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East Tennessee, geographically
considered, is situated almost in the
center of the late rebellious States,
with Virginia on the North, North
Carolina on the East, Georgia on the
South, and the Middle and Western
divisions of the State on the West.
Occupying as it does a territory
contiguous to those States that went
into the Rebellion among the first, and
with the greatest unanimity, having
always been dominated to a great extent
by the larger and more populous
divisions of the State, the question
arises why it should standout almost
alone in that section of the South in
its devotion to the Union. The entire
State had evinced much attachment for
the Union, as shown by the 68,000
majority against the convention in
February; but when, from causes
heretofore enumerated, the State cast
its fortunes with the Confederacy
through the dominating influence of the
civil and military authorities, a large
majority of the people of East Tennessee
adhered with greater tenacity to the
Union cause as dangers thickened about
them. Many reasons have been assigned
for the loyalty of East Tennessee to the
Federal Government, and it is fair to
presume that each of these reasons had
its influence in that decided stand
taken by the Union men which no amount
of persecution or intimidation could
modify or change.
One reason may be found in the fact that
the soil and climate are not adapted to
the growth of cotton, rice and tobacco,
the great staples of the South, hence
slave labor could not be employed to the
same advantage as in the Cotton States.
The people, or a large number of them
were comparatively poor and earned their
living by daily labor. They were not
slow to perceive that slave labor must
enter into competition with them, lessen
their wages and their chances of
employment, and diminish their
opportunity to better their condition
either socially or financially. They
could see that by fighting for slavery
they were only fastening upon themselves
the yoke of poverty, and the ban of
social ostracism, hence slavery was not
a question of paramount importance to
them, unless it was in its abolition.
Again history seems to bear out the fact
that in all times those people who
inhabit mountainous countries are
endowed with a lofty spirit of
patriotism and loyalty to country, and
are the first to respond to its call
when menaced by foreign or domestic
foes. Hence arises the fact that East
Tennessee, and the mountain sections of
adjoining States, have always furnished
more than their proportion of volunteers
in all the wars in which our country has
been engaged. So many of the
mountaineers of East Tennessee had
served under the old flag in former
wars, and listened to the old national
melodies until they had formed an
abiding reverence and love for them
which they transmitted to their
posterity, in story and song, leaving
with them an inheritance of love for
them that no blandishments or
persecutions could efface.
We may find another, and possibly the
greatest cause of their loyalty in the
number and ability of the loyal leaders,
who were men of ability far above those
who espoused the Confederate cause in
East Tennessee. The influence of the
Knoxville Whig conducted by the famous
Parson Brownlow was a most important
factor in shaping public sentiment at
that time. His vigorous editorials and
speeches won for him the admiration of
the loyal people and brought down upon
his head the anathemas, and the iron
hand of the Confederate military
authorities. But his great influence and
active interest and participation in the
events of the war and the reconstruction
period are too well known to require
further notice here. However, the
sublime courage, which in his case meant
the total absence of fear, the lofty
patriotism, that even when in feeble
health, made a prison cell preferable to
the comforts of home; when the price of
liberty was silence when the liberties
of his countrymen were being trampled in
the dust, or when truculency to a
Government he despised was the only
condition of his freedom, cannot be too
often held up as an example, nor can the
praise and honor which such noble
sacrifices merit be too often or too
highly extolled.
Perhaps, after all, one of the most
potent factors in determining the
loyalty of the people of East Tennessee,
was their love for the Union and
reverence and veneration for the "Old
Flag." "The Union, the Constitution and
The Enforcement of the Laws" was the
rallying cry of the Old Whig party as it
went down in final and irretrievable
defeat under Bell and Everett in the
election of i860. Though defeated they
still clung to the memories of their
achievements under Webster and Clay,
their heroes in the political arena, and
Harrison and Taylor their military
heroes. They remembered that it was for
the whole country their fathers fought
and their mothers wept, and for its
union and integrity that Clay and
Webster poured out their matchless
eloquence. They remembered that under
the "Starry Banner" our country's
history had been made glorious. Even
those who had been swept away by the
excitement of the hour and sectional
prejudice and gave their allegiance to
the Southern cause turned away from the
old flap with feelings of unfeigned
sorrow and regret. Doubtless, in the
storm of battle, when through the
parting smoke the old flag with its
"broad stripes and bright stars"
appeared in view across the lines, or
when the notes of the old national hymns
were heard above the din, a momentary
love for the old memories must have come
to those who were fighting under "the
strange flag."
It has been variously estimated that
East Tennessee furnished between 30,000
and 40,000 troops to the Federal army.
The exact number could not be
ascertained for the reason that before
any regular Tennessee organizations were
formed many who went through the lines
volunteered in the first Federal
regiments they found and served to the
end of the war in Northern and Western
regiments.
It is a fact worthy of note that Fast
Tennessee furnished more troops to the
Federal army than any section of the
Union in proportion to its population.
The male population of East Tennessee in
1860 between the ages of 18 and 45 years
was 45,000. Out of this population the
lowest estimate of troops who joined the
Federal army places them at 30,00o, the
exact number put down in the statistics
of the Government is 31,092, besides a
large number that joined the Confederate
army. This large proportion of troops to
the population is explained to some
extent by the fact that many joined the
army both over and under the legal
military age.
Much speculation has been indulged in
regard to the probable effect the
loyalty of East Tennessee had upon the
final issues of the war. Although the
North was much stronger in numbers and
wealth than the South ; so much so that
it was deemed an act of madness and
folly by many for the Southern people to
engage in war with a people so much
their superior in population and wealth;
yet after two years of war the result
seemed to hang in the balance, and the
greatest apprehensions were felt that
the Government would not be able to
suppress the Rebellion. The Government
securities were depreciated until gold
reached the enormous premium of 300. The
draft had to be resorted to to obtain
troops for the army, and open resistance
was made to the draft in New York,
Chicago and elsewhere. As late as 1864
the Democratic party of the North
nominated General George B. McClellan,
who had been Commander-in-Chief of the
Federal army, as a candidate for
President of the United State on a Peace
Platform declaring the war a failure and
demanding the recognition of the
independence of the Confederacy and the
cessation of hostilities. The deepest
gloom hung over the loyal people of the
country, and the friends of the
Government were in despair. The
Government and friends of the
Confederacy were correspondingly elated
and manifested the greatest confidence
in the success of their cause.
At this point we might well pause to
consider what might have been the final
result if East Tennessee, which was,
geographically, a part of the Southern
Confederacy, and which had no doubt been
reckoned upon by the leaders of the
Rebellion when estimating the population
that could be brought to their standard
in the event of war, had given its
adhesion to the Southern cause. -If the
30,000 East Tennessee troops that fought
for the Union could have been
transferred to the Southern army, making
a difference in the relative strength of
the two armies of 6o,000 men, then add
to this difference 10,000 Confederate
troops whose services were required to
keep the Union people of East Tennessee
in subjection and guard the mountain
passes, and we find a difference of m000
men—a vast army—in the effective force
of the Confederate army in the field !
We leave this subject to the earnest
consideration of our readers, content to
know that the loyal men of East
Tennessee sacrificed all for the Union,
and are proud of the honor of having
done a small part in its preservation.
The proposition that if the 290,000 men
who joined the Federal army from the
Southern and border States had joined
the Confederate army the South would
have gained its independence is too
self-evident to admit of discussion. The
proposition that 31,092 of them taken
from the important strategical grounds
of East Tennessee, and transferred to
the Southern army, releasing the large
force required to guard East Tennessee,
would have had a like result, is at
least a debatable one. These questions
are of importance now only, that if the
proposition is true, it would be an
additional star in the crown of honor
placed upon the brows of the heroes of
East Tennessee to say that, not only did
they "turn the tide of battle" at King's
Mountain, and their descendants under
General Jackson "bring back to the
Capitol of the Nation, with honor and
glory, the flag that the entire East had
let go down 'in disgrace, with the
Capitol in ashes," but that at a later
date the sons of these heroes stepped
into line once more, and at a time when
the ranks of the army of the Union were
wavering between victory and defeat,
gave it victory. We are aware this same
claim may be justly made by sections of
other Southern border States, as regards
their loyalty and aid to the Union cause
in the Civil War, but this does not in
any way effect the claim of East
Tennessee. |
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