Governor Isham Harris
In early 1861, Tennessee appeared to be firmly committed to the Union. On February 9, a statewide vote rejected holding a secession convention, with 54% of Tennesseans voting against the measure. If the convention had taken place, Unionist delegates would have overwhelmingly outnumbered secessionists—88,803 votes for Unionist candidates compared to just 22,749 for secessionists. In Nashville, the American flag flew proudly across the city, demonstrating widespread loyalty to the United States.
However, just months later, Tennessee would make a complete reversal. By June 8, a second referendum saw 88% of voters in favor of secession. What, you might be asking, caused such a dramatic shift?
The answer lies in the events that followed. On April 12, 1861, Confederate forces fired on Fort Sumter, marking the beginning of the Civil War. But it was President Abraham Lincoln’s April 15 call for 75,000 volunteers to suppress the rebellion that turned Tennessee’s public sentiment against the Union. Congressman Horace Maynard, who had previously been assured that Lincoln would pursue peace, reported that the President’s proclamation had triggered “a tornado of excitement.” Men who had been “cool, firm and Union loving” suddenly became “aroused to a frenzy of passion.” Many Tennesseans now saw the federal government as an invading force determined to “overrun and subjugate the Southern states.”
As Northern war enthusiasm grew, the South felt increasingly threatened. By May 1861, Tennessee’s pro-secession governor, Isham G. Harris, took matters into his own hands. Defying the federal government, he began military mobilization, proposed an ordinance of secession, and even reached out to the Confederate government—all before Tennessee officially seceded.
By the time the June 8 referendum took place, war fever had consumed the state. The overwhelming vote for secession reflected the change in public sentiment. Only the Appalachian eastern region of Tennessee remained loyal to the Union, while the rest of the state was swept into the Confederate cause.
I enjoy reading about history and this is some of same information that my great great grandfather’s diary in it while he was serving in the 13th Calvary.