Etymology and Pre-European Era
– Tennessee derives its name from the Cherokee town of Tanasi on the Little Tennessee River.
– The name Tennessee is attributed to Governor James Glen of South Carolina.
– The modern spelling, Tennessee, was adopted in 1796 when the state was organized.
– The Cherokee may have adapted the name from the Yuchi word meaning ‘brother-waters-place’ or ‘where-the-waters-meet.’
– The town of Tanasi appeared on British maps as early as 1725.
– Tennessee was inhabited by Paleo-Indians around 12,000 years ago.
– The lower Tennessee Valley was populated by Ice Age hunter-gatherers.
– Distinct cultural phases in Tennessee include the Archaic, Woodland, and Mississippian periods.
– The Woodland period saw the domestication of dogs and the cultivation of crops.
– During the Mississippian period, Indigenous peoples developed chiefdoms and built ceremonial structures.
– The first inhabitants of Tennessee were Paleo-Indians.
– Archaeological evidence suggests a rich population of Ice Age hunter-gatherers.
– The Woodland period saw the cultivation of crops and the construction of mounds.
– The Mississippian period witnessed the development of organized chiefdoms and ceremonial structures.
– Spanish explorers encountered Mississippian peoples such as the Muscogee Creek, Yuchi, and Shawnee.
Exploration and Colonization
– European expeditions into Tennessee began in the 16th century.
– The Cherokee migrated into eastern Tennessee to escape European settlement and diseases.
– The Creek, Yuchi, and Shawnee were forced out of Tennessee by the Cherokee.
– The Chickasaw remained in West Tennessee, while the middle part of the state had few Native Americans.
– Overhill Cherokee settlements grew along the rivers in East Tennessee in the 18th century.
– Spanish explorers Hernando de Soto, Tristan de Luna, and Juan Pardo led expeditions in the 16th century.
– French missionaries Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet explored the Mississippi River in 1673.
– René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle constructed Fort Prudhomme in West Tennessee in 1682.
– French traders began exploring the Cumberland River valley in the late 17th century.
– French constructed Fort Assumption on the Mississippi River in Memphis in 1739.
– English fur trader Abraham Wood sent an expedition into Overhill Cherokee territory in 1673.
– Settlers from South Carolina built Fort Loudoun, the first British settlement in Tennessee, in 1756.
– Migration across the Appalachian Mountains continued despite the Royal Proclamation of 1763.
– Permanent European settlers arrived in northeastern Tennessee in the late 1760s.
– Watauga Association was formed in 1772, later reorganized into the Washington District.
Southwest Territory and Early Government
– North Carolina ceded the area to the federal government in 1790, creating the Southwest Territory.
– William Blount was appointed as the territorial governor by President George Washington.
– The Southwest Territory recorded a population of 35,691 in the first US census in 1790.
– A constitutional convention was held in 1796, and the name Tennessee was chosen for the new state.
– Tennessee was admitted to the Union on June 1, 1796, as the 16th state.
– Richard Henderson negotiated treaties with the Cherokee to sell lands of Watauga settlements in 1775.
– Daniel Boone blazed a trail through the Cumberland Gap in 1775.
– Fort Watauga was attacked by the Cherokee faction led by Dragging Canoe in 1776.
– James Robertson and John Donelson led settlers to establish Fort Nashborough (Nashville) in 1779.
– Washington District joined North Carolina for protection in 1784, forming the State of Franklin.
Tennessee in the Civil War
– Most Middle and West Tennesseans favored preserving slavery-based economies.
– East Tennessee favored remaining in the Union.
– Tennessee had the lowest share of slaves among Confederate states.
– Tennessee provided the most Union troops and second-highest number of Confederate troops.
– Tennessee saw more military engagements than any state except Virginia.
– Union capture of Tennessee and Cumberland rivers at Fort Henry and Fort Donelson.
– Bloodiest battle at Shiloh in April 1862.
– Memphis fell to the Union after a naval battle on the Mississippi River.
– Union victory at Stones River and Tullahoma campaign.
– Battles of Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge drove Confederates from Chattanooga.
– Tennessee rejected secession in a referendum but later joined the Confederacy.
– East Tennessee Unionists organized to split from the Confederacy.
– Andrew Johnson declared all slaves in Tennessee free in 1864.
– Tennessee ratified the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments.
– Tennessee became the first Confederate state to have its elected members readmitted to Congress.
Post-Civil War Tennessee and Economic Development
– Tension and unrest between blacks and former Confederates, particularly in Memphis.
– Tennessee ratified the Fourteenth Amendment before readmission to the Union.
– Radical Republicans controlled the state government during Reconstruction.
– Jim Crow laws enforced racial segregation in the state.
– Epidemics of cholera and yellow fever affected Tennessee’s cities.
– Knoxville and several smaller cities experienced modest industrialization.
– Northerners began exploiting the coalfields and mineral resources in the Appalachian Mountains.
– Convict leasing was implemented in Tennessee to pay off debts and provide prisoners to mining companies.
– The state faced an armed uprising known as the Coal Creek War, resulting in the end of convict leasing.
– Despite efforts to promote the New South, agriculture continued to dominate Tennessee’s economy.Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tennessee
