Editing Elizabethton, Tennessee (section)

=== American Civil War ===
[[File:SPCarter.jpg|right|thumb|120px|[[Samuel P. Carter|Rear Admiral/<br />Brevet Major General<br />Samuel P. Carter]]]]
On the recommendation of Military Governor of Tennessee [[Andrew Johnson]], U.S. naval officer [[Samuel P. Carter|Samuel Powhattan (S.P.) Carter]] was promoted to the [[Brevet (military)|brevet rank]] of [[brigadier general (United States)|brigadier general]] and assigned by U.S. President [[Abraham Lincoln]] to engage [[United States Cavalry|cavalry]] based in Kentucky against [[East Tennessee bridge burnings|Confederate-held railroad lines and bridges]] in East Tennessee during the [[American Civil War|Civil War]].

In early 1861, after receiving a letter from Carter assuring his loyalty to the [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] should a civil war break out, Tennessee Governor Andrew Johnson used his influence in the [[United States Department of War]] for Carter to organize and train [[militia]] within East Tennessee. After leading successful cavalry operations at the [[Battle of Mill Springs]] on January 19, 1862, Carter accepted a commission as [[Brigadier General]] of volunteers in May and later continued leading operations at the Battle of [[Cumberland Gap]] in June as well as raids against Holston, Carter's Station, and Jonesville in December, in support of General [[William S. Rosecrans]]' [[Battle of Murfreesboro|attack on Murfreesboro]].

Carter's younger brother, William B. Carter (1820−1902), planned and coordinated the so-called [[East Tennessee bridge burnings]] in 1861. On the night of November 8 of that year, Carter's pro-Union conspirators destroyed five railroad bridges across [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]]-occupied East Tennessee. Daniel Stover, a son-in-law of Andrew Johnson who lived near Elizabethton in the Siam community, led the party that destroyed the bridge at Union Depot (modern [[Bluff City, Tennessee|Bluff City]]). Confederate authorities placed much of East Tennessee under [[martial law]] as a result of the bridge-burning incident.

In July 1863, Carter was placed in command of the [[XXIII Corps (Union Army)|XXIII Corps]] cavalry division and would continue campaigning across Tennessee throughout the year. By 1865, Carter was in North Carolina and commanding the left wing of the Union forces at the [[Battle of Kingston]]. He was promoted to [[brevet (military)|Brevet]] [[Major General]] of Volunteers, briefly commanding the XXIII Corps before being mustered out of volunteer service in January 1866.

While Carter was serving in the Union Army, the [[U.S. Navy]] promoted him to [[lieutenant commander]] in 1863, then to [[commander]] in 1865. A Tennessee Historical Marker located on West Elk Avenue in front of the S.P. Carter Mansion in downtown Elizabethton commemorates his life and naval career.

The Veterans' Monument in downtown Elizabethton was originally constructed and dedicated in 1912 to "the memory of the old soldiers of Carter County since the days of the [[American Revolution|Revolution]]."<ref>Merritt, Frank. Later history of Carter County, 1865-1980. Elizabethton, Carter County Homecoming '86 Heritage Project, 1986.</ref> It is in the form of an [[obelisk]], constructed primarily from river rock collected from the nearby Doe River, guarded by two short Civil War field cannon.