BARCLAY AND DILDINE
In December 1863 Alexander Barclay and Ammon Dildine, of the Peeled Chestnut
community of White County, Tennessee, were passing through Buffalo Valley on
their way back to their homes in White County. They had been to Kentucky to find
a place for their families to live to get away from the dangers of Civil War in
White County. While traveling through Buffalo Valley they were murdered by
Confederate deserters. Dildine was killed instantly, but Barclay was badly
wounded in stomach, etc. Barclay was taken to the Garner home and laid on a
straw pallet. He lived a few days before he died from his wounds. While laying
on the pallet the deserters broke into house and were going to shoot him again
but Rebecca Bartlett, a young girl, told them he is going to die and she gave
him a drink of water.
Later Alexander Barclay’s wife, Elizabeth Nelson Barclay, came to Buffalo Valley riding a horse and with her young son, James Otis Barclay, in her arms. She was there to find the grave of her husband.
Several days after the shooting Union troopers under command of I believe LT. Prettyman Jones entered Buffalo Valley, and were told of the outrage. They tracked the men down and a firefight occurred and the men were killed. One of the men was Moffett Crowell who ran into a barn and was killed.
I believe that the five men who killed Barclay and Dildine were Moffet Crowell, Thomas Maxwell, Harmon Young, Gillahan, and Sullivan. Moffett Crowell was deserter from Company K 13th Confederate Cavalry. Gillahan and Sullivan were not residents of area but were probably from Smith County, Tennessee. There was a Riley and William Gillahan from Chestnut Mound area of Smith County, Tennessee, that served in Company A of 84th Regiment of Tennessee Confederate Infantry and deserted their units on 20 January 1863.
We obtained information from a several sources including Nora Jones Steele,
dau of Rebecca Bartlett Jones; Freeman Ward, descendent of Barclay and Dildine;
Susan Hayden, a descendent of James Otis Barclay; Allison, Judge John, Editor,
"Notable Men of Tennessee", Vol I, Southern Historical Association,
Atlanta, GA, 1905 has sketch on Professor R. I. Hutchings a descendent of
Alexander Barclay; traditions in Crowell family. I was first told this story by
Nora Jones Steele and then read an article on Crowells by Whited in which he
claimed Moffett Crowell was killed and robbed of his gold by men under command
of Prettyman Jones. When aspects of all the stories are compared they fit on
details and time period. We do know that Dave Crowell and his gang of several
people stayed in the Indian Creek area.
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