TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE Italic text is denoted by _underscores_. Footnote anchors are denoted by [number], and the footnotes have been placed at the end of the book. Missing or omitted text was indicated by several asterisks in the original book; this etext uses ... (ellipsis) instead. The tables in this book are best viewed using a monospace font. Some minor changes to the text are noted at the end of the book. [Illustration: ASSAULT ON FORT SANDERS. LLOYD BRANSON, DEL.] THE LOYAL MOUNTAINEERS OF TENNESSEE BY THOMAS WILLIAM HUMES, S. T. D. “The noblest word in the catalogue of social virtues is Loyalty”--JOHN RUSKIN. KNOXVILLE, TENN. OGDEN BROTHERS & COMPANY 1888. Copyright, 1888, BY THOMAS WILLIAM HUMES. _Ogden Bros. & Co. Printers and Stationers, Knoxville, Tenn._ DEDICATED IN LOVE AND GRATITUDE TO The Memory OF LLOYD P. SMITH AND EDWARD EVERETT, FRIENDS AND HELPERS OF A SUFFERING PEOPLE. PREFACE. The attitude which a large majority of the people of East Tennessee deliberately assumed and persistently maintained in the Civil War of 1861-’65, was remarkable. It had no precise parallel within the limits of the ten seceded States, and there was no distinctive and numerous population in any one of the loyal States whose surroundings were so greatly unfavorable to a like attitude of devotion to the Union.