Some years after the Civil War, around 1870, a Union pension was filed on behalf of the late Lieutenant Colonel “Fighting” Joe Divine of Monroe County. The pension was mailed in by Thomas Boyd of Sweetwater on behalf of Joe Divine’s widow, stating that Divine had died of smallpox and that as a Union soldier his widow was due the pension. However, this would prove to be a complete fabrication when it was investigated in 1876. Divine’s pension application was part of a scheme by Thomas Boyd, a former Confederate officer, to defraud the Federal government of Union pensions. The allegation of Divine’s death by smallpox was a lie, and hid the sad truth of the fate of Joe Divin
Joe Divine was born in South Carolina in 1812, and later moved to the Big Creek Community of Monroe County, TN. He was 49 years old when the Civil War began, so Joe was not as passionate as many of his younger neighbors to enter into the fight. In fact, it would be late in the war before Joe became active, and like many older men in East Tennessee, Joe made the decision to join the Union cause.
In the summer of 1864, he received a commission as Lieutenant Colonel from Governor Andrew Johnson, and was ordered to organize a regiment of Union volunteers for 100 days of service. Divine organized a brigade of the 3rd Mounted Tennessee Infantry, US, at Loudon in August of 1864, to operate in the area of Loudon and Monroe Counties. The men in the 3rd TN were a rough lot, most of whom were deserters from both the Confederate and Union Armies. They were often desperate men, looking for a way to protect themselves from prosecution or to get even with neighbors with opposite political views. Some had been outright outlaws: several former members of Monroe County’s Confederate-leaning “Kirkland Bushwhackers” even joined up. The fact that these men joined Divine is a deep indication that he shared in their thirst for revenge and plunder.
Divine’s Battalion, as they became known, saw little actual battlefield fighting. The most notable conflict they took part in was a skirmish with members of Thomas’ Confederate Cherokee Legion at Robbinsville, NC in November. But the presence and activities of Divine’s Union battalion did not sit well with Confederates in Monroe County. The fact that several former Confederates now served under the Union flag certainly did little to endear Divine and his men to his Monroe County neighbors, and this was especially infuriating as the war wound down and a Union victory became apparent. After the 100 days of service had been fulfilled, the enlisted men of the 3rd Mtd Infantry were mustered out in December, with the officers, including Divine, being mustered out on January 4, 1865. By this time, Divine was serving as Deputy Provost Marshall for Monroe County. It seems that the bitter Confederates in Monroe County decided that with Divine and his fellow officers no longer officially soldiers, it was time to extract some vengeance of their own. Within weeks, several of the regiment’s officers were hunted down and killed.
It had only been a few days since being relieved of his command, in January of 1865, that Joe Divine learned from friends that he was marked for death. He hid for a while in the cellar of Dr. Upton on Main Street in Madisonville (later Bierely Funeral Home), and it was there that he was found and captured by Monroe County Confederates. They held him for several days, and perhaps fearing that his friends would try and release him, he was taken south to the Good Springs area of McMinn County. It was there that his captors grew tired of him, and he was viciously beaten to death on January 28. Others say he was shot. Divine was buried in a field until his family moved his remains to Big Creek Cemetery. His headstone there reads he was “tortured and murdered by rebel soldiers”. It had been 24 days since he’d been mustered out.
Divine could not escape the turmoil that was Civil War East Tennessee, and learned first hand that one had to chose his path wisely in those days when some allegiances were deep and others shifted with the winter wind. Although he saw little action on the battlefield, his own blood would be shed even as the war was coming to an end, a victim of his own desire to extract revenge against his neighbors.
Joe D. Guy is a nationally published author, newspaper columnist, and historian residing in McMinn County, TN. He may be reached via email at guyjd@hotmail.com or at PO Box 489, Englewood, TN 37329.
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