Captain Ellis Harper (1842-1908)

Three-quarters of a mile northeast of here was the birthplace of Captain Ellis Harper. Harper's military service began with strong objection his Unionist parents, Ezekiel and Sarah Ellis Harper, when he enlisted in Company I of the 50th Tennessee Infantry Regiment. Harper was captured at Fort Donelson on February 16, 1862, and was imprisoned at Camp Butler, Illinois. After five months there he escaped and returned to Tennessee. Here Harper was commissioned by Colonel John Hunt Morgan to form a company of partisans to operate behind Union lines with the primary objective of disrupting the L & N Railroad. Harper's activities continued successfully throughout the war. On October 10, 1864, Harper with his guerrilla band killed four Union soldiers and two railroad laborers near South Tunnel. On June 25, 1908, during an argument over the gubernatorial race, Harper was fatally shot by William Suite in Lebanon.