Interpretive Themes
Occupation and Homefront, 1861-1865
The upheaval of war had a
dramatic impact on the homefront throughout Tennessee.
Because so many armed conflicts took place on Tennessee
soil, many of the state’s residents saw their backyards,
courthouse squares, and churchyards turned into
battlefields. The opposing armies devastated the state’s
farms and crops, destroying decades of investment as they
moved through the state. Military occupation affected every
aspect of civilian life, from food supplies to everyday
travel about town. While early in the war residents
lamented the absence of such luxuries as coffee and sugar,
by the final two years of the war Tennesseans counted
themselves lucky if they simply had access to the basic
necessities of life. The threat of guerilla warfare,
especially in East Tennessee, kept civilians in fear as
marauders representing both sides used wartime chaos as an
excuse to steal and intimidate.
In the absence of men who were at the front,
women throughout the state successfully managed farms and
businesses. While some found their new independence
exhilarating, others grew weary of the numerous
responsibilities added to their multiple domestic tasks.
For slaveholding women, the full burden of slave management,
which in many cases involved trying to control both field
hands and house slaves, was the most intimidating and
frustrating aspect of running a female-headed household.
As the war progressed,
slaves in Tennessee became increasingly resistant to their
owners’ authority. Many slaves eagerly fled to Union lines
or Union-occupied cities, clearly demonstrating their strong
desire to be free. In Union-occupied cities such as
Nashville and Memphis, former slaves lived in contraband
camps, where many began the transition to freedom by working
for wages and learning to read and write. Other slaves
remained where they lived but refused to do certain types of
work or placed new demands on their owners for compensation
or expanded privileges, slowly breaking down the bonds of
slavery.
Women throughout
Tennessee aided the war effort as nurses, weavers, and
spies. Others formed sewing societies to produce flags and
clothing for local regiments. Former slave women who had
fled to Union lines worked as cooks and laundresses for the
Union Army, making good use of the large iron pots they had
carried with them when they escaped.
As the example of
fleeing slaves illustrates so well, one of the defining
characteristics of the Tennessee homefront was the movement
of people, especially the movement of people from rural to
urban areas. The population of cities and towns grew as
refugees, ex-slaves, and starving residents sought food,
safety, and new opportunities. This wartime migration, in
addition to the scars left by battles and the development of
new industrial and transportation infrastructures, greatly
changed the Tennessee landscape in four short years.
Please visit the links below for additional information on:
- Historic Farms (teaching page)
- Century Farms
- Industry and Technology
- Steamboats
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