Tennessee in the Civil War

United States  U.S. Military   Tennessee    Tennessee Military   Tennessee in the Civil War



Introduction
Tennessee joined the Confederacy in 1861, but Tennessee soldiers served in both the Union and Confederate armies. Tennessee was the last state to join the Confederacy. However people in some counties in the northeast section were very loyal to the Union. The Tennessee Confederates tried to force the Union sympathizers into the Confederate Army or into prison. So an estimated 20,000 to 30,000 men fled to Kentucky to join the Union army there.


 * Charles A. Reeves Jr. created a detailed map illustrating how each Tennessee county voted for secession: Tennessee-Divided Loyalties (published 1995). It may be purchased for a small fee through his website.

Tennessee Military Units
Most units were numbered, however, some were named. See the table below for lists of the regiments, battalions, batteries, and unassigned companies.

Tennessee's United States Colored Troops in the Civil War. by Bennie J. McRae, Jr.

Wright, General Marcus J., Tennessee in the War 1861-1865, (Ambrose Lee Publishing Company, Williamsbridge, New York City, 1908), Online book at Internet Archive, (accessed 29 Jan 2012). Lists of military organizations and officers from Tennessee in both the Confederate and Union armies.

The information in the lists of Tennessee Military Units comes from the Civil War Soldiers and Sailors web site. This web site can also be searched by the name of a soldier.

Tennessee Confederate Units by Number or by Name Confederate Units 1st-8th 9th-21st 22nd- 49th 50th- 154th A-L M-Z Tennessee Confederate Units by Type of Unit Confederate Units Infantry Cavalry Artillery Local Units Other

Tennessee Union Units by Number or by Name Union Units 1st-14th A to Z

Tennessee Union Units by Type of Unit <div style="text-align: center; padding-bottom: 5px; background-color: rgb(204,255,255); margin: 4px; padding-left: 5px; width: 60px; padding-right: 5px; float: left; height: 40px; color: black; padding-top: 5px">Union Units <div style="text-align: center; padding-bottom: 5px; background-color: rgb(204,255,255); margin: 4px; padding-left: 5px; width: 60px; padding-right: 5px; float: left; height: 40px; padding-top: 5px">Infantry <div style="text-align: center; padding-bottom: 5px; background-color: rgb(204,255,255); margin: 4px; padding-left: 5px; width: 60px; padding-right: 5px; float: left; height: 40px; padding-top: 5px">Cavalry <div style="text-align: center; padding-bottom: 5px; background-color: rgb(204,255,255); margin: 4px; padding-left: 5px; width: 60px; padding-right: 5px; float: left; height: 40px; padding-top: 5px">Artillery <div style="text-align: center; padding-bottom: 5px; background-color: rgb(204,255,255); margin: 4px; padding-left: 5px; width: 60px; padding-right: 5px; float: left; height: 40px; padding-top: 5px">Other

General Histories

 * Humes, Thomas William. The Loyal Mountaineers of Tennessee. Ogden Brothers and Co., 1888. Free digital copy. About those in East Tennessee who remained loyal to the Union.


 * Neal, John Randolph. Disunion and Restoration in Tennessee. New York, Knickerbocker Press, 1899. Free digital copy.


 * Wright, Marcus Joseph, Tennessee in the War, 1861-1865; lists of military organizations and officers from Tennessee in both the Confederatre and Union armies; general staff officers of the provisional army of Tennessee, appointed by Govenor Isham G. Harris, (Williamsbridge, New York City, A. Lee Publishing Company, 1908), (accessed 31 Dec 2011). Online book at Internet Archive.


 * Ridley, Bromfield Lewis, Battles and Sketches of the Army of Tennessee, Missouri Printing and Publishing Co., Mexico, Missouri 1906. Online book at Google Book, (accessed 26 Feb 2012).

Service Records
Indexes to the service records are at the Family History Library and the National Archives. The service records are available at the National Archives in Washington, D.C.


 * United States. Record and Pension Office. Index to Compiled Service Records of Volunteer Union Soldiers Who Served in Organizations From the State of Tennessee. Washington, D.C.: National Archives, 1962. (Family History Library film –904). Individual index cards are alphabetical and include the soldier’s company and regiment.


 * United States. Record and Pension Office. Compiled Service Records of Volunteer Union Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Tennessee. Washington, DC: National Archives, 1962. (Family History Library film –261). This includes regimental returns and a detailed record of events of the war.

Compiled Service Records - The Compiled Service Records ($) (Fold3.com) of volunteer Union soldiers who served in organizations from the state of Tennessee are available online. In the future, these records will be made available at no charge through the National Archives web site. The service records are also available at no charge at National Archives research rooms. The compiled service records consist of an envelope containing card abstracts taken from muster rolls, returns, pay vouchers, and other records. Service records may provide rank, unit, date of enlistment, length of service, age, place of birth, and date of death. For more information see Union Service Records.

A wiki article describing an online collection is found at:

Tennessee, Civil War Service Records of Union Soldiers (FamilySearch Historical Records)

Pension Records
Civil War Pension Index Cards - An of veterans who served in the US Army between 1861-1917 is available on FamilySearch. Each card gives the soldier’s name, application and certificate numbers, state of enlistment, and might include rank and death information. The majority of the records are of Civil War veterans, but the collection also includes records for veterans of the Spanish-American War, the Philippine Insurrection, the Indian Wars, and World War I. For more information see Union Pension Records.

Roll of Honor

 * United States. Quartermaster’s Department. Roll of Honor: Names of Soldiers Who Died in Defense of the American Union, interred in. . . Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1981 (Family History Library film –91). Records contain the name, rank, regiment, company, death date, and burial place of Union soldiers. Names are arranged alphabetically.

1890 Veterans Census
A special census was taken in 1890 of Union veterans of the Civil War:

1890 Census Veterans Schedules - The "Special Schedules of the Eleventh Census (1890) Enumerating Union Veterans and Widows of Union Veterans of the Civil War" (NARA M123) are available online for the state of Tennessee. The films for Tennessee are: (Family History Library<span id="fck_dom_range_temp_1219250701055_225" /> films –57.)

The schedules list Union veterans and their widows living in Tennessee in 1890. Each entry lists the veteran’s name (or if he did not survive, both the widow’s and the veteran’s names) and may contain the following: the veteran’s rank, company, and regiment or vessel; dates of enlistment and discharge; length of service in years, months, and days; post office and address; disability incurred; and remarks necessary to a complete statement of the term of service. In Tennessee, this schedule included both Union and Confederate soliders. An online description is available at TSLA.

For more information on the 1890 Veterans Schedules see Union Census Records.

The Tennessee Census wiki page lists other sources for the 1890 Civil War veterans’ schedules.

Service Records

 * United States. Record and Pension Office. Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Tennessee. Washington, DC: National Archives, 1959. (370 Family History Library films beginning with .) This record is indexed in volume 2 of Tennesseans in the Civil War listed below; it is also in:
 * United States. Adjutant General’s Office. Index to Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Tennessee. Washington, D.C.: National Archives, 1959. (Family History Library films –102.)

Compiled Service Records - The Compiled Service Records ($) (Fold3.com) of Confederate soldiers who served in organizations from the state of Tennessee are available online. In the future, these records will be made available at no charge through the National Archives web site. The service records are also available at no charge at National Archives research rooms. The compiled service records consist of an envelope containing card abstracts taken from muster rolls, returns, pay vouchers, and other records. Service records may provide rank, unit, date of enlistment, length of service, age, place of birth, and date of death. For more information see Confederate Service Records.

A wiki article describing an online collection is found at:

Tennessee, Civil War Service Records of Confederate Soldiers (FamailySearch Historical Records)

Rosters

 * Tennessee. Adjutant General’s Office.Report of the Adjutant General of the State of Tennessee, of the Military Forces of the State, from 1861 to 1866. Bethesda, Maryland: University Publications of America, 1990. (Family History Library fiche 6082658 [set of eight].) This alphabetical list includes each soldier’s rank, age, enlistment date, and muster date.


 * Tennessee CRHA [Confederate Relief and Historical Association of Memphis] Roster. Online database taken from Tennessee State Library and Archives. Record of Ex-Confederate Soldiers and Sailors, Members of the Confederate Relief and Historical Association of Memphis. Available online at World Vital Records (free).


 * 1893 Roster of Nebraska Veterans, Tennessee Enlistees, (accessed 26 Feb 2012).

Pension Records
The Board of Pension examiners was established for Tennessee in 1891. Widows were allowed to file for a pension beginning in 1905. For a Confederate veteran to qualify for a pension, he was required to prove that he was unable to support himself, that he was honorably discharged from the service, and that he was a resident of the state for at least one year. It is important to note that Confederate veterans applied to the pension board in the state where they currently resided, not the state from which they served. Records may contain the applicant's name, age, address, county of residence, company, battles fought in, and marriage information.


 * An online index for veteran, widow's and African-American Confederate pension applications is found at the website of Tennesse State Library and Archives. This index is searchable by the applicant's name as well as by county. A county search is helpful when trying to determine which veterans served together from a particular unit. Use care when limiting your search of this index by county. Veterans may have moved from the county where they were born or the county where they enlisted in their unit. "S" indicates that the application is a soldier's application. "W" indicates that it is a widow's application. A "C" indicates that the applicant is African-American.

Step 1

Find your ancestor in the index. Find if the pension was for a widow or a soldier.


 * Tennessee Confederate Pension Applications: Soldiers and Widows Index only

Step 2 Click on browseable collection. Click on type of record (colored, widow, soldier). Then find the number range for the application number you found in Step 1. Browse through the pages until you find your ancestor's file number. Read all the pages. Read both files if there is a soldier and widow's pension. The file may be 10 pages or more.


 * Tennessee, Confederate Pension Applications, Soldiers and Widows, 1891-1965 Free images online


 * Tennessee. Board of Pension Examiners. Confederate Pension Applications: Soldiers and Widows, 1891–ca. 1965. Nashville, Tennessee: State Library and Archives. (On 181 Family History Library films beginning with .)


 * Sistler, Samuel D. Index to Tennessee Confederate Pension Applications. Nashville, Tennessee: B. Sistler, 1995. (Family History Library book index; fiche  [set of 5].) This book-form index to pension applications includes entries from all three pension files:  soldiers, widows and colored men's applications.  An "S", "W", or "C" before the application number designates the file where the application originated.  The county where the application was filed is listed as well as the applicant's unit in which he served.  Again, use care when limiting your search of this index by county.  Veterans may have moved from the county where they were born or the county where they enlisted in their unit.


 * Wiefering, Edna. Tennessee’s Confederate Widows and Their Families: Abstracts of 11,190 Confederate Widows Pension Applications.Cleveland Public Staff and Volunteers, 1992. (Family History Library book .) These records include widow's maiden name, widow's residence at time of application, year and place of widow's birth, name of soldier with his year and place of birth, year and place of marriage, and year and place of soldier's death.


 * Tennessee Colored Confederate Pensions. Online subscription database available at World Vital Records (free).
 * Tennessee Pension Rolls of 1835 (hosted by TN GenWeb)

Veteran Questionnaires

 * Index to Questionnaires of Civil War Veterans. Nashville, Tennessee: The Archives, 1962. (Family History Library book 976.8 A1 no. 57; 982038 item 22.) Available online, courtesy: Tennessee State Library and Archives. This alphabetical list includes the veteran’s company, regiment, and county of residence. After finding an ancestor listed in the online index, make sure to view the books, as they contain abstracts of the records and an index to every person mentioned in each questionnaire.


 * Joint Union and Confederate Records. Tennessee. State Library and Archives (Nashville, Tennessee). Civil War Veterans Biographical and Genealogical Questionnaires, 1914–1922. Nashville, Tennessee: State Library and Archives, 1974. (Family History Library films .) The record contains responses of both Union and Confederate veterans in Tennessee.


 * Tennessee Civil War Veterans' Questionnaires The following explanation is taken from the Tennessee State Library and Archives web site:


 * The effort to record Civil War veterans' experiences, during the conflict and before and after it, started in 1914. Dr. Gus Dyer, Tennessee State Archivist, developed a questionnaire and contacted all known living Tennessee Civil War veterans, asking them to return the questionnaires to Nashville.


 * In 1920 the project was continued by John Trotwood Moore of the Tennessee Historical Commission and also State Librarian and Archivist. The 1,650 completed forms were returned by 1922 and were made available for historical research. They are on file in the TSLA and have been microfilmed for security and ease of use (Microfilm #484).


 * The responses are rich in detail about pre- and post-war life, as well as military experiences. They include personal and family information; opinions about class and race distinctions; and details of agricultural, business and educational opportunities for the young in nineteenth century Tennessee.


 * Dyer, Gustavus W. and John Trotwood Moore, compilers, The Tennessee Civil War Veterans Questionnaires, (United States] : Silas Emmett Lucas, Jr., c1985), 5 volumes. Between 1915 and 1922, surviving Tennessee Civil War veterans were asked to respond to a questionaire asking about their Civil War experiences, family life, pre-war lifestyle etc. Their responses have been transcribed exactly as received into these five volumes.

United Daughters of the Confederacy
Military data from the application forms of the United Daughters of the Confederacy are in:


 * United Daughters of the Confederacy. Tennessee Division. Confederate Patriot Index. N.p., 1976–1978. (Family History Library book [set of 17].) Soldiers are listed alphabetically with their death dates, regiments, and names of living relatives.

Confederate Physicians
The Tennessee State Library and Archives compiled an index to Tennessee Confederate Physicians. This list was compiled from several different sources. The database indicates the source record and usually the unit with which the physician served.

Unit Histories

 * An important inventory for finding Civil War military histories is, A Guide to the Microfiche Edition of Civil War Unit Histories: Regimental Histories and Personal Narratives. Part 1, Confederate States of America and Border States. Bethesda, Maryland: University Publications of America, 1992. (Family History Library book .) Tennessee units are listed on pages 75–80. The Family History Library has the large microfiche collection described in this guide. Use the library catalog to find individual items, including correspondence, diaries, memoirs, and regimental histories published before 1920. The guide shows the unit name, counties where it was raised, author, title, publication information, number of pages, and source repository. It also includes an author index and a major engagements index.


 * Bibliography of Tennessee Civil War Unit Histories is at Tennessee State Library and Archives.


 * Tennesseans in the Civil War: A Military History of Confederate and Union Units with Available Rosters of Personnel. Nashville, Tennessee: Civil War Centennial Commission, 1964. Volume 1 contains brief unit histories. Volume 2 is an alphabetical list of Confederate and Union troops.


 * Tennessee Civil War GIS Project shows county statistics from the 1860 census and a list of regiments by county with a link to the regiment section in Tennesseans in the Civil War (see above).


 * List of Officers of Tennessee Regiments With the Name, Rank, Company, Regiment and P.O. Address. Bethesda, Maryland: University Publications of America, 1990. (Family History Library fiche .) This list is alphabetical.


 * Association of Survivors of the Army of the Tennessee. First Reunion of the Survivors of the Army of the Tennessee and its Four Corps. Logansport, Indiana, Press of Wilson, Humphreys and Co.,1892. Free digital copy.


 * Carter, William Randolph. History of the First regiment of Tennesseevolunteer cavalry in the great war of the rebellion, with the armies of the Ohio and Cumberland, under Generals Marogan, Rosecrans, Thomas, Stanley and Wilson. Knoxville, Tenn., Gaut-Ogden co., printers, 1902. Free digital copy.


 * Hancock, R.R. (Richard R.).Hancock's diary: or A History of the Second Tennessee Confederate Cavalry. Nashville, Tennessee - with sketches of Firs<span id="fck_dom_range_temp_1276882165708_487" /><span id="fck_dom_range_temp_1276882165708_427" />t and Seventh Battalions. Also, Portraits and Biographical sketches. Brandon Printing Co., 1887. Free digital copy.


 * Head, Thomas A. Campaigns and battles of the Sixteenth Regiment, Tennessee Volunteers, in the war between the states, with incidental sketches of the part performed by other Tennessee troops in the same war. 1861-1865. Nashville, Tennessee. Cumberland Presbyterian Publishing House, 1885. Free digital copy.


 * Lindsley, John B. The Military Annals of Tennessee: Confederate, First Series; Embracing a Review of Military Operations, with Regimental Histories and Memorial Rolls, Compiled from Original and Official Sources. 1886. Reprint. Spartanburg, South Carolina: Reprint Co., 1974. (Family History Library book 976.8 M2L.) Digital versions at Ancestry ($); <span id="fck_dom_range_temp_1296851229773_454" />Internet Archive.


 * Morton, John Watson. The Artillery of Nathan Bedford Forrest's Cavalry, "the Wizard of the Saddle" . Nashville, Tennessee: Publishing House of the M.E.Church, 1909. Free digital copy.


 * McMurray, William Josiah. History of the Twentieth Tennessee Regiment Volunteer Infantry, C.S.A. Nashville, Tennessee. The Publication Committee, consisting of W.J. McMurray, D.J. Roberts and R.J. Neal, 1904. Free digital copy.


 * Worsham, William Johnson and Heiskell, Carrick W. Old Nineteenth Tennessee regiment, C.S.A. June, 1861 - April 1865. Knoxville, Tennessee. Press of paragon printing company, 1902. Free digital copy.
 * Ridley, Bromfield Lewis. Battles and Sketches of the Army of Tennessee. Mexico, Missouri, Missouri Printing and Publishing Co., 1906. Free digital copy.

Contraband Camps
The web site Last Road to Freedom has information on America's Civil War contraband camps.

Civil War contraband camps in Tennessee were located in Bolivar (Hardeman County), Clarksville, Fort Pillow, LaGrange, Grand Junction, Jackson, Memphis, Camp Shiloh, Camp Chelsea, President's Island (Camp Dixie), Holly Springs Camp, and in Nashvill Camp Edghill, Northwest Camp. and Edgefield.

Other camps: Nashville, Chattanooga, Knoxville, Hendersonville, Gallatin, Clarksville, Pulaski, Jackson. Somerville, Columbia and Brentwood

Southern Claims Commission
If a Union sympathizer in Tennessee claimed a loss during the Civil War due to Union military confiscation, he could apply to the Southern Claims Commission for reimbursement. Only a few applied per county, but their neighbors were called as witnesses and asked dozens of questions. Hundreds of the residents of all kinds in a county may be mentioned in answers to Commission questions, and their wartime activities described. To learn how to find records mentioning these neighbors in Tennessee counties during the Civil War see the Southern Claims Commission.


 * Tennessee Civil War Southern Claims. Online resource based on the following book: Mills, Gary B. Southern Loyalists in the Civil War: The Southern Claims Commission. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1994. . Database available at World Vital Records (free).