64th anniversary of the battle of athens,TN

today is the 64th anniversary of the battle of Athens,TN...

where a bunch of vets who came back from WW2 only to have to fight tyranny right
here at home.

remember, when democracy becomes tyranny, the 2nd amendment ensures you still get
a vote.

http://www.jpfo.org/filegen-a-m/athens.htm

Published in Guns & Ammo October 1995, pp. 50-51

On August 1-2, 1946, some Americans, brutalized by their county government, used
armed force as a last resort to overturn it. These Americans wanted honest open
elections. For years they had asked for state or federal election monitors to
prevent vote fraud (forged ballots, secret ballot counts and intimidation by armed
sheriff's deputies) by the local political boss. They got no help.

These Americans' absolute refusal to knuckle under had been hardened by service in
World War II. Having fought to free other countries from murderous regimes, they
rejected vicious abuse by their county government.

These Americans had a choice. Their state's Constitution -- Article 1, Section 26 --
recorded their right to keep and bear arms for the common defense. Few "gun control"
laws had been enacted.

These Americans were residents of McMinn County, which is located between Chattanooga
and Knoxville in Eastern Tennessee. The two main towns were Athens and Etowah. McMinn
County residents had long been independent political thinkers. For a long time they
also had: accepted bribe-taking by politicians and/or the sheriff to overlook illicit
whiskey-making and gambling; financed the sheriff's department from fines-usually for
speeding or public drunkenness which promoted false arrests; and put up with voting
fraud by both Democrats and Republicans.

The wealthy Cantrell family, of Etowah, backed Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the 1932
election, hoping New Deal programs would revive the local economy and help Democrats
to replace Republicans in the county government. So it proved.

Paul Cantrell was elected sheriff in the 1936,1938 and 1940 elections, but by slim
margins. The sheriff was the key county official. Cantrell was elected to the state
senate in 1942 and 1944; his chief deputy, Pat Mansfield, was elected sheriff. In
1946 Paul Cantrell again sought the sheriff's office.

At the end of 1945, some 3,000 battle-hardened veterans returned to McMinn County;
the GIs held Cantrell politically responsible for Mansfield's doings. Early in 1946,
some newly returned ex-GIs decided to challenge Cantrell politically by offering an
all-ex-GI, non-partisan ticket. They promised a fraud-free election, stating in ads
and speeches that there would be 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" (Daily Post-Athenian, 17 June 1946,
p.1 ). At the end of July 1946, 159 McMinn County GIs petitioned the FBI to send
election monitors. There was no response. The Department of Justice had not responded
to McMinn County residents' complaints of election fraud in 1940, 1942 and 1944.

FROM BALLOTS TO BULLETS

The primary election was held on August 1. To intimidate voters, Mansfield brought in
some 200 armed "deputies." GI poll-watchers were beaten almost at once. At about
3p.m., Tom Gillespie, an African- American voter was told by a sheriff's deputy that
he could not vote. Despite being beaten, Gillespie persisted. The enraged deputy shot
him. The gunshot drew a crowd. Rumors spread that Gillespie had been shot in the back;
he later recovered (C. Stephen Byrum, The Battle of Athens, Paidia Productions,
Chattanooga, TN, 1987; pp. 155-57).

Other deputies detained ex-GI poll-watchers in a polling place, as that made the
ballot counting "Public" A crowd gathered. Sheriff Mansfield told his deputies to
disperse the crowd. When the two ex-GIs smashed a big window and escaped, the crowd
surged forward. The deputies, with guns drawn, formed a tight half-circle around the
front of the polling place. One deputy, "his gun raised high...shouted: 'If you sons
of bitches cross this street I'll kill you!'" (Byrum, p.165).

Mansfield took the ballot boxes to the jail for counting. The deputies seemed to fear
immediate attack by the "people who had just liberated Europe and the South Pacific
from two of the most powerful war machines in human history" (Byrum, pp. 168-69).

Short of firearms and ammunition, the GIs scoured the county to find them. By
borrowing keys to the National Guard and State Guard armories, they got three M-1
rifles, five .45 semi-automatic pistols and 24 British Enfield rifles. The armories
were nearly empty after the war's end. By 8 p.m. a group of GIs and "local boys"
headed for the jail but left the back door unguarded to give the jail's defenders an
easy way out.

Three GIs alerting passersby to danger were fired on from the jail. Two GIs were
wounded. Other GIs returned fire.

Firing subsided after 30 minutes; ammunition ran low and night had fallen. Thick
brick walls shielded those inside the jail. Absent radios, the GIs' rifle fire was
uncoordinated. "From the hillside fire rose and fell in disorganized cascades. More
than anything else, people were simply shooting at the jail" (Byrum, p.189).

Several who ventured into the street in front of the jail were wounded. One man
inside the jail was badly hurt; he recovered. Most sheriff's deputies wanted to
hunker down and await rescue. Governor McCord mobilized the State Guard, perhaps to
scare the GIs into withdrawing. The State Guard never went to Athens. McCord may have
feared that Guard units filled with ex-GIs might not fire on other ex-GIs.

At about 2 a.m. on August 2, the GIs forced the issue. Men from Meigs County threw
dynamite sticks and damaged the jail's porch. The panicked deputies surrendered. GIs
quickly secured the building. Paul Cantrell faded into the night, having almost been
shot by a GI who knew him, but whose .45 pistol had jammed. Mansfield's deputies were
kept overnight in jail for their own safety. Calm soon returned. The GIs posted
guards. The rifles borrowed from the armory were cleaned and returned before sunup.

THE AFTERMATH: RESTORING DEMOCRACY

In five precincts free of vote fraud, the GI candidate for sheriff, Knox Henry, won
1,168 votes to Cantrell's 789. Other GI candidates won by similar margins.

The GI's did not hate Cantrell. They only wanted honest government. On August 2, a
town meeting set up a three-man governing committee. The regular police having fled,
six men were chosen to police Etowah. In addition, "Individual citizens were called
upon to form patrols or guard groups, often led by a GI... To their credit, however,
there is not a single mention of an abuse of power on their behalf" (Byrum, p. 220).

Once the GI candidates' victory had been certified, they cleaned up county government,
the jail was fixed, newly elected officials accepted a $5,000 pay limit and Mansfield
supporters who resigned were replaced.

The general election on November 5 passed quietly. McMinn County residents, having
restored the rule of law, returned to their daily lives. Pat Mansfield moved back to
Georgia. Paul Cantrell set up an auto dealership in Etowah. "Almost everyone who knew
Cantrell in the years after the Battle' agree that he was not bitter about what had
happened" (Byrum pp. 232-33; see also New York Times, 9 August 1946, p. 8).

The 79th Congress adjourned on August 2, 1946, when the Battle of Athens ended.
However, Representative John Jennings Jr. from Tennessee decried McMinn County's
sorry situation under Cantrell and Mansfield and the Justice Department's repeated
failures to help the McMinn County residents. Jennings was delighted that "...at long
last, decency and honesty, liberty and law have returned to the fine county of
McMinn.. " (Congressional Record, House; U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington,
D.C., 1946; Appendix, Volume 92, Part 13, p. A4870).

THE LESSONS OF ATHENS

Those who took up arms in Athens, Tennessee, wanted honest elections, a cornerstone
of our constitutional order. They had repeatedly tried to get federal or state
election monitors and had used armed force so as to minimize harm to the law-breakers,
showing little malice to the defeated law-breakers. They restored lawful government.

The Battle of Athens clearly shows how Americans can and should lawfully use armed
force and also shows why the rule of law requires unrestricted access to firearms and
how civilians with military-type firearms can beat the forces of government gone bad.

Dictators believe that public order is more important than the rule of law. However,
Americans reject this idea. Brutal political repression is lethal to many. An
individual criminal can harm a handful of people. Governments alone can brutalize
thousands, or millions.

Law-abiding McMinn County residents won the Battle of Athens because they were not
hamstrung by "gun control " They showed us when citizens can and should use armed
force to support the rule of law.