William-Dixon House, General Morgan Inn, General John Hunt Morgan deathJul 6, 2011
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| We left Wytheville, VA, and headed for TN. We stopped at the welcome center in order to get information about Civil War sites around Knoxville, TN. I had spots picked out but I lost my tour book somewhere back at Washington and Lee University. I think I may have placed the bag it was in on the ground of the parking lot while I was loading the car and left it sitting there. By the time I noticed It was missing we were miles down the road. I called Lee’s Chapel and asked them to look for it. They did but it was long gone. I can get another bag and book but I had that one all marked and indexed. We decided to stop at the William-Dixon House in Greenville, TN. It is located close to the Andrew Johnson home Nation Historic Site. The William-Dixon House is known as the “Showplace of the South”. In its day it played host of many presidents, Davy Crocket, and Generals of both the North and South. We arrived around 2pm. Guess what, they do only 1 tour a day and it is at 1pm. So we walked the grounds and read the information signs. Seem Confederate General John Hunt Morgan of Morgan’s Raiders fame was staying at the house when news of his presents drew union troops to capture him dead or alive. As he was trying to slowly walk away he was discovered and told to halt. He didn’t and was shot dead. His body was displayed in the William-Dixon House until his wife could come to collect the body and have it moved to the town she lived where a large funeral took place. The body was place in a stone tomb but rather than staying there it was next moved to Richmond for another funeral. The body was place in Hollywood Cemetery until 1868 when it was moved again for a third and final funeral in the general’s home town of Lexington, KY. General Morgan now rest in the Hunt & Morgan family plot at Lexington Cemetery. While at the William-Dixon House we walked through the restored General Morgan Inn next door. The inn is very pretty and contains many beautiful pieces of original furniture in the lobby. We decided to get back on the road, put some more miles behind us, and not stop in Knoxville. In Chattanooga the interstate squeezes between the bank of the Tennessee River and the base of Lookout Mountain. It is quite a site. We stopped at the Alabama Welcome Center to pick up a map and Civil War information. But even with the extra hour we gained crossing into the central time zone, the center was closed. We were able to pick up a road map and get a restaurant recommendation from a lone attendant who I guess takes care of the restrooms and provides a degree of night time security. We took his suggestion and drove on another hour to Gadsden, AL. We also ate at his recommended restaurant the “Top of the River”. It was nothing fancy but they did have good seafood. |
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