As the United States of America divided in 1861, so did Tennessee. Confederates and Unionists fought their own political battle to determine which way Tennessee would go. When the states voted for secession in February 1861 Tennessean’s rejected to leave the union. In June 1861 a second vote was held after the firing of Fort Sumter and Lincoln’s call to Tennessee for soldiers; 105,000 (voted in favor of leaving the union to 47,000 against but East Tennesseans voted more than two-to-one (33,000 to 14,000) for the union, indicating a large and massive anti-secession and anti-confederacy.
Upon Governor Harris summoning the legislature to a special session to consider secession and obtain better view of the voters’ sentiment, the legislature called for a referendum to decide whether a secession convention should be held. It is at this point that the secession fever that had taken over the Deep South remained muted in Tennessee and the other Border States. Majority of the Tennesseans rejected the call for the secession convention with west Tennessee supporting convention, East Tennessee rejecting it in great numbers and middle Tennessee equally divided. The division heat was rather too much on Franklin Countians and he threatened to secede from the state and join Alabama.
General Albert Sidney Johnston in September 1861 arrived to take over the Tennessee’s defenses. It is during this time that the construction of Forts to guard Mississippi River was ongoing having been ordered by Governor Harris. However, Johnston saw the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers as more potential routes for Union troops. He accelerated work on the Forts Henry, on the Tennessee and Fort Donelson on the Cumberland and he also sought to build a defensive front to run from the Cumberland Gap in southern Kentucky to Bowling Green and on to Columbus, Kentucky, on the Mississippi River. Johnston himself took up headquarters in Bowling Green (Encyclopedia)
The Tennessee’s strategic location made both the Union and confederacy fight fiercely over the state because of its rich resources like the rail and rivers. During the war, the Tennessee’s rivers and rails were critical arteries to Deep South, both the United States and confederates force fought hard to control them in major battle like Fort Donelson, Shiloh and stones River. The union army commanded by General George H. Thomas defeated a confederate force under Generals George Crittenden and Felix Zollicoffer in 19 January, 1862 at the battle of Mill Springs (Fishing Creek) near Somerset, Kentucky and he compelled the Confederates to abandon their eastern defenses and retreat into Middle Tennessee.
The state became divided with the large armies constantly destroying its rich farmland with the Eastern counties habouring pro-union settlement. The war first took place along the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers which was recognized as a major military highway. Mountain passes such as Cumberland Gap were keenly competed for by both sides. By mid 1862 the union army occupied much of middle and west Tennessee while the confederates held on to most of East Tennessee. US irregulars staged raids attacks in East Tennessee thereby leading to serious economic, social and political degradation. The Tennessee civil war brought about several impacts (negative) to the nation at large. Poorly constructed and unfinished forts quickly fell after a barrage of cannon shells by the Union gunboats on February 6 which led to increased massive deaths.
The Tennessee civil war successfully managed to divide a nation that was once united. It weakened and seriously disrupted the education curriculum in all levels; with such war, it was absolutely impossible for academics to proceed, due to the lengthy and huge division, most students resorted to staying home where only cannons and military weapons were felt. There was serious unrest to the people of Tennessee caused by this war.
The war caused a total fragmentation of the churches due to conflicting opinions found within the congregation. It was hard to unite them being that some were on the confederacy and others on the unions. In addition to that, the local government was being forced to take up unprecedented responsibility which further strained the budget that had been already weakened by the war.
Ordinary and Common Tennessee’s’ faced tremendous hardship during this war. It is during this period that most people lost their properties due to the war. Financial stability was also a challenge since most people had been laid off work due to the unrest caused by the war. It was also absolutely impossible for any political, social and economic improvement rather most people ended up being killed in the war
The war further led to continued increase in civilian woes. The government collapsed, and most institutions ceased to be operational. Law and order declined thereby, leading to increased outlaw bands formation which went ahead in terrorizing communities, stealing livestock and food, burning houses, and murdering their owners. With ordinary business ventures disrupted, commodities such as flour, sugar, salt, and coffee became rare to obtain.
The war left most of the Middle class Tennessee in ruins and most of them were bearing deep scars as well. However, it also brought enormous changes in that many Tennessee women had to assume new roles during the war. For example some of them were running plantations and farms, others managing businesses, others took up the role of serving as nurses while some spying on the enemy.
The war ended slavery and with its demise brought about a new era of race relations in that the African Americans were assured a good future and they were also promised freedom with less uncertainty and hardship. Economically, the level of prosperity that Tennessee’s’ had enjoyed would take years to achieve it back.
Over 120,000 soldiers were sent to fight for confederacy and over 31,000 to help the union. With the civilian violence taking a heavy rise, families across the state had lost loved ones and the scares were still fresh. In conclusion, the civil war ended in 1865 having left permanent scars to the people of Tennessee. Moreover Tennessee became the first secession state to rejoin the United States therefore, beginning of reconstruction and creating a society whereby people of all colors enjoyed the full rights of citizenship. Nothing can have such a negative effect on the state as the civil war did.
References
- Bryan, Charles Faulkner Jr., “The Civil War in East Tennessee: A Social, Political, and Economic Study. ” PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 1978.
- Larry H. Whiteaker, “Tennessee Encyclopedia” http://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entries/civil-war/
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