Civil War in Tennessee

If the mind of the Civil War was firmly entrenched in Virginia, with the seemingly indefatigable General Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia, then the heart of the Civil War was in Tennessee. Following only just behind Virginia in the number of battles fought, Tennessee saw some of the bloodiest scenes of the war, and not all of them were on the battlefield - some of the most bitter divisions were among its citizens.

The question of whether or not to secede from the Union plagued Tennessee perhaps more than any other state who seceded. Like its neighbor, Kentucky, Tennessee was divided geographically on the secession issue, with the slave-reliant western part of the state feeling the threat of the Radical Republican government who followed Abraham Lincoln into office in 1860, and the mountainous eastern part of the state, where slaves were not as abundant, voicing support for the Union. But these divisions, while largely geographic, were found throughout the state. Reflecting these conflicting views, Tennessee held out until the last minute; as late as February 1861, 54 percent of the state’s voters voted against sending delegates to a secession convention, but in June of 1861, a referendum decided the state’s course, and by popular vote Tennessee became the last state to join the Confederacy.

Despite the popular vote, the disenfranchised East Tennesseans continued to struggle against the Confederate yoke that had been placed upon them, sending men to fight for the Union and requiring military occupation by the Confederate Army in order to maintain peace in the region.

The internal struggle that Tennessee suffered was soon reflected in the struggles by the warring Confederate and Union armies to control the state. The Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers that ran through the state were identified by General Ulysses S. Grant as one of the keys to subduing the Confederacy, and by early 1862, Grant had both rivers in Federal hands. The cities of Memphis and Nashville were also deemed important, and by 1864, both were also occupied by Union troops.

The horrifying battle of Shiloh was Tennessee’s most infamous battle, for a time standing as the bloodiest battle of the war. From April 6-7, 1862, around 65,000 Union troops under Ulysses S. Grant and Don Carlos Buell met about 44,000 Confederates under Albert Sidney Johnston - who perished in the battle - and P.G.T. Beauregard. Nearly 24,000 men were killed, wounded, or missing when the battle was done, yet it ended in a draw, with neither army gaining any real advantage.

Chattanooga was the site of several battles and skirmishes during 1863, with the Confederates failing to drive Union troops out of the region, and some of the last battles of the war were fought at Franklin in late 1864.

The many battles which waged in Tennessee during the Civil War reflected the internal division of a state that left the Union late, despite the fact that many of its citizens preferred to remain.