The Battle of Athens

World War II Veterans Firing Upon the Jail

While this title may conjure up images of buff, shirtless dudes yelling "For Sparta!", that doesn't turn out to be quite the case. Athens, although known as a Greek center of great learning and philosophers, is also the name of a nice city in Tennessee. Now in the 1930's and '40's, McMinn county, where Athens is located, became full of political corruption. The sheriff of the county would fix the votes through intimidation tactics, locking in the sheriffs of 1934, '36, '38, '40, '42, and '44. At the same time in this county laws were in place where deputies were payed based on the number of citations they delivered. So, deputies would sometimes pull over buses loaded with people in order to cite and fine them all for drunkenness, just for a buck. As one would imagine this irritated many of the World War II veterans returning home from destroying corrupt governments that ruled their people with iron fists. So, for the August 1946 elections, the veterans created a non-partisan party, the GI Non-Partisan League, in order to combat the evils of the county corruption. During the election, the polls were regularly guarded by 15 deputies, but during the 1946 election 200 deputies guarded the polls, and they began harassing and even beating voters at some locations. Tom Gillespie had it the worst, after submitting his vote he was attacked by the deputies, and while running away, got shot in the back; luckily he survived. After the polls closed, the sheriff and deputies took the ballot boxes back to the jail. This understandably upset the veterans, who rightly believed that they were tampering with the results. So, what do a bunch of young, angry World War II vets who were being beaten and fined do? They get their guns, storm the National Guard armory, grab more guns and ammunition and lay siege to the jailhouse. The reported number of vets varies from several hundred to 2,000 attacking the jail, while 55 deputies defended it. When they arrived, they delivered an ultimatum demanding the ballot boxes. The deputies refused and the veterans began opening fire at the jail. Accounts differ but the shooting probably lasted a few hours, after which someone threw some dynamite at the door and blew it in. This convinced the deputies, some of whom were wounded, to eventually surrender. The GI's established a temporary government and then held elections again. After winning their positions, they instituted reforms placing the max salary of officials at $5,000, and removing the unjust laws of deputies being paid on a per citation basis. The League didn't last long after the overthrow, and the traditional parties soon came back into power, but it will be a long time before we forget about the brave fighters for freedom defending themselves in their own backyards.

Veterans Day: Remembering the Armistice

A U.S. Navy Railway Gun

What is today celebrated as a day to remember all the veterans that have served the United States, originally signified the end of the international conflict in the early 20th century. The armistice celebrated November 11th marks the signing of the final armistice of World War I between Germany and the Allied powers. Three days prior to the signing the delegates from Germany were secretly brought across the war zone to a secure location on board  a carriage of Marshall Ferdinand Foch's private train parked in the forest of Compeigne. When the delegates arrived they were given a list of demands and 72 hours to agree. There was no room to actually negotiate during the period, and very little was promised in return by the Allies. Only a few impossible terms were they able to correct, such as the demand that they decommission more submarines than were in their fleet. After three days reviewing the harsh demands, with pressure from Germany for the armistice, the delegation signed at 5:00 AM, November 11th, 1918, ending the fighting. The last shot of the war was fired by the U.S. Navy railway battery number four near Verdun at 10:57:30 AM, timed so it would land far into the German-held territory right before the 11:00 AM cease-fire. Interestingly, no fighting had ever occurred on German soil in the West the entire length of the war. Now the actual terms of peace were not formalized until 6 months later after the Paris Peace Conference at the signing of the Versailles Treaty, which was signed  on the 28th of June, exactly 5 years after the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand (See previous post.) Rejecting President Wilson's 14 points, which the German's were reportedly expecting, the other Allies opted for harsher punishments for Germany, blaming them solely for the war. Many have criticized the Versailles treaty as not being designed to ensure a lasting peace, but is actually one of the reasons for the Second World War.