The loyal mountaineers of Tennessee

"The loyal mountaineers of Tennessee" by Thomas William Humes is a historical account written in the late 19th century. It chronicles the unwavering Unionism of East Tennessee’s mountaineers during the Civil War, set against their frontier roots and the turbulent local politics that preceded the conflict. Centered on Knoxville and the surrounding highlands, it highlights their hardships, military contributions, and the relief efforts that followed.

The opening of this volume sets the stage with a preface arguing that East Tennessee’s steadfast loyalty was unique in the Confederacy, explaining how isolation, geography, and limited slavery shaped a powerful attachment to the Union despite persecution, flight, and famine. The introduction surveys early settlement (Fort Loudon, Watauga), the valley’s striking landscape, and its people—Scotch-Irish influences, churches and schools, a culture of hospitality, and Knoxville’s role as the region’s hub—before noting how slavery sat lightly in the mountains yet stirred moral unease. The narrative then turns to frontier history: the Watauga association as an early self-governing republic, Lord Dunmore’s War, and the mountaineers’ decisive 1780 march—Shelby, Sevier, and Campbell—to defeat Ferguson at King’s Mountain, a victory portrayed as a turning point for American independence. Next comes the rise and fall of the State of Frankland (Franklin), detailing its clash with North Carolina, dual courts and taxes-in-kind, Sevier’s governorship, the Tipton-Sevier confrontation, and the movement’s collapse amid amnesties and Sevier’s narrow escape. Finally, the text shifts to shadows before 1861: sectional agitation, “Southern Commercial Conventions,” the 1860 canvass in Knoxville, and William L. Yancey’s secessionist speech and sharp exchange with local Unionists. (This is an automatically generated summary.)