Whitesides Lived On Cameron Hill In Chattanooga's 1st Brick Home

Col. James Anderson Whiteside lived in the first brick house that was erected at Chattanooga - at 415 Poplar St. on the side of Cameron Hill.

It was Col. Whiteside who almost single-handedly led in the effort to steer the all-important Western and Atlantic Railroad in the direction of the old Ross's Landing and away from Harrison and other points that also sought it. He rode his horse to Milledgeville, which was then the Georgia capital, on one occasion to argue Chattanooga's merits. Col. Whiteside later joined with Vernon Stevenson of Nashville to tirelessly push for the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad to be built along a daunting course of mountains, rivers and streams.

He was born near Danville, Ky., in 1803, the son of Jonathan and Thankful Anderson Whiteside. While he was "yet a boy and small for his age his manliness secured him employment as a mail carrier between Somerset, Ky., and Hilham, Tn. - a 70-mile horseback trip along a dangerous trail.

Jonathan and Thankful Whiteside moved to a Pikeville farm in 1826, and Jonathan Whiteside was chairman of the Bledsoe County Court. James Whiteside first studied to become a physician, then he switched to the law. It was at Pikeville that he read law and was first admitted to practice. He was elected to the Legislature at 24. At Nashville, he met Mary Jones Massengale of Grainger County, who was in the state capital for boarding school. At the time they met she was "a beautiful girl of 16." They were married Feb. 5, 1829. Their children were John Bridgeman, Penelope, Anderson, Foster and Thankful Anderson.

Col. Whiteside moved his family in September 1838 to Ross's Landing "being strongly impressed by the beauty of the place and its fine location for the building of a city." Mary Whiteside died on April 12, 1843, after the family had lived for several years at Chattanooga. Col. Whiteside, the following year, married Harriet Straw, who had been hired as a music teacher for his children. By the second Mrs. Whiteside, he had James Leonard, Florence, Helen, Ann Newell, Vernon Stevenson, Hugh, William Mowbray, Charles and Glenn.

The two-story brick Whiteside home, with twin columns and a portico in front, was constructed around 1840 by Thomas Crutchfield. The Whitesides at the time occupied an entire block. The house was on Poplar Street near Fifth. The kitchen was located 20 feet away from the wide back porch and two family servants occupied a house near the kitchen. Another family of servants lived across the street from the well lot and adjoining cow lot, where each evening four or five cows were driven up to be milked. The 80-foot deep well had been located by William Crutchfield, who had water witching skills. The water was very cold, hard limestone. There was a brick bath and spring house with a roof extending over the well. The little children always bathed at home in green hat-shaped tins. Later, a cistern was dug between the house and kitchen. The well lot was an enclosure about 80 feet square. Every fall it was nearly filled with oak and hickory cordwood piled high in the open. Usually eight fires were kept going all winter in the big house. In the kitchen a crane and hooks hung in the wide stone kitchen. Beaten biscuit and all sorts of good food was baked and fried in iron holloware on the 10-foot square stone hearth. As soon as coal began to be mined at Chattanooga, the fireplaces were bricked up for grates, the brass andirons given away, "and Aunt Mahala was persuaded to use a cook stove reluctantly. There was no cellar for fuel so a new coal and carriage house was built on Fifth Street, near the log barn, more than 200 feet from the house.

The first parish of the Protestant Episcopal Church in Chattanooga was held Jan. 17, 1853, at the Whiteside home on Poplar Street. Col. Whiteside funded the construction of a small chapel at Chestnut and Fifth until the St. Paul's Church could be built further down the street on a lot he donated.

In the autumn of 1857, Col. Whiteside moved his family to Nashville so he could devote himself to operating the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad. He retained his property in Chattanooga and Lookout Mountain.

Col. Whiteside became the chief patron of the artist James Cameron. One of Cameron's paintings depicted the Whiteside couple, two slaves and young Charles Whiteside at the point of Lookout Mountain, with Moccasin Bend and Chattanooga in the background. Col. Whiteside deeded to Cameron a 33-acre tract on the hill that was named in his honor. Cameron later died in California when his wife accidentally poisoned him.

Col. Whiteside was back in Chattanooga when he died in November of the first year of the Civil War. Federal soldiers seized the Whiteside home and sent Mrs. Whiteside and her children north. Prior to leaving, she hastily sold many of the family possessions, including Col. Whiteside's prized law library that went to a Federal officer for $150. Mrs. Whiteside kept the Cameron painting of the Whitesides on Lookout Mountain with her through the long war ordeal.

The Whiteside widow decided to try to stay at home on Cameron Hill. She invested her Confederate money in tobacco and filled one of the servant houses with the boxes piled to the ceiling. The tobacco was sold for greenback money, which was invested by her friend Benjamin Chandler. The return was more than enough to send her two daughters to school in New England in January 1864.

The Whitesides were still in Chattanooga at the time of the Battle of Missionary Ridge, and Harriet Whiteside headed an effort to provide make-shift mattresses for the wounded soldiers brought into town after the battle. She sent messengers to the family hotel on Lookout Mountain for sheets and pillow cases. She and other women sewed the items into bags, and the children scoured Cameron Hill for moss and dried leaves to go inside. The wounded and dying men were lifted onto these emergency mattresses. Mrs. Whiteside and other women still left in the town held the hands of dying soldiers and took messages for family members. The only men there to help were one minister and four surgeons.

In July of 1864 Mrs. Whiteside received an order that she and the five remaining children still at home would be shipped north. She protested, pointing out she had taken the Oath of Allegiance and abided it. But she was only given 24 hours in which to raise money by selling things from the house. One of the best private libraries in Tennessee, including Col. Whiteside's law library, was bought by a Federal officer for $150. The money was thrust into a bureau drawer as the hasty sales were made. That night she counted over $300. One of the boarders boxed up the family portraits. Mrs. Whiteside stayed up burning many documents that she did not feel were important, but she did not want to leave in the house. Most of the following year she spent at the Episcopal Rectory at Springfield, Ohio, with her children.

At Louisville, Ky., Mrs. Whiteside was put into prison "without any charge being leveled against her." She was freed through the efforts of Benjamin Chandler. She was finally allowed to return to Chattanooga in June 1865, though she was required to prove that she had kept the Oath of Allegiance and to put up $20,000 additional security that she would continue to keep the oath.

Harriet Whiteside, in the years after the war, was involved in many disputes over the far-flung Whiteside estate - especially since many of the family documents were lost in the war. She was also embroiled in disputes on Lookout Mountain after instituting a policy to charge tourists for the privilege of enjoying the famous view from the Point. The Whiteside property eventually was bought by the government for Point Park.

Florence Whiteside said, "Years after the slaves were freed, the practical Mrs. Whiteside decided to sell the old mansion and build a modern and convenient residence. The place was antiquated as soon as the slaves were gone, a relic of a social order that could never return."

The Whiteside mansion on the side of Cameron Hill was sold to W.L. Dugger in 1887 for $10,000. The Ross's Landing pioneer recalled that he had carried mortar when the house was being built. He noted that it displayed markings from over 50 shells that had struck the house as the two armies exchanged fire. Dugger said he had lived for many years "within a stone's throw of the house." He said he bought it with a desire to "leave it to show how our fathers builded before the war."

However, the historic Whiteside home was torn down around 1926. An apartment complex was built at the site.

Mrs. Whiteside settled just to the south on College Hill. Many of her children lived nearby. Harriet Whiteside in 1871 married Vernon A. Gaskill at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, but they were later divorced.

The Cameron painting remained in the Whiteside family for many years, but it is now displayed at the Hunter Museum of Art.