East Tennessee History: Civil War in East Tennessee
Published 2:23 pm Tuesday, June 23, 2020
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It was 1861, and east Tennessee had to make a choice. Were they going to vote to leave the Union with the other southern states or were they going to try to stay pro-Union and give their allegiance to the Northern cause during the American Civil War?
They chose to stay with the Union by a two-thirds majority. In the end this vote did little good, and Tennessee voted to leave the Union on June 8, 1861.
East Tennessee would have to fight in the American Civil War for a cause many east Tennessee residents did not participate in nor believe in. Before the war was over, they decided to try to secede from Tennessee and become their own state.
The people in this area did not come by this decision lightly. Yes, they were just as brave as anyone else, especially if it came to defending their homes, family and way of life, but there was one factor that caused east Tennessee to desire to stay out of the war – very few east Tennessee residents owned slaves.
This area had an abundance of farmers who worked their hard-scrabble ground and made a living for their families, but very few of them needed slaves or could afford a slave.
This was a time when most of the major slaveowners of the state were in the middle and western part of the state working on plantations of cotton. East Tennessee just did not grow that much cotton, and the crops they could grow did not give them enough money to afford a slave or need a slave.
Even Knoxville, which had the largest group of slaves in east Tennessee, did not have that many true slaves. In fact, over one-third of the blacks in Knoxville at the time of the Civil War were freed slaves.
To own a slave in this area at the time of the Civil War, a farm or individual had to have a degree of wealth.
Compared to currency value in today’s society, the average slave in the pre-Civil War South cost around 130 thousand dollars. If a female slave was with child, she would be worth between 150 to 200 thousand dollars. A poor dirt farmer making a living on a rocky hillside in east Tennessee just could not afford a slave.
When war did come, representatives of east Tennessee met in Greeneville, Tenn., to try to get permission to become their own state. The western part of Virginia seceded from Virginia in 1863 and became West Virginia. Why could east Tennessee not do the same? In the end east Tennessee was forced to stay with the state, even though they were predominately Union sympathizers.
To a certain extent, Tennessee was always a tiny thorn in the side of the South. It had been the last state to leave the Union, had the only Southern Senator that refused to secede with his state and was the first state to reenter the Union once the war was over.
East Tennessee may have been forced to fight for the Southern cause, but before the war was over, east Tennessee would send 31,000 men to the north to fight for the Federalists. Throughout the war, this area was a hub for anti-confederates.
The confederates were so concerned about this area, they left troops in the area to make sure the area stayed in the confederacy.
Even much of Knoxville, which was securely held by the confederates until 1863, was divided with a majority of the citizens supporting the Union cause.
By the end of the war, Tennessee was the first state to rejoin the Union and to accept the Federal occupation and reconstruction. With the war officially over, people in this area set about rebuilding their lives and farms.
The war may be over, but today there are many proud people who live in this area who fly their Rebel flag proudly as a symbol of Southern heritage. I don’t own a Rebel flag, but I too am proud to live where I live, raised on corn bread, pinto beans and fried potatoes.
But as we fly that flag, all of us need to understand that most of this part of east Tennessee wanted no part of the Civil War. We only want to live our lives in peace.
