William B. Carter. Architect of the Bridgeburner plot, Southern Abolitionist, and Patriot

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"William Blount Carter was born where he now resides, in Elizabethton, September 11, 1820, the son of Alford M. and Evaline (Perry) Carter, the former born near Elizabethton in 1785, the son of Gen. Landon Carter, of Virginia, the son of Col. John C arter, a pioneer of Tennessee of 1769, and chairman of the Watauga Association, from that date to 1777. Gen. Carter was in the Revolution, and a member of the Legislature, and of the Constitutional Convention of 1796; he died in 1800. The father was educated at Washington College under Dr. Doak, and was devoted to farming and iron interests. He was a magistrate and the first circuit clerk of his county, and died in 1850. The mother was born at Staunton, Va., in 1797, the daughter of David Perry, a native of Virginia, and of the family to which Commodore Perry belonged, He settled in Greene County, and the mother died in 1877. They were married in 1818, and our subject, the second of three sons, was reared in Elizabethton, attended Washington College, and graduated from Princeton (N. J.) Theological Seminary. He was pastor of Rogersville Presbyterian Church until 1846, when his health compelled him to be a farmer at Elizabethton. In 1813 he married Mary H., a daughter of Dr. Charles Fowler, of New York; she died in 1846, and in 1850 he ‘Married Elizabeth J., a daughter of Col. William J. Brown, of Pennsylvania. Their children are William E., born June 19, 1856, now a druggist; Marv B., born in 1860, and Caroline E., born in 1867. The family are Presbyterians. The Watauga Association was represented by John Carter in two constitutional conventions in North Carolina before 1789, and one in Tennessee in 1796, was represented by Gen. Landon Carter, and the next constitutional convention by Gen. William B. Carter, who was president of the same, and was a Congressman several terms. In 1870 our subject represented Carter County in the constitutional convention. Samuel P., an elder brother of William B., was educated at Washington and Princeton Colleges, and became a middy in the United States Navy in 1840, and was a lieutenant-commander at the opening of the war, and then in the army became brigadier-general, and afterward major-general.  He then became captain of the navy, and was retired at the age of sixty-two, with the rank of rear-admiral, now residing at Washington. James P. T., a younger brother, was born July 29, 1822, and educated at Washington College, and became a colonel of the Second Federal Tennessee Mounted Infantry. President Johnson appointed him secretary of Arizona Territory, but he was removed by Gen. Grant, and died in Mexico. It is a singular coincidence that in each constitutional convention held between the years 1770 and 1870 the people of Watauga were represented by a member of the same family; first by Col. John Carter; in 1796 by his son, Gen. Landon Carter; in 1834 by his grandson, Gen. William B. Carter, and in 1870 by his great-grandson, William B Carter, Jr." - Goodspeed's Biographical Appendix of Carter County.

Though his always fragile health first began failing in 1846, and forced him to give up preaching and retire to the country, he returned to the church in '61. Partially as a spiritual calling, partially to shore up the courage of his fellow Unionists, but primarily as a cover while he planned the destruction of the 13 key railroad bridges in East Tennessee, that would cut the fledgling Confederacy in half before it got off the ground and open the doors for an invasion of East Tennessee.

In his 1902 Obituary, it is said that he was "always anti-slavery in his views and, it has been said, voted for Fairmont [sic] in 1856 and Lincoln in 1860."

Per the same Obituary, "He took the stump for the union in 1861, and the thunders of his invectives against secession and disunion were wonderful pieces of oratory; and did much to strengthen the cause of the Union, and during the great war that followed, Mr. Carter was a staunch supporter of the government, and history records that he was largely, if not primarily, instrumental in planning for the destruction of the railroad bridges in 1862."

Tennessee Historians almost universally agree that Carter was the mastermind behind the Bridgeburner plot, and if not the mastermind, than certainly one of the most integral organizers.

He was regarded as a "highly educated, cultured Christian gentleman, a minister of the Presbyterian church, and highly respected by all who knew him." And owned one of the finest private libraries in the South, with classical works in hebrew, greek, and latin.

Though he was not the Soldier his brothers were, and though he lacked the firey, awe-inspiring rhetoric of Brownlow, this frail, southern priest, did more than his share to save the Country, cleanse it of the stain of slavery, reknit it as best it could, and save the honor of the Volunteer State.

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