Randolph Series: Introduction
by Anna Cooper—Associate Editor
Photography by Scott Taylor—Creative Director
The Civil War was and still is a divisive time in our country's history. Father was pitted against son, brother against brother—whole families feuded like Hatfields and McCoys especially when it came to Tennessee’s role in the war.
It was Tennessee’s rivers and railroads that saw the most battles during the Civil War. These pathways into the heartland of the South were the most heavily guarded, and hard-fought over. The railways were the lifeblood of both the North and South. Without the ability to move troops and supplies, armies were hard-pressed to accomplish their goals. The war started on April 12th, 1861, and continued until April 9th, 1865. The North lost an estimated 360,000 men and the South 258,000 making a total of 620,000 lives lost. This war cost the families of America their hearts.
Tennessee was the last state to officially secede from the Union on June 8, 1861—it was admitted to the confederacy on July 2, 1861. (Missouri and Kentucky both formed recessionary governments, but Federal troops prevented those states from becoming part of the Confederate States of America. And THAT’s a whole ‘nother story! ) While a vote in February of 1861 was largely against Tennessee leaving the Union, the vote in June was not, by June, battles had begun and the South had been invaded. It was a time that Tennessee pulled together to repel the Northern aggressors—and at that time, the North was seen as just that, coming into a newly formed country to pull the former states back. To a certain extent, the popular opinion fell along the lines of, ‘it’s my family, I can fuss and talk about them, but don’t you, an outsider try to do that.’ In Tennessee, that just won’t fly. The June vote closely followed our states’ geographical divides otherwise known as the grand divisions: the East was largely pro-union and owned few slaves, the West was pro-confederate and largely agricultural, and Middle Tennessee was divided with the majority voting toward secession. Tennessee ended up furnishing more soldiers for the Confederacy than any other state and, in turn, more soldiers for the Union than any of the other Southern states. We had heroes like young Sam Davis of Murfreesboro, who ‘chose death on the gallows, rather than betray a friend’ as the song written about his death twined in an old melody. Tennessee was passionate about Tennesseans—we’re called the Volunteer State for a reason.
Forts were established at various points to protect rivers and passages and there Union soldiers would try to infiltrate first. Major forts protecting West Tennessee rivers included: Fort Henry on the Tennessee River, Fort Donaldson, and Fort Defiance on the Cumberland River in Northern Middle Tennessee. On the 1st Chickasaw Bluff was Fort Pillow near Fulton, on the 2nd Fort Randolph and Fort Wright, the 3rd Fort Harris on the Mississippi River, and finally on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff was Fort Pickering at Memphis. Had these forts not fallen, a different outcome in the entire war could have come about.
While the twin defenses of Forts Randolph and Wright defended the Mississippi River, they also helped train new recruits into the Confederate Army. Two of the most notable enlistees that passed through were Alexander P. Stewart and Nathan Bedford Forrest, both destined to be promoted to generals in the fledgling Confederate Army, along with a host of other West Tennessee natives. Up to 5,000 recruits from Tennessee, Arkansas, Southeastern Missouri, and Western Kentucky also made their way through the Mississippi river wetlands to Fort Randolph and Fort Wright. It was one of the first training facilities of the Confederacy. It was also the foremost defensive position on the Mississippi. If the Northern troops had come through as expected, the Battle of Memphis would have been fought on that spot.
Randolph had a rather turbulent history even before the Civil War broke out. Today, Memphis is the largest city in West Tennessee and the second-largest city in the whole state, but, as many Randolph area natives will tell you—it was not supposed to be.
The once-bustling city of Randolph, which was larger than Memphis, now has only about 200 residents, but what happened to make it go from over 5,000 residents in 1861 to such a small population in 2020? There are several factors that lead to the downfall of Randolph ranging from a canal that didn’t happen, the railroads, the county seat, the mighty Mississippi herself, and that’s not even including what happened during the Civil War!
Randolph has an expansive history despite not being in most history books. That’s made finding information a little difficult especially considering everything going on in the world. Cookbooks, newspaper clippings, loaned books from the South-Tipton Chamber of Commerce, neighbors, and good friends, compose what I have available right now to write the article. The internet has also had some generalized information, but to get a good look at the history of Randolph there’s more research and sleuthing to be done. We want to write about the city that was going to be bigger than Memphis and we want to do it with the right information.