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199-526: Tennessee (especially East Tennessee ), North Carolina , and Virginia (which included West Virginia at that time) were home to the largest populations of Unionists. Other (primarily Appalachian ) areas with significant Unionist influence included North Alabama , North Georgia , Western North Carolina , the Texas Hill Country , northern Loudoun County in Virginia, North Mississippi , North Texas ,

398-528: A Native American village named "Tanasqui" in the area while traveling inland from modern-day South Carolina ; however, it is unknown if this was the same settlement as Tanasi. The town appeared on British maps as early as 1725. Recent research suggests that the Cherokees adapted the name from the Yuchi word Tana-tsee-dgee , meaning "brother-waters-place" or "where-the-waters-meet". The modern spelling, Tennessee ,

597-462: A county seat . The state has 340 municipalities in total. The Office of Management and Budget designates ten metropolitan areas in Tennessee, four of which extend into neighboring states. East Tennessee East Tennessee is one of the three Grand Divisions of Tennessee defined in state law. Geographically and socioculturally distinct, it comprises approximately the eastern third of

796-655: A series of sit-ins at segregated lunch counters in Nashville organized by the Nashville Student Movement resulted in the desegregation of facilities in the city. On April 4, 1968, James Earl Ray assassinated civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. in Memphis. King had traveled there to support striking African American sanitation workers . The 1962 U.S. Supreme Court case Baker v. Carr arose out of

995-606: A temperate deciduous forest biome commonly known as the Eastern Deciduous Forest. It has eight ecoregions : the Blue Ridge , Ridge and Valley , Central Appalachian, Southwestern Appalachian, Interior Low Plateaus , Southeastern Plains, Mississippi Valley Loess Plains, and Mississippi Alluvial Plain regions. Tennessee is the most biodiverse inland state, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park

1194-561: A British fur trader, sent an expedition led by James Needham and Gabriel Arthur from Fort Henry in the Colony of Virginia into Overhill Cherokee territory in modern-day northeastern Tennessee. Needham was killed during the expedition and Arthur was taken prisoner, and remained with the Cherokees for more than a year. Longhunters from Virginia explored much of East Tennessee in the 1750s and 1760s in expeditions which lasted several months or even years. The Cherokee alliance with Britain during

1393-593: A base against the Chickasaw during the 1739 Campaign of the Chickasaw Wars . In the 1750s and 1760s, longhunters from Virginia explored much of East and Middle Tennessee. Settlers from the Colony of South Carolina built Fort Loudoun on the Little Tennessee River in 1756, the first British settlement in what is now Tennessee and the westernmost British outpost to that date. Hostilities erupted between

1592-540: A challenge to the longstanding rural bias of apportionment of seats in the Tennessee legislature and established the principle of " one man, one vote ". The construction of Interstate 40 through Memphis became a national talking point on the issue of eminent domain and grassroots lobbying when the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) attempted to construct the highway through the city's Overton Park . A local activist group spent many years contesting

1791-848: A cooler mountain temperate or humid continental climate . The Gulf of Mexico is the dominant factor in Tennessee's climate, with winds from the south responsible for most of the state's annual precipitation. Generally, the state has hot summers and mild to cool winters with generous precipitation throughout the year. The highest average monthly precipitation usually occurs between December and April. The driest months, on average, are August to October. The state receives an average of 50 inches (130 cm) of precipitation annually. Snowfall ranges from 5 inches (13 cm) in West Tennessee to over 80 inches (200 cm) in East Tennessee's highest mountains. Summers are generally hot and humid, with most of

1990-559: A faction of Cherokees led by Dragging Canoe — angry over the tribe's appeasement of European settlers— split off to form what became known as the Chickamauga faction , which was concentrated around what is now Chattanooga. The next year, the Chickamauga, aligned with British loyalists, attacked Fort Watauga. The warnings of Dragging Canoe's cousin Nancy Ward spared many settlers' lives from

2189-518: A grace period until May 1838 for them to voluntarily migrate. In 1838 and 1839, U.S. troops forcibly removed nearly 17,000 Cherokees and about 2,000 Black people the Cherokees enslaved from their homes in southeastern Tennessee to Indian Territory. An estimated 4,000 died along the way. The operation was orchestrated from Fort Cass in Charleston , which was constructed on the site of the Indian agency . In

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2388-810: A group of migrants from North Carolina (some historians suggest they were refugees of the Regulator wars ) formed the Watauga Settlement at Sycamore Shoals in modern-day Elizabethton on lands leased from the Cherokees. In 1772, the Wataugans established the Watauga Association , which was the first constitutional government west of the Appalachians and the germ cell of the state of Tennessee. Most of these settlers were English or of primarily English descent , but nearly 20% of them were Scotch-Irish . In 1775,

2587-463: A legal struggle in the 1930s with TEPCO president Jo Conn Guild and attorney Wendell Willkie that was eventually dismissed by the U.S. Supreme Court . TVA's construction of hydroelectric dams in East Tennessee would receive criticism with for what some have perceived as excessive use of its authority of eminent domain and an unwillingness to compromise with landowners. All of TVA's hydroelectric projects in East Tennessee were made possible through

2786-522: A poll that showed 6,504 in favor of statehood and 2,562 opposed. Elections for a constitutional convention were held in December 1795, and the delegates convened in Knoxville on January 17, 1796, to begin drafting a state constitution. During this convention, the name Tennessee was chosen for the new state. The constitution was completed on February 6, which authorized elections for the state's new legislature,

2985-587: A referendum calling for secession in February 1861, which failed, more than 80% of East Tennesseans voted against it, including majorities in every county except Sullivan and Meigs . In June 1861, nearly 70% of East Tennesseans voted against the state's second ordinance of secession which succeeded statewide. Along with Sullivan and Meigs, however, there were pro-secession majorities in Monroe, Rhea, Sequatchie, and Polk counties. There were also pro-secession majorities within

3184-535: A result, slavery remained relatively uncommon in the region. In the 1820s, the Cherokees established a government modeled on the U.S. Constitution , and located their capitol at New Echota in northern Georgia. In response to restrictive laws passed by the Georgia legislature, the Cherokees in 1832 moved their capital to the Red Clay Council Grounds in what is now Bradley County , a short distance north of

3383-520: A second referendum on secession by a 69–31% margin, becoming the last state to secede. In response, East Tennessee Unionists organized a convention in Knoxville with the goal of splitting the region to form a new state loyal to the Union. In the fall of 1861, Unionist guerrillas in East Tennessee burned bridges and attacked Confederate sympathizers, leading the Confederacy to invoke martial law in parts of

3582-472: A separate state that would remain as part of the Union. After the war, a number of industrial operations were established in cities in the region. The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), created by Congress during the Great Depression in the 1930s, spurred economic development and helped to modernize the region's economy and society. The TVA would become the nation's largest public utility provider. Today,

3781-626: A smaller unionist presence, the Upstate region of the state would be a haven for Confederate Army deserters and resisters, as they used the Upstate topography and traditional community relations to resist service in the Confederate ranks. The Southern Unionists were referred to in Henry Clay Work 's song Marching Through Georgia : Yes and there were Union men who wept with joyful tears, When they saw

3980-577: A total land area of 13,558.27 square miles (35,115.8 km ), comprises 32.90% of the state's land area and is the second-largest of the Grand Divisions, behind Middle Tennessee. The entirety of East Tennessee is both geographically and culturally part of Appalachia and the Appalachian Mountains and is usually considered part of the Upland South . East Tennessee borders North Carolina to

4179-689: A trail from Fort Chiswell in Virginia through the Cumberland Gap , which became part of the Wilderness Road , a major thoroughfare into Tennessee and Kentucky. The Chickamauga, a Cherokee faction loyal to the British led by Dragging Canoe , opposed the settling of the Washington District and Transylvania Colony, and in 1776 attacked Fort Watauga at Sycamore Shoals. The warnings of Dragging Canoe's cousin Nancy Ward spared many settlers' lives from

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4378-485: Is attributed to Governor James Glen of South Carolina, who used this spelling in his official correspondence during the 1750s. In 1788, North Carolina created " Tennessee County ", and in 1796, a constitutional convention , organizing the new state out of the Southwest Territory , adopted "Tennessee" as the state's name. The first inhabitants of Tennessee were Paleo-Indians who arrived about 12,000 years ago at

4577-616: Is characterized by relatively level plains dotted by rolling hills, and the Western Highland Rim and western Nashville Basin are covered with uneven rounded knobs with steep ravines separated by meandering streams. The Nashville Basin has rich, fertile farmland, and porous limestone bedrock very close to the surface underlies both the Nashville Basin and Eastern Highland Rim. This results in karst that forms numerous caves, sinkholes, depressions, and underground streams. West of

4776-400: Is far enough from the coast to avoid any direct impact from a hurricane, its location makes it susceptible to the remnants of tropical cyclones , which weaken over land and can cause significant rainfall. The state annually averages about 50 days of thunderstorms, which can be severe with large hail and damaging winds. Tornadoes are possible throughout the state, with West and Middle Tennessee

4975-743: Is in the Green River watershed. All three of these basins are tributaries of the Ohio River watershed. Most of West Tennessee is in the Lower Mississippi River watershed. The entirety of the state is in the Mississippi River watershed , except for a small sliver near the southeastern corner traversed by the Conasauga River , which is part of the Mobile Bay watershed. Tennessee is within

5174-778: Is known about East Tennessee's prehistoric Native Americans comes as a result of the Tennessee Valley Authority's reservoir construction, as federal law required archaeological investigations to be conducted in areas that were to be flooded. Excavations at the Icehouse Bottom site near Vonore revealed that Native Americans were living in East Tennessee on at least a semi-annual basis as early as 7,500 B.C. The region's significant Woodland period (1000 B.C. – 1000 A.D.) sites include Rose Island (also near Vonore) and Moccasin Bend (near Chattanooga). During what archaeologists call

5373-630: Is known as the Trail of Tears , and an estimated 4,000 died along the way. As settlers pushed west of the Cumberland Plateau, a slavery-based agrarian economy took hold in these regions. Cotton planters used extensive slave labor on large plantation complexes in West Tennessee's fertile and flat terrain after the Jackson Purchase. Cotton also took hold in the Nashville Basin during this time. Entrepreneurs such as Montgomery Bell used slaves in

5572-640: Is located on the western edge of the Knoxville television market as opposed to Pickett County which is in the northeastern tip of Nashville television market. East Tennessee is located within three major geological divisions of the Appalachian Mountains: the Blue Ridge Mountains on the border with North Carolina in the east; the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians (usually called the " Great Appalachian Valley " or "Tennessee Valley" ) in

5771-486: Is near the geographic center of the region; Chattanooga, which is in southeastern Tennessee at the Georgia border; and the "Tri-Cities" of Bristol , Johnson City , and Kingsport , located in the extreme northeastern part of the state. Of the ten metropolitan statistical areas in Tennessee , six are in East Tennessee. Combined statistical areas include Knoxville-Morristown-Sevierville, Chattanooga–Cleveland–Dalton , and Tri-Cities. Knoxville, with about 190,000 residents,

5970-552: Is now Alcoa in 1914, which required the construction of a large plant and company town and the building of a series of dams along the Little Tennessee River to supply the plant with hydroelectric power. In the late 19th to early 20th century, leisure resorts oriented on mineral springs flourished in the region, with the most popular being Tate Springs in Grainger County, which attracted many prestigious families of

6169-517: Is now Virginia in the latter 17th century, possibly to escape expanding European settlement and diseases in the north. The Cherokee established a series of towns concentrated in the Little Tennessee and Hiwassee valleys that became known as the Overhill towns , since traders from North Carolina , South Carolina , and Virginia had to cross over the mountains to reach them. Early in the 18th century,

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6368-702: Is now the city of Oak Ridge, and the following year work began on the enrichment facilities, K-25 and Y-12 . During the same period, Tennessee Eastman built the Holston Ordnance Works in Kingsport for the manufacture of an explosive known as Composition B , and the Department of Defense constructed the Volunteer Ordnance Works in Chattanooga to produce TNT . The ALCOA corporation, seeking to meet

6567-559: Is relatively distinct, but the western escarpment is irregular, containing several long, crooked stream valleys separated by rocky cliffs with numerous waterfalls . The Cumberland Mountains , with peaks above 3,500 feet (1,100 m), comprise the northeastern part of the Appalachian Plateau in Tennessee, and the southeastern part of the Cumberland Plateau is divided by the Sequatchie Valley . The Cumberland Trail traverses

6766-574: Is the most biodiverse national park, and the Duck River is the most biologically diverse waterway in North America. The Nashville Basin is renowned for its diversity of flora and fauna. Tennessee is home to 340 species of birds, 325 freshwater fish species, 89 mammals, 77 amphibians, and 61 reptiles. Forests cover about 52% of Tennessee's land area, with oak–hickory the dominant type. Appalachian oak–pine and cove hardwood forests are found in

6965-452: Is the state's third largest city and contains the state's third largest metropolitan area, with about 1 million residents. Chattanooga, with a population of more than 180,000, is the state's fourth largest city and anchors a metropolitan area with more than 500,000 residents, of whom approximately one-third live in Georgia. The Tri-Cities, while defined by the Office of Management and Budget as

7164-401: Is water. It is the 16th smallest state in land area. The state is about 440 miles (710 km) long from east to west and 112 miles (180 km) wide from north to south. Tennessee is geographically, culturally, economically, and legally divided into three Grand Divisions : East Tennessee , Middle Tennessee , and West Tennessee . It borders eight other states: Kentucky and Virginia to

7363-574: The Manumission Intelligencier (later The Emancipator ), the nation's first exclusively anti-slavery newspaper. At the onset of the American Civil War , most Middle and West Tennesseans favored efforts to preserve their slavery-based economies, but many Middle Tennesseans were initially skeptical of secession. In East Tennessee, most people favored remaining in the Union. In 1860, slaves composed about 25% of Tennessee's population,

7562-455: The American Civil War , Tennessee was politically divided, with most of its western and middle parts supporting the Confederacy , and most of the eastern region harboring pro - Union sentiment. As a result, Tennessee was the last state to officially secede from the Union and join the Confederacy , and the first former Confederate state readmitted to the Union after the war had ended during

7761-639: The Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) to improve economic development and job opportunities in the Appalachian region. The program resulted in the construction of new and improved highways in East Tennessee through the Appalachian Development Highway System and brought new industries to rural, impoverished counties in the region that had previously been dependent on declining sectors such as coal mining and logging. With

7960-685: The Archaic (8000–1000 BC), Woodland (1000 BC–1000 AD), and Mississippian (1000–1600 AD) periods. The Archaic peoples first domesticated dogs, and plants such as squash , corn , gourds , and sunflowers were first grown in Tennessee during the Woodland period. Later generations of Woodland peoples constructed the first mounds. Rapid civilizational development occurred during the Mississippian period, when Indigenous peoples developed organized chiefdoms and constructed numerous ceremonial structures throughout

8159-749: The Arkansas Ozarks , and the Boston Mountains in Arkansas. These areas provided thousands of volunteers for Union military service. Western North Carolinians, for example, formed their own loyalist infantry, cavalry, and artillery regiments, while West Virginians formed a new Union state admitted in 1863. The term Southern Unionist , and its variations, incorporate a spectrum of beliefs and actions. Some, such as Texas governor Sam Houston , were vocal in their support of Southern interests, but believed that those interests could best be maintained by remaining in

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8358-581: The Army of the Tennessee under the command of Ulysses S. Grant , William Tecumseh Sherman , Joseph Hooker , and George Henry Thomas arrived. Under the command of Hooker, the Union troops defeated the Confederates at the Battle of Lookout Mountain on November 24, and the following day Grant and Thomas completely ran the Confederates out of the city at the Battle of Missionary Ridge . These battles came to be known as

8557-825: The Blue Ridge Mountains , Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians , and Cumberland Plateau , part of the Appalachian Mountains ; the Highland Rim and Nashville Basin , part of the Interior Low Plateaus of the Interior Plains ; and the East Gulf Coastal Plain , part of the Atlantic Plains . Other regions include the southern tip of the Cumberland Mountains , the Western Tennessee Valley , and

8756-419: The Chattanooga campaign and marked a major turning point in the war, allowing Sherman to launch the Atlanta campaign from the city in the spring of 1864. A few days after the Chattanooga campaign concluded, Confederate General James Longstreet launched the Knoxville campaign in an effort to take control of the city. The campaign ended in a Union victory at the Battle of Fort Sanders on November 29, which

8955-431: The Chattanooga campaign , Confederates attempted to besiege the Army of the Cumberland into surrendering, but reinforcements from the Army of the Tennessee under the command of Grant, William Tecumseh Sherman , and Joseph Hooker arrived. The Confederates were driven from the city at the battles of Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge in November 1863. Despite Unionist sentiment in East Tennessee, Confederates held

9154-534: The Cherokee National Forest , the Great Smoky Mountains National Park , and several federal wilderness areas and state parks. The Appalachian Trail roughly follows the North Carolina state line before shifting westward into Tennessee. Stretching west from the Blue Ridge Mountains for about 55 miles (89 km) are the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians , also known as the Tennessee Valley or Great Valley of East Tennessee. This area consists of linear parallel ridges separated by valleys that trend northeast to southwest,

9353-411: The Cherokee language , the event is called Nunna daul Isunyi , meaning "the Trail Where We Cried", and it is commonly known as the Trail of Tears . The arrival of the railroad in the 1850s brought immediate economic benefits to East Tennessee, primarily to Chattanooga, which had been founded in 1839. Chattanooga quickly developed into a nexus between the mountain communities of Southern Appalachia and

9552-400: The Cleveland and Morristown metropolitan areas, each of which contain more than 100,000 residents. The Blue Ridge section of the state is much more sparsely populated, its main cities being Elizabethton , Pigeon Forge , and Gatlinburg . Crossville is the largest city in the plateau region, which is also sparsely populated. Most residents of the East Tennessee region commute by car with

9751-438: The Colony of Virginia into Overhill Cherokee territory in modern-day northeastern Tennessee. That same year, a French expedition led by missionary Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet explored the Mississippi River and became the first Europeans to map the Mississippi Valley. In 1682, an expedition led by René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle constructed Fort Prudhomme on the Chickasaw Bluffs in West Tennessee. By

9950-408: The Cumberland Association . This settlement later grew into the city of Nashville. That same year John Sevier led a group of Overmountain Men from Fort Watauga to the Battle of Kings Mountain in South Carolina, where they defeated the British. Three counties of the Washington District broke off from North Carolina in 1784 and formed the State of Franklin . Efforts to obtain admission to

10149-430: The Emancipation Proclamation was announced, Tennessee was largely held by Union forces and thus not among the states enumerated, so it freed no slaves there. Andrew Johnson declared all slaves in Tennessee free on October 24, 1864. On February 22, 1865, the legislature approved an amendment to the state constitution prohibiting slavery, which was approved by voters the following month, and would go into effect later on in

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10348-401: The French and Indian War led to the construction of Fort Loudoun in 1756 near present-day Vonore , which was the first British settlement in what is now Tennessee. Fort Loudoun was the westernmost British outpost to that date and was designed by John William Gerard de Brahm and constructed by forces under Captain Raymond Demeré. Shortly after its completion, Demeré relinquished command of

10547-409: The Great Smoky Mountains , Bald Mountains , Unicoi Mountains , Unaka Mountains , and Iron Mountains . These mountains, which average 5,000 feet (1,500 m) above sea level in Tennessee, contain some of the highest elevations in eastern North America. The state's border with North Carolina roughly follows the highest peaks of this range, including Kuwohi. Most of the Blue Ridge area is protected by

10746-491: The Kingsport-Bristol and Johnson City metropolitan areas, are usually considered one population center, which is the third-most populous in East Tennessee and the fifth-largest statewide. Most of East Tennessee's population is found in the Ridge-and Valley region, including that of its major cities. Other important cities in the Ridge and Valley region include Cleveland , Athens , Maryville , Oak Ridge , Sevierville , Morristown , and Greeneville . The region also includes

10945-441: The Mississippi Alluvial Plain . The state's highest point, which is also the third-highest peak in eastern North America, is Kuwohi , at 6,643 feet (2,025 m) above sea level. Its lowest point, 178 feet (54 m), is on the Mississippi River at the Mississippi state line in Memphis. Tennessee has the most caves in the United States, with more than 10,000 documented. Geological formations in Tennessee largely correspond with

11144-413: The Mississippian period (c. 1000–1600 A.D.), East Tennessee's indigenous inhabitants were living in complex agrarian societies at places such as Toqua and Hiwassee Island , and had formed a minor chiefdom known as Chiaha in the French Broad Valley. Spanish expeditions led by Hernando de Soto , Tristan de Luna , and Juan Pardo all visited East Tennessee's Mississippian-period inhabitants during

11343-426: The Overhill Cherokee because they lived west of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Overhill settlements grew along the rivers in East Tennessee in the early 18th century. The first recorded European expeditions into what is now Tennessee were led by Spanish explorers Hernando de Soto in 1540–1541, Tristan de Luna in 1559, and Juan Pardo in 1566–1567. In 1673, English fur trader Abraham Wood sent an expedition from

11542-402: The Reconstruction era . During the 20th century, Tennessee transitioned from a predominantly agrarian society to a more diversified economy. This was aided in part by massive federal investment in the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and the city of Oak Ridge , which was established during World War II to house the Manhattan Project 's uranium enrichment facilities for the construction of

11741-422: The Royal Colonial Boundary of 1665 , but due to faulty surveys, begins north of this line in the east, and to the west, gradually veers north before shifting south onto the actual 36°30′ parallel at the Tennessee River in West Tennessee. Uncertainties in the latter 19th century over the location of the state's border with Virginia culminated in the U.S. Supreme Court settling the matter in 1893 , which resulted in

11940-447: The Sequatchie Valley , a long narrow valley in the southeastern part of the Cumberland Plateau, is in East Tennessee. The part of the plateau east of the Sequatchie Valley is called Walden Ridge . One notable detached section of the plateau is Lookout Mountain , which overlooks Chattanooga. West of Chattanooga, the Tennessee River flows through the plateau in the Tennessee River Gorge . The Cumberland Mountains begin directly north of

12139-433: The Tennessee Centennial and International Exposition in Nashville. A full-scale replica of the Parthenon in Athens was designed by architect William Crawford Smith and constructed for the celebration, owing to the city's reputation as the "Athens of the South". Due to increasing racial segregation and poor standards of living, many black Tennesseans fled to industrial cities in the Northeast and Midwest as part of

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12338-420: The Tennessee General Assembly . The legislature convened on March 28, 1796, and the next day, John Sevier was announced as the state's first governor. Tennessee was admitted to the Union on June 1, 1796, as the 16th state and the first created from federal territory. Tennessee reportedly earned the nickname "The Volunteer State" during the War of 1812 , when 3,500 Tennesseans answered a recruitment call by

12537-499: The Tennessee River , forms at the confluence of the Holston and French Broad rivers in Knoxville and flows southwestward to Chattanooga. The lowest point in East Tennessee, at an elevation of approximately 600 feet (180 m), is found where the Tennessee River enters Alabama in Marion County. Other notable rivers in the upper Tennessee watershed include the Clinch , Nolichucky , Watauga , Emory , Little Tennessee , Hiwassee , Sequatchie , and Ocoee rivers. Notable "ridges" in

12736-446: The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) was created in 1933 to provide electricity, jobs, flood control, improved waterway navigation, agricultural development, and economic modernization to the Tennessee River Valley . The TVA built several hydroelectric dams in the state in the 1930s and 1940s, which inundated communities and thousands of farmland acreage, and forcibly displaced families via eminent domain . The agency quickly grew into

12935-435: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers operate many hydroelectric dams on the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers and their tributaries, which form large reservoirs throughout the state. About half the state's land area is in the Tennessee Valley drainage basin of the Tennessee River. The Cumberland River basin covers the northern half of Middle Tennessee and a small portion of East Tennessee. A small part of north-central Tennessee

13134-417: The U.S. Navy captured the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers in February 1862 at the battles of Fort Henry and Fort Donelson . Grant then proceeded south to Pittsburg Landing and held off a Confederate counterattack at Shiloh in April in what was at the time the bloodiest battle of the war. Memphis fell to the Union in June after a naval battle on the Mississippi River. Union strength in Middle Tennessee

13333-412: The U.S. state of Tennessee . East Tennessee consists of 33 counties , 30 located within the Eastern Time Zone and three counties in the Central Time Zone , namely Bledsoe , Cumberland , and Marion . East Tennessee is entirely located within the Appalachian Mountains , although the landforms range from densely forested 6,000-foot (1,800 m) mountains to broad river valleys. The region contains

13532-415: The Union failed, and the counties, now numbering eight, rejoined North Carolina by 1788. North Carolina ceded the area to the federal government in 1790, after which it was organized into the Southwest Territory on May 26 of that year. The act allowed the territory to petition for statehood once the population reached 60,000. Administration of the territory was divided between the Washington District and

13731-544: The whitewater slalom events at the Atlanta Summer Olympic Games were held on the Ocoee River in Polk County . In 2002, Tennessee amended its constitution to establish a lottery . In 2006, the state constitution was amended to outlaw same-sex marriage . This amendment was invalidated by the 2015 U.S. Supreme Court case Obergefell v. Hodges . On December 23, 2008, the largest industrial waste spill in United States history occurred at TVA's Kingston Fossil Plant when more than 1.1 billion gallons of coal ash slurry

13930-402: The world's first atomic bombs . After the war, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory became a key center of scientific research. The state's economy is dominated by the health care , music , finance , automotive , chemical , electronics , and tourism sectors, and cattle , soybeans , poultry , corn , and cotton are its primary agricultural products. Tennessee has played a major role in

14129-406: The "Cotton Capital of the World" during the late 19th century, and Nashville, Knoxville, and several smaller cities saw modest industrialization. Northerners also began exploiting the coalfields and mineral resources in the Appalachian Mountains. To pay off debts and alleviate overcrowded prisons, the state turned to convict leasing , providing prisoners to mining companies as strikebreakers , which

14328-566: The 16th century. Some of the Native peoples who are known to have inhabited the region during this time include the Muscogee Creek , Yuchi , and Shawnee . By the early 18th century, most Natives in Tennessee had disappeared, very likely wiped out by diseases introduced by the Spaniards, leaving the region sparsely populated. The Cherokee began migrating into what is now East Tennessee from what

14527-571: The 1960s and was declared by the Federal government to be the most polluted city in the country in 1969. In the mid-1980s, the city leaders launched a program called " Vision 2000 " which worked to revitalize and reinvent the city's economy and eventually resulted in a reversal of Chattanooga's decline. TVA's construction of the Tellico Dam in Loudon County became the subject of national controversy in

14726-498: The 1970s when the endangered snail darter fish was reported to be affected by the project. After lawsuits by environmental groups, the debate was decided by the U.S. Supreme Court case Tennessee Valley Authority v. Hill in 1978, leading to amendments of the Endangered Species Act . In 1982, a World's Fair was held in Knoxville. The fair was also known as the "Knoxville International Energy Exposition," and its theme

14925-413: The 20th and 21st centuries has produced a steady stream of musicians of national and international fame. Unlike the geographic designations of regions of most U.S. states, the term East Tennessee has legal as well as socioeconomic and cultural meaning. Along with Middle Tennessee and West Tennessee , it comprises one of the state's three Grand Divisions , whose boundaries are defined by state law. With

15124-654: The 36th and final state necessary to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution , which gave women the right to vote . In 1925, John T. Scopes , a high school teacher in Dayton , was tried and convicted for teaching evolution in violation of the state's recently passed Butler Act . Scopes was prosecuted by former Secretary of State and presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan and defended by attorney Clarence Darrow . The case

15323-540: The Blue Ridge Mountains and Cumberland Plateau, and bottomland hardwood forests are common throughout the Gulf Coastal Plain. Pine forests are also found throughout the state. The Southern Appalachian spruce–fir forest in the highest elevations of the Blue Ridge Mountains is considered the second-most endangered ecosystem in the country. Some of the last remaining large American chestnut trees grow in

15522-504: The Blue Ridge Mountains and on the Cumberland Plateau. Tennessee has the third-highest number of amphibian species, with the Great Smoky Mountains home to the most salamander species in the world. The state ranks second in the nation for the diversity of its freshwater fish species. Most of Tennessee has a humid subtropical climate , with the exception of some of the higher elevations in the Appalachians, which are classified as

15721-566: The Blue Ridge and Cumberland Mountains, which are classified as a cooler mountain temperate or humid continental climate . As the highest-lying region in the state, East Tennessee averages slightly lower temperatures than the rest of the state and has the highest rate of snowfall, which averages more than 80 inches (200 cm) annually in the highest mountains, although many of the lower elevations often receive no snow. The lowest recorded temperature in state history, at −32 °F (−36 °C),

15920-606: The British and the Cherokees into an armed conflict , and a siege of the fort ended with its surrender in 1760. After the French and Indian War , Britain issued the Royal Proclamation of 1763 , which forbade settlements west of the Appalachian Mountains in an effort to mitigate conflicts with the Natives. But migration across the mountains continued, and the first permanent European settlers began arriving in northeastern Tennessee in

16119-784: The Central Time Zone. Sequatchie County , located between Marion and Bledsoe Counties, is legally part of Middle Tennessee but is often considered part of East Tennessee. Sequatchie County has also been defined as part of East Tennessee in the past, and Marion County has been included in Middle Tennessee. Some of the northeastern counties of Middle Tennessee that supported the Union during the American Civil War, including Fentress and Pickett , are sometimes culturally considered part of East Tennessee. Fentress County in particular has been widely viewed by many as East Tennessee because it

16318-478: The Cherokee forced the remaining members of other Native American groups out of the state. The first recorded Europeans to reach the area were three expeditions led by Spanish explorers: Hernando de Soto in 1540–1541, Tristan de Luna in 1559, and Juan Pardo in 1566–1567. Pardo recorded the name "Tanasqui" from a local Native American village, which evolved into the state's current name. In 1673, Abraham Wood ,

16517-703: The Chickasaw to sell the land between the Mississippi and Tennessee Rivers to the United States, which included all of West Tennessee and became known as the " Jackson Purchase ". The Cherokee moved their capital from Georgia to the Red Clay Council Grounds in southeastern Tennessee in 1832, due to new laws forcing them from their previous capital at New Echota . In 1838 and 1839, U.S. troops forcibly removed thousands of Cherokees and their black slaves from their homes in southeastern Tennessee and forced them to march to Indian Territory in modern-day Oklahoma . This event

16716-644: The General Assembly for the war effort. These soldiers, under Andrew Jackson 's command, played a major role in the American victory at the Battle of New Orleans in 1815, the last major battle of the war. Several Tennesseans took part in the Texas Revolution of 1835–36, including Governor Sam Houston and Congressman and frontiersman Davy Crockett , who was killed at the Battle of the Alamo . The state's nickname

16915-511: The Great Smoky Mountains and roughly follows the border with North Carolina most of the distance to near the Roan Mountain , where it shifts entirely into Tennessee. The Ridge-and-Valley division is East Tennessee's largest, lowest lying, and most populous section. It consists of a series of alternating and paralleling elongate ridges with broad river valleys in between, roughly oriented northeast-to-southwest. This section's most notable feature,

17114-734: The Highland Rim is the Western Tennessee Valley , which consists of about 10 miles (16 km) in width of hilly land along the banks of the Tennessee River. West of this is the Gulf Coastal Plain , a broad feature that begins at the Gulf of Mexico and extends northward into southern Illinois . The plain begins in the east with low rolling hills and wide stream valleys, known as the West Tennessee Highlands, and gradually levels out to

17313-718: The Little Tennessee and Hiwassee Rivers. In anticipation of forced removal of the Cherokees, white settlers began moving into Cherokee lands in southeast Tennessee in the 1820s and 1830s. East Tennessee was home to one of the nation's first abolitionist movements, which arose in the early 19th century. Quakers , who had migrated to the region from Pennsylvania in the 1790s, formed the Manumission Society of Tennessee in 1814. Notable supporters included Presbyterian clergyman Samuel Doak , Tusculum College cofounder Hezekiah Balch , and Maryville College president Isaac Anderson. In 1820, Elihu Embree established The Emancipator —

17512-522: The Mero District, the latter of which consisted of the Cumberland Association and was named for Spanish territorial governor Esteban Rodríguez Miró . President George Washington appointed William Blount as territorial governor. The Southwest Territory recorded a population of 35,691 in the first United States census that year, including 3,417 slaves. As support for statehood grew among

17711-502: The Nashville Basin and are being used to help breed blight -resistant trees. Middle Tennessee is home to many unusual and rare ecosystems known as cedar glades , which occur in areas with shallow limestone bedrock that is largely barren of overlying soil and contain many endemic plant species. Common mammals found throughout Tennessee include white-tailed deer , red and gray foxes , coyotes , raccoons , opossums , wild turkeys , rabbits , and squirrels . Black bears are found in

17910-679: The Ridge-and-Valley range, which exceed elevations much greater than most surrounding ridges and are commonly referred to as mountains, include Clinch Mountain , Bays Mountain , and Powell Mountain . The Cumberland Plateau rises nearly 1,000 feet (300 m) above the Appalachian Valley, stretching from the Kentucky border in the north to the Georgia and Alabama borders in the south. It has an average elevation of 2,000 feet (610 m) and consists mostly of flat-topped tablelands , although

18109-694: The Sequatchie Valley and extend northward to the Cumberland Gap at the Tennessee-Kentucky-Virginia tripoint . While technically a separate physiographic region, the Cumberland Mountains are usually considered part of the Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee. The Cumberland Mountains reach elevations above 3,500 feet (1,100 m) in Tennessee, and their largest subrange is the Crab Orchard Mountains . The Cumberland Trail traverses

18308-718: The South and tried to stay neutral. The term could also be used for any Southerner who worked with the Republican Party or Union government in any capacity after the war ended in 1865. A study of Southern Unionists in Alabama who continued to support the Union during the war found that they were typically "old fashioned" or " Jackson " conservative Democrats, or former Whigs , who viewed the federal government as worthy of defending because it had provided economic and political security. They saw secession as dangerous, illegitimate, and contrary to

18507-450: The TVA's administrative operations are headquartered in Knoxville, and its power operations are based in Chattanooga. Oak Ridge was the site of the world's first successful uranium enrichment operations, which were used to construct the world's first atomic bombs, two of which were dropped on Imperial Japan at the end of World War II . The Appalachian Regional Commission further transformed

18706-474: The Tennessee River. Starting with Norris Dam in 1933, the agency built 10 dams in East Tennessee (and five more across the border in North Carolina and Georgia) over a period of two decades. Melton Hill and Nickajack were added in the 1960s, and the last, Tellico Dam , was completed in 1979 after a contentious five-year legal battle with environmentalists. TVA also gained control of TEPCO's assets after

18905-476: The Tri-Cities region and Upper East Tennessee. The 2nd District includes Knoxville and the mountain counties to the south. The 3rd District includes the Chattanooga area and the counties north of Knoxville (the two areas are connected by a narrow corridor in eastern Roane County). The 4th, which extends into an area southeast of Nashville, includes several of East Tennessee's Cumberland Plateau counties. Much of what

19104-452: The U.S. Supreme Court ruled racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional in Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, Oak Ridge High School in 1955 became the first school in Tennessee to be integrated . The next year, nearby Clinton High School was integrated, and Tennessee National Guard troops were sent in after pro-segregationists threatened violence. Between February and May 1960,

19303-514: The Union as it existed. Some Unionists initially opposed secession (especially in the states of Tennessee, North Carolina, and Virginia), but afterward either actively served and fought with the Confederate armies, or supported the Confederacy in other ways. Others refused to fight, went North or stayed North to enlist in the Union Army , or fought informally as partisans in the South. Some remained in

19502-595: The United States, which many of their ancestors had fought for in 1776 and 1812 , was the unmanly and dishonorable act. In 2003, historian James Alex Baggett profiled more than 1,400 Southern political activists (742 Southern Unionists, and 666 Redeemers who eventually replaced them) in three regions (the Upper South, the Southeast, and the Southwest). He coded them as follows: Baggett claimed that each activist's score

19701-703: The Washington District to provide protection from Native American attacks. In 1775, Richard Henderson negotiated a series of treaties with the Cherokee to sell the lands of the Watauga settlements at Sycamore Shoals on the banks of the Watauga River . An agreement to sell land for the Transylvania Colony , which included the territory in Tennessee north of the Cumberland River, was also signed. Later that year, Daniel Boone , under Henderson's employment, blazed

19900-503: The Washington District, which was granted in November 1776. In 1775, Richard Henderson negotiated a series of treaties with the Cherokee to sell the lands of the Watauga settlements. Later that year, Daniel Boone, under Henderson's employment, blazed a trail from Fort Chiswell in Virginia through the Cumberland Gap , which became part of the Wilderness Road , a major thoroughfare for settlers into Tennessee and Kentucky. That same year,

20099-547: The Washington District. The 1791 Treaty of Holston , negotiated by William Blount, established terms of relations between the United States and the Cherokees. The First Treaty of Tellico established the boundaries of the Treaty of Holston, and a series of treaties over the next two decades ceded small amounts of Cherokee lands to the U.S. government. In the Calhoun Treaty of 1819, the U.S. government purchased Cherokee lands between

20298-558: The area for most of the war. A few days after the fall of Chattanooga, Confederates led by James Longstreet unsuccessfully campaigned to take control of Knoxville by attacking Union General Ambrose Burnside 's Fort Sanders . The capture of Chattanooga allowed Sherman to launch the Atlanta campaign from the city in May 1864. The last major battles in the state came when Army of Tennessee regiments under John Bell Hood invaded Middle Tennessee in

20497-486: The border with Georgia. A total of eleven general councils were held at the site between 1832 and 1838, during which the Cherokees rejected multiple compromises to surrender their lands east of the Mississippi River and move west. The 1835 Treaty of New Echota which was not approved by the National Council at Red Clay, stipulated that the Cherokee relocate to Indian Territory in present-day Oklahoma , and provided

20696-533: The center; and the Cumberland Plateau in the west, part of which is in Middle Tennessee. The southern tip of the Cumberland Mountains also extends into the region between the Cumberland Plateau and Ridge-and-Valley regions. Both the Cumberland Plateau and Cumberland Mountains are part of the larger Appalachian Plateau . The Blue Ridge section comprises the western section of the Blue Ridge Province,

20895-634: The cities of Knoxville and Chattanooga, although these cities' respective counties voted decisively against secession. In June 1861, the Unionist East Tennessee Convention met in Greeneville, where it drafted a petition to the Tennessee General Assembly demanding that East Tennessee be allowed to form a separate Union-aligned state split off from the rest of Tennessee, similar to West Virginia . The legislature rejected

21094-538: The claims of these Northerners were greatly embellished. In fact, there were fewer Unionists in the South than many Northerners believed, and they tended to be concentrated in areas such as northwest Virginia, East Tennessee , and parts of North Carolina where slave owners and slaves themselves were few. Furthermore, in the states that had already seceded, irreversible action had already taken place; federal buildings, mints, and courthouses had been seized. Many Southern soldiers remained loyal when their states seceded. During

21293-466: The construction of planned communities such as Tellico Village in Loudon County. East Tennessee's physiographic layout and rural nature made it the ideal location for the uranium enrichment facilities of the Manhattan Project , the U.S. federal government 's top secret World War II -era initiative to build the first atomic bomb . Starting in 1942, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers built what

21492-639: The cotton states of the Deep South, being referred to as the Gateway to the Deep South. In 1843, copper was discovered in the Copper Basin in the extreme southeast corner of the state, and by the 1850s, large industrial-scale mining operations were taking place, making the Copper Basin one of the most productive copper mining districts in the nation. The American Civil War sentiments of East Tennesseans were among

21691-406: The country's largest electric utility and initiated a period of dramatic economic growth and transformation that brought many new industries and employment opportunities to the state. During World War II , East Tennessee was chosen for the production of weapons-grade fissile enriched uranium as part of the Manhattan Project , a research and development undertaking led by the U.S. to produce

21890-718: The crests of which form most of the Tennessee-North Carolina border. At an average elevation of 5,000 feet (1,500 m) above sea level, this physiographic province contains the highest elevations in the state. The Blue Ridge region is subdivided into several subranges—the Iron Mountains , Unaka Range , and Bald Mountains in the north; the Great Smoky Mountains in the center; and the Unicoi Mountains , Little Frog Mountain , and Big Frog Mountain areas in

22089-572: The development of many forms of popular music , including country , blues , rock and roll , soul , and gospel . Tennessee derives its name most directly from the Cherokee town of Tanasi (or "Tanase", in syllabary : ᏔᎾᏏ) in present-day Monroe County, Tennessee , on the Tanasi River, now known as the Little Tennessee River . In 1567, Spanish explorer Captain Juan Pardo and his party encountered

22288-408: The division between Middle and West Tennessee. Tennessee's eastern boundary roughly follows the highest crests of the Blue Ridge Mountains , and the Mississippi River forms its western boundary. Due to flooding of the Mississippi that has changed its path, the state's western boundary deviates from the river in some places. The northern border was originally defined as 36°30′ north latitude and

22487-455: The division of Bristol between the two states. An 1818 survey erroneously placed Tennessee's southern border 1 mile (1.6 km) south of the 35th parallel ; Georgia legislators continue to dispute this placement , as it prevents Georgia from accessing the Tennessee River. Marked by a diversity of landforms and topographies, Tennessee features six principal physiographic provinces , from east to west, which are part of three larger regions:

22686-601: The early 1890s, Tennessee's controversial convict lease system sparked a miners' uprising in Anderson County that became known as the Coal Creek War . While the uprising was eventually crushed, it induced the state to do away with convict leasing, making Tennessee the first southern state to end the controversial practice. Other ambitious ventures during the period included the construction of Ocoee Dam No. 1 and Hales Bar Dam (completed in 1911 and 1913 respectively) by

22885-429: The east, Virginia to the northeast, Kentucky to the north, Georgia to the south, and Alabama in the extreme southwest corner. According to custom, the boundary between East and Middle Tennessee roughly follows the dividing line between Eastern and Central Time Zone . Exceptions to this rule are that Bledsoe , Cumberland , and Marion Counties are legally defined as part of East Tennessee, despite being within

23084-407: The eastern escarpment of the Cumberland Plateau and Cumberland Mountains. The Official Tourism Website of Tennessee has a definition of East Tennessee slightly different from the legal definition; the website excludes Cumberland County while including Grundy and Sequatchie Counties. Most of East Tennessee has a humid subtropical climate , with the exception of some of the higher elevations in

23283-514: The eastern escarpment of the Cumberland Plateau and Cumberland Mountains. West of the Cumberland Plateau is the Highland Rim , an elevated plain that surrounds the Nashville Basin , a geological dome . Both of these physiographic provinces are part of the Interior Low Plateaus of the larger Interior Plains . The Highland Rim is Tennessee's largest geographic region, and is often split into eastern and western halves. The Eastern Highland Rim

23482-479: The end of the Last Glacial Period . Archaeological excavations indicate that the lower Tennessee Valley was heavily populated by Ice Age hunter-gatherers , and Middle Tennessee is believed to have been rich with game animals such as mastodons . The names of the cultural groups who inhabited the area before European contact are unknown, but archaeologists have named several distinct cultural phases, including

23681-612: The entirety of East Tennessee from northwestern Alabama to southwestern Virginia, and is considered one of the most active zones in the Southeastern United States, frequently producing low-magnitude earthquakes. The New Madrid seismic zone in the northwestern part of the state produced a series of devastating earthquakes between December 1811 and February 1812 that formed Reelfoot Lake near Tiptonville . The southwestern Blue Ridge Mountains lie within Tennessee's eastern edge, and are divided into several subranges, namely

23880-446: The era, including the Ford , Rockefeller , Firestone , Studebaker , and Mellon families. The region received international attention in the public execution of a circus elephant via hanging . After killing its trainer in a circus performance in Kingsport, the elephant was transported to Erwin in nearby Unicoi County and hanged in front of a crowd of roughly 2,500 residents. A picture of

24079-453: The fact that other states had not yet ratified it. Johnson became vice president when Lincoln was reelected , and president after Lincoln's assassination in May 1865. On July 24, 1866, Tennessee became the first Confederate state to have its elected members readmitted to Congress. The years after the Civil War were characterized by tension and unrest between blacks and former Confederates,

24278-536: The fall of 1864 in an effort to draw Sherman back. They were checked by John Schofield at Franklin in November and completely dispersed by George Thomas at Nashville in December. On April 27, 1865, the worst maritime disaster in American history occurred when the Sultana steamboat, which was transporting freed Union prisoners, exploded in the Mississippi River north of Memphis, killing 1,168 people. When

24477-525: The first Southern cities to experience the results of the Industrial Revolution in the United States . Other cities in the region, such as Lenoir City , Harriman , Rockwood , Dayton , and Englewood , were founded as company towns during this period. The Burra Burra Mine —established in the 1890s in the Copper Basin—was at its height one of the nation's copper mining operations. In 1899,

24676-457: The first constitutional government west of the Appalachian Mountains . Its name derives from Tanasi ( ᏔᎾᏏ ), a Cherokee town preceding the first European American settlement. Tennessee was initially part of North Carolina, and later the Southwest Territory , before its admission to the Union as the 16th state on June 1, 1796. It earned the nickname "The Volunteer State" due to a strong tradition of military service. A slave state until

24875-449: The first public school in Tennessee to be integrated . This occurred one year after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled racial segregation to be unconstitutional in Brown v. Board of Education . In 1956, judge Robert Love Taylor ordered nearby Clinton High School to be integrated, and a crisis developed when pro-segregationists threatened violence, prompting Governor Frank G. Clement to send Tennessee National Guard troops to assist with

25074-627: The first wave of the Great Migration between 1915 and 1930. Many residents of rural parts of Tennessee relocated to larger cities during this time for more lucrative employment opportunities. As part of the Temperance movement , Tennessee became the first state in the nation to effectively ban the sale, transportation, and production of alcohol in a series of laws passed between 1907 and 1917. During Prohibition , illicit production of moonshine became extremely common in East Tennessee, particularly in

25273-607: The forerunners of the Tennessee Electric Power Company (TEPCO). In the 1920s, Tennessee Eastman —destined to become the state's largest employer—was established in Kingsport, and in nearby Elizabethton the German-owned Bemberg Corporation built two large rayon mills. Equally ambitious was the Aluminum Company of America 's establishment of a massive aluminum smelting operation at what

25472-568: The fort to his brother, Captain Paul Demeré. Hostilities erupted between the British and the Overhill Cherokees into an armed conflict , and a siege of the fort ended with its surrender in 1760. The next morning, Paul Demeré and many his men were killed in an ambush nearby, and most of the rest of the garrison was taken prisoner. A peace expedition led by Henry Timberlake in 1761 provided later travelers with invaluable knowledge regarding

25671-492: The general direction of the entire Appalachian range. Most of these ridges are low, but some of the higher ones are commonly called mountains. Numerous tributaries join to form the Tennessee River in the Ridge and Valley region. The Cumberland Plateau rises to the west of the Tennessee Valley, with an average elevation of 2,000 feet (610 m). This landform is part of the larger Appalachian Plateau and consists mostly of flat-topped tablelands . The plateau's eastern edge

25870-399: The height of the Great Depression , drastically altered the economic, cultural, and physical landscape of East Tennessee. TVA sought to build a series of dams across the Tennessee River watershed to control flooding, bring cheap electricity to East Tennessee, and connect Knoxville and Chattanooga to the nation's inland waterways by creating a continuously navigable channel along the entirety of

26069-605: The highest concentrations of people who identify as White or European American . In the 2010 census, every county in East Tennessee except for Knox and Hamilton, the two most populous counties, had a population that was greater than 90% White. In most counties in East Tennessee, persons of Hispanic or Latino origins outnumber African Americans, which is uncommon in the Southeastern United States. Large African American populations are found in Chattanooga and Knoxville, as well as considerable populations in several smaller cities. The major cities of East Tennessee are Knoxville, which

26268-415: The honored flag they had not seen for years; Hardly could they be restrained from breaking forth in cheers, While we were marching through Georgia. Southern Unionists were extensively used as anti- guerrilla forces and as occupation troops in areas of the Confederacy occupied by the Union. Ulysses S. Grant noted: We had many regiments of brave and loyal men who volunteered under great difficulty from

26467-408: The initial attacks. In 1779, James Robertson and John Donelson led two groups of settlers from the Washington District to the French Lick. These settlers constructed Fort Nashborough , which they named for Francis Nash , a brigadier general of the Continental Army . The next year, the settlers signed the Cumberland Compact , which established a representative government for the colony called

26666-432: The initial attacks. In spite of Dragging Canoe's protests, the Cherokee were continuously induced to sign away most of the tribe's lands to the U.S. government. During the American Revolution , the Wataugans supplied 240 militiamen (led by John Sevier ) to the frontier force known as the Overmountain Men , which defeated British loyalists at the Battle of Kings Mountain in 1780. Tennessee's first attempt at statehood

26865-482: The integration process. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, federal investments into urbanized areas provided major cities of the East Tennessee region to establish urban renewal initiatives, often involving the demolition or redevelopment of blighted commercial areas or neighborhoods for new public buildings and freeways . These projects would often involve the controversial removal and redlining of poverty-stricken and minority households. In 1965, Congress created

27064-537: The intentions of the Founding Fathers , and believed that the Confederacy could not improve on the United States government. The desire for security was a motivation for Unionist slaveholders, who feared that secession would cause a conflict that would result in the loss of their slaves; however, some stated that they would rather give up slavery than dissolve the Union. The Southern ideals of honor, family, and duty were as important to Unionists as to their pro-secession neighbors. They believed, however, that rebelling against

27263-446: The investment of the ARC, several cities emerged as industrial hubs of the East Tennessee region, including Cleveland, Kingsport, Knoxville, and Morristown. Beginning around this time, East Tennessee, along with the rest of the state, began to benefit from the nationwide Sun Belt phenomenon, which brought additional economic growth to the region. The region saw its most rapid growth in the 1970s. Chattanooga, however, began to decline in

27462-420: The juncture of the Holston and French Broad rivers in Knoxville, flows southwest to Chattanooga, and exits into Alabama before reemerging in the western part of the state and flowing north into Kentucky. Its major tributaries include the Clinch , Little Tennessee , Hiwassee , Sequatchie , Elk , Beech , Buffalo , Duck , and Big Sandy rivers. The Cumberland River flows through the north-central part of

27661-411: The lack of alternative modes of transportation such as commuter rail or regional bus systems. Residents of the metropolitan areas for Knoxville, Morristown, Chattanooga, and the Tri-Cities region have an estimated one-way commute of 23 minutes. East Tennessee includes all of the state's 1st , 2nd , and 3rd congressional districts and part of the 4th district. The 1st District is concentrated around

27860-401: The late 1760s. Most of them were English , but nearly 20% were Scotch-Irish . They formed the Watauga Association in 1772, a semi-autonomous representative government, and three years later reorganized themselves into the Washington District to support the cause of the American Revolutionary War . The next year, after an unsuccessful petition to Virginia, North Carolina agreed to annex

28059-425: The late 17th century, French traders began to explore the Cumberland River valley, and in 1714, under Charles Charleville's command, established French Lick, a fur trading settlement at the present location of Nashville near the Cumberland River . In 1739, the French constructed Fort Assumption under Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville on the Mississippi River at the present location of Memphis, which they used as

28258-430: The late 18th and early 19th centuries. A larger group of settlers, entirely of English descent, arrived from Virginia's Middle Peninsula . They arrived as a result of large landowners buying up land and expanding in such a way that smaller landholders had to leave the area to prosper. During the late 18th and early 19th centuries, a series of land cessions were negotiated with the Cherokees as settlers pushed south of

28457-458: The latter 17th century, possibly to escape expanding European settlement and diseases in the north. They forced the Creek, Yuchi, and Shawnee out of the state in the early 18th century. The Chickasaw remained confined to West Tennessee, and the middle part of the state contained few Native Americans, although both the Cherokee and the Shawnee claimed the region as their hunting ground. Cherokee peoples in Tennessee were known by European settlers as

28656-564: The legislature allowed African American men to vote, disenfranchised former Confederates, and with martial law, took action against the Ku Klux Klan , which was founded in December 1865 in Pulaski as a vigilante group to advance former Confederates' interests. In 1870, Southern Democrats regained control of the state legislature, and over the next two decades, passed Jim Crow laws to enforce racial segregation . A total of 251 lynchings , predominately of Black people, took place in Tennessee. A number of epidemics swept through Tennessee in

28855-470: The liberation of East Tennessee a top priority. Knoxville Whig editor William "Parson" Brownlow , who had been one of slavery's most outspoken defenders, attacked secessionism with equal fervor and embarked on a speaking tour of the Northern states to rally support for East Tennessee. In 1862, Lincoln appointed Johnson, a War Democrat , as military governor of Tennessee. Several crucial Civil War military campaigns took place in East Tennessee, although

29054-424: The location of the Overhill towns and the customs of the Overhill Cherokee. The end of the French and Indian War in 1763 brought a stream of explorers and traders into the region, among them additional longhunters. In an effort to mitigate conflicts with the Natives, Britain issued the Royal Proclamation of 1763 which forbade settlements west of the Appalachian Mountains. Despite this proclamation, migration across

29253-425: The lowest share among the states that joined the Confederacy . Tennessee provided more Union troops than any other Confederate state, and the second-highest number of Confederate troops, behind Virginia. Due to its central location, Tennessee was a crucial state during the war and saw more military engagements than any state except Virginia. After Abraham Lincoln was elected president in 1860 , secessionists in

29452-414: The major cities of Knoxville and Chattanooga , Tennessee's third and fourth largest cities, respectively, and the Tri-Cities , the state's sixth largest population center. During the American Civil War , many East Tennesseans remained loyal to the Union even as the state seceded and joined the Confederacy . Early in the war, Unionist delegates unsuccessfully attempted to split East Tennessee into

29651-519: The most complex of any region in the nation. Because of the rarity of slavery in the region, many East Tennesseans were suspicious of the aristocratic Southern planter class that dominated the Southern Democratic Party and most Southern state legislatures. For this reason, Whig support ran high in East Tennessee in the years leading up to the war, especially in Knox and surrounding counties. In 1860, slaves composed about 9% of East Tennessee's population, compared to 25% statewide. When Tennessee voted on

29850-400: The most recent world's fair to be held in the U.S. In 1986, Tennessee held a yearlong celebration of the state's heritage and culture called "Homecoming '86". Tennessee celebrated its bicentennial in 1996 with a yearlong celebration called "Tennessee 200". A new state park that traces the state's history, Bicentennial Mall , was opened at the foot of Capitol Hill in Nashville. The same year,

30049-408: The most vulnerable. The state averages 15 tornadoes annually. They can be severe, and the state leads the nation in the percentage of total tornadoes that have fatalities. Winter storms such as in 1993 and 2021 occur occasionally, and ice storms are fairly common. Fog is a persistent problem in some areas, especially in East Tennessee. Tennessee is divided into 95 counties , each of which has

30248-405: The mountains continued, and the first permanent European settlers began arriving in northeastern Tennessee in the late 1760s. In 1769 William Bean , an associate of famed explorer Daniel Boone , built what is generally acknowledged as Tennessee's first permanent Euro-American residence in Tennessee along the Watauga River in present-day Johnson City . Shortly thereafter, James Robertson and

30447-538: The mountains, and continued for many decades afterward. Sgt. Alvin C. York of Fentress County became one of the most famous and honored American soldiers of World War I . He received the Congressional Medal of Honor for single-handedly capturing an entire German machine gun regiment during the Meuse–Argonne offensive . On July 9, 1918, Tennessee suffered the worst rail accident in U.S. history when two passenger trains collided head on in Nashville, killing 101 and injuring 171. On August 18, 1920, Tennessee became

30646-449: The nation's first exclusively abolitionist newspaper— in Jonesborough. After Embree's death, Benjamin Lundy established the Genius of Universal Emancipation in Greeneville in 1821 to continue Embree's work. By the 1830s, however, the region's abolitionist movement had declined in the face of fierce opposition. The geography of East Tennessee, unlike parts of Middle and West Tennessee, did not allow for large plantation complexes , and as

30845-455: The north, North Carolina to the east, Georgia , Alabama , and Mississippi on the south, and Arkansas and Missouri on the west. It is tied with Missouri as the state bordering the most other states. Tennessee is trisected by the Tennessee River , and its geographical center is in Murfreesboro . Nearly three–fourths of the state is in the Central Time Zone , with most of East Tennessee on Eastern Time . The Tennessee River forms most of

31044-521: The northern section is slightly more rugged. The plateau has many waterfalls and stream valleys separated by steep gorges. The "Tennessee Divide" runs along the western part of the plateau, separating the watersheds of the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers. Plateau counties mostly east of this divide—i.e. Cumberland, Morgan , and Scott —are grouped with East Tennessee, whereas plateau counties west of this divide, such as Fentress , Van Buren , and Grundy , are considered part of Middle Tennessee. Most of

31243-563: The petition, however, and Tennessee Governor Isham Harris ordered Confederate troops to occupy East Tennessee. In the fall of 1861, Unionist guerrillas burned bridges and attacked Confederate sympathizers throughout the region, leading the Confederacy to invoke martial law in parts of East Tennessee. Senator Andrew Johnson and Congressman Horace Maynard —who in spite of being from a Confederate state retained their seats in Congress—continuously pressed President Abraham Lincoln to send troops into East Tennessee, and Lincoln subsequently made

31442-457: The production arm of the Manhattan Project in Oak Ridge, which enriched uranium at three major facilities for use in atomic bombs. The first of the bombs was detonated in Alamogordo, New Mexico , in a test code-named Trinity , and the second, nicknamed " Little Boy ", was dropped on Imperial Japan at the end of World War II. After the war, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory became an institution for scientific and technological research. After

31641-467: The production of iron in the Western Highland Rim, and slaves also cultivated such crops as tobacco and corn throughout the Highland Rim. East Tennessee's geography did not allow for large plantations as in the middle and western parts of the state, and as a result, slavery became increasingly rare in the region. A strong abolition movement developed in East Tennessee, beginning as early as 1797, and in 1819, Elihu Embree of Jonesborough began publishing

31840-404: The project, and in 1971, the U.S. Supreme Court sided with the group and established the framework for judicial review of government agencies in the landmark case of Citizens to Preserve Overton Park v. Volpe . TVA's construction of the Tellico Dam in Loudon County became the subject of national controversy in the 1970s when the endangered snail darter fish was reported to be affected by

32039-419: The project. After lawsuits by environmental groups, the debate was decided by the U.S. Supreme Court case Tennessee Valley Authority v. Hill in 1978, leading to amendments of the Endangered Species Act . The 1982 World's Fair was held in Knoxville. Also known as the Knoxville International Energy Exposition, the fair's theme was "Energy Turns the World". The exposition was one of the most successful, and

32238-452: The region did not see any large-scale fighting until the second half of the war, unlike the rest of the state. After being defeated at the Battle of Chickamauga in northwest Georgia in September 1863, Union troops of the Army of the Cumberland under the command of William Rosecrans fled to Chattanooga. Confederate troops under Braxton Bragg attempted to besiege the Union troops into surrendering, but two months later, reinforcements from

32437-416: The region in the late 20th century. East Tennessee is both geographically and culturally part of Appalachia . East Tennessee is home to the nation's most visited national park—the Great Smoky Mountains National Park —and hundreds of smaller recreational areas. East Tennessee is often considered the birthplace of country music , stemming from the 1927 Victor recording sessions in Bristol , and throughout

32636-435: The region's ravaged economy recover much faster than most of the South. Most new industry in Tennessee was constructed in East Tennessee during this time, and Chattanooga became one of the first industrialized cities in the South. Knoxville also experienced a modest manufacturing boom, and new factories were constructed in other small towns such as Kingsport, Johnson City, Cleveland, Morristown, and Maryville, making them amongst

32835-440: The region. Because of this, many southern unionists were sent fleeing to nearby Union states, particularly the border state of Kentucky . Other southern unionists, who stayed in Tennessee after the state's secession, either resisted the Confederate cause or eventually joined it. In March 1862, Lincoln appointed native Tennessean and War Democrat Andrew Johnson as military governor of the state. General Ulysses S. Grant and

33034-401: The settlers reorganized themselves into the Washington District to support the cause of the American Revolutionary War , which had begun months before. The following year, the settlers petitioned the Colony of Virginia to annex the Washington District to provide protection from Native American attacks, which was denied. Later that year, they petitioned the government of North Carolina to annex

33233-444: The settlers, Governor Blount called for elections, which were held in December 1793. The 13-member territorial House of Representatives first convened in Knoxville on February 24, 1794, to select ten members for the legislature's upper house, the council. The full legislature convened on August 25, 1794. In June 1795, the legislature conducted a census of the territory, which recorded a population of 77,263, including 10,613 slaves, and

33432-401: The south, Arkansas to the southwest, and Missouri to the northwest. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. Tennessee's population as of the 2020 United States census is approximately 6.9 million. Tennessee is geographically, culturally, and legally divided into three Grand Divisions of East , Middle , and West Tennessee . Nashville is

33631-424: The south. Kuwohi , at 6,643 feet (2,025 m), is the state's highest point and is located in the Great Smoky Mountains along the Tennessee-North Carolina border. Most of the Blue Ridge section is heavily forested and protected by various state and federal entities, the largest of which include the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the Cherokee National Forest . The Appalachian Trail enters Tennessee in

33830-464: The state averaging a high of around 90 °F (32 °C). Winters tend to be mild to cool, decreasing in temperature at higher elevations. For areas outside the highest mountains, the average overnight lows are generally near freezing. The highest recorded temperature was 113 °F (45 °C) at Perryville on August 9, 1930, while the lowest recorded temperature was −32 °F (−36 °C) at Mountain City on December 30, 1917. While Tennessee

34029-483: The state government led by Governor Isham Harris sought voter approval to sever ties with the United States, which was rejected in a referendum by a 54–46% margin in February 1861. After the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter in April and Lincoln's call for troops in response, the legislature ratified an agreement to enter a military league with the Confederacy on May 7, 1861. On June 8, with Middle Tennesseans having significantly changed their position, voters approved

34228-431: The state is marked by cavernous bedrock and irregular rolling hills, and level, fertile plains define West Tennessee. The state is twice bisected by the Tennessee River , and the Mississippi River forms its western border. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park , the nation's most visited national park, is in eastern Tennessee. Tennessee is rooted in the Watauga Association , a 1772 frontier pact generally regarded as

34427-469: The state's capital and largest city, and anchors its largest metropolitan area. Tennessee has diverse terrain and landforms, and from east to west, contains a mix of cultural features characteristic of Appalachia , the Upland South , and the Deep South . The Blue Ridge Mountains along the eastern border reach some of the highest elevations in eastern North America, and the Cumberland Plateau contains many scenic valleys and waterfalls . The central part of

34626-528: The state's topographic features, and, in general, decrease in age from east to west. The state's oldest rocks are igneous strata more than 1 billion years old found in the Blue Ridge Mountains, and the youngest deposits in Tennessee are sands and silts in the Mississippi Alluvial Plain and river valleys that drain into the Mississippi River. Tennessee is considered seismically active and contains two major seismic zones, although destructive earthquakes rarely occur there. The Eastern Tennessee seismic zone spans

34825-470: The state, emerging in the northeastern Highland Rim, passing through Nashville, turning northwest to Clarksville, and entering Kentucky east of the Tennessee River. Its principal branches in Tennessee are the Obey , Caney Fork , Stones , Harpeth , and Red rivers. The Mississippi River drains nearly all of West Tennessee. Its tributaries are the Obion , Forked Deer , Hatchie , Loosahatchie , and Wolf rivers. The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and

35024-411: The state. Spanish conquistadors who explored the region in the 16th century encountered some of the Mississippian peoples, including the Muscogee Creek , Yuchi , and Shawnee . By the early 18th century, most Natives in Tennessee had disappeared, most likely wiped out by diseases introduced by the Spaniards. The Cherokee began migrating into what is now eastern Tennessee from what is now Virginia in

35223-511: The states that had not yet seceded might be persuaded to stay within the Union. This idea was predicated on the fact that many believed that the newly elected President Lincoln would declare a relaxed policy toward the South that would ease tensions. Given the fact that there were a good number of Southern Unionists known to be found in the South it was hoped that this deliberate policy of non-provocation would subvert extremists from irreversible action. Admirable though their sentiments might have been,

35422-424: The twelve million belonging to the South. Tennessee Tennessee ( / ˌ t ɛ n ɪ ˈ s iː / , locally / ˈ t ɛ n ɪ s i / ), officially the State of Tennessee , is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States . It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina to the east, Georgia , Alabama , and Mississippi to

35621-423: The undertaking was widely distributed by American pulp magazine Argosy . In the 1920s, East Tennessee surpassed Middle Tennessee as the state's most populous Grand Division, primarily as a result of the larger African American population in that region fleeing to Northern industrial cities as part of the Great Migration . Over a period of two decades, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), created in 1933 at

35820-431: The use of eminent domain and required the removal of 125,000 Tennessee Valley residents. Residents who refused to sell to the TVA were often forced by court orders and lawsuits. Several dam projects inundated historic Native American sites and American Revolution-era towns. On some occasions, land that TVA had acquired through eminent domain that was expected to be inundated was not and was sold to private developers for

36019-448: The war, many Southern Unionists went North and joined the Union armies. Others joined when Union armies entered their hometowns in Tennessee, Virginia, Arkansas, Louisiana, and elsewhere. Around 100,000 Southern Unionists served in the Union Army during the Civil War, with every Southern state except South Carolina raising official organizations of white troops. Though no regiments of Southern Unionists were formed in South Carolina due to

36218-465: The wartime demand for aluminum (which was needed for aircraft construction), built its North Plant, which at the time of its completion was the world's largest plant under a single roof. To meet the region's skyrocketing demand for electricity, TVA hastened its dam construction, completing Cherokee and Douglas dams in record time and building the massive Fontana Dam just across the state line in North Carolina. In 1955, Oak Ridge High School became

36417-478: The west. It ends at steep loess bluffs overlooking the Mississippi embayment , the westernmost physiographic division of Tennessee, which is part of the larger Mississippi Alluvial Plain . This flat 10 to 14 miles (16 to 23 km) wide strip is commonly known as the Mississippi Bottoms, and contains lowlands, floodplains , and swamps . Tennessee is drained by three major rivers , the Tennessee , Cumberland , and Mississippi . The Tennessee River begins at

36616-469: The world's first Coca-Cola bottling plant was built in Chattanooga. In the early 1900s, railroad and sawmill innovations allowed logging firms such as the Little River Lumber Company and Babock Lumber to harvest the virgin forests of the Great Smokies and adjacent ranges. Coal mining operations were established in coal-rich areas of the Cumberland Plateau and Cumberland Mountains, namely in Scott County, northern Campbell County, and western Anderson County. In

36815-417: The world's first atomic bombs . The planned community of Oak Ridge was built to provide accommodations for the facilities and workers; the site was chosen due to the abundance of TVA electric power, its low population density, and its inland geography and topography, which allowed for the natural separation of the facilities and a low vulnerability to attack. The Clinton Engineer Works was established as

37014-447: The worst of which occurred in Memphis in 1866 . Because Tennessee had ratified the Fourteenth Amendment before its readmission to the Union, it was the only former secessionist state that did not have a military governor during Reconstruction . The Radical Republicans seized control of the state government toward the end of the war, and appointed William G. "Parson" Brownlow governor. Under Brownlow's administration from 1865 to 1869,

37213-404: The year. This made Tennessee the only Southern state to abolish slavery at the time. Tennessee ratified the Thirteenth Amendment , which outlawed slavery in every state, on April 7, 1865, and the Fourteenth Amendment , which granted citizenship and equal protection under the law to former slaves, on July 18, 1866. Both amendments went into effect after Tennessee's readmission to the union due to

37412-405: The years after the Civil War, including cholera in 1873, which devastated the Nashville area, and yellow fever in 1878, which killed more than one-tenth of Memphis's residents. Reformers worked to modernize Tennessee into a " New South " economy during this time. With the help of Northern investors, Chattanooga became one of the first industrialized cities in the South. Memphis became known as

37611-411: Was 35.74% of the state's total, and its population density was 182.18 inhabitants per square mile (70.34/km ). Prior to the 2010 census, East Tennessee was the most populous of the Grand Divisions but was surpassed by Middle Tennessee, which contains the rapidly-growing Nashville and Clarksville metropolitan areas. Demographically, East Tennessee is one of the regions in the United States with one of

37810-417: Was accidentally released into the Emory and Clinch Rivers . The cleanup cost more than $ 1 billion and lasted until 2015. Tennessee is in the Southeastern United States . Culturally, most of the state is considered part of the Upland South , and the eastern third is part of Appalachia . Tennessee covers roughly 42,143 square miles (109,150 km ), of which 926 square miles (2,400 km ), or 2.2%,

38009-454: Was appointed as the territorial governor by President George Washington , and Blount and James White established Knoxville as the territory's capital in 1791. The Southwest Territory recorded a population of 35,691 in the first United States census that year, about three-fourths of whom resided in what is now East Tennessee. In addition to the English and Scotch-Irish settlers, there were also Welsh families who settled in East Tennessee in

38208-454: Was intentionally publicized, and highlighted the creationism-evolution controversy among religious groups. In 1926, Congress authorized the establishment of a national park in the Great Smoky Mountains , which was officially established in 1934 and dedicated in 1940. When the Great Depression struck in 1929, much of Tennessee was severely impoverished even by national standards. As part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt 's New Deal ,

38407-519: Was protested by miners forced to compete with the system. An armed uprising in the Cumberland Mountains known as the Coal Creek War in 1891 and 1892 resulted in the state ending convict leasing. Despite New South promoters' efforts, agriculture continued to dominate Tennessee's economy. The majority of freed slaves were forced into sharecropping during the latter 19th century, and many others worked as agricultural wage laborers. In 1897, Tennessee celebrated its statehood centennial one year late with

38606-443: Was recorded at Mountain City on December 30, 1917. Fog is common, especially in the Ridge-and-Valley region, and often presents a significant hazard to motorists. East Tennessee is the second most populous and most densely populated of the three Grand Divisions. At the 2020 census , it had 2,470,105 inhabitants living in its 33 counties, an increase of 142,561, or 6.12%, over the 2010 figure of 2,327,544 residents. Its population

38805-408: Was roughly proportional to the probability that the activist was a Southern Unionist. Baggett further investigated the lives of those Southern Unionists before, during, and after the war, with respect to birthplace, occupation, value of estate, slave ownership, education, party activity, stand on secession, war politics, and postwar politics. Before the war there was widespread belief in the North that

39004-429: Was solidified during the Mexican–American War when President James K. Polk of Tennessee issued a call for 2,800 soldiers from the state, and more than 30,000 volunteered. Between the 1790s and 1820s, additional land cessions were negotiated with the Cherokee, who had established a national government modeled on the U.S. Constitution . In 1818, Jackson and Kentucky governor Isaac Shelby reached an agreement with

39203-438: Was tested in a series of Confederate offensives beginning in the summer of 1862, which culminated in General William Rosecrans 's Army of the Cumberland routing General Braxton Bragg 's Army of Tennessee at Stones River , another one of the war's costliest engagements. The next summer, Rosecrans's Tullahoma campaign forced Bragg's remaining troops in Middle Tennessee to retreat to Chattanooga with little fighting. During

39402-449: Was the State of Franklin , formed in 1784 from three Washington District counties. Its capital was initially at Jonesborough and later Greeneville , and eventually grew to include eight counties. After several unsuccessful attempts at statehood, the State of Franklin rejoined North Carolina in 1788. North Carolina ceded the region to the federal government, which designated it as the Southwest Territory on May 26, 1790. William Blount

39601-487: Was under the command of Union General Ambrose Burnside , although Longstreet defeated Union troops under the command of James M. Shackelford at the Battle of Bean's Station two weeks later. By the beginning of 1864, East Tennessee was largely under the control of the Union Army . Despite its Unionist leanings, however, it was the last part of the state to fall to the Union. After the Civil War, Northern capitalists began investing heavily in East Tennessee, which helped

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