disabled for the rest of their lives. According to Regimental Losses in the American Civil War, 1861-65, the 7th Tennessee Cavalry USA was one of the four regiments in the Union army with the largest number of prison deaths. Only two New York regiments and the 2nd Tennessee Infantry, the other large group of Tennesseans in Andersonville, had a higher prison mortality rate. The end of the war did not erase the bitterness caused by the 7th Tennessee's experiences. Thiry years after the war when one of Forrest's men was called to be minister of the Bethel Baptist Church in Carroll County, one of the former prisoners at Andersonville protested. He was admonished to forgive as Jesus did. Alfred D. Bennet of Huntingdon replied "the Lord was just crucified, he never had to go to Andersonoville Prison". Fifty years after the war, Don Hampton of Carroll County told his grandchildren that he had grown up grandfatherless because the "Democrats" came and took his grandfather to prison. Well over one hundred years after the Civil War, the area from which the 7th Tennessee was recruited remains a Republican stronghold where nearly every family can tell at least one Andersonville story. The above article was printed in the West Tennessee Historical Society Papers and was written by Peggy Scott Holley, a history instructor at Austin Community College. The complete article with source references and deaths listed among the 7th Tennessee Cavalry after their capture can be found in the 1988 issue of the West Tenn Historical Society Papers, Vol XLII. Thanks Peggy, for allowing me to share this wonderful article with my Altom ancestors. We had three of our family members serve in this Unit and perhaps now we can see and imagine more vividly how they must have suffered for the freedoms that we sometimes take for granted today. ...
