CHAPTERIIILOYALTY OF EAST TENNESSEEWhilewe have attempted to show the untenable position of those who maintain that the majority of the people of Tennessee were opposed to separation and it was only acoup d’étatof Governor Harris that carried the State into the Confederacy, it is, however, true that a great number of her inhabitants did resist withdrawal and remain openly loyal. This was especially the case with East Tennessee. Her persistent loyalty is a striking illustration of the physical conditions and causes which lay behind the Civil War. Tennessee had been settled by a common stock of pioneers from North Carolina. Many of these, attracted by the beautiful scenery and genial climate, had found homes east of the Cumberland Mountains, while others had crossed the mountains and taken possession of the rich tablelands and the alluvial bottoms of Middle and West Tennessee. When the State was admitted into the Union, in 1796, her population was homogeneous. The institution of slavery existed in all sections of the State.In West and Middle Tennessee, where the soil and climate were suitable for raising cotton, slave labor was very profitable. In East Tennessee, the poor upland farms scarcely yielded a return to white labor. As the result of this difference in natural conditions, slavery flourished in West and Middle Tennessee, but in East Tennessee, by 1860, it had become almost extinct, except upon the rich plantations that bordered the Tennessee River. The efforts to form a Confederacy based upon slavery found, therefore, no support among the inhabitants of East Tennessee. Their interests and sympathy were with the free States of the North, and they rejected by a vote of two to one every proposal looking toward separation.In the eyes of the nation, Andrew Johnson stood as the representative of East Tennessee loyalty. Upon the floor of the United States Senate he denounced the withdrawal of the Southern members as treason, and refused to vacate his own seat even after Tennessee had been proclaimed by Jefferson Davis a part of the Confederacy.Next to Johnson, the most prominent Union man was W. G. Brownlow, the editor of theKnoxville Whig. Mr. Brownlow is in many respects the most unique figure in the history of Tennessee. He commenced life as a carpenter’s apprentice, but after serving his apprenticeship he entered the Methodist ministry and travelled as a circuit rider for ten years without intermission. His love of controversy led him into most of the political and religious discussions of the day, and gained for him the name of the “Fighting Parson.” About 1835 he became the editor and publisher of a Whig newspaper, which rapidly gained a larger circulation than any other political paper in the State.In the presidential election of 1860 Mr. Brownlow supported Bell and Everett. After the election his voice was on the side of peaceful acquiescence in the results. In vigorous editorials he denounced the sentiments expressed in the message of Governor Harris to the extra session of the Legislature. After the passage of the Convention Bill he joined several prominent citizens in issuing a call for an “East Tennessee Convention.” Every county in East Tennessee except two responded to the call. The Convention assembled at Knoxville, on the 13th of May, 1861. The delegates present numbered four hundred and sixty-nine, and represented twenty-eight counties. Hon. Thos. A. R. Nelson was elected chairman. On motion, he appointed a committee to prepare and report business for the Convention.This committee drew up an address to the people, which was in part as follows:[7]“Our country is at this moment in a most deplorable condition. The Constitution of the United States has been openly contravened and set at defiance, while that of our own State has shared no better fate, and by the sworn representatives of the people has been utterly disregarded. In this calamitous state of affairs, when the liberties of the people are so imperilled and their most valued rights endangered, it behooves them, in their primary meetings and in all their other accustomed modes, to assemble, consult calmly as to their safety, and with firmness to give expressions to their opinions and convictions of right.“We, therefore, the delegates here assembled, representing and reflecting, as we verily believe, the opinions and wishes of a large majority of the people of East Tennessee, do resolve and declare:“That the evils which now afflict our beloved country, in our opinion, are the legitimate offspring of the ruinous and heretical doctrine of secession; and that the people of East Tennessee have ever been, and we believe still are, opposed to it by a very large majority. That while the country is now upon the very threshold of a most ruinous and desolating Civil War, it may with truth be said, and we protest before God, that the people, so far as we can see, have done nothing to produce it. That the people of Tennessee, when the question was submitted to them in February last, decided by an overwhelming majority that the relations of the State towards the Federal Government should not be changed; thereby expressing their preference for the Union and the Constitution under which they had lived prosperously and happily, and ignoring in the most emphatic manner the idea that they had been oppressed by the General Government in any of its acts, legislative, executive, or judicial.“That in view of a so decided expression of the will of the people, in whom all power is inherent and on whose authority all free governments are founded, and in the honest conviction that nothing has transpired since that time which should change that deliberate judgment of the people, we have contemplated with peculiar emotions the pertinacity with which those in authority have labored to over-ride the judgment of the people and to bring about the very result which the people themselves had so overwhelmingly condemned.“That the Legislative Assembly is but the creature of the Constitution of the State, and has no power to enact any laws or to perform any act of sovereignty, except such as may be authorized by that instrument: and believing, as we do, that in their recent legislation, the General Assembly have disregarded the rights of the people and transcended their own legitimate powers, we feel constrained, and we invoke the people throughout the State, as they value their liberties, to visit that hasty, unconsiderate, and unconstitutional legislation with a decided rebuke, by voting on the eighth day of next month against both the Act of Secession and that of Union with the Confederate States.“That the Legislature of the State, without having first obtained the consent of the people, had no authority to enter a ‘Military League’ with the ‘Confederate States’ against the General Government, and by so doing to put the State of Tennessee in hostile array against the Government of which it then was and still is a member. Such legislation is in advance of the expressed will of the people to change their governmental relations, was an act of usurpation, and should be visited with the severest condemnation of the people.”This report was unanimously adopted by the Convention and ordered to be printed, so that it might be circulated among the voters of the State. Before the Convention adjourned it was addressed by Andrew Johnson. According to a contemporary report, “he spoke for three hours and commanded earnest attention throughout his entire speech.”In the election of June 8th, the vote of East Tennessee stood: 14,780, separation; 39,923, no separation; 14,601, representation; 32,962, no representation.Nine days after the election, a second Convention of Union men assembled at Greenville. Two hundred and ninety-nine delegates were present. Many of them were in favor of forming at once a Provisional Government and organizing an army, but after a heated discussion more moderate counsel prevailed. A Declaration of Grievances was drawn up by the same committee that had prepared the address to the people adopted by the Knoxville Convention. A new committee was appointed to prepare and present a memorial to the State Legislature, asking its consent to the formation of a new State to be composed of East Tennessee and such counties in Middle Tennessee as desired to coöperate to that end. But before this committee had an opportunity to present the memorial to the Legislature the Confederate Government had put it beyond the power of Tennessee to act in the matter by organizing East Tennessee into a military department, and placing General Zolicoffer in supreme command. His presence in Knoxville with several regiments of soldiers prevented any further steps towards the formation of a new State hostile to the Confederacy.There was at first no disposition on the part of the Confederate authorities to deal harshly with the loyal inhabitants of East Tennessee, or to coerce them into the Confederate army. They were allowed to remain undisturbed in their ordinary occupations. The general leniency with which they were treated is shown by the fact that Mr. Brownlow was allowed to continue the publication of theKnoxville Whig, although every issue contained editorials denouncing the action of Governor Harris and the Legislature as treason and rebellion. This peaceful policy was rudely disturbed by an act of the Union men themselves. On the night of the eighth of November, an organized conspiracy was partially carried out by the bands of Union men, to burn the bridges of the East Tennessee, Virginia, and Georgia Railway. The bridges over the Hiwassee River, Lick Creek, and three other streams were destroyed. That one over the Holston River at Strawberry Plains was saved by the bravery of the watchmen.This attempt at bridge-burning created the utmost alarm and excitement. The East Tennessee, Virginia, and Georgia Railway was the main artery which connected Richmond with the southwest. Thousand of troops were being hurried over it daily in order to reach Richmond in time to defend it from McClellan’s advances. The road traversed the whole eastern part of the State, and on account of its extent could not be properly patrolled. Extraordinary measures must thereupon be resorted to, in order to keep open this important line of communication, and protect the lives of the soldiers from the terrible disaster which would have resulted from the secret destruction of the bridges.On the 25th of November, the Confederate Secretary of War, Mr. Benjamin, sent the following orders to Colonel Wood, who was in command of the troops at Knoxville:“All such as can be identified in having been engaged in bridge-burning are to be tried summarily by drum-head court-martial, and if found guilty, executed on the spot by hanging. It would be well to leave their bodies hanging in the vicinity of the burned bridges.”This order was vigorously executed. A number of persons suspected of complicity in the bridge-burning were seized, and after a summary trial were executed in the manner suggested by the Secretary of War. Martial law was proclaimed, and the meetings of Union men forcibly dispersed.As a result of these measures there now began a general exodus of the able-bodied Union men. In small bands they crossed over the mountains into Kentucky. Many of them joined the Federal army, and rendered valuable service. Others formed camps safely within the Union lines, and quietly awaited the termination of the war. Their most prominent leaders made tours of the Northern cities, and raised funds for their support. Boston alone contributed over one hundred thousand dollars to this purpose.[8]Vast crowds listened to the eloquent appeals of these exiled loyalists, and the impression became general in the North that the Southern authorities were treating the loyal mountaineers of East Tennessee with the most savage cruelty. Edward Everett, in a brilliant oration, compared them with followers of William Tell and the slaughtered saints of Piedmont.The sacrifices and sufferings of the loyal inhabitants of East Tennessee were indeed very great, but there is no evidence that they were treated by the Confederacy in any manner not necessary and justified by the usages of war. After the failure of its conciliatory policy, the Confederacy either had to permit the erection of a hostile State within the heart of its territory, or coerce the loyalists into submission. It naturally adopted the latter alternative. It is frequently stated that in thus adopting coercive methods it acted inconsistently with the principles under which it withdrew from the Union. Mr. Everett, in the same speech quoted above, said: “One would suppose that under the usurped rule of men who profess to go to war for self-government and State rights, the people of East Tennessee, if for any reason they saw fit to do so, had a right to burn their own bridges.”The absurdity of such statements lies in the fact that they confuse the denial of coercive powers to federal government, with the denial of coercive powers to all government. The first is State rights, but the second is anarchy. It was in perfect harmony with the Southern theory of State sovereignty, that Tennessee should use any means it saw fit, to force its citizens into obedience to its laws. The Confederate army acted as the agent of the State in quelling insurrection and rebellion in East Tennessee.After the intense excitement created by the bridge-burning had somewhat subsided, the Confederate and State authorities again manifested a desire to win over, or at least conciliate, the Union element. The commander at Knoxville issued a proclamation to the “Disaffected People of East Tennessee,” and assured “all those interested who have fled to the enemy’s lines, and who are actually in their army, that he will welcome their return to their homes and their friends; they are offered amnesty and protection, if they come to lay down their arms, and act as loyal citizens.” But these conciliatory measures again met with failure, as it soon became necessary to enforce the military drafts, which aroused the greatest opposition. In the summer of 1863, East Tennessee became the theatre of active war. Its history for the next three years is to be found in the military annals of the State.[7]Hume’s,Loyal Mountaineers of Tennessee.[8]See Everett’s “Account of the Fund for the Relief of East Tennessee.”
Whilewe have attempted to show the untenable position of those who maintain that the majority of the people of Tennessee were opposed to separation and it was only acoup d’étatof Governor Harris that carried the State into the Confederacy, it is, however, true that a great number of her inhabitants did resist withdrawal and remain openly loyal. This was especially the case with East Tennessee. Her persistent loyalty is a striking illustration of the physical conditions and causes which lay behind the Civil War. Tennessee had been settled by a common stock of pioneers from North Carolina. Many of these, attracted by the beautiful scenery and genial climate, had found homes east of the Cumberland Mountains, while others had crossed the mountains and taken possession of the rich tablelands and the alluvial bottoms of Middle and West Tennessee. When the State was admitted into the Union, in 1796, her population was homogeneous. The institution of slavery existed in all sections of the State.
In West and Middle Tennessee, where the soil and climate were suitable for raising cotton, slave labor was very profitable. In East Tennessee, the poor upland farms scarcely yielded a return to white labor. As the result of this difference in natural conditions, slavery flourished in West and Middle Tennessee, but in East Tennessee, by 1860, it had become almost extinct, except upon the rich plantations that bordered the Tennessee River. The efforts to form a Confederacy based upon slavery found, therefore, no support among the inhabitants of East Tennessee. Their interests and sympathy were with the free States of the North, and they rejected by a vote of two to one every proposal looking toward separation.
In the eyes of the nation, Andrew Johnson stood as the representative of East Tennessee loyalty. Upon the floor of the United States Senate he denounced the withdrawal of the Southern members as treason, and refused to vacate his own seat even after Tennessee had been proclaimed by Jefferson Davis a part of the Confederacy.
Next to Johnson, the most prominent Union man was W. G. Brownlow, the editor of theKnoxville Whig. Mr. Brownlow is in many respects the most unique figure in the history of Tennessee. He commenced life as a carpenter’s apprentice, but after serving his apprenticeship he entered the Methodist ministry and travelled as a circuit rider for ten years without intermission. His love of controversy led him into most of the political and religious discussions of the day, and gained for him the name of the “Fighting Parson.” About 1835 he became the editor and publisher of a Whig newspaper, which rapidly gained a larger circulation than any other political paper in the State.
In the presidential election of 1860 Mr. Brownlow supported Bell and Everett. After the election his voice was on the side of peaceful acquiescence in the results. In vigorous editorials he denounced the sentiments expressed in the message of Governor Harris to the extra session of the Legislature. After the passage of the Convention Bill he joined several prominent citizens in issuing a call for an “East Tennessee Convention.” Every county in East Tennessee except two responded to the call. The Convention assembled at Knoxville, on the 13th of May, 1861. The delegates present numbered four hundred and sixty-nine, and represented twenty-eight counties. Hon. Thos. A. R. Nelson was elected chairman. On motion, he appointed a committee to prepare and report business for the Convention.
This committee drew up an address to the people, which was in part as follows:[7]
“Our country is at this moment in a most deplorable condition. The Constitution of the United States has been openly contravened and set at defiance, while that of our own State has shared no better fate, and by the sworn representatives of the people has been utterly disregarded. In this calamitous state of affairs, when the liberties of the people are so imperilled and their most valued rights endangered, it behooves them, in their primary meetings and in all their other accustomed modes, to assemble, consult calmly as to their safety, and with firmness to give expressions to their opinions and convictions of right.
“We, therefore, the delegates here assembled, representing and reflecting, as we verily believe, the opinions and wishes of a large majority of the people of East Tennessee, do resolve and declare:
“That the evils which now afflict our beloved country, in our opinion, are the legitimate offspring of the ruinous and heretical doctrine of secession; and that the people of East Tennessee have ever been, and we believe still are, opposed to it by a very large majority. That while the country is now upon the very threshold of a most ruinous and desolating Civil War, it may with truth be said, and we protest before God, that the people, so far as we can see, have done nothing to produce it. That the people of Tennessee, when the question was submitted to them in February last, decided by an overwhelming majority that the relations of the State towards the Federal Government should not be changed; thereby expressing their preference for the Union and the Constitution under which they had lived prosperously and happily, and ignoring in the most emphatic manner the idea that they had been oppressed by the General Government in any of its acts, legislative, executive, or judicial.
“That in view of a so decided expression of the will of the people, in whom all power is inherent and on whose authority all free governments are founded, and in the honest conviction that nothing has transpired since that time which should change that deliberate judgment of the people, we have contemplated with peculiar emotions the pertinacity with which those in authority have labored to over-ride the judgment of the people and to bring about the very result which the people themselves had so overwhelmingly condemned.
“That the Legislative Assembly is but the creature of the Constitution of the State, and has no power to enact any laws or to perform any act of sovereignty, except such as may be authorized by that instrument: and believing, as we do, that in their recent legislation, the General Assembly have disregarded the rights of the people and transcended their own legitimate powers, we feel constrained, and we invoke the people throughout the State, as they value their liberties, to visit that hasty, unconsiderate, and unconstitutional legislation with a decided rebuke, by voting on the eighth day of next month against both the Act of Secession and that of Union with the Confederate States.
“That the Legislature of the State, without having first obtained the consent of the people, had no authority to enter a ‘Military League’ with the ‘Confederate States’ against the General Government, and by so doing to put the State of Tennessee in hostile array against the Government of which it then was and still is a member. Such legislation is in advance of the expressed will of the people to change their governmental relations, was an act of usurpation, and should be visited with the severest condemnation of the people.”
This report was unanimously adopted by the Convention and ordered to be printed, so that it might be circulated among the voters of the State. Before the Convention adjourned it was addressed by Andrew Johnson. According to a contemporary report, “he spoke for three hours and commanded earnest attention throughout his entire speech.”
In the election of June 8th, the vote of East Tennessee stood: 14,780, separation; 39,923, no separation; 14,601, representation; 32,962, no representation.
Nine days after the election, a second Convention of Union men assembled at Greenville. Two hundred and ninety-nine delegates were present. Many of them were in favor of forming at once a Provisional Government and organizing an army, but after a heated discussion more moderate counsel prevailed. A Declaration of Grievances was drawn up by the same committee that had prepared the address to the people adopted by the Knoxville Convention. A new committee was appointed to prepare and present a memorial to the State Legislature, asking its consent to the formation of a new State to be composed of East Tennessee and such counties in Middle Tennessee as desired to coöperate to that end. But before this committee had an opportunity to present the memorial to the Legislature the Confederate Government had put it beyond the power of Tennessee to act in the matter by organizing East Tennessee into a military department, and placing General Zolicoffer in supreme command. His presence in Knoxville with several regiments of soldiers prevented any further steps towards the formation of a new State hostile to the Confederacy.
There was at first no disposition on the part of the Confederate authorities to deal harshly with the loyal inhabitants of East Tennessee, or to coerce them into the Confederate army. They were allowed to remain undisturbed in their ordinary occupations. The general leniency with which they were treated is shown by the fact that Mr. Brownlow was allowed to continue the publication of theKnoxville Whig, although every issue contained editorials denouncing the action of Governor Harris and the Legislature as treason and rebellion. This peaceful policy was rudely disturbed by an act of the Union men themselves. On the night of the eighth of November, an organized conspiracy was partially carried out by the bands of Union men, to burn the bridges of the East Tennessee, Virginia, and Georgia Railway. The bridges over the Hiwassee River, Lick Creek, and three other streams were destroyed. That one over the Holston River at Strawberry Plains was saved by the bravery of the watchmen.
This attempt at bridge-burning created the utmost alarm and excitement. The East Tennessee, Virginia, and Georgia Railway was the main artery which connected Richmond with the southwest. Thousand of troops were being hurried over it daily in order to reach Richmond in time to defend it from McClellan’s advances. The road traversed the whole eastern part of the State, and on account of its extent could not be properly patrolled. Extraordinary measures must thereupon be resorted to, in order to keep open this important line of communication, and protect the lives of the soldiers from the terrible disaster which would have resulted from the secret destruction of the bridges.
On the 25th of November, the Confederate Secretary of War, Mr. Benjamin, sent the following orders to Colonel Wood, who was in command of the troops at Knoxville:
“All such as can be identified in having been engaged in bridge-burning are to be tried summarily by drum-head court-martial, and if found guilty, executed on the spot by hanging. It would be well to leave their bodies hanging in the vicinity of the burned bridges.”
This order was vigorously executed. A number of persons suspected of complicity in the bridge-burning were seized, and after a summary trial were executed in the manner suggested by the Secretary of War. Martial law was proclaimed, and the meetings of Union men forcibly dispersed.
As a result of these measures there now began a general exodus of the able-bodied Union men. In small bands they crossed over the mountains into Kentucky. Many of them joined the Federal army, and rendered valuable service. Others formed camps safely within the Union lines, and quietly awaited the termination of the war. Their most prominent leaders made tours of the Northern cities, and raised funds for their support. Boston alone contributed over one hundred thousand dollars to this purpose.[8]Vast crowds listened to the eloquent appeals of these exiled loyalists, and the impression became general in the North that the Southern authorities were treating the loyal mountaineers of East Tennessee with the most savage cruelty. Edward Everett, in a brilliant oration, compared them with followers of William Tell and the slaughtered saints of Piedmont.
The sacrifices and sufferings of the loyal inhabitants of East Tennessee were indeed very great, but there is no evidence that they were treated by the Confederacy in any manner not necessary and justified by the usages of war. After the failure of its conciliatory policy, the Confederacy either had to permit the erection of a hostile State within the heart of its territory, or coerce the loyalists into submission. It naturally adopted the latter alternative. It is frequently stated that in thus adopting coercive methods it acted inconsistently with the principles under which it withdrew from the Union. Mr. Everett, in the same speech quoted above, said: “One would suppose that under the usurped rule of men who profess to go to war for self-government and State rights, the people of East Tennessee, if for any reason they saw fit to do so, had a right to burn their own bridges.”
The absurdity of such statements lies in the fact that they confuse the denial of coercive powers to federal government, with the denial of coercive powers to all government. The first is State rights, but the second is anarchy. It was in perfect harmony with the Southern theory of State sovereignty, that Tennessee should use any means it saw fit, to force its citizens into obedience to its laws. The Confederate army acted as the agent of the State in quelling insurrection and rebellion in East Tennessee.
After the intense excitement created by the bridge-burning had somewhat subsided, the Confederate and State authorities again manifested a desire to win over, or at least conciliate, the Union element. The commander at Knoxville issued a proclamation to the “Disaffected People of East Tennessee,” and assured “all those interested who have fled to the enemy’s lines, and who are actually in their army, that he will welcome their return to their homes and their friends; they are offered amnesty and protection, if they come to lay down their arms, and act as loyal citizens.” But these conciliatory measures again met with failure, as it soon became necessary to enforce the military drafts, which aroused the greatest opposition. In the summer of 1863, East Tennessee became the theatre of active war. Its history for the next three years is to be found in the military annals of the State.
[7]Hume’s,Loyal Mountaineers of Tennessee.
[8]See Everett’s “Account of the Fund for the Relief of East Tennessee.”