Tennessee was created in 1796 out of North Carolina. East Tennessee was
settled around 1790 by Revolutionary War veterans who had fought the British
to put a Union of States together and one might conclude their grandsons and
great grandsons had no thought of supporting its dissolution.
----- Original Message -----
From: "John Carter" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, February 20, 2003 11:00 AM
Subject: Re: Southern opposition to secession


> Having spent a little time working on Civil War-era
> research in northern Alabama, let me add my thoughts.
>
> The decision for Alabama's secession was made at their
> secession convention and was never put to the people
> for ratification. Thomas Joyce McClellan of Limestone
> County was angry, as were many of the delegates from
> northern Alabama, that the people never had a chance
> to ratify the decision. McClellan had earlier voted
> against secession (and refused to sign the order), and
> considered the demonstrations in Montgomery at the
> announcement of secession, to be "a soul-sickening
> spectacle," The Union flag flew over the Athens,
> Alabama courthouse, and "true-blue unionists" dared
> anyone to take it down. There was even talk of
> seceeding along with several southern Tennessee
> counties to form their own state (probably more of a
> fantasy than a reality).
>
> All talk of remaining in the Union and criticism of
> secession abruptly ended with the firing on Fort
> Sumter. The issue changed completely at that point to
> defending the "home country" and hearth and home.
> Thomas Joyce McClellan would send three sons off to
> the war and would serve in the Alabama legislature
> during the war.
>
> The issue of southern unionism and loyalty to either
> side is very complicated. Individual states and
> counties seemed to be very divided in their loyalties,
> and also, I think, in the reasons why they fought the
> war. I don't think one can make a statement that a
> region like northern Alabama, for instance, should be
> labled as a pro-Union area. The northern Alabama
> counties were a mixture of small farmers and large
> planters in a cotton-producing area with ties to the
> slave-economy, but also with strong interests in
> remaining in the Union. While many opposed immediate
> secession, some of those same people quickly jumped on
> the secession bandwagon once the firing started.
> However, from reading many of their letters before and
> during the war, it is clear that they thought the war
> was a mistake, and that they also hoped that once
> again the southern states might return to the Union.
>
> Northern Alabama was much like Culpeper, Virginia in
> that it was occupied off and on by Union troops; it
> had some citizens who were northern supporters, and
> some who were southern supporters; and it was subject
> to raids by both Union and Confederate forces. It was
> hard to get a feeling about loyalty towards either
> side when  Union troops under Gen. Basil Turchin would
> raid Athens on one day, and Nathan Bedford Forrest on
> the next. Many people just shut-up, hunkered-down, and
> rode it out. Thomas McClellan's son wrote to him from
> the front in Virginia, upon hearing of the Union
> occupation of northern Alabama, and advised him to act
> like "the perfect Yankee" to save his home and family.
>
>
> I am currently researching the old Whigs (1840-1852)
> from northern Alabama and south-central Tennessee to
> see if there is a connection between their Whig
> backgrounds and their secession politics. Any comments
> or suggestions?
>
> John Carter
>
>
> --- Gregg Kimball <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> > I would say that the eventual formation of West
> > Virginia also constitutes a
> > "significant public outcry . . . against secession."
> >  I would highly
> > recommend Dan Crofts' book "Reluctant Confederates"
> > on secession in the
> > upper South.  If I remember correctly, the decision
> > to secede was never put
> > to a popular vote in Virginia.  What was the case in
> > the other southern
> > states?
> >
> > Gregg Kimball
> >
> >
> > Gregg D. Kimball
> > Director of Publications
> >   and Educational Services
> > Library of Virginia
> > 804/692-3722
> > [log in to unmask]
> >
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>
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