National Register of Historic Places Plaque
 

VIEW DRAFT OF "TREATY OF PEACE" TO BE SIGNED
 

Briceville students re-enacting the
storming of Fort Anderson by miners
during the Coal Creek War

Knoxville residents nearly froze to death during a mine strike in the winter of 1877, resulting in the Welsh miners of Coal Creek being replaced by convict labor.  After another strike in 1891 brought convicts to a mine in Briceville, miners captured the convict stockades, marched the guards and convicts to the train depot in the town of Coal Creek, and put them on a train to Knoxville.  Miners then sent a telegram to Gov. John (Buck) Buchanan, saying their action was “a necessary step in the defense of our families from starvation and our property from ruin,” thus starting what became known as the Coal Creek War.  

Soldiers and convicts built Fort Anderson on Militia Hill as the base of operations of the Tennessee National Guard during the war. According to the Tennessee Blue Book, A History of Tennessee, “Violence in the coal fields peaked during the summer of 1892, when state militia were dispatched to the Coal Creek area by Gov. John Buchanan. The militia fought pitched battles with armed miners, arrested over 500 of them, and killed twenty-seven. The miner uprisings prodded the General Assembly to end convict leasing… making Tennessee one of the first Southern states to get rid of the system.”

For questions about the event, please contact Carol Moore at (865) 584-0344 or clmoore@geoe.com.

Historical  Marker at
Fort Anderson on Militia Hill

Fort Anderson on Militia Hill
(Photo from Souvenir of Company "C", Coal Creek War, 1892)

Directions:  From I-75 Exit 128 exit ramp, turn right onto Norris Freeway and then left on Main Street.  Turn right at ShopRite onto Highway 116 (Fraterville Miners’ Memorial Highway).  In a sharp bend of Highway 116, turn right onto Beech Grove Road.  After crossing Coal Creek, turn left on Sharps Lane and then right onto Vowell Mountain Road.  Parking area is adjacent to Vowell Mountain Road on the left.