Most of the information we have about Major Daniel Carpenter comes from Notable Men of Tennessee by Oliver Perry Temple. Daniel Alexander Carpenter was born in Rockcastle County, Kentucky on March 24, 1837, of English descent. He was a son of William S. and Melinda (Merryman) Carpenter of Rockcastle County, and a grandson of James P. and Susan (Taylor) Carpenter of Rockcastle County and also Laurel County, Kentucky.

Dan moved to Anderson County, Tennessee about 1857 where he went into the retail dry goods and grocery business in Clinton. As was the case with most of the men in East Tennessee, Carpenter was an ardent supporter of the Union cause. In July, 1861 he went to Kentucky to obtain information about the Union troops that were being organized and immediately returned to distribute the information to interested men in the Clinton area. He returned to Kentucky in early August, this time enlisting in the 2nd Tennessee Infantry Regiment being formed at Camp Dick Robinson. Carpenter made 1st Lieutenant in Company C commanded by Captain William Carns.

Carpenter quickly rose through the ranks. He was promoted to Adjutant of the regiment on September 28, 1861. On October 18, 1862 he was promoted to the rank of major, replacing James Melton who was promoted to lieutenant colonel of the regiment. Major Carpenter was in command of the regiment at the Battle of Rogersville in Hawkins County on November 6, 1863. He was captured along with two thirds of the regiment and confined at Libby Prison in Richmond, Virginia but was transferred to Macon, Georgia on May 7, 1864. Carpenter was paroled at Charleston Harbor, South Carolina August 3, 1864 and returned to the regiment.

Among the Field and Staff Officers who served in the regiment, Daniel Carpenter earned the reputation of being the most skilled in military matters and the one with the most effective leadership skills. In Notable Men of Tennessee, Oliver Temple recounts one such example which occurred in September, 1862 at Cumberland Gap:

   "Major Carpenter was sent into the Gap with a flag of truce to demand a surrender, and he got far enough to discover that the fortifications were about as they had been when he retreated from them a few months previous. He further learned from the Confederates that they were short of rations, and that all the corn and wheat they had for bread was stored in a mill situated within the fortifications and rifle pits. These facts Carpenter reported to General Shackelford, giving it as his opinion that a small force could enter the Gap at night, fire the mill, and thus destroy the supplies of the enemy. But in a council of the colonels, commanding the several regiments, with General Shackelford, this plan was rejected.
   Afterward Major Carpenter proposed to General Shackelford to volunteer to go inside the fortifications and destroy the mill. This proposition was accepted, the General agreeing to detail, at the request of Carpenter, seventy-five men from the 2d Tennessee, and an equal number from the 9th Michigan Cavalry, with one section of H. Clay Crawford's Battery. The attempt was made and proved entirely successful; the mill and all its contents were destroyed, with the loss of only one man and the wounding of another...The conception of this daring plan, in all its details, originated with him, and he was the successful leader in executing it."

At Rogersville, Carpenter's command was also exemplary. On that day, Colonel Israel Garrard was in command of Union forces. Upon being attacked by the Confederates, Colonel Garrard gave orders for Major Carpenter to "hold his position at all hazard", which Carpenter did with courage. The Confederates were able to split Garrard's forces from Carpenter's forces. Garrard and almost his entire regiment were able to escape into the Holston River, but Carpenter and the 2nd Tennessee were trapped. Once Garrard's men had left the field of battle, Carpenter's men were far outnumbered and surrounded on all sides by the Rebels. A fight at that point would have meant slaughter. After a council with his officers, Carpenter had no choice but to surrender.

After his discharge on June 7, 1865, Carpenter returned to Anderson County and again went into business. He was elected sheriff of Anderson County in March, 1865. In 1867 he was appointed Collector of Internal Revenue by President Johnson, and moved to Knoxville to be near its headquarters. Carpenter served as Mayor of Knoxville in 1876 and 1877. He later served as Inspector General on the staff of Governor Turney. As further evidence of the esteem in which he was held, he was appointed receiver by the Chancellor at Knoxville to manage the failed Southern Building and Loan Association.

During the Civil War while camped at Somerset, Kentucky in Pulaski County on June 23, 1863 Daniel Carpenter married Sophia Ann Berry in Whitley County, Kentucky. William Lowery, chaplain of the 2nd Tennessee Infantry, officiated. Sophia, daughter of Preston and Eleanor Berry, was born in Whitley County June 22, 1842. Daniel and Sophia had 6 children: James, Frederick L., Franklin A., Edward S. and daughters Clarena and Eleanor. All references indicate Daniel Carpenter to be a natural leader. His many accomplishments both during the war and afterwards support that observation.

Daniel Carpenter and Judge Temple , the historian who wrote Notable Men of Tennessee and East Tennessee in the Civil War, were close personal friends. Judge Temple had this to say about Carpenter in Notable Men of Tennessee on page 84, "He is a man of positive convictions, with the courage at all times to speak what he thinks. In conversation he is impressive. His frankness, his sincerity, his power of clear thinking and of plainly and earnestly expressing himself, gave him a marked influence over his neighbors in 1861, when their minds were taking shape in reference to the dissolution of the Union. Daniel A. Carpenter is a natural leader, and was born to command. I have never known one more so. Voice, eye, indomitable determination at once give him ascendancy. His courage, too, inspires and awes, and withal he is a kind, good citizen. His reputation is one of which any man may be proud."

Daniel A. Carpenter died May 14, 1918 in Knoxville and is buried there in the Greenwood Cemetery.

Notable Men of Tennessee, From 1833 to 1875, Their Times and Their Contemporaries, by Oliver P. Temple, pages 81-84. New York: The Cosmopolitan Press, 1912.

Anderson County Historical Sketches by Katherine Hoskins, pages 285-286.

Goodspeed Publishing Co.:  History of Tennessee, Containing Historical and Biographical Sketches of Thirty East Tennessee Counties, Chicago and Nashville, 1887, reprinted by Southern Historical Press, Inc., Greenville, SC,
1991.

Wendell G. Carpenter:  "Daniel A. Carpenter of KY," in: The Carpenter Family Courier, Annette Carpenter Womack (ed.),Vol. II, No. 3, Oct 1986, p. 83.

Willard Rouse Jillson: The Kentucky Land Grants, Louisville, KY, 1925, pages 496-497.

Obituary information from Anderson County News, May 16, 1918 contributed with thanks by Kelmer Reynolds.

Some of the genealogical information was generously contributed by Terry Carpenter. Terry researches the Carpenters of  the Rockcastle County, Kentucky area and may be a collateral descendant of Daniel Carpenter. If  you have Carpenter information or a photo of Daniel Carpenter you would like to share with others interested, please e-mail: Dave Mathews and Terry Carpenter E-mail.