What gave Tennessee a central role in the US Civil War?

Answer 1

To a large extent, the American Civil War was fought in cities and farms of Tennessee; only Virginia saw more battles. Tennessee was the last of the Southern states to declare secession from the Union, but saw more than its share of the devastation resulting from years of warring armies criss-crossing the state.

Its rivers were key arteries to the Deep South, and, from the early days of the war, Union efforts focused on securing control of those transportation routes, as well as major roads and mountain passes such as the Cumberland Gap.

A large number of important battles occurred in Tennessee, including the vicious fighting at the Battle of Shiloh, which at the time, was the deadliest battle in American history (it was later surpassed by a number of other engagements). Other large battles in Tennessee included Stones River, Chattanooga, Nashville, and Franklin.

Although the state became a part of the Confederacy, pockets of strong pro-Union sentiments remained throughout the war, particularly in the mountains in East Tennessee. The Vice President of the United States, Andrew Johnson, was a loyalist, as were a number of congressmen and state politicians.

On the Confederate side, significant leaders included noted cavalryman Nathan B. Forrest and corps commanders Leonidas Polk and Benjamin F. Cheatham, as well as Governor Isham Harris.

Answer 2

For the Confederacy because:

1 -- It position would have given the way to the invasion of Kentucky and the Ohio's Valley.

2 -- Its important railroad net was essential for the war purposes. Particularly the railroad line Memphis-Corinth-Decatur- Chattanooga-Knoxville-Lynchburg, most of which running in Tennessee was paramount as communication line for supplies and troops quick displacements between Confederate eastern and western theatre of operation.

3 -- The Appalachian gaps of Chattanooga, Knoxville and Cumberland, whose control would prevent the Eastern Confederate States from being westerly invaded.

For the Union because.

1 -- Whose conquest would have avoided an invasion of Kentucky and the subsequent breakthrough of the Ohio line, which had brought countless consequences for the Union.

2 -- The conquest of the line Cumberland -- Mississippi with the seizing of Nashville and Memphis, would have outflanked and beaten off any Confederate endeavour of invading Kentucky and given the way for further seizing of the aforesaid vital railroad communication line leading eastward to Chattanooga-Knoxville and the subsequent control of the homonymous Appalachian gaps. By so doing the Union would had had the keys to invade the eastern Confederate States. Furthermore it would have marked a great progress of "Anaconda Plan" one of whose tasks was that to take control of the whole Mississippi river.

Answer 3

The last state to join the Confederacy was North Carolina, not Tennessee. Tennessee bordered Kentucky, a slave state that did not join the Confederacy. Its borders had five Confederate states as neighbors. Western Tennessee also had a link on the Mississippi. The state became a Union target because of its industry and food supplies.