{"id":3627,"date":"2025-08-15T20:00:19","date_gmt":"2025-08-16T00:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/storiesofappalachia.com\/?p=3627"},"modified":"2025-08-13T11:00:26","modified_gmt":"2025-08-13T15:00:26","slug":"the-rhea-county-spartans-the-souths-all-female-cavalry-unit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/storiesofappalachia.com\/?p=3627","title":{"rendered":"The Rhea County Spartans: The South&#8217;s All-Female Cavalry Unit"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/8rQYmpmx0Hc?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>In the final years of the Civil War, a group of young women in Rhea County, Tennessee, made American history as the only known all-female cavalry unit: the Rhea County Spartans. Born from loyalty to their Confederate fathers, brothers, and sweethearts, they rode sidesaddle into history, carrying supplies, letters, and, according to some accounts, intelligence for the Confederate cause.<\/p>\n<p>As Union forces swept through East Tennessee, these women defied the odds, and the rules, to keep their mission alive. But in April 1865, just days before Lee\u2019s surrender, Union Captain John Walker made them his personal target, arresting sixteen Spartans in a dramatic march through cold rain and mud. What happened next surprised everyone, including their captors.<\/p>\n<p>In this episode, Rod and Steve tell the story of the rise, arrest, and legacy of the Rhea County Spartans. You\u2019ll hear how wartime loyalties split communities, how women stepped into unconventional roles, and how one small group of women from East Tennessee left a mark on Civil War history.<\/p>\n<p>Perfect for fans of Civil War history, Appalachian heritage, and untold stories of women in wartime.<\/p>\n<p>Be sure to subscribe to the Stories podcast wherever you get your favorite podcasts.<\/p>\n<p>Thanks for listening!<\/p>\n<div class=\"powerpress_player\" id=\"powerpress_player_3520\"><audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-3627-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/dts.podtrac.com\/redirect.mp3\/api.spreaker.com\/v2\/episodes\/67356891\/download.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/dts.podtrac.com\/redirect.mp3\/api.spreaker.com\/v2\/episodes\/67356891\/download.mp3\">https:\/\/dts.podtrac.com\/redirect.mp3\/api.spreaker.com\/v2\/episodes\/67356891\/download.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div><p class=\"powerpress_links powerpress_links_mp3\" style=\"margin-bottom: 1px !important;\">Podcast: <a href=\"https:\/\/dts.podtrac.com\/redirect.mp3\/api.spreaker.com\/v2\/episodes\/67356891\/download.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_pinw\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Play in new window\" onclick=\"return powerpress_pinw('https:\/\/storiesofappalachia.com\/?powerpress_pinw=3627-podcast');\" rel=\"nofollow\">Play in new window<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/dts.podtrac.com\/redirect.mp3\/api.spreaker.com\/v2\/episodes\/67356891\/download.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_d\" title=\"Download\" rel=\"nofollow\" download=\"download.mp3\">Download<\/a><\/p><p class=\"powerpress_links powerpress_subscribe_links\">Subscribe: <a href=\"https:\/\/storiesofappalachia.com\/?feed=podcast\" class=\"powerpress_link_subscribe powerpress_link_subscribe_rss\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Subscribe via RSS\" rel=\"nofollow\">RSS<\/a><\/p><!--powerpress_player-->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the final years of the Civil War, a group of young women in Rhea County, Tennessee, made American history as the only known all-female cavalry unit: the Rhea County Spartans. Born from loyalty to their Confederate fathers, brothers, and sweethearts, they rode sidesaddle into history, carrying supplies, letters, and, according to some accounts, intelligence [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[30,8],"tags":[1255,104,769,1253,1248,1246,1250,1249,1251,1245,1076,775,1254,1247,1252],"class_list":["post-3627","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-espionage","category-the-civil-war","tag-19th-century-women","tag-appalachian-history","tag-civil-war","tag-civil-war-tennessee","tag-confederate-history","tag-east-tennessee-history","tag-espionage-in-the-civil-war","tag-female-cavalry","tag-john-walker","tag-rhea-county-spartans","tag-southern-history","tag-union-occupation","tag-untold-civil-war-stories","tag-women-in-the-civil-war","tag-women-soldiers"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6TX4A-Wv","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/storiesofappalachia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3627","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/storiesofappalachia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/storiesofappalachia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storiesofappalachia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storiesofappalachia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3627"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/storiesofappalachia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3627\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3628,"href":"https:\/\/storiesofappalachia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3627\/revisions\/3628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/storiesofappalachia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storiesofappalachia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storiesofappalachia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}