Double Springs

Statues of Civil War soldiers in front of county courthouses in the South are as common as kudzu.

The monument in front of Winston County Courthouse is different. The bronze soldier standing atop the monument is flanked by both the Union and Confederate battle flags. The dual flags reflect the mixed allegiances of the county during the Civil War.

Unlike many of its neighbors to the south, sentiment for the Confederacy was weak in Winston.

“Several veterans of the Revolutionary War had lived in Winston County,” said Darryal Jackson, a member of the Winston County Genealogical Society. “There were also several veterans of the War of 1812 who lived here. Winston County residents did not want to leave the Union, the ancestry they had fought for. That was one thing.

“The other was they looked at the Civil War as a rich man’s war. If you owned enough land and slaves you could get an exemption from having to fight in the Civil War. If you had enough money, you could hire someone to fight for you. Most of the people of Winston County wanted no part of the Civil War. They wanted to remain neutral.”

Many Winston residents, at the start of the Civil War, were poor farmers, said Jackson, a retired postmaster who has extensively researched the county’s history. Only five residents owned slaves. The Census of 1860 showed there were 3,450 white residents and 122 slaves.

Donald B. Dodd, a retired Auburn University-Montgomery history professor who lives in Winston, said it was the desire of most residents to avoid getting caught up in the war that separated a nation.

“We had a few Union men in the county and few Confederate men, but most people in Winston County just didn’t want to be involved in the Civil War,” Dodd said.

Dodd is considered an expert on Alabama history. He has written books about the history of Alabama and the South along with his wife, Amy Bartlett-Dodd. Among those is “Free State of Winston,” published in 2001.

Jackson said one of the most memorable moments in Winston’s Civil War history occurred July 4, 1861, when residents gathered at Looney’s Tavern near Double Springs to discuss seceding from Alabama to avoid having to do battle with the United States. A resolution adopted at the meeting outlined the county’s desire to remain neutral in the War Between the States.

The resolution stated the county’s neighbors to the south made a mistake when they attempted to withdraw from the Union and set up a new government, “but we don’t want our neighbors in the south mistreated and we are not going to take up arms against them; but, on the other hand, we are not going to shoot at the Flag of our Fathers — the Flag of Washington, Jefferson, and of Jackson! Therefore, we ask the Confederacy on the one hand, and the Union on the other, to leave us alone, unmolested, that we may work out our political and financial destiny here in the hills and mountains of Northwest Alabama.”

Many myths surround the infamous meeting at Looney’s Tavern. Among those is that 2,500 to 3,000 people attended the meeting, Jackson said.

“There was a huge crowd no doubt, but I’m not sure if there were 2,500 people there,” Jackson said. “There were only about 3,500 people living in Winston County in 1861.”

Another myth is that Winston voted to break from Alabama and form the Free State of Winston.

“It didn’t happen. Winston County never seceded from Alabama,” Dodd said. “What actually happened at the meeting at Looney’s Tavern was Dick Payne, who was a Confederate sympathizer, stood up at one point and shouted, ‘oh, oh, Winston secedes! Hoorah for the Free State of Winston!’ A vote was never taken on Winston seceding from the state and the county remained a part of Alabama throughout the Civil War.”

Another myth about Winston’s involvement in the Civil War was that residents left the county en masse to join the Union Army.

While numerous residents did fight for the Union, others joined Confederate units, Dodd said. His research shows 239 Winston residents fought for the Union while 112 fought for the Confederacy. He said members of some Winston families fought for opposing sides during the war.

But it was not divided families that caused Winston the greatest hardships during the war. The refusal of many Winston residents to leave their farms and fight for the Confederate Army raised the ire of those who supported the Confederacy, Jackson said.

Numerous Winston residents, including some of his ancestors, were killed by members of the Confederate Home Guard, mostly from Walker and Marion counties, Jackson said. The Home Guard visited Winston often to arrest male residents who refused to fight for the Confederacy and at times shot them. The Home Guard was made up of mostly older men unable to fight but were enlisted to gather supplies for the Confederate Army. Jackson said some Home Guard members were outlaws.

He said the Confederate Army made several sweeps through Winston, arresting men who refused to join the Confederacy.

“The Home Guard was brutal, and they kept coming to Winston County,” Jackson said. “The Home Guard members used the Civil War as an excuse to do what they wanted to do, including committing murder.”

Many Winston residents stood firm when the Home Guard or the Confederate Army attempted to force them to fight for the Confederacy, Jackson said.

In early 1865, Confederate raiders arrested at least five Winston men and took them to the Walker County Jail in Jasper. The Winston men were to be jailed until they decided to fight for the Confederacy, or face a firing squad.

Upon learning of the arrests, 26 Winston residents traveled south to Jasper, and, armed with shotguns, hog rifles and pistols, swarmed the jail Jan. 10, 1865, and freed their neighbors. The group then started a fire that destroyed the jail. History buffs in Winston call the incident “The Jasper Raid.”

Winston was not immune to repercussions by the Union Army.

“There were bad things done here by the Union Army,” Jackson said. “It wasn’t just the Home Guard and the Confederate Army doing bad things in Winston County during the Civil War.”

As the Civil War was winding down in March 1865, Union forces led by Gen. James H. Wilson moved through Winston, pillaging farms throughout the county. The hungry soldiers took food from the farms they raided.

“There was probably not a road they didn’t go down,” Jackson said.

Union soldiers destroyed books of the government assessor and tax collector, along with other county records at the Winston County Courthouse.

No major battles were fought in the county.

After the Civil War ended, Winston residents who had left home to fight on opposing sides returned and quickly put their differing allegiances to rest.

“When the war was over, the soldiers came back home and for the most part got along,” Jackson said. “There were some hard feelings over some of the things that had been done by the Home Guard, but the men who had gone off to fight for either side and had been in battle were ready for the fighting to stop. For them, the war was over and they wanted to go on with their lives.”

Winston’s independent spirt continues today, Jackson said.

Winston began electing Republicans to state and local office long before it became the norm for Alabama.

“The people of Winston County have always been very tolerant,” Jackson said. “We’ve elected a lot of Republicans over the years but we’ve also elected Democrats, too. We’ve always been more flexible than some counties when it comes to politics.”

Dennis Sherer can be reached at 256-740-5746 or dennis.sherer@TimesDaily.com.