Battle of Athens, Tennessee, 1946.

[virginia mountainman]

Just some accounts of when a corrupt political machine pushed the Citizenry too hard, and the Citizens took up arms, and successfully pushed back. I post this to show all you naysayers that whine and whine about how ineffective arms are against the government. The "GI's" is a reference to returning GI's from WWII, that formed a short lived political party in some areas. They when up against a corrupt political machine in Mcminn CO Tennessee, and when the "shenanigans" started, they had no part of it, and the citizenry came to their aid.

A few choice bits from the time line of events..

9:00 pm

Ralph Duggan, a former Navy lieutenant commander and a leader of the ex-GI's said the crowd was "met by gun fire" and because they had "promised that the ballots would be counted as cast," they had "no choice but to meet fire with fire." Violence flared anew with GIs reported firing on the county jail. Shooting began around 9:00 pm for the first time. Sheriff Pat Mansfield Interviewed By Chattanooga Daily Times Via Telephone

10:00 pm

Sheriff Pat Mansfield breaks off telephone conversations to Chattanooga Daily Times, stating "I can't talk anymore — there's mob violence at the County Jail right now. Things are too hot here now. I haven't got time to talk to you — I'm standing in front of the door." he said hurriedly as he hung up the telephone.

Sheriff Pat Mansfield and Deputies Threaten Hostages

11:00 pm

Sheriff Pan Mansfield and deputies threatened to kill three GI hostages held within the jailhouse. The three GI hostages are Felix Harrod, Tom Dooley and Walter Ellis.

Thousands of Rounds Exchanged

11:35 pm-12:40 am

Thousands of rounds of shots were exchanged between ex-GIs and an estimated 75 deputies barricaded in the McMinn County jail. No state guardsman had arrived at 12:40. Former soldiers were pouring lead into every opening in the brick jail. The officers' returning fire was weakening. Some GIs were firing from ground level across White Street. Others were on roofs on the Power Company Building and other near-by structures.

Tennessee State Guard Mobilized?

12:00 am (midnight)

State Adj.-Gen. Hilton Butler announced that he was mobilizing the Sixth Regiment of the State Guard in connection with election violence in McMinn County. This report was later proven untrue.

GIs Cut Telephone Lines To The Jail

1:00 am

GIs cut telephone lines to the jail. The officers, inside the jail, were out of ammunition or running extremely low. Firing of the GIs included rapid bursts of 10 or more shots. Apparently they were using some automatic rifles.

Last Warning! Deputies Threaten Hostages' Lives

2:00 am

Deputies sent out last warning that they would kill three GI hostages within the jail immediately if the firing did not end.

GIs Replied With Ultimatum Of Their Own

2:20 am

GIs issued an ultimatum to the deputies to come out with hands upraised or the crowd would rush the jail.

GIs Escalate The Fight With Use of Dynamite

2:59 am

The ex-GIs went into action with demolition charges — home made, but effective. After a fourth blast had rocked the jail one of the deputies leaned from the building and shouted "Stop that blasting. We'll give up — we're dying in here. Firing continued a few moments then stopped.

The Deputies Surrendered

The next morning......

9:00 p.m. Saturday

Rumor and newspaper story from Knoxville sets off high strung nerves with the report that Biggs and Mansfield will attempt to storm Athens.

1,500 Citizens Converge On Athens

9:00 pm

Fifteen hundred citizens pour into Athens with firearms to back the new government. Telephone calls from neighboring cities pledge aid if needed in defense of the town.

GIs on Patrol

7:00 p.m. Saturday Aug. 3 to Sunrise Sunday, Aug. 4

Athens is patrolled by GIs and citizens.

George Woods Returns to McMinn County Under GI Escort

4:00 p.m. Sunday, August 4

G-I CLAIM ELECTION TO OFFICE — ISSUE STATEMENT

This special announcement was hand to the Daily Post-Athenian and Radio Station WLAR at 3:02 A.M. by the Non-Partisan Candidates for immediate release shortly before the exodus of imprisoned officials in the county jail:

"The G-I election officials went to the polls unarmed to have a fair election, as Pat Mansfield promised. They were met with black-jacks and pistols.

"Several G-I officials were beaten and the ballot boxes were moved to the jail. The G-I supporters went to the jail to get these ballot boxes and were met by gunfire.

"The G-I candidates had promised that the votes would be counted as cast. They had no choice but to meet fire with fire.

"In the precincts where the G-I candidates were allowed watchers they led by three to one majorities.

"THE G-Is ARE ELECTED AND WILL SERVE AS YOUR COUNTY OFFICIALS BEGINNING SEPT. 1st, 1946."

The G-I Candidates, thus claiming election to officer are:
Knox Henry — Sheriff
Frank Carmichael — Trustee
Bill Hamby — Circuit Court Clerk
Charlie Pickle — Register of Deeds
Campaign Mgr for the G-Is was Jim Buttram.

George Woods returns to McMinn County under protection by the GI-Citizens Government.

Sheriff Mansfield Resigned

Much more at this link, with contemporary newspaper accounts, including this wonderful OP by Eleanor Roosevelt

McMinn A Warning — By Eleanor Roosevelt

New York, Monday — After any war, the use of force throughout the world is almost taken for granted. Men involved in the war have been trained to use force, and they have discovered that, when you want something, you can take it. The return to peacetime methods governed by law and persuasion is usually difficult.

We in the U.S.A., who have long boasted that, in our political life, freedom in the use of the secret ballot made it possible for us to register the will of the people without the use of force, have had a rude awakening as we read of conditions in McMinn County, Tennessee, which brought about the use of force in the recent primary. If a political machine does not allow the people free expression, then freedom-loving people lose their faith in the machinery under which their government functions.

In this particular case, a group of young veterans organized to oust the local machine and elect their own slate in the primary. We may deplore the use of force but we must also recognize the lesson which this incident points for us all. When the majority of the people know what they want, they will obtain it.

Any local, state or national government, or any political machine, in order to live, must give the people assurance that they can express their will freely and that their votes will be counted. The most powerful machine cannot exist without the support of the people. Political bosses and political machinery can be good, but the minute they cease to express the will of the people, their days are numbered.

This is a lesson which wise political leaders learn young, and you can be pretty sure that, when a boss stays in power, he gives the majority of the people what they think they want. If he is bad and indulges in practices which are dishonest, or if he acts for his own interests alone, the people are unwilling to condone these practices.

When the people decide that conditions in their town, county, state or country must change, they will change them. If the leadership has been wise, they will be able to do it peacefully through a secret ballot which is honestly counted, but if the leader has become inflated and too sure of his own importance, he may bring about the kind of action which was taken in Tennessee.

If we want to continue to be a mature people who, at home and abroad, settle our difficulties peacefully and not through the use of force, then we will take to heart this lesson and we will jealously guard our rights. What goes on before an election, the threats or persuasion by political leaders, may be bad but it cannot prevent the people from really registering their will if they wish to.

The decisive action which has just occurred in our midst is a warning, and one which we cannot afford to overlook.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Athens_(1946)

http://www.constitution.org/mil/tn/batathen_press.htm

[villager]

1. I noticed how you whipped that Bush junta right into line, too....

n/t

[friendly_iconoclast]

21. We did. With the election of 2008.

I guess that whole bit in the Declaration of Independence that begins "Indeed, prudence hath shewn..." that's its better to put up with it for awhile escaped you.

[Neecy]

2. We're supposed to take up arms against the government?

What site am I on again?

[virginia mountainman]

3. We're supposed to "BE ABLE TO" take up arms against the government

Many threads in here openly doubt(and that is being kind), the ablity of citizens, using arms, to be able to effect change.

This post proves them dead wrong.....

[Posteritatis]

4. Not really. A few backwater police in '46 aren't the modern army. (nt)

[redqueen]

14. Exactly. (nt)

[Lance_Boyle]

5. this thread and Iraq,

Afghanistan, Chechnya, etc.

[divideandconquer]

9. Muslim fundemendalists and Teabagger gundemendalists have much in common

Actual revolution is cultural not won on battlefields.

[Lance_Boyle]

11. I suppose, maybe, except for the American revolution

and pretty much every other successful anti-colonial revolution.

Platitudes != truth.

[divideandconquer]

12. More of that good old American exceptionalism

The rich got richer after the American revolution causing Shay's rebellion which was crushed.

From wikipedia.

Shays's Rebellion was an armed uprising in central and western Massachusetts (mainly Springfield) from 1786 to 1787. The rebellion is named after Daniel Shays, a veteran of the American Revolution who led the rebels, known as "Shaysites" or "Regulators". Most of Shays's compatriots were poor farmers angered by what they felt to be crushing debt and taxes. Failure to repay such debts often resulted in imprisonment in debtor's prisons or the claiming of property by the County.
Seeking debt relief through the issuance of paper currency and lower taxes, they attempted to prevent the courts from seizing property from indebted farmers by forcing the closure of courts in western Massachusetts. The participants in Shays's Rebellion believed they were acting in the spirit of the Revolution and modeled their tactics after the crowd activities of the 1760s and 1770s, using "liberty poles" and "liberty trees" to symbolize their cause.<1>
The rebellion started on August 29, 1786 and by January 1787, over 1000 Shaysites were arrested. A militia that had been raised as a private army defeated an attack on the federal Springfield Armory by the main Shaysite force on February 3, 1787. There was a lack of an institutional response to the uprising, which energized calls to reevaluate the Articles of Confederation and gave strong impetus to the Philadelphia Convention which began in May 17, 1787. Shays's Rebellion produced fears that the Revolution’s democratic impulse had "gotten out of hand.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shays'_Rebellion>

Things didn't work out so well for Native Americans, slaves or Mexicans either.

[anonymous171]

16. Keep telling yourself that. nt

[Neecy]

6. This happened half a century ago

The weapons the military and law enforcement now have, as well as armored personnel carriers, would guarantee that anyone attempting this today would have their asses blown away in about half a second.

Have you seen a modern-day SWAT team lately?

Violent overthrow of any government - even one as corrupt as the last one - is something that they discuss in Free Republic. I have no idea why we're discussing it here.

[virginia mountainman]

23. Lesson is still relevent today..

[Ghost in the Machine]

18. Yes....

When government has become too corrupt, it is our duty, as citizens, to cast off such government by whatever means necessary...

"Declaration of Independence"

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
http://www.congressunderfire.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=109&topic_id=62&mesg_id=62&page=

"What site am I on again?"

Democratic Underground.... where we take our duties as citizens very seriously. I live in the next county over from Athens, Tn. I was just there earlier today. Some of the local cop shops around here are still so corrupt it's not funny...

[FARAFIELD]

7. Pardon me Virginia Mountain Man

What the f*** are you talking about? That was about fair elections and such. People also "bravely took up arms" only to hang Leo Frank. Stuff like this is so stupid.

[virginia mountainman]

13. Keep telling yourself that...nt

[depakid]

8. Tulsa might be more apropos

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulsa_race_riot

[friendly_iconoclast]

22. I would counter with the Deacons For Defense And Justice, among other examples

What is to be done when the authorities cannot or will not protect you? Sometimes it *is* absolutely
neccessary for the people to arm themselvesves:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deacons_for_defense_and_justice

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Blair_Mountain

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Hayes_Pond

http://archives.econ.utah.edu/archives/marxism/2001/msg05679.htm

http://www.ibiblio.org/Southern_Exposure/RFW.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_F_Williams

[exman]

10. Thank you for posting this!!!!! N/T

In my opinion the founding fathers had just this sort of thing in mind when they gave us the right to keep and bear arms. Who can protect us from the police if we cannot defend ourselves? I have personally seen just the threat of armed combat vets opposing local police cause the "authorities" to back down and rethink their position, and actually create a equatable solution to a potentially deadly situation. It was amazing to see local politicians realize they were out of line and actually obey the law themselves.

[anonymous171]

15. Another relevant historical event

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Blair_Mountain

[RagAss]

17. Much like the Battle of Schenectady, 1905.

[divideandconquer]

19. The gundementalists didn't do a damn thing when Chimp/Cheney was in power

The gundementalists didn't do a damn thing when Chimp/Cheney was in power except cheerlead them and now they show up at presidential speeches and town halls with their guns. Just remember JFK, RFK, MLK, John Lennon, Harvey Milk and more gunned down by the Reichwing and their puppets.

[friendly_iconoclast]

20. The election of *2008* worked, did it not? No need for armed rebellion

Why the snit?