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Battle of Athens (1946) (view source)

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'''The Battle of Athens''' (2 August 1946) was a literal battle that took place in Athens, McMinn County, [[Tennessee]]. Several returning [[United States|U.S.]] veterans laid siege to the county [[jail]], after a corrupt [[sheriff]] had seized two [[ballot]] boxes to try to rig an [[election]]. The veterans took the jail using small arms and explosives. As such this is the most recent recorded instance of an armed insurrection against a [[government]] on American soil. It also demonstrated the importance of the [[Second Amendment]] to the U.S. Constitution in preserving American liberty.

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= Background =

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== Background ==

McMinn County, Tennessee, lies between the cities of [[Chattanooga]] and [[Knoxville]], in southeastern Tennessee. Its two main towns are Athens (the county seat) and Etowah. As of the 1940 census, it had a population of 30,781 people.

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The following [[President]]ial election results might or might not be significant.<ref name=Leip>Leip D, ''Atlas of U.S. Presidential Election Results.'' Retrieved 1 August 2018. <https://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/></ref> [[Franklin Delano Roosevelt]] did not carry McMinn County in 1932 or 1936. But he did carry the county in 1940 and 1944. He did so by lopsided margins that completely “flipped” in 1948.

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The following [[President]]ial election results might or might not be significant.<ref name=Leip>Leip D, ''Atlas of U.S. Presidential Election Results.'' Retrieved 1 August 2018. <https://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/></ref> [[Franklin Delano Roosevelt]] did not carry McMinn County in 1932 or 1936. But he did carry the county in 1940 and 1944. He did so by lopsided margins that completely “flipped” in 1948.

The only other [[Democratic Party|Democrats]] who have carried McMinn County were [[Woodrow Wilson]] in 1912 and [[Jimmy Carter]] in 1976. These two did not carry McMinn County by the lopsided margins FDR enjoyed in 1940 and 1944. (Indeed, Wilson did not even have a majority.) In every other election, McMinn County has voted [[Republican Party|Republican]].

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== The Paul Cantrell machine ==

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=== The Paul Cantrell machine ===

These election results likely represent the influence of Paul Cantrell and the political machine he built.<ref name=ConstSoc>The Constitution Society, "The Battle of Athens." Retrieved 1 August 2018. <http://constitution.org/mil/tn/batathen.htm></ref> In 1932, Paul Cantrell, of Etowah, Tennessee, and his wealthy relatives took advantage of the economic devastation of the [[Great Depression]]. They backed FDR and the [[New Deal]] and worked hard to replace Republicans in county government. They succeeded. Paul Cantrell became Sheriff of McMinn County in 1936, and won re-election in 1938 and 1940. The Constitution Society describes his margins of victory as “slim.” But the sudden landslide victories of FDR in 1940 and 1944 suggest that might not have applied to the 1940 election. In 1942, Cantrell sought and won election and re-election to the State Senate. His chief deputy, Pat Mansfield, ran for Sheriff in those two elections and won each time.

The Cantrells and their allies took steps to cement their control.<ref>Natural News Blogs, “1946 Battle of Athens, Tennessee, and its Importance Today.” Retrieved 1 August 2018. <https://www.naturalnewsblogs.com/1946-battle-athens-tennessee-importance-today/></ref> In 1941, Cantrell machine operative and State Representative George Woods proposed “An Act to Redistrict McMinn County” in the Tennessee [[legislature]]. It reduced voting precincts from 23 to 12 and reduced [[Justice of the Peace|Justices of the Peace]] from 14 to 7. It passed, largely with the aid of the infamous machine of former Mayor E. H. Crump of [[Memphis]], Tennessee. His machine controlled most of Tennessee, including the governor’s office and one of Tennessee’s U.S. [[United States Senate|Senators]].

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== Shakedowns and election fraud ==

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=== Shakedowns and election fraud ===

Sheriff Cantrell also benefited from [[law]]s that vested too much power in county sheriffs.<ref name=Seiber>Seiber L., “The Battle of Athens,” American Heritage. Retrieved 1 August 2018. <https://www.americanheritage.com/content/battle-athens></ref> The sheriff and his deputies received a fee for every arrest they made. So they would board cross-country buses, drag off sleepy passengers, charge them with public [[Alcoholic drinks|drunkenness]], and demand and receive ransoms, i.e., [[fine]]s, of $16.50 per person for their release.

More lucrative were the kickbacks Cantrell and his deputies received from roadhouse owners. The deputies would let the roadhouses operate, but shake down less than influential patrons.

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Such was the state of affairs when, beginning in 1945, McMinn County’s contingent in the [[United States Army]] began to come home from the [[Second World War]].

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= The GI’s come back =

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== The GI’s come back ==

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Veterans like William White, Knox Henry, Walter Ellis, and Jim Buttram returned to a town (Athens) they thought they knew, but didn’t. They had their back pay from the Army in their pockets and were used to drinking beer on leave. As such they made lucrative targets for Pat Mansfield’s deputies. In Bill White’s memoir we read this:

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Veterans like William White, Knox Henry, Walter Ellis, and Jim Buttram returned to a town (Athens) they thought they knew, but didn’t. They had their back pay from the Army in their pockets and were used to drinking beer on leave. As such, they made lucrative targets for Pat Mansfield’s deputies. In Bill White’s memoir we read this:

{{cquote|There were several beer joints and honky-tonks around Athens; we were pretty wild; we started having trouble with the law enforcement at that time because they started making a habit of picking up GIs and fining them heavily for most anything—they were kind of making a racket out of it.

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To try to make sure of that, Jim Buttram, campaign manager for the Veterans’ Party, sent two telegrams on 22 July to Governor Jim McCord and U.S. Attorney General Tom Clark. In each, he asked for help in ensuring a fair election. Neither recipient ever answered those telegrams.

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== As the election ~~approaches…~~ ==

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=== As the election approaches... ===

In keeping with the above, the Veterans’ Party ran this advertisement in the 30 July issue of ''The Daily Post-Athenian'':

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To put matters into perspective, the sheriff had never fielded more than fifteen deputies on election day.

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= August 1, 1946: the election =

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== August 1, 1946: the election ==

Polls opened promptly at 9:00 a.m., to heavier turnout than McMinn County elections had ever seen. Two hundred deputies deployed “to keep order.” (We know this because a surviving audio tape gives that number.)<ref name=Green>Green M., The Battle of Athens, Tennessee in 1946. YouTube video retrieved 1 August 2018. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmDp882eCd0></ref> Instead of keeping order, they brazenly intimidated voters whom they observed “voting the wrong way.” This suggests that in McMinn County, in those days, voters lacked the privacy screens they enjoy today.

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At 3:00 p.m. the GI’s who had called for mobilization had returned to the Essankay Garage, all armed.

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== First blood ==

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=== First blood ===

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Tom Gillespie, a black farmer, tried to vote at his usual precinct—the 11th, at the Athens Water Works. Windy Wise, one of Cantrell’s guards, hurled a racial slur at him and told him he was voting at the wrong precinct. “I’ve always voted here,” he protested. In response Wise struck him with brass knuckles. Gillespie dropped his ballot and tried to leave. Wise shot him in the back.

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Tom Gillespie, a black farmer, tried to vote at his usual precinct—the 11th, at the Athens Water Works. Windy Wise, one of Cantrell’s guards, hurled a racial slur at him and told him he was voting at the wrong precinct. “I’ve always voted here,” he protested. In response, Wise struck him with brass knuckles. Gillespie dropped his ballot and tried to leave. Wise shot him in the back.

A crowd immediately gathered in front of the Water Works. Pat Mansfield and several deputies loaded Gillespie into Mansfield’s police cruiser and took him to the jail.

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* 3:55 p.m.: Mansfield and his deputies closed Precinct 12 five minutes early. They lifted a car and set it down in front of the door and also blocked the nearby alley with two other cars.

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== The skirmish at the Water Works ==

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=== The skirmish at the Water Works ===

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At 4:15 p.m., the sheriff and about twelve deputies arrived at the Water Works precinct to keep everyone away. Inside, Windy Wise ordered Vestal and Scott to sit away from the ballot-count operation, but not to leave the building. In fact the deputies barricaded Vestal and Scott behind a counter and locked the door. The door was a plate-glass door set in a wooden frame. Vestal and Scott actually broke through this, shoved their way past Windy Wise and his men, and made it outside. Hands high, with Wise’s gun trained on them, they walked across the street and gained the safety of the crowd. They could do this because the crowd were angry and Wise, Neil, and company could not know whether they were armed or not. Furthermore, two newspaper reporters were present, and even Windy Wise would not shoot unarmed men in front of them.

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At 4:15 p.m., the sheriff and about twelve deputies arrived at the Water Works precinct to keep everyone away. Inside, Windy Wise ordered Vestal and Scott to sit away from the ballot-count operation, but not to leave the building. In fact, the deputies barricaded Vestal and Scott behind a counter and locked the door. The door was a plate-glass door set in a wooden frame. Vestal and Scott actually broke through this, shoved their way past Windy Wise and his men, and made it outside. Hands high, with Wise’s gun trained on them, they walked across the street and gained the safety of the crowd. They could do this because the crowd were angry and Wise, Neil, and company could not know whether they were armed or not. Furthermore, two newspaper reporters were present, and even Windy Wise would not shoot unarmed men in front of them.

At 4:55 p.m., Chief Deputy Boe Dunn arrived at the Water Works, with two hostages in tow: Felix Harrod and Tom Dooley. Dunn himself appropriated the ballot box and loaded it into his car to take it to the jail. Fifteen deputies aimed their service guns at the crowd as they left.

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== Prepare for battle ==

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=== Prepare for battle ===

At 5:10 p.m. the G.I.’s gathered at the Essankay Garage. In addition to scouring the county for privately held firearms, they unlocked the State Guard armory. There they acquired three M-1 rifles, five .45 semi-automatic pistols, and 24 British Enfield rifles.

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Inside, Paul Cantrell, Pat Mansfield, State Rep. Woods, and fifty deputies started “going through the ballot boxes.” Judge Green’s account describes what the GI’s would find later: bunches of blank ballots, and various signs of preparation to burn ballots. These findings alone suggest an attempt to issue a rigged election count.

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= The battle starts =

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== The battle starts ==

At about 9:00 p.m., Bill White issued an ultimatum: surrender the ballot boxes, or suffer siege and attack. White confessed later that he fired the shot that started the battle. But the Mobile Federalist Society tells a different account. According to it, Mansfield’s deputies fired first. Three GI’s, trying to warn passers-by of the danger, suffered wounds.

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The besiegers did not and could not know this, of course. Worse, they had no radios and thus could not co-ordinate their fire. The brick walls of the jail withstood the fusillade. And as any soldier knows, until the enemy surrenders, the battle, and the war, continues.

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As the siege dragged on, several soldiers made [[Molotov cocktail]]s and threw them. These proved ineffective. But at 2:30 a.m., the veterans acquired [[dynamite]]. At this time, an [[ambulance]] made its way to the jail. The veterans let it pass, thinking it had come to evacuate the wounded. Instead it evacuated Paul Cantrell and Pat Mansfield. ''They had just abandoned their command.''

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As the siege dragged on, several soldiers made [[Molotov cocktail]]s and threw them. These proved ineffective. But at 2:30 a.m., the veterans acquired [[dynamite]]. At this time, an [[ambulance]] made its way to the jail. The veterans let it pass, thinking it had come to evacuate the wounded. Instead, it evacuated Paul Cantrell and Pat Mansfield. ''They had just abandoned their command.''

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= The battle ends =

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== The battle ends ==

At 2:48 a.m., the besiegers threw their dynamite, in sticks with lit fuses. One charge flipped Deputy Dunn’s car over. Another rocked the jailhouse porch on its foundation. A third flipped Pat Mansfield’s car (but of course, Mansfield had abandoned it with his command). A fourth damaged the jailhouse wall.

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The veterans took possession of the ballot boxes. They later certified that the Veterans’ Party had won all five races by 2 to 1 margins.

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The townspeople vented their rage on the defeated Cantrell forces. One townsman, whose name appears on no record, slashed Wilburn’s throat. (He would recover—barely.) Anther townsman shot Biscuit Farris, the jail superintendent, in the jaw, shattering it. Several townsmen kicked and beat Windy Wise to unconsciousness. But the GI’s took command of the situation, sent the rioters home, and locked their prisoners in the jail overnight.

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The townspeople vented their rage on the defeated Cantrell forces. One townsman, whose name appears on no record, slashed Wilburn’s throat. (He would recover—barely.) Anther townsman shot Biscuit Farris, the jail superintendent, in the jaw, shattering it. Several townsmen kicked and beat Windy Wise to unconsciousness. But the GI’s took command of the situation, sent the rioters home, and locked their prisoners in the jail overnight.

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= Overwrought reporting =

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== Overwrought reporting ==

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In a classic example of “[[fake news]],” ''[[The New York Times]]'' actually reported that the GI’s, or their sympathizers, had ''slain'' Sheriff Mansfield. Recall that in fact Mansfield and Cantrell had fled during the battle. In fact, the battle concluded with not a single fatality. (A report by one source, that Tom Gillespie had died of his wound, has no corroboration.)

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In a classic example of "[[fake news]]," ''[[The New York Times]]'' actually reported that the GI’s, or their sympathizers, had ''slain'' Sheriff Mansfield. Recall that in fact Mansfield and Cantrell had fled during the battle. In fact, the battle concluded with not a single fatality. (A report by one source, that Tom Gillespie had died of his wound, has no corroboration.)

Knox Henry won election as sheriff. Pat Mansfield resigned his office on 4 August, effective immediately. Knox Henry took his place at once.

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Sadly, no current resident of Athens, Tennessee, remembers the events of that day. A single plaque commemorates the event. But not a single original structure remains.

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= Film adaptation =

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== Film adaptation ==

In 1992, the Hallmark Hall of Fame released ''An American Story'', a fictionalized account of the Battle of Athens.<ref name=Hallmark>''An American Story.'' Directed by John Gray. With Brad Johnson, Kathleen Quinlan, Tom Sizemore, et al. Hallmark Hall of Fame Productions, 1992. <https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103673/></ref> This project changes most of the names of the characters. It also changes key details of the election and the battle that followed:

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Hallmark Media did not re-release ''An American Story.'' But an organization called the American Movement uploaded the full movie to YouTube.<ref name=YouTube>Viewers can view it here. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6c-Dsg4X4Dk></ref>

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= Literary parallel =

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== Literary parallel ==

The only literary parallel to this event, and even this is far from exact, is ''Starship Troopers'' by Robert A. Heinlein (1959). Heinlein predicts a future in which humanity fights a third world war between a [[China|Chinese]]-dominated axis on one side, and an alliance among [[Russia]], the [[United Kingdom]], and America on the other. At the end of this war comes not mere depression but total social collapse.

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Heinlein never once alludes to the Battle of Athens. But the results of his writing are about the same as though he had researched it himself.

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= References =

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== References ==

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Battle of Athens (1946) (view source)

Revision as of 22:24, August 1, 2018

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