1.
City
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A city is a large and permanent human settlement. Cities generally have complex systems for sanitation, utilities, land usage, housing, a big city or metropolis usually has associated suburbs and exurbs. Such cities are associated with metropolitan areas and urban areas. Once a city expands far enough to another city, this region can be deemed a conurbation or megalopolis. Damascus is arguably the oldest city in the world, in terms of population, the largest city proper is Shanghai, while the fastest-growing is Dubai. There is not enough evidence to assert what conditions gave rise to the first cities, some theorists have speculated on what they consider suitable pre-conditions and basic mechanisms that might have been important driving forces. The conventional view holds that cities first formed after the Neolithic revolution, the Neolithic revolution brought agriculture, which made denser human populations possible, thereby supporting city development. The advent of farming encouraged hunter-gatherers to abandon nomadic lifestyles and to settle near others who lived by agricultural production, the increased population density encouraged by farming and the increased output of food per unit of land created conditions that seem more suitable for city-like activities. In his book, Cities and Economic Development, Paul Bairoch takes up position in his argument that agricultural activity appears necessary before true cities can form. According to Vere Gordon Childe, for a settlement to qualify as a city, it must have enough surplus of raw materials to support trade and a relatively large population. To illustrate this point, Bairoch offers an example, Western Europe during the pre-Neolithic, when the cost of transport is taken into account, the figure rises to 200,000 square kilometres. Bairoch noted that this is roughly the size of Great Britain, the urban theorist Jane Jacobs suggests that city formation preceded the birth of agriculture, but this view is not widely accepted. In his book City Economics, Brendan OFlaherty asserts Cities could persist—as they have for thousands of years—only if their advantages offset the disadvantages, OFlaherty illustrates two similar attracting advantages known as increasing returns to scale and economies of scale, which are concepts usually associated with businesses. Their applications are seen in more basic economic systems as well, increasing returns to scale occurs when doubling all inputs more than doubles the output an activity has economies of scale if doubling output less than doubles cost. To offer an example of these concepts, OFlaherty makes use of one of the oldest reasons why cities were built, in this example, the inputs are anything that would be used for protection and the output is the area protected and everything of value contained in it. OFlaherty then asks that we suppose the protected area is square, the advantage is expressed as, O = s 2, where O is the output and s stands for the length of a side. This equation shows that output is proportional to the square of the length of a side, the inputs depend on the length of the perimeter, I =4 s, where I stands for the quantity of inputs. So there are increasing returns to scale, O = I2 /16 and this equation shows that with twice the inputs, you produce quadruple the output
2.
Tennessee
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Tennessee is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th largest and the 17th most populous of the 50 United States, Tennessee is bordered by Kentucky and Virginia to the north, North Carolina to the east, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi to the south, and Arkansas and Missouri to the west. The Appalachian Mountains dominate the eastern part of the state, Tennessees capital and second largest city is Nashville, which has a population of 654,610. Memphis is the states largest city, with a population of 655,770, the state of Tennessee is rooted in the Watauga Association, a 1772 frontier pact generally regarded as the first constitutional government west of the Appalachians. What is now Tennessee was initially part of North Carolina, Tennessee was admitted to the Union as the 16th state on June 1,1796. Tennessee was the last state to leave the Union and join the Confederacy at the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861, occupied by Union forces from 1862, it was the first state to be readmitted to the Union at the end of the war. Tennessee furnished more soldiers for the Confederate Army than any other state besides Virginia and this sharply reduced competition in politics in the state until after passage of civil rights legislation in the mid-20th century. This city was established to house the Manhattan Projects uranium enrichment facilities, helping to build the worlds first atomic bomb, Tennessees major industries include agriculture, manufacturing, and tourism. Poultry, soybeans, and cattle are the primary agricultural products, and major manufacturing exports include chemicals, transportation equipment. In the early 18th century, British traders encountered a Cherokee town named Tanasi in present-day Monroe County, the town was located on a river of the same name, and appears on maps as early as 1725. The meaning and origin of the word are uncertain, some accounts suggest it is a Cherokee modification of an earlier Yuchi word. It has been said to mean meeting place, winding river, according to ethnographer James Mooney, the name can not be analyzed and its meaning is lost. The modern spelling, Tennessee, is attributed to James Glen, the governor of South Carolina, the spelling was popularized by the publication of Henry Timberlakes Draught of the Cherokee Country in 1765. In 1788, North Carolina created Tennessee County, the county to be established in what is now Middle Tennessee. When a constitutional convention met in 1796 to organize a new out of the Southwest Territory. Other sources differ on the origin of the nickname, according to the Columbia Encyclopedia. Tennessee ties Missouri as the state bordering the most other states, the state is trisected by the Tennessee River. The highest point in the state is Clingmans Dome at 6,643 feet, Clingmans Dome, which lies on Tennessees eastern border, is the highest point on the Appalachian Trail, and is the third highest peak in the United States east of the Mississippi River
3.
Roane County, Tennessee
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Roane County is a county of the U. S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2010 census, the population was 54,181, Roane County is included in the Knoxville, TN Metropolitan Statistical Area. Roane County was formed in 1801, and named for Archibald Roane, Kingston, Roanes county seat, is rooted in Fort Southwest Point, a frontier fort constructed in the early 1790s. During the Civil War, Roane County, like many East Tennessee counties, was largely pro-Union, when Tennessee voted on the Ordinance of Secession on June 8,1861, Roane Countians voted 1,568 to 454 in favor of remaining in the Union. In October 1861, Union guerrilla William B. Carter organized the East Tennessee bridge-burning conspiracy from a command post in Kingston. During the Knoxville Campaign in December 1863, a Union force led by General James G. Spears scattered a small Confederate force led by John R. Hart near Kingston. In the years following the Civil War, Rockwood grew into a major iron, Iron ore and coal were mined on Walden Ridge and shipped to Rockwood, where the ore was converted into pig iron. The pig iron was shipped to rolling mills in Knoxville or Chattanooga. During the late 19th century, northern investors established two planned cities in Roane County— Cardiff and Harriman, Cardiff, located northeast of Rockwood, was planned as a company town to support several proposed mining industries in the area. Harriman was planned as a Temperance Town, both ventures suffered critical setbacks as a result of the Panic of 1893. Harriman survived, but never grew in the manner its planners had envisioned, according to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 395 square miles, of which 361 square miles is land and 34 square miles is water. Three rivers— the Tennessee River, the Clinch River, and the Emory River— pass through Roane County, the Emory empties into the Clinch near Kingston, and the Clinch empties into the Tennessee just downstream from Kingston. The rivers in Roane are mostly part of Watts Bar Lake, Roane County straddles the geographical boundary between the Tennessee Valley and the Cumberland Plateau, with the latters Walden Ridge escarpment visible from much of the county. The population density was 150 people per square mile, there were 25,716 housing units at an average density of 71 per square mile. The racial makeup of the county was 94. 4% White,2. 7% Black or African American,0. 3% Native American,0. 5% Asian,0. 0003% Pacific Islander,0. 17% from other races, and 1. 6% from two or more races. 1. 3% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race,26. 9% of all households were made up of individuals and 12. 2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.39 and the family size was 2.88. In the county, the population was out with 20. 8% under the age of 18 and 18. 6% who were 65 years of age or older
4.
Fort Southwest Point
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Fort Southwest Point was a federal frontier outpost at what is now Kingston, Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. Based on these findings, the City of Kingston and the Tennessee Division of Archaeology have reconstructed part of the fort, the site is managed by the City of Kingston. The Fort Southwest Point site is situated on a hill overlooking the confluence of the Tennessee River and this confluence is now part of the Watts Bar Lake impoundment of the Tennessee River, created by the completion of Watts Bar Dam in 1942. The Emory River empties into the Clinch approximately 5 miles upstream from Southwest Point, the Fort Southwest Point site is part of Southwest Point Park, which serves as both a historical and recreational area. The park is located along State Route 58 approximately 2 miles south of Interstate 40 and 1 mile south of U. S. Route 70. At the height of the American Revolution in 1779, Colonel Arthur Campbell suggested the confluence of the Clinch and Tennessee as a possible site for a fort to the governor of Virginia. Although Virginia never acted on Campbells advice, the end of the war brought a flood of settlers into the Tennessee Valley, leading to increased conflict with the valleys Cherokee inhabitants. During this period, two events occurred that greatly enhanced Southwest Points strategic importance, the construction of the Avery Trace in 1788, the Avery Trace, which began at Southwest Point, became the key road connecting East Tennessee and Middle Tennessee until around 1800. The Treaty of Holston fixed the boundary between U. S. and Cherokee lands at the Clinch River, placing Southwest Point on the fringe of lands open to settlement in East Tennessee. The waning years of the Cherokee–American wars brought an increase in Chickamauga Cherokee attacks against the encroaching Euro-American settlers, territorial governor William Blount kept the militia on call for much of the early 1790s in order to protect settlers and enforce the terms of the Holston Treaty. John Sevier, who commanded part of the militia, encamped at Southwest Point in 1792, by November of that year, Seviers troops had completed a blockhouse at the site, which they used as a base until 1793 when federal troops arrived. Between 1793 and 1796, the Southwest Point Blockhouse was garrisoned by a contingent of 10 to 15 troops. During this time, a decision was made to replace the blockhouse with a larger fort. The fort was referred to as Fort Butler after Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Butler. Lieutenant-Colonel Butler moved his headquarters to Fort Southwest Point in 1799, around the same time, lots had been sold for what eventually become the city of Kingston, named for Major Robert King, an officer stationed at the fort. Among the first duties of the Southwest Point garrison was to remove individuals who had settled on Cherokee lands illegally. However, the first Treaty of Tellico— which Butler helped negotiate in 1798— resolved many of the issues regarding squatters, by 1801, the Southwest Point garrison consisted of roughly 100 troops. In 1801, Colonel Return J. Meigs was appointed Cherokee Agent, although its garrison had been reduced, Fort Southwest Point served as an office for Meigs and as a distribution center for the Cherokee annuity
5.
ZIP Code
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ZIP Codes are a system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service since 1963. The term ZIP, an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan, was chosen to suggest that the travels more efficiently, and therefore more quickly. The basic format consists of five numerical digits, an extended ZIP+4 code, introduced in 1983, includes the five digits of the ZIP Code, a hyphen, and four additional digits that determine a more specific location within a given ZIP Code. The term ZIP Code was originally registered as a servicemark by the U. S. Postal Service, USPS style for ZIP is all caps and the c in code is also capitalized, although style sheets for some publications use sentence case or lowercase. The early history and context of postal codes began with postal district/zone numbers, the United States Post Office Department implemented postal zones for numerous large cities in 1943. For example, Mr. John Smith 3256 Epiphenomenal Avenue Minneapolis 16, by the early 1960s a more organized system was needed, and on July 1,1963, non-mandatory five-digit ZIP Codes were introduced nationwide. Three months later, on October 1,1963, the U. S, an earlier list in June had proposed capitalized abbreviations ranging from two to five letters. The abbreviations have remained unchanged, with one exception, according to the historian of the U. S. Robert Moon, an employee of the post office, is considered the father of the ZIP Code, he submitted his proposal in 1944 while working as a postal inspector. The post office gives credit to Moon only for the first three digits of the ZIP Code, which describe the sectional center facility or sec center, an SCF is a central mail processing facility with those three digits. The SCF sorts mail to all post offices with those first three digits in their ZIP Codes, the mail is sorted according to the final two digits of the ZIP Code and sent to the corresponding post offices in the early morning. Sectional centers do not deliver mail and are not open to the public, Mail picked up at post offices is sent to their own SCF in the afternoon, where the mail is sorted overnight. The United States Post Office used a character, which it called Mr. ZIP. He was often depicted with a such as USE ZIP CODE in the selvage of panes of stamps or on labels contained in, or the covers of. In 1983, the U. S. Postal Service introduced an expanded ZIP Code system that it called ZIP+4, often called plus-four codes, add-on codes, or add ons. But initial attempts to promote use of the new format met with public resistance. For Post Office Boxes, the rule is that each box has its own ZIP+4 code. However, there is no rule, so the ZIP+4 Code must be looked up individually for each box. It is common to use add-on code 9998 for mail addressed to the postmaster,9999 for general delivery, for a unique ZIP Code, the add-on code is typically 0001
6.
Knoxville, Tennessee
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Knoxville is a city in the U. S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Knox County. The city had an population of 185,291 in 2015. Knoxville is the city of the Knoxville Metropolitan Statistical Area. The KMSA is, in turn, the component of the Knoxville-Sevierville-La Follette Combined Statistical Area. First settled in 1786, Knoxville was the first capital of Tennessee, the city struggled with geographic isolation throughout the early 19th century. The arrival of the railroad in 1855 led to an economic boom, during the Civil War, the city was bitterly divided over the secession issue, and was occupied alternately by both Confederate and Union armies. Following the war, Knoxville grew rapidly as a wholesaling and manufacturing center. The citys economy stagnated after the 1920s as the manufacturing sector collapsed, Knoxville is the home of the flagship campus of the University of Tennessee, whose sports teams, called the Volunteers or Vols, are extremely popular in the surrounding area. The first people to form settlements in what is now Knoxville arrived during the Woodland period. One of the oldest artificial structures in Knoxville is a burial mound constructed during the early Mississippian culture period, the earthwork mound is now surrounded by the University of Tennessee campus. By the 18th century, the Cherokee had become the dominant tribe in the East Tennessee region, although they were consistently at war with the Creek, the Cherokee people called the Knoxville area kuwandatalunyi, which means Mulberry Place. Most Cherokee habitation in the area was concentrated in the Overhill settlements along the Little Tennessee River, the first Euro-American traders and explorers were recorded as arriving in the Tennessee Valley in the late 17th century. There is significant evidence that Hernando de Soto visited Bussell Island in 1540, the end of the French and Indian War and confusion brought about by the American Revolution led to a drastic increase in Euro-American settlement west of the Appalachians. By the 1780s, Euro-American settlers were established in the Holston. The U. S. Congress ordered all illegal settlers out of the valley in 1785, as settlers continued to trickle into Cherokee lands, tensions between the settlers and the Cherokee rose steadily. In 1786, James White, a Revolutionary War officer, and his friend James Connor built Whites Fort near the mouth of First Creek, on land White had purchased three years earlier. In 1790, Whites son-in-law, Charles McClung—who had arrived from Pennsylvania the previous year—surveyed Whites holdings between First Creek and Second Creek for the establishment of a town, mcClung drew up 640. 5-acre lots. The waterfront was set aside for a town common, two lots were set aside for a church and graveyard
7.
Harriman, Tennessee
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Harriman is a city located primarily in Roane County, Tennessee, with a small extension into Morgan County. The population of Harriman was 6,350 at the 2010 census, Harriman is included in the Knoxville, Tennessee Metropolitan Statistical Area. Harriman is located at 35°55′43″N 84°33′21″W, the Emory River enters the Tennessee Valley just west of Harriman at a pass known as Emory Gap, and forms an oxbow bend that surrounds the original section of Harriman. U. S. Route 27, known as Roane Street in Harriman, interstate 40 runs east-to-west through the citys southern section. Harrimans southwestern boundary, which it shares with Rockwood, is located along US-27 about a half-mile south of the intersection with I-40. The citys southeastern boundary runs along Pine Ridge, which overlooks the Kingston Fossil Plant, harrimans northern boundary is near US-27s split with State Highway 61. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of 10.6 square miles, of which 10.4 square miles is land and 0.19 square miles. As of the census of 2000, there were 6,744 people,2,907 households, the population density was 671.5 people per square mile. There were 3,309 housing units at a density of 329.5 per square mile. The racial makeup of the city was 90. 11% White,7. 43% African American,0. 22% Native American,0. 27% Asian,0. 01% Pacific Islander,0. 18% from other races, and 1. 78% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0. 76% of the population,34. 1% of all households were made up of individuals and 15. 9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.25 and the family size was 2.88. In the city, the population was out with 21. 9% under the age of 18,8. 7% from 18 to 24,25. 6% from 25 to 44,23. 8% from 45 to 64. The median age was 40 years, for every 100 females there were 83.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 78.5 males, the median income for a household in the city was $23,736, and the median income for a family was $31,190. Males had an income of $26,616 versus $20,278 for females. The per capita income for the city was $14,763, about 18. 6% of families and 22. 8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 32. 1% of those under age 18 and 18. 7% of those age 65 or over. Harriman was founded as a Temperance Town in 1889 by temperance movement activists led by New York-born minister and plant manager Frederick Gates
8.
Cherokee
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The Cherokee language is part of the Iroquoian language group. The Cherokee were one of the first, if not the first, article 8 in the 1817 treaty with the Cherokee stated Cherokees may wish to become citizens of the United States. The Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma has around 300,000 tribal members, in addition, numerous groups claiming Cherokee lineage, some of which are state-recognized, have members who are among those 819, 000-plus people claiming Cherokee ancestry on the US census. Of the three federally recognized Cherokee tribes, the Cherokee Nation and the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians have headquarters in Tahlequah, the UKB are mostly descendants of Old Settlers, Cherokee who migrated to Arkansas and Oklahoma about 1817. They are related to the Cherokee who were relocated there in the 1830s under the Indian Removal Act. The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians is on the Qualla Boundary in western North Carolina, the Cherokee refer to themselves as Ani-Yunwiya, which means Principal People. Many theories—though none proven—abound about the origin of the name Cherokee and it may have originally been derived from the Choctaw word Cha-la-kee, which means people who live in the mountains, or Choctaw Chi-luk-ik-bi, meaning people who live in the cave country. The earliest Spanish rendering of the name Cherokee, from 1755, is Tchalaquei, Another theory is that Cherokee derives from a Lower Creek word, Cvlakke. The Iroquois in New York have historically called the Cherokee Oyata’geronoñ, Tsalagi is sometimes misused as a name for the people, Tsalagi is actually the Cherokee word for the Cherokee language. There are two theories of Cherokee origins. Another theory is that the Cherokee had been in the Southeast for thousands of years, researchers in the 19th century recorded conversations with elders who recounted an oral tradition of the Cherokee peoples migrating south from the Great Lakes region in ancient times. They may have moved south into Muscogee Creek territory and settled at the sites of mounds built by the Mississippian culture, in the 19th century, European-American settlers mistakenly attributed several Mississippian culture sites to the Cherokee, including Moundville and Etowah Mounds. However, the Cherokee did not reach this part of Georgia until the late 18th century, pre-contact Cherokee are considered to be part of the later Pisgah Phase of Southern Appalachia, which lasted from circa 1000 to 1500. During the late Archaic and Woodland Period, Indians in the region began to cultivate plants such as elder, lambsquarters, pigweed, sunflowers. People created new art forms such as shell gorgets, adopted new technologies, during the Mississippian Culture-period, local women developed a new variety of maize called eastern flint corn. It closely resembled modern corn and produced larger crops, the successful cultivation of corn surpluses allowed the rise of larger, more complex chiefdoms with several villages and concentrated populations during this period. Corn became celebrated among numerous peoples in ceremonies, especially the Green Corn Ceremony. Much of what is known about pre-18th-century Native American cultures has come from records of Spanish expeditions, the earliest ones of the mid-16th-century encountered people of the Mississippian culture, the ancestors to later tribes in the Southeast such as the Muscogee and Catawba
9.
Tellico Blockhouse
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The Tellico Blockhouse was an early American outpost located along the Little Tennessee River in Vonore, Monroe County, Tennessee. The Tellico Blockhouse was the site where treaties were negotiated in which the Cherokee were induced to cede large portions of land in Tennessee. During this period, the blockhouse was the site of official liaisons between the United States government and the Cherokee. The Tellico Blockhouse site is located at the junction of Nine Mile Creek, Fort Loudoun was located just across the river to the west, but was in ruins by the time the blockhouse was built. The Overhill towns of Chota and Great Tellico were within a days journey to the south, the river town of Morganton was within walking distance, and Knoxville was just over thirty miles downstream to the north. As there were no bridges spanning the Little Tennessee until the late 19th century, blockhouse officials crossed at Niles Ferry, the Tellico Blockhouse was the starting point for the Old Federal Road, which connected Knoxville to Cherokee settlements in Georgia. The second half of the 18th century saw an expansion of European settlers into East Tennessee. This invariably brought them into conflict with the Cherokee, who had lived and hunted in the land for centuries, random murders and scalpings became commonplace, and the settlers formed independent militias to carry out reprisal attacks. With the violence spiraling out of control, Hanging Maw convinced Blount to construct a fort in the vicinity of the Overhill towns, the chief even donated the land. The Tellico Blockhouse was completed and garrisoned by troops from Knoxville in 1794. John McKee, a surveyor in the area, was appointed the first Tellico Agent, the agent would be the official liaison between the United States government and the Cherokee Nation. The blockhouse itself was a fort that utilized earthworks and timber. Sawed planking was shipped upstream from Knoxville, the original blockhouse was approximately 120x100 feet, enclosed by a palisade approximately 16 feet high. The gate was on the wall, with the captains quarters. The original enclosure also contained two barracks, a well, and parade grounds, a watchtower stood at the northeast corner. In 1795, Congress passed the Factory Act, which sought to improve relations with American Indians by setting up trading posts. To implement this, McKees successor, Silas Dinsmoor, expanded the Tellico Blockhouse to nearly double its size to incorporate a civilian half. This new section, separated by a wall from the section, contained lodging areas for travelers and delegates
10.
American Civil War
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The American Civil War was an internal conflict fought in the United States from 1861 to 1865. The Union faced secessionists in eleven Southern states grouped together as the Confederate States of America, the Union won the war, which remains the bloodiest in U. S. history. Among the 34 U. S. states in February 1861, War broke out in April 1861 when Confederates attacked the U. S. fortress of Fort Sumter. The Confederacy grew to eleven states, it claimed two more states, the Indian Territory, and the southern portions of the western territories of Arizona. The Confederacy was never recognized by the United States government nor by any foreign country. The states that remained loyal, including border states where slavery was legal, were known as the Union or the North, the war ended with the surrender of all the Confederate armies and the dissolution of the Confederate government in the spring of 1865. The war had its origin in the issue of slavery. The Confederacy collapsed and 4 million slaves were freed, but before his inauguration, seven slave states with cotton-based economies formed the Confederacy. The first six to declare secession had the highest proportions of slaves in their populations, the first seven with state legislatures to resolve for secession included split majorities for unionists Douglas and Bell in Georgia with 51% and Louisiana with 55%. Alabama had voted 46% for those unionists, Mississippi with 40%, Florida with 38%, Texas with 25%, of these, only Texas held a referendum on secession. Eight remaining slave states continued to reject calls for secession, outgoing Democratic President James Buchanan and the incoming Republicans rejected secession as illegal. Lincolns March 4,1861 inaugural address declared that his administration would not initiate a civil war, speaking directly to the Southern States, he reaffirmed, I have no purpose, directly or indirectly to interfere with the institution of slavery in the United States where it exists. I believe I have no right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so. After Confederate forces seized numerous federal forts within territory claimed by the Confederacy, efforts at compromise failed, the Confederates assumed that European countries were so dependent on King Cotton that they would intervene, but none did, and none recognized the new Confederate States of America. Hostilities began on April 12,1861, when Confederate forces fired upon Fort Sumter, while in the Western Theater the Union made significant permanent gains, in the Eastern Theater, the battle was inconclusive in 1861–62. The autumn 1862 Confederate campaigns into Maryland and Kentucky failed, dissuading British intervention, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which made ending slavery a war goal. To the west, by summer 1862 the Union destroyed the Confederate river navy, then much of their western armies, the 1863 Union siege of Vicksburg split the Confederacy in two at the Mississippi River. In 1863, Robert E. Lees Confederate incursion north ended at the Battle of Gettysburg, Western successes led to Ulysses S. Grants command of all Union armies in 1864
11.
East Tennessee Convention
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The East Tennessee Convention was an assembly of pro-Union delegates primarily from East Tennessee that met on three occasions during the U. S. Civil War. The state legislature denied this request, and the Confederate Army occupied the region in late 1861, Nelson was elected president of the Convention, and resolutions were adopted denouncing the state governments actions. The Convention met for the time in Greeneville from June 17 to June 20,1861. This second meeting produced a memorial to the government requesting East Tennessee be allowed to separate from Tennessee. The Convention met for a time in Knoxville from April 12 to April 16,1864, to address the Emancipation Proclamation. This final meeting was marked by divisions over the issue of slavery. Many of its delegates would serve in federal, state and local offices during the postwar period, throughout the first half of the 19th century, East Tennessee was frequently at odds with Tennessees two other grand divisions, Middle Tennessee and West Tennessee. Many East Tennesseans felt the state legislature showed persistent favoritism toward the two divisions, especially over funding for internal improvements. In the early 1840s, several East Tennessee leaders, among them Congressman Andrew Johnson, though this movement was unsuccessful, the idea that East Tennessee should be a separate state periodically resurfaced over the subsequent two decades. From the late 1830s until the early 1850s, Tennessee was politically divided between the Democratic Party and the Whig Party, with the Whigs drawing much of their support from East Tennessee. The collapse of the Whig Party over the issue of slavery in the mid-1850s left East Tennessees Whigs in a difficult position, most Northern Whigs joined the new Republican Party, but Southern Whigs generally found this unpalatable due to the Republicans abolitionist sentiments. Some prominent East Tennessee Whigs switched their allegiance to the Democratic Party, though most turned to third party movements, by the late 1850s, former Whigs, Know Nothings, and a few disgruntled Democrats had formed the Opposition Party to counter rising secessionist sentiment. Gubernatorial elections in Tennessee had been very competitive during the two prior to the election of Isham G. Harris in 1857. The six previous elections had all decided by less than 2,500 votes. Whigs relied heavily on East Tennessee and Democrats relied on Middle Tennessee, as the sectionalist conflict over the issue of slavery heated up in the late 1850s, however, sentiments in West Tennessee began to shift in favor of the Democrats. Harris, a staunch pro-slavery Southern Democrat, was elected by over 12,000 votes in 1857, Democrats also gained control of both chambers of the Tennessee General Assembly in the 1859 cycle. During the 1860 presidential election, East Tennessees former Whigs turned to the Constitutional Union Party and this partys candidate, John Bell, was a long-time Whig and native of Tennessee. After Abraham Lincoln won the election in November 1860, Southern Democrats, convinced that Lincoln would abolish slavery, began calling for secession
12.
East Tennessee bridge burnings
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The East Tennessee bridge burnings were a series of guerrilla operations carried out during the Civil War by Union sympathizers in Confederate-held East Tennessee in 1861. The pro-Union conspirators managed to destroy five of the nine targeted bridges, but the Union Army failed to move, the destruction of the bridges, which were all quickly rebuilt, had little military impact. However, the attacks caused a shift in the way the Confederate authorities dealt with East Tennessees large number of Union sympathizers. Portions of the region were placed under martial law, while dozens of Unionists were arrested and jailed, several suspected bridge burners were tried and hanged. The actions of the Confederate authorities placed increased pressure on Lincoln to send Union troops into East Tennessee. A pro-Union newspaper publisher, William G. Parson Brownlow, used the arrests and hangings as propaganda in his 1862 anti-secession diatribe, Sketches of the Rise, Progress and Decline of Secession. While secessionist sentiment raged throughout the South in late 1860 and early 1861, slavery was not very important to the East Tennessee economy, and the region had been at odds with the state government for decades over a lack of state appropriations for internal improvements. Furthermore, the Whig Party and its successors dominated large parts of East Tennessee, Tennessee as a whole voted to secede from the Union in a referendum held on June 8,1861, but nearly two-thirds of East Tennesseans rejected the referendum and remained sympathetic to the Union. The legislature rejected the petition, and Governor Isham Harris ordered Confederate forces under General Felix K. Zollicoffer into East Tennessee, both Union and Confederate leaders realized the railroads importance. He met with generals George H. Thomas and William T. Sherman, and his brother, Samuel P. Carter, William Carter revealed his plan to destroy the regions main railroad bridges to pave the way for a Union invasion. Thomas liked the plan, and although Sherman was initially skeptical, carrying a letter from Thomas, Carter travelled to Washington, D. C. to meet with President Lincoln, Commanding General George McClellan, and Secretary of State William H. Seward. Lincoln, under pressure from Senator Andrew Johnson and Congressman Horace Maynard to provide some sort of aid to East Tennessees Unionists. He allotted $2,500 for the operation, and Carter returned to Camp Dick Robinson to begin making arrangements, in mid-October 1861, Carter set up a command post in Kingston, Tennessee. Captains David Fry and William Cross, two officers who had assigned to the operation, were tasked with burning the Lick Creek and Loudon bridges. For the Strawberry Plains bridge, he recruited former Sevier County sheriff William C, each of Carters lieutenants in turn recruited reliable men to assist them. Fry chose Greene Countians Jacob and Thomas Harmon, Jacob Hensie, Alex Haun, Pickens recruited several fellow Sevier Countians, among them David Ray, James Montgomery, and Elijah Gamble. While Carter recruited conspirators, Union forces at Camp Dick Robinson prepared to march south to Knoxville, Thomas arrived at Crab Orchard, Kentucky, about 40 miles from Cumberland Gap, on October 31, and pleaded with Sherman to give the go-ahead. Sherman was unconvinced, however, and called off the invasion on November 7, the bridge burners, unaware of the shift in strategy in Kentucky, proceeded with their plans on the night of November 8
Media related to Kingston, Tennessee at Wikimedia Commons
