The Battle of Athens – A Reason for the 2nd Amendment

by Jack with excerpts from Wikipedia

Most people have never heard of the Battle of Athens, but it played a significant part in American history. This was not Athens, Greece, I’m talking about Athens, Tenn.

In 1946 many WWII veterans had just returned home to McMinn County, Tennessee only to find corrupt local government in bed with gambling houses and using voter intimidation to control the elections. The local cops worked under a fee system where they received a bounty for every arrest. You can imagine the phony arrests that went with this system. At the center of corruption was Paul Cantrell, who was elected as sheriff in 1936. Cantrell, who came from a family of money and influence in nearby Etowah and after his election he turned his position of authority into a money making machine for all sorts of criminal enterprises. For example, buses passing through the county were often pulled over and the passengers were randomly ticketed for drunkenness, whether guilty or not.

The older citizens of McMinn County had to suffer through this corruption during the war years. “Meanwhile Cantrell had been elected to the state senate in 1942 and 1944, while his former deputy, Pat Mansfield, was elected sheriff and the corruption continued.

A state law enacted in 1941 had reduced local political opposition by reducing the number of voting precincts from 23 to 12 and reducing the number of justices of the peace from fourteen to seven (including four “Cantrell men”). In the August 1946 election, Paul Cantrell was once again a candidate for sheriff, while Pat Mansfield sought the state senate seat.

After World War II ended, some 3,000 military veterans (constituting about 10 percent of the county population) had returned home to McMinn County. Some of the returning veterans resolved to challenge Cantrell’s political control by fielding their own nonpartisan candidates and working for a fraud-free election. They called themselves the GI Non-Partisan League.”

The vets soon became a target of the Sheriff’s men looking to crush their new political organization. Many of them were falsely arrested and were worked over pretty good before being release.

“Combat veteran Knox Henry stood as candidate for sheriff in opposition to Cantrell. In advertisements and speeches, the GI candidates promised an honest ballot count and reform of county government. At a rally, a GI speaker said, “The principles that we fought for in this past war do not exist in McMinn County. We fought for democracy because we believe in democracy but not the form we live under in this county.”

The election was rough, signs were destroyed by the Sheriff, supporters of Henry were arrested and beaten. On election day, 1946, about 200 armed deputies turned out to patrol the precincts—the normal complement of 15 deputies significantly augmented by reinforcements from other counties. A number of conflicts arose before the polls closed, the most serious of which was when a black man, Tom Gillespie, who was assaulted by officers after casting his vote. Deputy C.M. Wise shot Gillespie as he tried to flee. Wise would later be sentenced to 1-3 years in prison. However, when the Sheriff ordered the ballot boxes seized “to protect the vote count” people finally had enough.

The ballot boxes has been taken to the jail house where 55 heavily armed men stood guard. The veterans demanded the ballot boxes be returned, but they were refused. It’s arguable who fired the first shot, but a gun battle followed that lasted several hours. In the end, the door of the jail was dynamited and breached. The barricaded deputies—some with injuries—surrendered, and the ballot boxes were recovered.

During the fight at the jail, rioting had broken out in Athens, mainly targeting police cars. This continued even after the ballot boxes were recovered, but subsided by morning.”

The recovered ballots certified the election of the five GI Non-Partisan League candidates. In the initial momentum of victory, gambling houses in collusion with the Cantrell regime were raided and their operations demolished. Deputies of the prior administration resigned and were replaced.