The Rhea County Spartans

The things you learn as you to do genealogy. Researching ancestors in Tennessee during the Civil War. Tennessee was, after Virginia, the most fought over state during the war. It was also among the most divided states with the Confederate and Union armies both raising troops in the state. 2nd great-grandfather was from Rhea County, a strongly Confederate County. He left there in order to join the 2nd Tennessee Mounted Infantry, a Union Regiment. But in researching Rhea County, I come across this nugget.

Rhea had the only female cavalry company on either side during the Civil War. It was made up of young women in their teens and their twenties from Rhea County and was formed in 1862. Their unit was named the Rhea County Spartans. Until 1863, the Spartans simply visited loved ones in the military and delivered the equivalent of modern-day care packages. After Union troops entered Rhea in 1863, the Spartans may have engaged in some spying for Confederate forces. The members of the Spartans were arrested in April 1865 under orders of a Rhea County Unionist and were forced to march to the Tennessee River. From there they were transported to Chattanooga aboard the USS Chattanooga. Once in Chattanooga, Union officers realized the women were not a threat and ordered them released and returned to Rhea County. They first were required to take the oath of allegiance to the United States government. The Spartans were not an officially recognized unit of the Confederate Army.