Sources |
- [S104] Cocke County, Tennessee, and its People, Cocke County Heritage Book Committee, (Walsworth Publishing, 1992), 18, 252, 253.
- [S24] The Newport Plain Talk, (http://www.newportplaintalk.com), 9B, 31 Jan 2012.
Nearly a dozen Stokely men served in the Civil War
By BRenda WilBuRn
according to articles writ-
ten in 1977 by Mabel stoke-
ly Grigsby for the local news-
paper, jehu stokely was born
in 1747 in in south wales,
england. It is believed that
his mother was welch.
Family lore says that
when jehu was a young man,
he was riding with a friend.
they came to a stream. jehu’s
horse would not cross the
stream as his friend’s horse
did. so, jehu broke a switch
from a bush nearby and used
it to persuade the horse to
go on. the queen sentenced
jehu to sea duty for seven
years. He was charged with
malicious trespassing and for
injuring the shrubbery on
the estate border. jehu never
saw any of his family again.
during those seven years, he
visited every known port of
the world, was captured in
battle, held prisoner, then
exchanged.
at the end of the seven
years he landed in Charles-
ton, s.C. there he married
nancy neal in 1780.
according to the writ-
ings of ruth webb o’dell in
over the Misty blue Hills,
jehu never forgave england
for this punishment that so
enraged and humiliated him.
when he was discharged
from the english navy, he
cast his lot with john Paul
jones, the commander of
the american vessel bon
Homme richard. this was
his chance to show england
what he thought of the treat-
ment meted out to him. He
enjoyed the attack on the
british ship serapis off the
coast of england where a ter-
rible battle raged for hours.
the ships were so close
that their cannon muzzles
touched. when the ameri-
can ship began to sink, jones
lashed the two ships togeth-
er and the battle continued.
john Paul jones took posses-
sion of the british ship.
jehu still felt like he still
needed to repay england for
the way they treated him so
he enlisted with the ameri-
can soldiers in the revolu-
tionary war and fought at
the battle of Kings Moun-
tain. jehu received a land
grant from the government
for a tract of land for his ser-
vice in the war. this was in
north Carolina, a part that is
now tennessee.
He had extensive land
holdings in the frst district
of Cocke County. He bought
six hundred ffty acres in Hot
springs, from a Mr. waddell.
In 1802, jehu stokely
bought from Captain wad-
dell a tract of land alongside
that which he had entered
about three miles east of del
rio. Here he made his home.
eight children-three sons and
fve daughters-were born to
jehu and nancy. they were:
susan stokely -june 13,1782
married jehu jester; roy-
al stokely-april 10,1784
married jane Huff; john
stokely-dec.1,1786 mar-
ried elizabeth Huff; thomas
stokely-1789; nancy stokely-
Feb. 13, 1792 married evan
Fugate; Polly stokely-March
1794 married Mr. raines;
sarah stokely-1797 married
daniel smart; and rhoda
stokely 1802 married james
sawyer.
john and royal had their
home on big Creek. It was
near where the creek forks
with one prong coming from
the old 15th district and the
other from above nough.
the royal stokelys had a
large log house with halls in
between the large room and
a porch extending the length
of the house. there was also
a trading post at their house
and the big Creek baptist
church was organized there
in 1832. this home was
later occupied by royal and
jane’s son Charles and his
wife sarah black stokely.
this Charles stokely,
born june 19, 1821, enlist-
ed as a private soldier with
the Confederacy in the war
between the states in Com-
pany H. 60th north Carolina
regiment. He was referred
to as Charles stokely, sr.
another Charles stokely,
son of john Huff stokely and
Mary elviria jones stokely,
born February 16, 1839,
was called Charles stokely,
jr. He was a nephew of
Charles sr. and they were
both in Co. b, north Caro-
lina 60th Infantry, Charles
jr. was injured in the battle
of Murfreesboro and lost his
leg. His nickname became
‘Peg leg’ stokely. duckett
was the name of the cap-
tain of their Company. not
only did these two stokelys
both fght in the Civil war,
but information from Ma-
bel Grigsby says that most
of the company was made
up of Charles’s kin people.
among them were ten of
his nephews which means
nine more of his nephews
besides Charles, jr. were
in the same company with
him.
although Charles sr.
wanted to help fght this
war, he didn’t get to because
he had polio which left one
leg two inches shorter than
the other, making it impos-
sible for him to endure long
marches. thus, after two
months of service, he was
detailed to return home
to provide a substitute in
his place in the regiment.
He was also put in charge
of collecting clothing and
shoes for the company.
Charles stokely found
a man by the name of Mr.
Griffy to take his place in the
army. He took Mr. Griffy to
Murfreesboro where he was
accepted to take his place.
Charles fulflled his other
charge by riding horseback
early and late collecting the
much-needed clothes for the
troops. He then received his
discharge from the army.
although, Charles could
not serve his country in the
military, he still worked to
improve his community.
He was one of the men of
the First district of Cocke
County, tennessee who
worked to get a railroad
through this area. In the
late 1860’s, the work began
to bring results for by 1868
it was possible for an excur-
sion train to run from new-
port to sulphur springs near
Morristown. the next year
1869 the railroad extended
to buffalo rock, just beyond
wolf Creek. august 3, 1869
was a memorable day when
the frst train arrived at big
Creek in del rio. at that
time the train only went one
mile beyond the station. the
engine was a wood burner
and its name was the “old
dominion.” For some time
the railroad was built only
as far as wolf Creek where
passengers were then taken
by stage coach to board a
train beyond where two
bridges were being built
between wolf Creek and
Hot springs. the allen Inn
at wolf Creek offered ac-
commodations for the train
travelers. It became so well
known at that time that for
many years it continued to
be a favorite tourist accom-
modation. the crew build-
ing the railroad stayed at
the home of Charles stokely.
all considered him an out-
standing character. He was
known personally and loved
by numerous acquaintances
along the line from Morris-
town to wolf Creek. His tact
and business ability enabled
him to secure rights of way
and depot sites as the path-
way was hewn out of the
wilderness for the progress
of the Iron Horse.
at the time that Mrs.
Grigsby wrote her articles,
the descendants still had
Charles’s discharge papers,
other papers, and paper
money from Cocke County,
tennessee and north Caro-
lina.
we are thankful that Ma-
bel stokely Grigsby wrote
these articles for a newport
newspaper so many years
ago.
with some help from
eddie walker, I was able to
obtain from the Internet the
names of other stokelys who
served with the 60th regi-
ment north Carolina Infan-
try . they were Charles l.
stokely, joseph stokely, and
r.e. stokely. others who
served in the war were C.s.
stokely confederate Infantry
17th regiment, north Caro-
lina Infantry 1st. organiza-
tion,
Charles stokely, david
stokely, royal e. stokely,
w.n. stokely, and william
r. stokely served with the
Confederate Cavalry 5th
regiment, tennessee Cav-
alry under (McKenzie’s)
edward stokely served
with the union in the ten-
nessee, Cavalry 11th regi-
ment.
another time an edward
stokely is listed as serving
in the union 9th regiment
tennessee Cavalry.
john w. stokley was
with the Confederate 3rd.
regiment, north Carolina
Infantry.
as you can see, jehu’s
descendants followed in
his footsteps by fghting
for what they thought was
right.
Smoky Mountain Homeplace
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