BRADLEY CO, TENNESSEE - MILITARY - Trials and Death of Samuel David Richmond
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HISTORY OF THE REBELLION IN BRADLEY COUNTY EAST TENNESSEE
BY J.S. HURLBURT     INDIANAPOLIS  1866   LIBRARY OF CONGRESS NO. F443,B8,H9
Page 185   Chapter XVII     
Trials and Death of S.D.(Samuel David) Richmond
     The subject of this narrative is the Mr. Richmond spoken of in the 
preceding chapter as the prisoner in possession of Capt. Brown and his men 
when they were searching for Mr. Humbert and were robbing his family.  It will 
be remembered also that this same Mr. Richmond was one of the Tuscaloosa 
prisoners, an account of whom has been already given.
     Mr. Richmond was taken to Cleveland by Capt. Brown the evening of the day 
he made the search for Mr. Humbert; and as soon as possible was dispatched to 
Tuscaloosa.  It is evident from this fact, that Mr. Humbert, with Mr. 
Richmond, would have suffered the same fate had Mr. Brown on that day been 
successful in finding him.
Mr. Richmond had four sons who had reached manhood, Isaac, William C. John and 
Samuel, all of whom became soldiers in the Federal Army.  Isaac at the very 
commencement of the rebellion fled to Kentucky, and joined Wolford's cavalry.  
William C. was arrested by Capt. Brown and forced into Capt. Dunn's company in 
the 36th Federal cavalry.  John also fled to Kentucky, and joined the Federal 
Army.  Samuel was arrested and forced in the rebel army, but deserted and 
joined the Federals.
     Mr. Richmond reached home from Tuscaloosa in July 1862 after which like 
any other, he concealed and protected himself from the rebels as best he 
could, until he Ws murdered by them, sometime before our armies took 
possession of the country.  Late in the fall of 1862 Mr.. Richmond, among 
other losses by the rebels, was robbed by them of twelve or fifteen valuable 
swine.  About a mile from his house lived the family of Gregory's, already 
frequently spoken of in this work.  Mr. Richmond, being satisfied that Gregory 
was at least concerned in stealing his property, although surrounded with 
rebels, plainly and boldly told Gregory that he was the thief who robbed him.  
Gregory denied the charge, and though he and his boys were the principals in 
the crimes, as finally discovered, yet supposing that rebel influence and 
rebel false swearing would clear him in a public investigation of the case, 
told Richmond that he would submit the matter to an arbitration.
     The fact, however, of Gregory's guilt, on trial, was so perfectly 
manifest that it was impossible for his rebel friends to clear him, and the 
arbitrators decided that he should pay Richmond sixty-six dollars for the part 
of the villainy perpetrated by him and his boys.  This decision together with 
the fact, perhaps, that it was getting rather dark times in Tennessee for the 
Confederacy, caused Gregory to leave immediately, under the cover of night, 
with his family for Dixie.
     A month, perhaps, after Gregory disappeared, three rebel soldiers, one 
evening came to the house of Mr. Richmond, pretending to be rebel deserters, 
threading their way to the Federal lines.  It was quite late, and they 
requested entertainment for the night.  They were taken in, given a good 
supper and comfortable lodgings.  After breakfast next morning, having had 
their accommodations free, they desired Mr. Richmond to accompany them a short 
distance, particularly to guide them across a creek in the vicinity. 
Unsuspectingly, he went with them and shortly after the report of a gun was 
heard by his family in the direction the party went.  Mr. Richmond never 
returned, and for the time the three rebel deserters were no more heard from 
in Bradley, nor were they ever known to reach the Federal lines as such.  Mr. 
Richmond's family, of course were alarmed, and thorough search was immediately 
made, but without discovering any traces either of Mr. Richmond or of the 
rebel deserters.  It was evident that he had been either murdered or conveyed 
away as a prisoner.  The affair created considerable excitement in the 
community, and whatever had been the fate of Mr. Richmond it was at once 
suspicioned by the Union people, that Gregory, whom it was known was yet but a 
short distance south of the line in Georgia was the instigator of the foul 
deed.  A report was immediately put in circulation by rebel citizens, that Mr. 
Richmond had gone to Nashville.  This was understood at the time by Union 
citizens as a rebel strategy to weaken the evidence and counteract the public 
impression that Mr. Richmond had been murdered by the pretending rebel 
deserters.  The Britton boys-malignant rebels-shortly after Mr. Richmond's 
disappearance were overheard conversing upon the subject, to the effect, that 
Mr. Richmond was put out of the way, and had met with his just deserts.  The 
Brittons, Julians, and Gregory's in the third district were a rebel clan that 
hung together, and no matter what local changes took place among them, a crime 
committed by any one of the part was immediately known to the whole 
fraternity.  Although the fate of Mr. Richmond appeared to be shrouded in 
mystery, yet his friends were deeply impressed that he had been murdered, and 
that the crimes originated with the Gregory's, and was perhaps participated in 
by their general accomplices just named.  
     About the time Gen. Sherman started on his Atlanta campaign, May 1864, 
among other rebels who fell into the hands, either of the Richmond boys 
themselves or of other Tennessee Federals, was a rebel soldier suspected of 
being connected with the murder of Mr. Richmond.  Being put to the test, he 
was recognized by Mrs. Richmond and other members of the family, as one of the 
three who decoyed Mr. Richmond into the woods the fall before.  The fact of 
his guilt appearing beyond all question, it was decided that, under the 
circumstances, our army being under motion, the possibility of his escape of 
his crime, he should die in the same summary manner as that in which he put 
his innocent victim out of the world.  Accordingly, he was left in the hands 
of those who captured him, by whom, he was drawn aside and dispatched, the 
fatal bullet sending his spirit into the presence of his Maker to be judged as 
a murderer.
     Mr. Richmond was the owner of a tannery, and when murdered had a quantity 
of leather, the pieces of which were in different stages of finish.  Shortly 
after his death his premises were robbed, after which the identical pieces of 
unfinished leather were seen in the possession of Hiram Julian, father of the 
boys who were overheard talking upon the subject of Mr. Richmond's 
disappearance.
     The sons of Mr. Richmond, who enlisted in the Federal army and aided in 
putting down the rebellion, all lived to enter upon the enjoyment of the 
inestimable blessings of the final Union triumph, and are now honored and 
respected, while their rebel enemies and the murderers of father are branded 
in history as the vilest of their race and shunned and detested in the good as 
criminal vagabonds unfit to live among men.