William B. Carter

Rev. William Blount Carter (September 11, 1820 – July 21, 1902) was a farmer, an American Presbyterian minister, and the mastermind of the East Tennessee Bridge Burnings, a guerrilla-warfare action of the American Civil War. Per one history, "Whatever else may be said about the burning of the bridges of the East Tennessee and Virginia Railroad in November, 1861, there can be no doubt whatever that the plan was conceived by the Rev. William B. Carter, of Elizabethton, Tenn., and it was through his influence that Mr. Lincoln and the War Department sanctioned it and pledged the cooperation of the Government in the execution of his plans." Carter was otherwise known as a "highly educated, cultured Christian gentleman, a minister of the Presbyterian church, and highly respected by all who knew him."

Biography William Blount Carter was born in Elizabethton, Tennessee, the second son of Alfred Moore Carter and his second wife, Evalina Belmont Parry. In 1819, Alfred built a home in Elizabethton. He pastored Rogersville Presbyterian Church in Rogersville, Tennessee until 1846 "when his health compelled him to be a farmer at Elizabethton." He apparently returned to preaching when the Civil War broke out because he "felt that being a pastor was a good cover, so...conducted services on Sunday for local churches and Confederate troops, while organizing a group of people to burn railroad bridges."

He was a delegate to the 1870 Tennessee Constitutional Convention and "was a strong candidate for president of that body against General John C. Brown." His funeral was "largely attended," and he was buried at the Carter family cemetery in Elizabethton.