Posted on 10/29/2004 12:29:00 AM PDT by quietolong
As Recently As 1946, American Citizens Were Forced To Take Up Arms As A Last Resort Against Corrupt Government Officials.
Published in Guns & Ammo October 1995, pp. 50-51 ,p>
The Battle of Athens, Tennessee
On August 1-2, 1946, some Americans, brutalized by their county government, used armed force as a last resort to overturn it. These Americans wanted honest open elections. For years they had asked for state or federal election monitors to prevent vote fraud (forged ballots, secret ballot counts and intimidation by armed sheriff's deputies) by the local political boss. They got no help.
These Americans' absolute refusal to knuckle under had been hardened by service in World War II. Having fought to free other countries from murderous regimes, they rejected vicious abuse by their county government.
These Americans had a choice. Their state's Constitution -- Article 1, Section 26 -- recorded their right to keep and bear arms for the common defense. Few "gun control" laws had been enacted.
These Americans were residents of McMinn County, which is located between Chattanooga and Knoxville in Eastern Tennessee. The two main towns were Athens and Etowah. McMinn County residents had long been independent political thinkers. For a long time they also had: accepted bribe-taking by politicians and/or the sheriff to overlook illicit whiskey-making and gambling; financed the sheriff's department from fines - usually for speeding or public drunkenness which promoted false arrests; and put up with voting fraud by both Democrats and Republicans.
The wealthy Cantrell family of Etowah, backed Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the 1932 election, hoping New Deal programs would revive the local economy and help Democrats to replace Republicans in the county government. So it proved.
Paul Cantrell was elected sheriff in the 1936, 1938 and 1940 elections, but by slim margins. The sheriff was the key county official. Cantrell was elected to the state senate in 1942 and 1944; his chief deputy, Pat Mansfield, was elected sheriff. In 1946 Paul Cantrell again sought the Sheriff's office.
At the end of 1945, some 3,000 battle-hardened veterans returned to McMinn County; the GIs held Cantrell politically responsible for Mansfield's doings. Early in 1946, some newly returned ex-GIs decided to challenge Cantrell politically by offering an all-ex-GI, non-partisan ticket.
They promised a fraud-free election, stating in ads and speeches that there would be an honest ballot count and reform of county government.
At a rally, a GI speaker said, "The principles that we fought for in this past war do not exist in McMinn County. We fought for democracy because we believe in democracy but not the form we live under in this county" (Daily Post-Athenian, 17 June 1946, p.1 ). At the end of July 1946, 159 McMinn County GIs petitioned the FBI to send election monitors. There was no response. The Department of Justice had not responded to McMinn County residents' complaints of election fraud in 1940, 1942 and 1944.
FROM BALLOTS TO BULLETS
The primary election was held on August 1. To intimidate voters, Mansfield
brought in some 200 armed "deputies." GI poll-watchers were beaten almost at once. At about 3 p.m., Tom Gillespie, an African- American voter was told by a sheriff's deputy that he could not vote. Despite being beaten, Gillespie persisted. The enraged deputy shot him. The gunshot drew a crowd. Rumors spread that Gillespie had been shot in the back; he later recovered (C. Stephen Byrum, The Battle of Athens, Paidia Productions, Chattanooga, TN, 1987; pp. 155-57).
Other deputies detained ex-GI poll-watchers in a polling place, as that made the ballot counting "Public".
A crowd gathered. Sheriff Mansfield told his deputies to disperse the crowd. When the two ex-GIs smashed a big window and escaped, the crowd surged forward. The deputies, with guns drawn, formed a tight half-circle around the front of the polling place. One deputy, "his gun raised high . . . shouted: 'If you sons of bitches cross this street I'll kill you!'" (The Battle of Athens, Byrum, p.165).
Mansfield took the ballot boxes to the jail for counting. The deputies seemed to fear immediate attack by the "people who had just liberated Europe and the South Pacific from two of the most powerful war machines in human history" (The Battle of Athens, Byrum, pp. 168-69).
Short of firearms and ammunition, the GIs scoured the county to find them.
By borrowing keys to the National Guard and State Guard armories, they got three M-1 rifles, five.45 semi-automatic pistols and 24 British Enfield rifles. The armories were nearly empty after the war's end. By 8 p.m. a group of GIs and "local boys" headed for the jail but left the back door unguarded to give the jail's defenders an easy way out.
Three GIs alerting passersby to danger were fired on from the jail. Two GIs were wounded. Other GIs returned fire.
Firing subsided after 30 minutes; ammunition ran low and night had fallen.
Thick brick walls shielded those inside the jail. Absent radios, the GIs' rifle fire was uncoordinated. "From the hillside fire rose and fell in disorganized cascades. More than anything else, people were simply shooting at the jail" (The Battle of Athens, Byrum, p.189).
Several who ventured into the street in front of the jail were wounded. One man inside the jail was badly hurt; he recovered. Most sheriff's deputies wanted to hunker down and await rescue. Governor McCord mobilized the State Guard, perhaps to scare the GIs into withdrawing. The State Guard never went to Athens. McCord may have feared that Guard units filled with ex-GIs might not fire on other ex-GIs.
At about 2 a.m. on August 2, the GIs forced the issue. Men from Meigs County threw dynamite sticks and damaged the jail's porch. The panicked deputies surrendered. GIs quickly secured the building. Paul Cantrell faded into the night, having almost been shot by a GI who knew him, but whose .45 pistol had jammed. Mansfield's deputies were kept overnight in jail for their own safety. Calm soon returned. The GIs posted guards. The rifles borrowed from the armory were cleaned and returned before sunup.
THE AFTERMATH: RESTORING DEMOCRACY
In five precincts free of vote fraud, the GI candidate for sheriff, Knox
Henry, won 1,168 votes to Cantrell's 789. Other GI candidates won by similar margins.
The GI's did not hate Cantrell. They only wanted honest government.
On August 2, a town meeting set up a three-man governing committee. The regular police having fled, six men were chosen to police Etowah. In addition, "Individual citizens were called upon to form patrols or guard groups, often led by a GI... To their credit, however, there is not a single mention of an abuse of power on their behalf" (The Battle of Athens, Byrum, p. 220).
Once the GI candidates' victory had been certified, they cleaned up county Government; the jail was fixed, newly elected officials accepted a $5,000 pay limit and Mansfield supporters who resigned were replaced. The general election on November 5 passed quietly. McMinn County residents, having restored the rule of law, returned to their daily lives.
Pat Mansfield moved back to Georgia. Paul Cantrell set up an auto dealership in Etowah." Almost everyone who knew Cantrell in the years after the 'Battle' agree that he was not bitter about what had happened" (The Battle of Athens, Byrum pp. 232-33; see also New York Times, 9 August 1946, p. 8).
The 79th Congress adjourned on August 2, 1946, when the Battle of Athens ended. However, Representative John Jennings Jr. from Tennessee decried McMinn County's sorry situation under Cantrell and Mansfield and the Justice Department's repeated failures to help the McMinn County residents.
Jennings was delighted that "...at long last, decency and honesty, liberty and law have returned to the fine county of McMinn.. " (Congressional Record, House; U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1946; Appendix, Volume 92, Part 13, p. A4870). THE LESSONS OF ATHENS
Those who took up arms in Athens, Tennessee, wanted honest elections, a cornerstone of our constitutional order. They had repeatedly tried to get federal or state election monitors and had used armed force so as to minimize harm to the law-breakers, showing little malice to the defeated law-breakers. They restored lawful government. The Battle of Athens clearly shows how Americans can and should lawfully use armed force and also shows why the rule of law requires unrestricted access to firearms and how civilians with military-type firearms can beat the forces of government gone bad.
Dictators believe that public order is more important than the rule of law. However, Americans reject this idea. Brutal political repression is lethal to many. An individual criminal can harm a handful of people. Governments alone can brutalize thousands, or millions. Law-abiding McMinn County residents won the Battle of Athens because they were not hamstrung by "gun control " They showed us when citizens can and should use armed force to support the rule of law. This is a bare-bones summary of a major report in JPFO's Firearms Sentinel (January 1995).
Vote Fraud In Athens,Tennessee The Year Of Our Lord 1946
Remember when gun grabbers say “ gun control” they mean You! Not themselves.
>>>> The wealthy Cantrell family of Etowah, backed Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the 1932 election, hoping New Deal programs would revive the local economy and help Democrats to replace Republicans in the county government. So it proved. <<<<<
Sounds familiar Just change the names.
Text from here:
Citizens for a Fair Vote Count, PO Box 11339, Cincinnati, Ohio 45211
Battle of Athens, Fight for America
http://www.votefraud.org/News/2000/3/033100.html
I added "banglist" to the keywords, so those of like mind can read and enjoy it too...
Thanks..
I watched a video called "An American Hero" that paralleled this story almost exactly. Except that the video was set in the Southwest. And the Black characters were changed to Latinos. All in all I ive it a "two Thumbs Up" and a Salute.
WooHoo!! I live in Athens, Tennessee. I didn't know all this happened. This area is very pro Bush and pro Second Amendment.
I was telling someone about this story yesterday! given the potential for massive vote fraud here in Milwaukee, it would not surprise me if something like this happened again. people are sick of the corruption.
thanks for the post.
Not to put too fine a point on this, but it has nothing to do with the 2nd Amendment. They "looted an armory".
If we had total gun control in the US, there would still be weapons in armories, police stations, and on military bases.
That said, I would have joined them had I not been just a twinkle in my father's eye in 1946....
Bump for later
IMHO, A little more of this earlier and we might not be in the postion we're in today.
Too fine a point. It has everything to do with the 2nd Amendment. Looting an armory, especially nowdays, can get you killed quick. You'd better have what you want before you need it. Note the "scoured the county" comment - bet they wished they had what they needed, rather than hoping they could "find something".
Not to put too fine a point on this, but it has everything to do with the 2nd Amendment. Read this from the article:
Short of firearms and ammunition, the GIs scoured the county to find them.
By borrowing keys to the National Guard and State Guard armories, they got three M-1 rifles, five.45 semi-automatic pistols and 24 British Enfield rifles. The armories were nearly empty after the war's end.
Let's say that there was nothing in the armory - how would the citizens of Athens have stopped this theft of an election? Heck, 3 M-1s, 5 semi-auto pistols and 24 Lee-Enfields isn't very much - I know single individuals who have more guns than that...which is exactly the point of the 2nd. We are supposed to be able to own whatever we want, so long as we do not actively threaten others (and having 1 or 50 guns in your closet or safe doesn't actively threaten anyone).
The fact that there are 80+ million of us that own something north of 1/4 of a billion firearms is a large deterrent to those who would do on a national scale what the Dems in Athens, TN tried to do in 1946. I have little doubt that an attempt would already have been made to create a dictatorship, were such a thing able to be done. We have these arms because the 2nd Amendment prohibits the Fed.gov from outlawing them, and thus the 2nd has everything to do with this story.
RE: #12 & 13
........can and should use force...
I wholely support that. My point is that in this incident, even without the advent of modern-day gun control (or attempts at it), they had no guns of their own and had to loot an armory.
Maybe we're splitting hairs here...
bttt
BTTT
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