Hi List, I was wondering if anyone out there, knew if Lt. Colonel W.N. Garrett was with the members of his regiment, the 64th NC Infantry at the Shelton Laurel Massacre. I do know that Lt. Colonel James A. Keith was in command that day, even though Colonel Lawrence M. Allen was present. Allen was temporarily under suspension and so not in command at that time and place. Any information concerning W.N. Garrett is appreciated...James Horton

James, From the information I found in "North Carolina Troops 1861-1865: A Roster" (Volume XV) it's hard to say if Garrett was there. Below is a bit of information Edward " In mid-January a group of "about 50" Shelton Laurel men, some of whom were deserters from the 64th North Carolina descended upon Marshall and broke into several stores to seize salt, a vital preservative which they believed they had been denied because of their Unionist sympathies. A partial plundering of the town ensued, including the ransacking of Colonel Allen's home, occupied at the time by his wife and three children. A few days later Lt. Col. James A. Keith of the 64th, commanding Companies B, D, and H at Shelton Laurel, arrested a number of men and boys whom he believed had been involved in the raid. Three days later thirteen of the captives were shot by a roadside while being marched to Knoxville. Three of the victims were thirteen, fourteen, and "fifteen or sixteen" years old. According to A.S. Merrimon, the state's attorney for Madison County, [The prisoners] were killed by order of Lieut. Col. J.A. Keith. Most of them were taken at their homes, and none of them made resistance...[although] perhaps some of them ran. After they were taken prisoners the soldiers took them off to a secluded place, made them kneel down, and shot them..........I learned that probably 8 of the 13 killed were not in the company that robbed Marshall and other places. I suppose they were shot on suspicion. I cannot learn the names of the soldiers who shot them. Some [soldiers] shrank from the barbarous and brutal transaction at first, but were compelled to act...........Several women were severely whipped and ropes were tied around their necks......I think that the facts stated are about true. One this is certain, 13 prisoners were shot without trial or any hearing whatever and in the most cruel manner. Keith was intrepid and fearless. He had bitter enemies among the enemies of his country. He did severely punish some of [them]---some say too severely......It is well know that the "Shelton Laurel" section of Madison County, bordering East Tennessee, was infested with bushwhackers of such fierce audacity and viciousness that only severe and caustic measures would suppress them. In addition to the native disloyal element, scores and hundreds fled from conscription to Tennessee, and when hunted in those mountain fastnesses they fought back, retaliated and did many outrageous things. Colonel Keith caught some of these and punished them severely--perhaps cruelly. His resignation was called for [by] Governor Vance for shooting certain parties accused of having looted the town of Marshall. When an officer fins himself and [his] men bushwacked from behind every shrub, tree or projection on all sides of the road, only severe measures will stop it. Keith and Allen were fighters---soldiers. Their first duty was self protection, protection of their people from midnight marauders. Morris does not specifically accuse the thirteen executed men of taking part in the Marshall raid, and it seems unlikely that, in the absence of even a drum-head court-marshal, any effort was made to prove their guilt or establish their bushwhacking credentials. However, five were deserters from the 64th North Carolina, and a sixth had deserted from a Tennessee cavalry unit after previous service in the 64th. The other seven, including the three boys, were apparently shot because they were Union sympathizers. That, at any rate, was the belief of North Carolina Governor Zebulon B. Vance, who had urged the military authorities not to "let our excited people deal too harshly with these misguided men," had requested that the prisoners be "delivered to the proper authorities for trial," and had categorized their execution as an atrocity. By late February, after hearing rumors that Keith would be allowed to quietly resign from the army, Vance demanded that court-marshal proceedings be instituted against him for "the murder of....unarmed prisoners and little boys." If the military failed to take action, Vance threatened, he would "follow [Keith] to the gates of hell, or hang him." However, Keith managed to evade the governor's wrath for the remainder of the war, and it appears that no member of the 64th North Carolina was ever punished for the episode. On January 30, 1863, Colonel Allen was court-marshaled at Knoxville, convicted of lying about the whereabouts of his adjutant, Lt. Lucius H. Smith, who had been sent to Virginia on an unauthorized mission of unspecified description, and suspended for six months "without pay, from all rank or command." In Allen's absence, Maj William N. Garrett assumed command of the 64th. On or about the same date, Garrett was ordered to proceed from Laurel Creek with about 200 members of his regiment, on cavalry company, and thirty Cherokee Indians and "pursue and arrest every man in the mountains," of known bad character, whether engaged in any of the late outrages of not[,] arrest all deserters he many find [,] and.....clear the counties lying adjacent to the mountains of them." The results of Garrett's efforts are unknown.