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.

"[4] 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.

"[5] He took the stump for the union in 1861, and the thunders of his invectives against secession and disunion were wonderful pieces of oratory; and did much to strengthen the cause of the Union, and during the great war that followed, Mr. Carter was a staunch supporter of the government, and history records that he was largely, if not primarily, instrumental in planning for the destruction of the railroad bridges in 1862.In 1862, Carter's wife, along with the wives of Andrew Johnson, Parson Brownlow, and Horace Maynard were all ordered to evacuate Confederate-occupied Tennessee by Confederate commander E. Kirby Smith.

"[4] According to a 1928 history, "His collection of books...was in his time, one of the finest private libraries in the South, embracing many classical works in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin.