When the East Tennessee and Virginia Railway line was completed in 1858, dignitaries gathered in celebration as the final spike was hammered into the last tie in Greene County. When the Civil War began, the line became a vital link in transporting Confederate troops and supplies from the deeper South into Virginia. The railroad was vulnerable, however, and inevitably the stage was set. On a cold Friday night, November 8, 1861, the Unionists proceeded with plans to burn the key railroad bridges of East Tennessee, but the promised Federal invasion did not come. From a bold plan approved by President Abraham Lincoln through the tragedy described in the aftermath, the incredible true story of an insurrection gone wrong is detailed in this thoroughly researched narrative.