"Eastern Tennessee in 1861 was overwhelmingly of Union sentiment. However, Hawkins County and Union County found a number of its citizens enlisting in the Confederate service in 1861 and early 1862. Most of these men were farmers, toiling along the rocky hillsides and creek bottoms; slaves were for the most part unknown to these men.

August 1861 would find three brothers from Union County, John H. Burke, Jeremiah Burke and William Burke, enlisting in the service of the Confederate States of America in what was to become the 2nd Tennessee Calvary Regiment (Ashby). February 1862 would find Duestes Lafayette Petty of Hawkins County enlisting in the 31st Tennessee Infantry Regiment which later became the 39th Tennessee Mounted Infantry Regiment (Bradford). Throughout almost four years of conflict, captivity and deprivation, they never wavered from the course they chose; their dedication to their young country only ending when the Confederacy ceased to exist.

War's end would find them leaving the state they loved and fleeing to Kentucky where they would live for the remainder of their years; their lives a monument to dedication and survival."