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The Battle of Athens, 1946; WW2 Vets vs a Corrupt County Gov't
Topic Started: Jun 6 2010, 10:15 AM (364 Views)
Big Boss
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I read about this event quite some time ago, and ever since it has fascinated me. I feel that it could happen again, or it could not; it really depends on the exact situation.

Let's go back to McFinn County, Tennessee circa the 1940s. A wealthy family, the Cantrells, had built up power in this county by taking advantage of federal laws, intimidating voters, and perhaps just outright rigging the elections since 1936. The main man was Paul Cantrell, who alternated between being county sheriff and being a state senator.

Cantrell and his men set up a system where the more people they arrested and booked, the more money they made (by receiving a cut from the State). Weilding absolute power, they went about harrassing citizens and arresting them for crimes they may or may not have commited. Their most fond method was arresting people for public intoxication, whether they were drunk or not.

Well, by 1946 World War II was over, and more veterans from the European and Pacific theatres were returning home. As this happened, Cantrell and his men made it a habit to harass the veterans at the local bars, fining them heavily.

The GIs and the other citizens decided to try and oust Cantrell (who had finished a run in the US senate and was trying to get his sheriff job back, while his "chosen one", Pat Mansfield attempted to get Cantrell's senate seat. See what they were doing here?) in the next election, with vet Knox Henry challenging Cantrell for the sheriff spot.

Well, Mansfield wasn't about to let democracy happen in his county, no sir. He dispatched 200 armed deputies to "oversee" the voting process, beating GI poll watchers, and eventually denying African-American Tom Gillespee (no relation to Tara Gilesbie, of My Immortal "fame") the right to vote based on his skin color (despite the fact that by this time the federal government had decided that was whack and rectified that mistake in 1865-ish). Gillespee argued and resisted the deputy that was harassing him, and he was eventually shot.

Well, that was it.

Riots soon broke out as the desperate force of deputies attempted to detain the GI poll watchers and failed miserably. Retreating to the Athens jail to count the ballots, the GIs had enough of this bullshit and raided National Guard armories across the county for firearms and ammo, though they had only moderate success due to the armories being low on stock due to WWII.

With a handful of weapons and a few dozen really pissed off GIs and concerned citizens, the group descended upon the jail. The deputies fired upon a GI who was warning passing motorists, and the battle commenced. Protected by the thick brick walls of the jail, and with the GIs uncoordinated due to a lack of radios and ammo, things quickly boiled down to a standstill, with a few injuries on both sides.

The governor of Tennessee had heard of the uprising by now was said to have mobilized the State Guard to subdue the angry citizens, but for some reason the NG never showed up. It is most commonly believed that Governor McCord eventually decided against using the State Guard because the Guard was composed of mostly fellow WWII GIs, and would most likely refuse to act against their fellow vets.

Eventually, the standstill was ended when men from a neighboring county joined the group in Athens and threw sticks of dynamite onto the porch of the jail. Now in real fear for their lives, the deputies surrendered, with many of them fleeing (including Cantrell, who had narrowly escaped being shot by a GI, who's 1911 jammed at that crucial moment).

With the GIs effectively wresting control of the county, they set up patrols and guarded the deputies from angrier citizens by keeping them in the jail. By the next morning, order had returned, and the GIs returned the borrowed weapons to the armories, but only after cleaning them.

In an election free of fraud, Knox Henry defeated Cantrell for the sheriff position, and all of Cantrell's other men who were trying for other county positions were defeated by other GI candidates.

To maintain order, as most of the law enforcement in the wake of the election had fled, ordinary citizens were called up to form patrols and guard units, usually led by a GI. Under this system, there were no reports of abuse of power by the GIs, who had gained a supreme appreciation for democracy after defeating the Axis Powers.

Under Sheriff Henry's direction, McMinn County finally settled back into normalcy, with Pat Masnfield moving back home to Georgia, and Paul Cantrell opening up a car dealership in Etowah, having learned the importance of humility.

It is very important to note that there were no fatalities on either side; only wounds that would eventually heal. Even Tom Gillespie recovered from the gunshot wound to his back.

Also of note is that before the GIs became politically motivated, the US Department of Justice was requested to investigate the county elections of 1940, '42, and '44, but nothing came of it. Tennessee Representaive John Jennings Jr. would eventually place blame of the situation on Cantrell, Mansfield, and the Department of Justice for not doing anything about the obvious abuse of power, despite pleas from the citizens to do so.


****

It is truely an inspiring story, to be sure. Here we see the real value of the Second Amendment put to good use, enabling the citizens to overthrow tyranny on American soil. The federal government seemed like it couldn't care less about what was going on in McMinn County, and the State itself seemed content to let its own citizens work the situation out.

The GIs weren't interested in gaining absolute power- they were just pissed off that they had just finished beating some fascist Nazi and Japanese Empire asses, only to return home and see the same thing happening on their own soil. I'd be pretty pissed about it, too.

I'm really not sure if this sort of thing would be possible nowadays. While I have no doubt that corruption is always present on any level of government, I doubt it could reach such a level unnoticed in such a short amount of time (less than 10 years). I also really doubt that a citizen uprising would end so well; I would think that the powers-that-be would mobilize and subdue the citizenry.

Still, it is an important lesson to learn. Respect your vets, and remember:

"Good men must not follow the law too closely."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Athens_(1946)
Edited by Big Boss, Jun 6 2010, 10:17 AM.
"I do believe...that where there is only a choice between cowardice and violence, I would advise violence."
~Mohandas K Ghandi
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