This article is the second in the series of Tennessee Civil War Trails: Jefferson County. The first article can be found here: Battle of Hay’s Ferry.
Martin struck late in the morning, bending but not breaking the Union line because of the effectiveness of Capt. Eli Lilly’s 18th Indiana Artillery, which was positioned a few yards from here across the road.
Capt. E.J. Cannon Courtesy David C. Smith
Capt. Eli Lilly Courtesy Eli Lilly Company
Lilly, who considered this the battery’s most glorious and successful action, soon faced hard times. A few months later, he transferred to a cavalry unit that surrendered to Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest in Middle Tennessee. He remained a prisoner for the balance of the war. After the war, however, Lilly’s fortunes improved: in 1876, his small drug store in Indianapolis began to evolve into the Eli Lilly Pharmaceutical Company.
Gravestone of Capt. E.J. Cannon in Branner Cemetery
Another Union officer, Capt. Elbert J. Cannon, 1st Tennessee Cavalry, led a daring saber charge against the 11th Tennessee Cavalry (CSA). Some of the Confederates had dismounted and fired their carbines from kneeling positions. Both Cannon and his horse were struck and they fell to the ground as the charge thundered by into the woods. Two Southern soldiers found him, barely alive, and left him to be retrieved by his own men. They also informed his mother, who lived near the Confederate camp. She was escorted through the lines and remained at her son’s side until he died on January 1, 1864. Cannon is buried a few yards west of here in Branner Cemetery.
