News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
A new exhibit at the Monterey Depot Museum tells the story of a Civil War encounter in the region.
Depot Storyteller Dale Welch said Union Colonel William Stokes had tired of guerilla attacks.
On March 12, 1864, Stokes’ men invaded Alexander Officer’s home in Overton County a few miles northwest of Monterey. The Officer family had several Confederate fighters at their breakfast table.
“The Yankees entered in and found them all and just executed them right there and accidentally shot Mrs. Officer in the back,” Welch said. “She survived, by the way, but they shot her in the back.”
2nd Lt. Robert S. Davis was not killed inside the home, Welch said. The Union Soldiers drug him outside the house and tied him to a fencepost where he was eventually shot.
“That cedar fence post,” Welch said. “Is now in the Overton Museum.”
The Officer’s son was visiting at the time, Welch said. But the family had a plan to protect him.
“And the family hid him as rehearsed in a hidden compartment above the kitchen where he remained unharmed throughout the altercations,” Welch said.
Welch said the Union Soldiers attempted to set fire to the house more than once. But every time they did, Mr. Officer put it out. They threatened to kill Mr. Officer, but Officer replied that the soldiers had shot his wife and brought great misery upon his home. Welch said they felt sorry for him and they left.
The exhibit features more on the story. It runs through April.
