As many know, the Civil War left a significant imprint on Alexandria’s history, with several prominent citizens taking active roles on opposing sides. Colonel John Fite Goodner and his father, Major James Goodner, represented the Confederacy. Colonel William B. Stokes represented the Union. Remarkably, all three men are buried in Eastview Cemetery—just a short distance from one another.
Initially, sentiment in and around Alexandria appeared to favour the Confederacy. In April 1861, John F. Goodner quickly raised an infantry company in town, likely fearing the war would end before they could engage. This company became part of Robert Hatton’s 7th Tennessee Regiment. When Hatton was promoted to general, Goodner assumed command as colonel. The regiment fought primarily in Virginia and suffered devastating losses—according to researcher Mike Corley, only four or five men out of the original hundred survived the war.
At the same time, Alexandria was also home to U.S. Congressman William B. Stokes of the 4th District. Though initially enslaving ten people and wavering in his position, Stokes ultimately declared his allegiance to the Union. Following the Union’s capture of Nashville in July 1862, he organized the 5th Tennessee Cavalry Regiment, becoming its colonel. Many men from DeKalb County joined the regiment, and by the war’s end, nearly as many DeKalb County residents had served in Union forces as in Confederate ones—some even on both sides.
Alexandria experienced several skirmishes and minor engagements during the war, damaging the surrounding area. One of the most notable events was the gathering of General John Hunt Morgan’s men at the Alexandria fairgrounds on June 11, 1863, before embarking on their famed raid deep into Indiana and Ohio—the northernmost advance by any Confederate forces. Artifacts from the Civil War have since been uncovered in digs around Alexandria. In some cases, after the war, individuals were required to obtain witness statements that they had been loyal to the United States.
After the war concluded in 1865, Col. Goodner and Col. Stokes returned to Alexandria. Stokes resumed his political career as a Radical Republican in Congress. Though local historian Tommy Webb believed Stokes introduced the 15th Amendment, which granted formerly enslaved men the right to vote, further research shows he was a strong advocate but not the original sponsor.
Following emancipation, many formerly enslaved people settled in the Cedar Hill area of Alexandria. There, they quickly established a school and a Methodist church, became property owners, and found work in various trades. According to Tommy Webb, some of the finest cooks in the world lived in Cedar Hill. Around 1900, a cook’s wage was $1.75 per week, which included preparing breakfast and dinner, saving food for supper, washing dishes, and cleaning the kitchen.
Alexandria also holds a brief but essential connection to W.E.B. Du Bois, co-founder of the NAACP. Around 1886, Du Bois taught at a Black school near Alexandria. In The Souls of Black Folk, he recalls attending services at several of the town’s Black churches, one of the pastors possibly being Rev. B.F. Whitley. Though Du Bois only stayed a few months, his income in Alexandria helped fund his education at Fisk University in Nashville. His writings, rich with insight and honesty, resonate deeply and shed light on the world he observed with such clarity and grace.
Cuddled on the hill to the north was the village of the colored folks, who lived in three- or four-room unpainted cottages, some neat and homelike, and some dirty. The dwellings were scattered rather aimlessly, but they centred about the twin temples of the hamlet, the Methodist, and the Hard-Shell Baptist churches. These, in turn, leaned gingerly on a sad- colored schoolhouse. Hither my little world wended its crooked way on Sunday to meet other worlds, and gossip, and wonder, and make the weekly sacrifice with frenzied priest at the altar of the “old-time religion.” Then the soft melody and mighty cadences of Negro song fluttered and thundered.
If you are connected to the Ford or Whitley families of Cedar Hill, we would be truly grateful if you could encourage them to contact us. Our research indicates that many of their relatives who lived in Cedar Hills about 1900 are buried in Seay Chapel Cemetery. Sadly, most of the family graves are either unmarked or the markers have sunk and are no longer visible.
This article reprises some of the work of Tommy Webb, The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois; 1903, public civil war records, census records, TSLA Digital Archives, and Mike Corley
Alexandria Historic Cemeteries District 
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