Homegrown Yankees : Tennessee's Union Cavalry in the Civil War

Of all the states in the Confederacy, Tennessee was the most sectionally divided. East Tennesseans opposed secession at the ballot box in 1861, petitioned unsuccessfully for separate statehood, resisted the Confederate government, enlisted in Union militias, elected U.S. congressmen, and fled as refugees into Kentucky. These refugees formed Tennessee's first Union cavalry regiments during early 1862, followed shortly thereafter by others organized in Union-occupied Middle and West Tennessee. In Homegrown Yankees, the first book-length study of Union cavalry from a Confederate state, James Alex Baggett tells the remarkable story of Tennessee's loyal mounted regiments. Fourteen mounted regiments that fought primarily within the boundaries of the state and eight local units made up Tennessee's Union cavalry. Young, nonslaveholding farmers who opposed secession, the Confederacy, and the war -- from isolated villages east of Knoxville, the Cumberland Mountains, or the Tennessee River counties in the west -- filled the ranks. Most Tennesseans denounced these local bluecoats as renegades, turncoats, and Tories; accused them of betraying their people, their section, and their race; and held them in greater contempt than soldiers from the North. Though these homegrown Yankees participated in many battles -- including those in the Stones River, Tullahoma, Chickamauga, East Tennessee, Nashville, and Atlanta campaigns -- their story provides rare insights into what occurred between the battles. For them, military action primarily meant almost endless skirmishing with partisans, guerrillas, and bushwackers, as well as with the Rebel raiders of John Hunt Morgan, Joseph Wheeler, and Nathan Bedford Forrest, who frequently recruited and supplied themselves from behind enemy lines. Tennessee's Union cavalry scouted and foraged the countryside, guarded outposts and railroads, acted as couriers, supported the flanks of infantry, and raided the enemy. On occasion, especially during the Nashville campaign, they provided rapid pursuit of Confederate forces. They also helped protect fellow unionists from an aggressive pro-Confederate insurgency after 1862. Baggett vividly describes the deprivation, sickness, and loneliness of cavalrymen living on the war's periphery and traces how circumstances beyond their control -- such as terrain, transport, equipage, weaponry, public sentiment, and military policy -- affected their lives. He also explores their well-earned reputation for plundering -- misdeeds motivated by revenge, resentment, a lack of discipline, and the hard-war policy of the Union army. In the never-before-told story of these cavalrymen, Homegrown Yankees offers new insights into an unexplored facet of southern Unionism and provides an exciting new perspective on the Civil War in Tennessee. CONTENTS......Page 8 List of Illustratrions......Page 10 Preface......Page 12 Abbreviations......Page 14 Introduction: Context and Circumstances......Page 18 Part 1: Beginnings......Page 36 1. The First Year......Page 38 2. Regiments in the Making......Page 57 3. Unready for Battle......Page 73 4. Between the Battles......Page 86 Part 2: Middle Tennessee and Beyond......Page 102 5. Out of Murfreesboro......Page 104 6. The Chattanooga Campaign......Page 120 7. Into East Tennessee......Page 137 8. The Cumberlands......Page 155 9. Mounted Infantry......Page 166 Part 3: West Tennessee and Beyond......Page 186 10. West Tennessee during 1863......Page 188 11. Okolona......Page 202 12. Union City......Page 217 13. Fort Pillow......Page 232 Part 4: The Atlanta Campaign......Page 250 14. North of Atlanta......Page 252 15. Two Cavalry Raids......Page 266 16. Wheeler on the Railroads......Page 280 17. Forrest on the Railroads......Page 293 Part 5: The Nashville Campaign......Page 308 18. North to Nashville......Page 310 19. The Battle of Nashville......Page 324 Part 6: East Tennessee and Beyond......Page 338 20. Bulls Gap......Page 340 21. The Saltworks......Page 355 22. Stoneman’s Last Raid......Page 368 23. Final Months......Page 381 Conclusion......Page 395 Epilogue: Pride, Politics, and Pensions......Page 408 Appendix: Tennessee’s Union Cavalry Regiments, 1862–65......Page 418 Bibliography......Page 428 Index......Page 446

Of all the states in the Confederacy, Tennessee was the most sectionally divided. Young, non-slaveholding farmers, who opposed secession and petitioned unsuccessfully for separate statehood, enlisted in Union militias to Tennessee's first Union cavalry regiments. They were denounced by most Tennesseans as renegades, turncoats, and Tories, and held in greater contempt than soldiers from the North. Homegrown Yankees is the first book-length study of Union cavalry from a Confederate state, presenting the remarkable story of Tennessee's loyal mounted regiments. It provides an exciting new perspective on the Civil War in Tennessee.

Tells about the Tennessee's Union mounted regiments during the Civil War. Tennessee was a true instance of neighbor against neighbor and although battles were fought this book tells what the Union soldiers, homegrown in Tennessee, did for the war as Union soldiers in a Confederate state.