county" (Daily
Post-Athenian, 17 June 1946, p.1 ). At the end of July 1946, 159 McMinn
County GIs petitioned the FBI to send election monitors. There was no
response. The Department of Justice had not responded to McMinn County
residents' complaints of election fraud in 1940, 1942 and 1944.
FROM BALLOTS TO BULLETS
The primary election was held on August 1. To intimidate voters, Mansfield
brought in some 200 armed "deputies." GI poll-watchers were beaten almost at
once. At about 3 p.m., Tom Gillespie, an African- American voter was told by
a sheriff's deputy that he could not vote. Despite being beaten, Gillespie
persisted. The enraged deputy shot him. The gunshot drew a crowd. Rumors
spread that Gillespie had been shot in the back; he later recovered (C.
Stephen Byrum, The Battle of Athens, Paidia Productions, Chattanooga, TN,
1987; pp. 155-57).
Other deputies detained ex-GI poll-watchers in a polling place, as that made
the ballot counting "Public" A crowd gathered. Sheriff Mansfield told his
deputies to disperse the crowd. When the two ex-GIs smashed a big window and
escaped, the crowd surged forward. The deputies, with guns drawn, formed a
tight half-circle around the front of the polling place. One deputy, "his
gun raised high...shouted: 'If you sons of bitches cross this street I'll
kill you!'" (Byrum, p.165).
Mansfield took the ballot boxes to the jail for counting. The deputies
seemed to fear immediate attack by the "people who had just liberated Europe
and the South Pacific from two of the most powerful war machines in human
history" (Byrum, pp. 168-69).
Short of firearms and ammunition, the GIs scoured the county to find them.
By borrowing keys to the National Guard and State Guard armories, they got
three M-1 rifles, five .45 semi-automatic pistols and 24 British Enfield
rifles. The armories were nearly empty after the war's end. By 8 p.m. a
group of GIs and "local boys" headed for the jail but left the back door
unguarded to give the jail's defenders an easy way out.
Three GIs alerting passersby to danger were fired on from the jail. Two GIs
were wounded. Other GIs returned fire.
Firing subsided after 30 minutes; ammunition ran low and night had fallen.
Thick brick walls shielded those inside the jail. Absent radios, the GIs'
rifle fire was uncoordinated. "From the hillside fire rose and fell in
disorganized cascades. More than anything else, people were simply shooting
at the jail" (Byrum, p.189).
Several who ventured into the street in front of the jail were wounded. One
man inside the jail was badly hurt; he recovered. Most sheriff's deputies
wanted to hunker down and await rescue. Governor McCord mobilized the State
Guard, perhaps to scare the GIs into withdrawing. The State Guard never went
to Athens. McCord may have feared that Guard units filled with ex-GIs might
not fire on other ex-GIs.
At about 2 a.m. on August 2, the GIs forced the issue. Men from Meigs County
threw dynamite sticks and damaged the jail's porch. The panicked deputies
surrendered. GIs quickly secured the building. Paul Cantrell faded into the
night, having almost been shot by a GI who knew him, but whose .45 pistol
had jammed. Mansfield's deputies were kept overnight in jail for their own
safety. Calm soon returned. The GIs posted guards. The rifles borrowed from
the armory were cleaned and returned before sunup.
THE AFTERMATH: RESTORING DEMOCRACY
In five precincts free of vote fraud, the GI candidate for sheriff, Knox
Henry, won 1,168 votes to Cantrell's 789. Other GI candidates won by similar
margins.
The GI's did not hate Cantrell. They only wanted honest government. On
August 2, a town meeting set up a three-man governing committee. The regular
police having fled, six men were chosen to police Etowah. In addition,
"Individual citizens were called upon to form patrols or guard groups, often
led by a GI... To their credit, however, there is not a single mention of an
abuse of power on their behalf" (Byrum, p. 220).
Once the GI candidates' victory had been certified, they cleaned up county
government, the jail was fixed, newly elected officials accepted a $5,000
pay limit and Mansfield supporters who resigned were replaced.
The general election on November 5 passed quietly. McMinn County residents,
having restored the rule of law, returned to their daily lives. Pat
Mansfield moved back to Georgia. Paul Cantrell set up an auto dealership in
Etowah. "Almost everyone who knew Cantrell in the years after the Battle'
agree that he was not bitter about what had happened" (Byrum pp. 232-33; see
also New York Times, 9 August 1946, p. 8).
The 79th Congress adjourned on August 2, 1946, when the Battle of Athens
ended. However, Representative John Jennings Jr. from Tennessee decried
McMinn County's sorry situation under Cantrell and Mansfield and the Justice
Department's repeated failures to help the McMinn County residents. Jennings
was delighted that "...at long last, decency and honesty, liberty and law
have returned to the fine county of McMinn.. " (Congressional Record, House;
U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1946; Appendix, Volume
92, Part 13, p. A4870).
THE LESSONS OF ATHENS
Those who took up arms in Athens, Tennessee, wanted honest elections, a
cornerstone of our constitutional order. They had repeatedly tried to get
federal or state election monitors and had used armed force so as to
minimize harm to the law-breakers, showing little malice to the defeated
law-breakers. They restored lawful government.
The Battle of Athens clearly shows how Americans can and should lawfully use
armed force and also shows why the rule of law requires unrestricted access
to firearms and how civilians with military-type firearms can beat the
forces of government gone bad.
Dictators believe that public order is more important than the rule of law.
However, Americans reject this idea. Brutal political repression is lethal
to many. An individual criminal can harm a handful of people. Governments
alone can brutalize thousands, or millions.
Law-abiding McMinn County residents won the Battle of Athens because they
were not hamstrung by "gun control " They showed us when citizens can and
should use armed force to support the rule of law.