Civil War: Tennessee Civil War Sourcebook

Description

Tennessee Civil War: A Sourcebook Overview

• September 1, 1861 – September 30, 1865: The timeframe of documents included in the Tennessee Civil War Sourcebook. These documents provide insights into various aspects of the war in Tennessee during this period. The source material includes:
• Newspaper articles from various Tennessee and national publications
• Extracts from “The War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies”
• Personal diaries, letters, and journals.
• Ship deck logs
• Throughout the War:Guerrilla Warfare in East Tennessee: Pro-Union Tennesseans engage in guerrilla warfare, targeting state authorities through acts like burning bridges, cutting telegraph wires, and spying for the Union.
• Significant Battles: A large number of key battles are fought in Tennessee, including:
• Shiloh: One of the deadliest battles in American history at the time.
• Stones River: A major engagement in Middle Tennessee.
• Chattanooga: A strategically important city, the scene of multiple battles.
• Nashville: A key battle in the later stages of the war in the Western Theater.
• Franklin: Two battles fought here, one in 1863 and the other a significant clash in 1864.
• Many other battles throughout the state, including Bean’s Station, Fort Donelson, Fort Henry, Fort Pillow, and many more are listed in the source.
• July 24, 1866: Tennessee becomes the first Confederate state to be readmitted to the Union.

Cast of Characters

Here are the principal people mentioned in the source, with brief biographies based on the information provided and general historical knowledge.

• Andrew Johnson:Role: Vice President of the United States during the Civil War and later the 17th President. A Union loyalist from Tennessee.
• Bio: A prominent political figure in Tennessee before the war, he remained loyal to the Union. His stance made him an important figure in the state’s divided loyalties and later Reconstruction efforts. He took office after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.
• Zeboim Carter Patten:Role: A Tennessean who kept a diary during the war.
• Bio: No additional information beyond that he kept a diary used for the collection.
• William E. Sloan:Role: A Tennessean who kept a diary during the war.
• Bio: No additional information beyond that he kept a diary used for the collection.
• Nimrod Porter:Role: A Tennessean who kept a diary during the war.
• Bio: No additional information beyond that he kept a diary used for the collection.
• Rebecca Carter Craighead:Role: A Tennessean who kept a diary during the war.
• Bio: No additional information beyond that she kept a diary used for the collection.
• George Hovey Cadman:Role: A Tennessean who wrote letters during the war.
• Bio: No additional information beyond that he wrote letters used for the collection.
• Joel Shoffner:Role: A Tennessean who collected papers during the war.
• Bio: No additional information beyond that he had papers used for the collection.
• William Mark Eames:Role: A Tennessean who collected papers during the war.
• Bio: No additional information beyond that he had papers used for the collection.
• Robert H. Cartmell:Role: A Tennessean who collected papers during the war.
• Bio: No additional information beyond that he had papers used for the collection.
• Simon Perkins, Jr.:Role: A Tennessean who collected papers during the war.
• Bio: No additional information beyond that he had papers used for the collection.
• Bradford Nichol:Role: A Tennessean who kept a journal during the war.
• Bio: No additional information beyond that he kept a journal used for the collection.
• Jane Smith Washington:Role: A Tennessean who wrote letters during the war.
• Bio: No additional information beyond that she wrote letters used for the collection.
• Frederick Bradford:Role: A Tennessean who collected papers during the war.
• Bio: No additional information beyond that he had papers used for the collection.
• Lucy Virginia Smith French:Role: A Tennessean who kept a diary during the war.
• Bio: No additional information beyond that she kept a diary used for the collection.
• Sally Wendel Fentress:Role: A Tennessean who kept a diary during the war.
• Bio: No additional information beyond that she kept a diary used for the collection.
• Kate Carney:Role: A Tennessean who kept a diary during the war.
• Bio: No additional information beyond that she kept a diary used for the collection.
• Belle Edmondson:Role: A Tennessean who kept a diary during the war.
• Bio: No additional information beyond that she kept a diary used for the collection.
• G. M. Barber:Role: A Tennessean who wrote correspondence during the war.
• Bio: No additional information beyond that he wrote correspondence used for the collection.
• James A. McCord:Role: A Tennessean who wrote correspondence during the war.
• Bio: No additional information beyond that he wrote correspondence used for the collection.
• Willis Hansford:Role: A Tennessean who wrote correspondence during the war.
• Bio: No additional information beyond that he wrote correspondence used for the collection.
• John Ward:Role: A Tennessean who wrote correspondence during the war.
• Bio: No additional information beyond that he wrote correspondence used for the collection.
• Peter L. Critz:Role: A Tennessean who wrote correspondence during the war.
• Bio: No additional information beyond that he wrote correspondence used for the collection.
• Thomas A. Cobb:Role: A Tennessean who wrote letters during the war.
• Bio: No additional information beyond that he wrote letters used for the collection.
• John C. Seibert:Role: A Tennessean who wrote correspondence during the war.
• Bio: No additional information beyond that he wrote correspondence used for the collection.
• Absolom A. Harrison:Role: A Tennessean who wrote correspondence during the war.
• Bio: No additional information beyond that he wrote correspondence used for the collection.
• Henry Albert Potter:Role: A Tennessean who wrote correspondence during the war.
• Bio: No additional information beyond that he wrote correspondence used for the collection.
• Peter Marchant:Role: A Captain in the 47th Tennessee Infantry who wrote letters during the war.
• Bio: No additional information beyond his military role.
• James M. Randall:Role: A Tennessean who kept a diary during the war.
• Bio: No additional information beyond that he kept a diary used for the collection.
• Robert Cruikshank:Role: A Tennessean who wrote letters during the war.
• Bio: No additional information beyond that he wrote letters used for the collection.
• David Humphrey Blair:Role: A Union Soldier who kept a diary and wrote letters during the war.
• Bio: No additional information beyond his military role and that he kept a diary and wrote letters.
• Albert Underwood:Role: A Tennessean who wrote correspondence and kept a diary during the war.
• Bio: No additional information beyond that he wrote correspondence and kept a diary used for the collection.
• Sarah E. Thompson:Role: A Tennessean who kept papers during the war.
• Bio: No additional information beyond that she had papers used for the collection.
• William M. Woodcock:Role: A Union Soldier who kept a diary during the war.
• Bio: He was in the 9th Kentucky Infantry.
• Lyman S. Widney:Role: A Tennessean who kept a diary during the war.
• Bio: No additional information beyond that he kept a diary used for the collection.

Note: This cast of characters primarily includes individuals whose personal papers and writings are included in the Tennessee Civil War Sourcebook. This is why so many of them have similar “bio” information as their role is largely described as producing source material for the archive.

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Civil War: Tennessee Civil War Sourcebook

This collection, titled “Civil War: Tennessee Civil War Sourcebook,” contains 10,673 pages of transcribed documents related to the Civil War and its impact on Tennessee. These documents, spanning from September 1, 1861, to September 30, 1865, include newspaper articles, excerpts from “The War of the Rebellion” official records, personal diaries, ship logs, letters, and journals.

Tennessee is often characterized as the most internally conflicted state during the Civil War period. It was the last Southern state to secede and join the Confederacy. In East Tennessee, there was still significant support for the Union. Notably, then Vice President Andrew Johnson was a Tennessean who remained loyal to the Union. This loyalty frequently manifested as guerrilla warfare against Confederate authorities, including acts like sabotage and espionage. Tennessee was the first state to be readmitted to the Union on July 24, 1866.

During the Civil War, Tennessee experienced the second highest number of combat engagements, with only Virginia seeing more. Significant battles fought within Tennessee include Shiloh, which was the bloodiest battle in American history at that time, as well as the battles of Stones River, Chattanooga, Nashville, and Franklin.

The following is a list of battles that took place in Tennessee: Bean’s Station, Blountville, Blue Springs, Brentwood, Bull’s Gap, Campbell’s Station, First Battle of Chattanooga, Second Battle of Chattanooga, Third Battle of Chattanooga, Collierville, Columbia, Danbridge, Dover, Fair Garden, Fort Donelson, Fort Henry, Fort Pillow, Fort Sanders, First Battle of Franklin, Second Battle of Franklin, Hartsville, Hatchie’s Bridge, Hoover’s Gap, Island Number Ten, Jackson, Johnsonville, First Battle of Memphis, Second Battle of Memphis, Mossy Creek, First Battle of Murfreesboro, Third Battle of Murfreesboro, Nashville, Parker’s Cross Roads, Shiloh, Spring Hill, Stones River, Thompson’s Station, Vaught’s Hill, and Wauhatchie. In 1995, the Tennessee State Archives initiated a project to gather transcripts of their most informative documents related to various aspects of the Civil War in Tennessee, including military, economic, social, and political events. This collection of transcripts was finished eleven years later.

Each document transcript is followed by a short note referencing its original source. The collection also contains footnotes provided by historians at the Tennessee State Archives. Users can explore the entries and search for specific words across the entire collection.

Newspapers used in creating the compilation include publications such as the Chattanooga Daily Rebel, Chattanooga Daily Gazette, Clarksville Chronicle, and the New York Times, among others.

Materials were also drawn from various collections held at the Tennessee State Archives, including diaries, letters, papers, and records from individuals and groups such as Zeboim Carter Patten, William E. Sloan, the Southern Claims Commission, and the Talbot-Fentress Family, to name a few. The Tennessee State Archives supplements its holdings with materials from various external institutions, such as the National Archives, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Libraries, the Nashville Metropolitan Archives, the Stones River National Battlefield Collection, the Motlow State Community College Civil War Research Center, the Tennessee Civil War National Heritage Area, and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Collections.

These external collections feature a variety of personal papers and documents, including those of Andrew Johnson, the Kate Carney Diary, the Kimberly and Lenoir Family Papers, the diary of Belle Edmondson, correspondence from G.M. Barber, James A. McCord, Willis Hansford, John Ward, Peter L. Critz, letters from Thomas A. Cobb, correspondence from John C. Seibert, Absolom A. Harrison, Henry Albert Potter, letters from Captain Peter Marchant of the 47th Tennessee Infantry, the William Hackworth Collection, the diary of James M. Randall, letters from Robert Cruikshank, the Virginia Tech Civil War Love Letters Collection, the diary and letters of David Humphrey Blair, correspondence and diary of Albert Underwood, the Sarah E. Thompson papers, the diary of William M. Woodcock of the 9th Kentucky Infantry, the George G. Sinclair Collection, the diary of Lyman S. Widney, and numerous other items.