East Tennessee Convention
The East Tennessee Convention was an assembly of Southern Unionist delegates primarily from East Tennessee that met on three occasions during the Civil War. The Convention most notably declared the secessionist actions taken by the Tennessee state government on the eve of the war unconstitutional, and requested that East Tennessee, where Union support remained strong, be allowed to form a separate state that would remain part of the United States split from the rest of Confederate Tennessee. The state legislature denied this request, and the Confederate Army occupied the region in late 1861.
East Tennessee Convention Proceedings title page
James G. Spears (vice president)
The old Greene County Courthouse in Greeneville, where the East Tennessee Convention met in June 1861
Tennessee Historical Commission marker in Greeneville, recalling the East Tennessee Convention's June 1861 session
In the United States, Southern Unionists were white Southerners living in the Confederate States of America opposed to secession. Many fought for the Union during the Civil War. These people are also referred to as Southern Loyalists, Union Loyalists, or Lincoln's Loyalists. Pro-Confederates in the South derided them as "Tories". During Reconstruction, these terms were replaced by "scalawag", which covered all Southern whites who supported the Republican Party.
Newton Knight (Mississippi), leader of the Knight Company and one of the founders of the Free State of Jones.
Montgomery C. Meigs (Georgia) was Quartermaster General of the U.S. Army during and after the war, and his ability to keep the Army supplied proved instrumental in ensuring victory.
David Farragut (Tennessee) was made rear admiral in the Union Navy after capturing New Orleans in the spring of 1862.
Sam Houston (Texas), erstwhile President of the Republic of Texas, was governor of Texas during the secession crisis of 1860-1861 and unsuccessfully tried to prevent Texas from seceding.