The Greeneville Convention - Greene County, TN - Civil War Discovery Trail Sites on Waymarking.com

THE GREENVILLE CONVENTION

To Secede from Tennessee?

During the Civil War, political divisions deeply scared the residents of East Tennessee. Although many slaveholders lived here and prospered, most farmers and shopkeepers neither owned slaves nor sided with the cause that protected slavery. After Tennessee voters approved secession and joined the Confederacy early in June 1861, delegates from this region gathered at the Greene County courthouse to decide whether to remain in Tennessee or break away and form a Unionist state Delegates from the 29 East Ten tennessee counties and Fentress County in Middle Tennessee answer former U.S.Congressman Thomas A.R. Nelson's call for a regional convention and met on June 17-20 in Greenville. Oliver P. Temple of Knox County proposed resolutions that East Tennessee, having voted overwhelmingly against secession from the Union and believing that secession was unconstitutional requested that the state assembly permit the region to form its own state government.

The Confederate government in Nashville ignored the resolutions, instead sending an army to occupy East. Tennessee, which did not form another state. The region and its delegates became staunch Republicans with Greene County resident Andrew Johnson serving Successively as Tennessee's military governor, vice president of the United States, and president.
William G. "Parson Brownlow, a strong. Unionist was elected governor of Tennessee after the war.

Type of site: Other Address: I-81 SB Greeneville, TN USA 37745 Admission Charged: No Charge Website: [Web Link] Driving Directions: Interstate 81 South Bound Rest Area in Greeneville. Phone Number: Not listed

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