The Fighting Bunch

The Battle of Athens and How World War II Veterans Won the Only Successful Armed Rebellion Since the Revolution

By: Chris DeRose

Narrated by: David de Vries

Length: 7 hrs and 55 mins

Publisher's summary

The incredible, untold story of the WWII vets who overthrew their corrupt hometown government - the only successful armed rebellion on US soil since the War of Independence.

Corrupt politician Paul Cantrell was in complete control of McMinn County, Tennessee, his whims enforced by the violent Sheriff Pat Mansfield and his deputies. On Election Day, Cantrell and the sheriff seized the ballot boxes and brought them to the jail "to be counted" in secret. Soldiers came home from World War II to find their community in the grips of this corrupt political machine. These veteran soldiers, who became known as "The Fighting Bunch", armed themselves and lay siege to the jail as the National Guard closed in. After six hours of gunfire and dynamite blasts, Boss Cantrell and Sheriff Mansfield fled the state. The deputies surrendered. The ballot boxes were opened and counted. The GI slate was elected, and the story buried.

This episode in US history has never been more relevant but has never been fully told. After years of research, including exclusive interviews with the remaining witnesses, archival radio broadcast and interview tapes, scrapbooks, letters, and diaries, author Chris DeRose has reconstructed one of the seminal - yet untold - events in American election history.

©2020 Chris DeRose (P)2020 Tantor

An Almost Unbelievable Story

Heard DeRose on Michael Malice and couldn’t get my hands on this fast enough. Like something you would see in a low budget 1970s movie except it’s true.

History buff was hesitant but..

I’ve read dozens of WWII books and am always looking for obscure stories and this one fit the bill and didn’t disappoint. Like most I never heard about this event and learned a lot. The backstories of the political corruption that was apparently widespread and the lives of those involved during the war filled the book nicely.

Vets battle local elected tyrants

Chris Derose has written an excellent book telling the story of a local election in 1946 that returning WWII veterans decided to be candidates and then the supporters of the veterans seemed compelled to physically battle for the ballot boxes to force a fair count when there was no other political or legal authority to help. I encourage people to listen to or read this book and consider it for family discussions with students since the poll tax system and other segments of this story really could be good material. Excellent book!

Incredible Narrative Non Fiction

This book is a must read for every American. It isba powerful true story, masterfully written, that speaks to timeless issues in our American Republic: abuse of power, democracy coopted by exceptionally evil tinhorn dictators, policing and the use of law enforcement to terrorize a community into submission, and the small number of men and women who went to extraordinary lengths to make sure every voice, every vote was counted. It is a story of long odds, desperate measures and the restoration of hope. Ultimately, it is story of reconcilliation. Chris DeRose tells this with vivid prose that is full of heart. This is the can't miss book of 2020.

Lesson learned

One of the most interesting and inspiring stories I’ve ever heard. I wish everyone would read Eleanor Roosevelt’s words and keep the rebellious spirit alive as free individuals living in these United States rejecting Tyranny at all cost.

Inspiring tale of both the fight and after

Inspiring story of citizens fighting for their right to vote and overcoming corruption. Good background on the evolution of the situation to get to a boiling point and helpful background of the players. I have profound respect for those who finally did what was necessary to protect their rights, but am more impressed by their actions to heal the community after.

Entirely unique

Read this book. An industry screen-writer could not have written a more thrilling story than the truth of what happened in Athens TN. 10/10 would recommend.

The Battle for Home

Tyranny and greed are two of the most destructive elements of man’s character; determination and compassion their antidote. In his new book, The Fighting Bunch: The Battle of Athens and How WWII Veterans Won the Only Successful Armed Rebellion Since the Revolution, Chris DeRose masterfully recounts the clash of character that culminated on August 1, 1946, in the streets of Athens, Tennessee, and countryside of McMinn County.

With a political machine that would make Robert Penn Warren drool, Tennessee spent the depression and WWII years in the shadow of Memphian E.H. Crump. Evidence of Crump’s hand in East Tennessee, and especially McMinn County, was Paul Cantrell. During those years, Tennessee was a predominately Democratic state. However, much of East Tennessee was solidly Republican. Athens, halfway between Knoxville and Chattanooga, serves as the county seat for McMinn County, which was and remains to this day, one of Tennessee’s most heavily Republican counties.

DeRose begins quite simply by giving us a list of players. Tracing their days as children and teenagers, he provides insight into how they became the men whose lives would converge on August 1, 1946. With this, we learn they were not strangers that history drew together in place and time to create a life-changing event. Most knew or were acquainted with one another. Some had known each other their entire lives. DeRose’s telling of the months leading up to the election of 1946 pulls the reader back like the hammer of a pistol.

DeRose bookends his telling of the Battle of Athens between two poignant quotes.

“Yes, we broke the law. And so did George Washington.” – Felix Harrod

Growing in Athens, I knew Mr. Harrod, one of the veterans returning to Athens after WWII, as a very humble and mild-mannered man who I saw in church or around town with never than anything less than a smile and kind word to offer. I held him akin to Mr. Rogers, who premiered when I was six.

“The real story of the Battle of Athens is about reconciliation, thankfully.” – Paul Willson

The grandson of Paul Cantrell, Paul Willson, is also my distant cousin as well as someone who is and has been so incredibly supportive of so many over the years.

Chris DeRose pulls no punches in his telling of the Battle of Athens. For me, it erased the often-heard mantra that these were just good old boys whose argument got out of hand. Thousands of rounds fired, a few sticks of dynamite tossed, and a mason jar or two of moonshine consumed. Still, no one was killed, and in the end, this was just another story of McMinn County boys being McMinn County boys. You could expect no less from men whose grandfathers had declared war on Spain a week before the United States of America instigated the Spanish American War. Erasing this dismissive pasha version of history, DeRose makes room for the most prominent outcome of the Battle of Athens. On August 2, 1946, these men and their families who had been opponents and enemies for so long began working together on a new project. They constructed a community and way of life we proudly call home.

Incredible account

This is an incredible account of U.S. political history that I had no idea existed. The narrator did a very good job and was easy to listen to. Another example of why these veterans of World War II are called the “Greatest Generation.”

missing piece of history

people need to read this. It shows qhat happens when elections are not honest.