thedailytimes.com : Your 24/7 news source

There is a sign in Madisonville that states he was born here and one in Morristown that says he fought there, but it took some digging to unearth more savory details of the life of John Crawford Vaughn, a hero and a rogue by anyone's standards.

Vaughn was a Confederate brigadier general, one of only three general officers from East Tennessee and the only one still in command when the war was over. He was born in 1824 and was even elected sheriff of Monroe County. Before that he tried his luck in the California Gold Rush, but failed. He owned a hotel and store and became a lawyer. All of that before the War Between the States.

Interesting details, but for one Civil War buff, not nearly a complete picture. Larry Gordon, retired U.S. Army colonel, was intrigued and challenged to find out more about this action-seeker and war hero when he had a chance meeting with one of Vaughn's descendants. He was up to the challenge.

Gordon, 68, works as a volunteer at Manassas National Battlefield Park in Virginia. His assignment involves leading tours around the battlefield and answering tourists' questions. On one particular day, he was approached by a Vaughn descendant who wanted to see where on the battlefield the soldier had fought. And he asked Gordon, weeks later, if he could look more in depth at his ancestor's life on and off the battlefield. The family wasn't satisfied they knew all there was to know.

Donning a detective's hat

"I found out there was very little written about him," Gordon said. "I managed to pull some things together using family contacts and other research. One thing lead to another."

The result of years of research and writing is Gordon's book, "The Last Confederate General: John C. Vaughn and His East Tennessee Calvary." Published by Zenith Press, it is currently available at several online locations including amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, and others. Gordon will give a presentation on it at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Blount County Public Library.

Vaughn, Gordon said, was like the fictional Forrest Gump, everywhere the action was. He was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in Charleston in 1860 and then returned the following year to witness the attack on Fort Sumter. Back in Tennessee, Vaughn was the first man to recruit a regiment and before Tennessee had even left the Union, he moved his 3rd Tennessee Infantry into the war zone in Virginia and defeated a Union force at Romney. A month later, Vaughn took his men to Manassas Junction, leading them to victory in the first major battle of the war.

Rough treatment

Of all the intriguing details surrounding the life of Vaughn, Gordon said the most fascinating to him was the treatment of Vaughn's family during the war. While Vaughn was fighting in Virginia, his family was taken prisoner, arrested and imprisoned on the orders of Union Gen. William Sherman.

"Sherman held his family members and shipped them up north in a boxcar," Gordon said. "It was psychological warfare, but Vaughn did manage to get them back. I think that affected his performance a bit. Maybe he could have done a little better had he not had that hanging over his head."

Despite some successes, this Confederate general was not well thought of even among his comrades. Gordon said it probably had to do with the fact they saw Vaughn as an outsider and an inexperienced one.

"The Army of Northern Virginia was composed mostly of leaders from Virginia and North Carolina and a few others," the author said. "Most of whom had been to West Point or Virginia Military Institute of The Citadel. Vaughn had done none of that. He was also from East Tennessee. He was a definite outsider."

As he delved into his research, Gordon realized that Vaughn was blamed for losses for which he shouldn't have been. Vaughn may not have done a bang-up job, but he didn't get credit where credit was due, Gordon said.

In the end

Then came the end of the war. Vaughn chose to leave Tennessee and settled in Thomasville, Ga., as far away from the Union Army as he could get. Because of the political climate, Vaughn feared he would be charged with treason and hanged had he stayed in his home state.

But five years later, former Confederates came back into good standing in Tennessee, Gordon explained. Vaughn came back and was even elected to the state senate and chosen as president over the legislative body.

But the general soon became involved in a pension scheme with his brother-in-law and stole pensions from the widows of Union bushwhackers using a fake muster roll. He was tried in court and fined $1,000. He then went back to Georgia, where he died in 1875.

"Looking back over his life, Vaughn was both a hero and a rogue," Gordon said. "He was a good guy if you talk to one person and a bad guy if you talked to another."

While these intricate details of Vaughn's days here in the South are very fascinating to a Civil War buff like Gordon, he said learning about East Tennessee and its role in the war was just as enlightening.

"East Tennessee was different from anywhere else from the very beginning," Gordon said. "Tennessee was the last state to leave the Union and it was badly split. East Tennessee was primarily Unionist. It was never really controlled by anyone. And Tennessee was the first state back in the Union. ... The history of East Tennessee made my head swim."

Making the connection

The author said it seems kind of strange that he, a resident of Virginia and native of Texas, would end up writing a book about an East Tennessee Confederate general. However, the objectivity from not being so close to the story is a positive, he believes.

His own military background includes 26 years of active duty in tactical and strategic communications and foreign intelligence, with tours of duty in Italy, Korea, Panama, Hawaii and all over mainland United States. He is a veteran of the Korean War. He is currently a senior analyst at the Institute for Defense Analysis, a not-for-profit organization that works for the Department of Defense and resides in Fairfax Station, Va.

Gordon did present Vaughn's descendant with the research he had requested and did let the family know the project was taking him much further down the path. They accepted that this author was going to report on the good, bad and ugly of the Confederate's life.

One of Vaughn's descendants will be at the Wednesday presentation at the library. A resident of Atlanta, he will be bringing with him the curator of the Atlanta History Center.

Gordon may have to gear up for another road trip.