Miles M. Tidwell

04 Jan Miles M. Tidwell

July 29, 1864

Miles M. Tidwell

Miles M. Tidwell was a local lawyer. Citizens were aware that the Union Army was near. Tidwell hung a large flag in the window of his office. When the Union Army came to town at 7 a.m. that hot July day, they rounded up all the citizens in town and gathered them on the grounds of the Courthouse. The Union Army saw the flag and went to Tidwell’s office and tore it down. They tied his hands behind him and put him on the back of a stolen white mule. This celebrated orator soon began to regale the soldiers with stories of his time as a Colonel in the conflict. He amused them so they forgot the chore at hand. Then the dispatch came that the Confederate Cavalry was on its way. Their departure from the Courthouse was done in a hurry and they did not have time to torch the Courthouse.

By: Deborah Riddle