The Battle of Athens: 1946
Posted: Tue Dec 25, 2012 8:33 pmThe Battle of Athens was an armed rebellion led by WWII veterans and citizens in Athens and Etowah, Tennessee, United States, against the tyrannical local government in August 1946.
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McMinn County, Tennessee. A wealthy family, the Cantrells, had taken control of the county political machine in the 1930's. Paul Cantrell was elected country sheriff in 1936, 38, and 40. In 1942 and 44, he was elected to the state senate, while his chief deputy, Pat Mansfield, was elected county sheriff. The U.S. department of Justice received complaints by the county citizens of electoral fraud in the 1940, 42, and 44 elections. These complaints went unanswered.
Deputies commonly accepted bribes, intimidated voters, tampered with ballot boxes, and began beating those who spoke out. The sheriff's department falsely ticketed and arrested individuals to obtain finances for personal and political purposes. Local political bosses were just as corrupt.
WW2 veterans returning to their home county were outraged by the tyrannical establishment. During the 1946 elections, veterans fielded their own non-partisan candidates and attempted to have a fraud-free election. Paul Cantrall was again running for sheriff, while the current sheriff, Pat Mansfield, sought the state senate.
On August 1st, election day, Sheriff Mansfield brought in 200 "deputies" to detain and beat ex-GI poll watchers, in addition to taking the ballot boxes back to the jail house for an "official" count. Taking the ballot boxes constituted a violation of Tennessee state law, as the ballots must be counted in full view of the voting public.
Enraged veterans armed themselves and sought to obtain the ballot boxes to prevent electoral fraud and stop the government tyranny. The conflict which followed became known as The Battle of Athens.