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

Conclusion

CONCLUSION T he location of a Tory cavalryman’s residence determined to a large degree why he joined the Union army. He was far more likely to become a Union trooper if he hailed from one of four predominantly white sections of the state: East Tennessee, the Cumberland counties of Middle Tennessee, the Tennessee River counties of the western half of the state, and the northern counties of West Tennessee bordering Kentucky. Few homegrown Yankees hailed from heavily black, slaveholding, plantation counties. Individuals dwelling on isolated subsistence farms or in remote villages away from major transportation lines, especially railroads, were more likely to volunteer for the Union cavalry than those residing in the cities and towns or along a primary route of travel. Far fewer refugees left the western two-thirds of the state than departed from East Tennessee during 1861 and winter 1862, and those who did mostly joined Kentucky, Illinois, or Indiana regiments. Enlistees in occupied Tennessee from spring 1862 to fall 1863 had failed to volunteer for Confederate service in 1861 and resisted the conscription instituted that fall. Once the Yankee army moved into parts of their section and into northern Alabama, Tories fled to nearby Union garrisons and outposts to enlist. Others who fought for the Rebels became disillusioned, especially after the occupation of Vicksburg and Chattanooga, and deserted to the Federals in order to make a living. Location often facilitated entrance into the Union army. For example, a person was more likely to join Union forces if residing near Kentucky or along the Tennessee River flowing out of that state or near an occupied part of Tennessee . Such also became the case with Tories out of North Carolina and Georgia following the occupation of Tennessee in fall 1863. Residing for an extended period between two rival armies—such as during 1863 in parts of Middle and West Tennessee—motivated men, especially anti-Confederates Conclusion 375 and Rebel deserters, to enlist with the Federals because it became difficult to make a living by farming when both sides foraged off your land. A clue as to why individuals volunteered for the Union army can be found in the time of their enlistment. Although early volunteers shared with other unionists several common elements—such as opposition to secession, the Confederacy , and the war—significant events usually triggered their ultimate decision to enlist. In East Tennessee the first wave of enlistments occurred shortly after the reelection of Gov. Isham Harris in August 1861, when a few hundred refugees out of East Tennessee crossed the mountains into Union-leaning Kentucky . A second wave followed the Confederates’ suppression of the bridge burners and their supporters in November 1861. A third wave flowed from the enforcement of conscription during spring 1862, while a fourth followed the occupation of East Tennessee in fall 1863 and lasted into 1865. Union occupation of East Tennessee encouraged the enlistment of antiConfederates from the bordering counties of North Carolina and northern Georgia. It also made possible the recruitment of short-term mounted infantry among those unwilling to make a long-term commitment for fear of distance service. Of those East Tennesseans and others from bordering areas who joined the Union army during fall 1863 and spring 1864, probably as many as a fifth once served in the Confederate army (many unwillingly) before deserting . Almost another fifth likely were younger than eighteen years of age. During the earliest occupation, local and area leadership became an important factor in recruiting troopers, especially individuals having some prior political influence. Men enlisted, at least partly, because they would be led by one of their own; it is unlikely they would have joined in the same numbers if that had not been the case. Local opinionmakers such as Fielding Hurst and Stanford Warren of Purdy, Asa Hays of Henderson County, William H. Bradford of Troy, and Robert Galbraith and James Wortham of Shelbyville contributed greatly to the recruitment of Union troopers, as did regional figures such as Isaac Hawkins and William Stokes and East Tennessee politicians appointed by Gov. Andrew Johnson. Doubtless these men and their officerrecruiters used every network available to them such as kinship, past politicalparty affiliation, and lodge and denominational identity in organizing Federal units. East Tennessee’s first four regiments of Union cavalry—formed of refugees in Kentucky—saw little military action during 1862, and by February 1863 all had arrived in Middle Tennessee. Only one regiment of cavalry had been [18.223.0.53] Project...