David Crockett-frontier humorist and teller of tall tales, politician, Indian fighter, rough-and-ready hero-comes to life in what is usually known as his "Autobiography." Surrounded by such a mass of folklore, Crockett became completely entangled in myth. The modern reader will therefore welcome this facsimile edition of his original Narrative accompanied by explanatory notes, background material, and corrections of errors in fact. This volume resulted from the doctoral research of the late James A. Shackford and the lifelong scholarly interests of the late Stanley J. Folmsbee, professor of history at The University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

A portrait of America's seventeenth president describes Andrew Johnson's failed efforts to bring about reconciliation following the Civil War, the antagonism of congressional leaders who sought his impeachment, and his legacy for the present.

This new volume thoroughly examines the troubled career of our most unpopular president--not to resuscitate his reputation, but because his personal contradictions reflected those of his country: a democratic nation conceived in liberty, yet existing half slave and half free; an economy of yeoman farmers and independent artisans being swept into industrialization and a market system; a country fond of tradition, but caught up in social, economic, and political revolution.

On April 14, 1865, just as the American Civil War came to an end, Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by a Confederate actor. The next morning Andrew Johnson was suddenly elevated to the position of President of the United States at a time when the nation was still suffering from the effects of war.

Appalachians All intertwines the histories of three communities--Knoxville with its urban life, Cades Cove with its farming, logging, and tourism legacies, and the Clearfork Valley with its coal production--to tell a larger story of East Tennessee and its inhabitants. Combining a perceptive account of how industrialization shaped developments in these communities since the Civil War with a heartfelt reflection on Appalachian identity, Mark Banker provides a significant new regional history with implications that extend well beyond East Tennessee's boundaries.

African Americans have had a profound impact on the economy, culture, and social landscape of southern Appalachia but only after a surge of study in the last two decades have their contributions been recognized by white culture. Appalachians and Race brings together 18 essays on the black experience in the mountain South in the nineteenth century. These essays provide a broad and diverse sampling of the best work on race relations in this region. The contributors consider a variety of topics: black migration into and out of the region, educational and religious missions directed at African Americans, the musical influences of interracial contacts, the political activism of blacks during reconstruction and beyond, the racial attitudes of white highlanders, and much more. Drawing from the particulars of southern mountain experiences, this collection brings together important studies of the dynamics of race not only within the region, but throughout the South and the nation over the course of the turbulent nineteenth century.

The history of a church that was founded in Greene County before Tennessee was a state.

This entertaining collection of biographical portraits captures the essence of the historic figures of the Smokies. Discover the tale of the bold Captain Kennedy and his ragtag band of Mohican and British comrades, who became French and Indian War heroes; how Henry Von Plott became a renowned bear hunter and breeder of the world's premier hunting dog; and the story of Yonaguska, considered to be the last truly great chief of the Cherokee Nation.

Describes the life and contributions of an individual who helped shape world history.

The inspiring, tell-it-like-it-is autobiography of one of America's best-loved stars. Dolly tells the rags-to-riches story of her life as only she can--with honesty, insight, and an unfailing sense of humor. Amazingly candid, incredibly warm, wise and funny, Dolly proves over and over again why she is so loved. 32 pages of photos.

Two children search for stories in Jonesborough, Tennessee, the storytelling capital of the world. Every person they meet has a story to tell them. Finally, they locate the National Storytelling Festival and hear storytellers who are sharing stories in tents throughout the town.

A realistic look at early pioneer life and culture in East Tennessee.

This new book tells-for the first time-the story of Charlie Bowman, a musician from East Tennessee, who was a major influence on the distinctive fiddle style definitive of country music of the 1920s and 1930s. Charlie, along with three of his brothers and two of his daughters, were part of the Columbia Records Johnson City Sessions of 1928 and 1929.

Ghostly stories and tales from Upper East Tennessee.

Historic Jonesborough is rich in traditions - and in ghosts. According to folklorist Price, nearly every historic house in this oldest town in Tennessee boasts at least one resident spook.

Memories of the author's over-protective father and growing up in Greeneville in the 1930s.

Provides readers an overview of the long and often colourful past of Tennessee's oldest county. This comprehensive county history is over 1200 pages with over one hundred photographs. It includes over thirty major chapters, as well as dozens of community histories, religious denominations, clubs and organisations, museums, and more.

Market hunter, frontier guide, wilderness scout, master woodsman, expert marksman, Indian fighter, militia leader, surveyor, land speculator, judge, sheriff, coroner, elected legislator, merchant, tavern keeper, prisoner of war, Spanish syndic, husband, father-Daniel Boone led one of the fullest and most eventful lives in American history. Encompassing 85 sites stretched across 11 states, In the Footsteps of Daniel Boone takes readers to the places where Boone lived, hunted, fought, and dreamed of the next frontier. You'll find the sites where two of Boone's sons were killed by Indians, where he rescued his kidnapped daughter from Shawnee captors, where his brother was slain by Indians who mistook him for Boone, where he tricked a British governor, and where he was court-martialed on charges of treason. In David, Kentucky, you'll visit the hollow where Daniel Boone saw his first buffalo. At Fort Boonesborough State Park, you'll learn how his courage and cunning defeated a Shawnee siege. At Cumberland Gap, you'll walk Boone's Wilderness Trail, by which a quarter-million settlers entered Kentucky. And in Pennsylvania and Missouri, you'll see the homes where he was born into and departed this world-a thousand miles, 86 years, and a legendary life apart. Book jacket.

Randell Jones is part biography, part travel guide, written for the armchair reader or the traveler following in Crockett's footsteps.

Eight thousand people attended the funeral Felix Breazeale gave - for himself. A ghost named Mary always sits in Row C, Seat 5, in the Orpheum Theater in Memphis. Here are the most fascinating and the strangest of the favorite stories of Tennessee. Illustrated and indexed.

Whether one things of him as dashing cavalier or shameless horse thief, it is impossible not to regard John Hunt Morgan as a fascinating figure of the Civil War. He collected his Raiders at first from the prominent families of Kentucky, though later the exploits of the group were to attract a less elite class of recruits. Morgan was able to lead these men into the most dangerous adventures by convincing them that the honor of the South was at stake; yet he did not always succeed in appealing to that sense of honor when temptations of easy theft drew the Raiders from military objectives to wanton pillage.

In John Hunt Morgan and his Raiders, Edison H. Thomas gives us a balanced view of these controversial men and their raids. In a fast-paced narrative he follows the cavalry unit for the evening the first group set out from Lexington to join the Confederate forces until the morning of Morgan's death in Greeneville, Tennessee. Basil Duke, St. Leger Grenfell, Lightning Ellsworth, and the beautiful Martha Ready all receive their due, and the truly remarkable story of the Raiders' newspaper is told.

Chronicles the Indian troubles and other hardships suffered by those settling the frontier, their early government, development of trade and commerce, travel and the coming of the railroad, growth of churches and religion, and education. This book presents the history of the oldest town in Tennessee and includes over 100 photographs.

A collection based on Neely's column on Knoxville History in the News-Sentinel.

Knoxville, Tennessee: A Mountain City in the New South is much more than an update to the 1983 edition; it is virtually a complete rethinking of its predecessor as well as an updating of Knoxville’s story from the 1982 World’s Fair to the death of the nearly legendary Cas Walker. In this new edition, Wheeler argues that, like Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby (1925), Knoxvillians have fabricated for themselves a false history, portraying themselves and their city as the almost impotent victims of historical forces that they could neither alter nor control. The result of this myth, Wheeler says, is a collective mentality of near-helplessness against the powerful forces of isolation, poverty, and even change itself. But Knoxville’s past is far more complicated than that, for the city contained abundant material goods and human talent that could have been used to propel Knoxville into the ranks of the premier cities of the New South—if those assets had not slipped through the fingers of both the leaders and the populace. In all, Knoxville’s history is the story of colliding forces—country and city, North and South, the poor and the elite, as well as the story of colorful figures, including Perez Dickinson, Edward Sanford, George Dempster, William Yardley, Louis Brownlow, Cas Walker, Carlene Malone, Victor Ashe, and many, many more. This is not, however, a history–or a future—without hope. Wheeler charts positive changes as well, such as downtown residential movements, urban renewal initiatives, political progressivism, and improving race relations. In many ways, Knoxville’s story parallels the struggles facing all American cities, making this revised edition of interest both as a regional history and as a fascinating case study of American urbanism

At the start of the Civil War, Knoxville, Tennessee, with a population of just over 4,000, was considered a prosperous metropolis little reliant on slavery. Although the surrounding countryside was predominantly Unionist in sympathy, Knoxville itself was split down the middle, with Union and Confederate supporters even holding simultaneous political rallies at opposite ends of the town's main street. Following Tennessee's secession, Knoxville soon became famous (or infamous) as a stronghold of stalwart Unionism, thanks to the efforts of a small cadre who persisted in openly denouncing the Confederacy. Throughout the course of the Civil War, Knoxville endured military occupation for all but three days, hosting Confederate troops during the first half of the conflict and Union forces throughout the remainder, with the transition punctuated by an extended siege and bloody battle during which nearly forty thousand soldiers fought over the town.

The roadside historical markers of East Tennessee highlight the fascinating personalities and significant events of a culturally and historically rich region. Forthree years, Knoxville News Sentinel columnist Fred Brown presented the storiesbehind the local markers placed by the Tennessee Historical Commission. He searchedthe highways and back roads of East Tennessee, tracking down markers with directionsthat were sometimes no more specific than ?Highway 11, Greene County.'Arranged by county, the entries link East Tennessee's past and present and highlightthe enormous diversity of the state's history from its prehistoric past through its involvement in World War II. The markers detail bitter struggles with Native Americans in the eighteenth century, but also explain the unique contribution of Cherokee culture and civilization, such as Sequoyah's development of the Cherokee syllabary. Brown commemorates the numerous Civil War sites throughout the region, but he also includes the service of East Tennesseans in later wars. One marker commemorates Kiffin Yates Rockwell, a founding pilot of the Lafayete Escadrille, a famed squadron of aviators in World War I. Another marker details the achievements of Sgt. Elbert L. Kinser of Greene County, who was posthumously decorated for his leadership of a First Marine Division Rifle Platoon on Okinawa.The markers also showcase East Tennessee's unique political history. They tell thestory of the ?lost state? of Franklin in the 1780s and record the region's efforts to secede from the state when Tennessee left the Union in 1861. Brown's narrative also explains the nature of opposing political factions throughout the decades through the biographies of their leaders, such as Elihu Embree, a Quaker abolitionist who founded an antislavery paper in East Tennessee.From the vantage of the armchair or out on the road, Marking Time is a surprisingand engaging trip on the byways of East Tennessee's politics, culture, and history through the stories of the men and women who shaped the state.

With in-depth and accurate coverage, this book pays tribute to the often unheralded efforts and acheivements of the historical women of Tennessee.

Transcription of historical notes made by local historian (and namesake of our genealogical library), T. Elmer Cox.

A Greeneville historian's biography of President Andrew Johnson.

Families, communities, and the nation itself were irretrievably altered by the Civil War and the subsequent societal transformations of the nineteenth century. The repercussions of the war incited a broad range of unique problems in Appalachia, including political dynamics, racial prejudices, and the regional economy.

After World War I, black Americans fervently hoped for a new epoch of peace, prosperity, and equality. Black soldiers believed their participation in the fight to make the world safe for democracy finally earned them rights they had been promised since the close of the Civil War.

Instead, an unprecedented wave of anti-black riots and lynchings swept the country for eight months. From April to November of 1919, the racial unrest rolled across the South into the North and the Midwest, even to the nation's capital. Millions of lives were disrupted, and hundreds of lives were lost. Blacks responded by fighting back with an intensity and determination never seen before.

Red Summer is the first narrative history written about this epic encounter. Focusing on the worst riots and lynchings--including those in Chicago, Washington, D.C., Charleston, Omaha and Knoxville--Cameron McWhirter chronicles the mayhem, while also exploring the first stirrings of a civil rights movement that would transform American society forty years later.

More Memories and stories from Bob Hurley's long-running column in the Greeneville Sun.

This is the first book-length work on wartime race relations in Tennessee, and it stresses the differences within the slave community as well as Military Governor Andrew Johnson's role in emancipation. In Tennessee a significant number of slaves took advantage of the disruptions resulting from federal invasion to escape servitude and to seek privileges enjoyed by whites. Some rushed into theses changes, believing God had ordained them; others acted simply from a willingness to seize any opportunity for improving their lot. Both groups felt a sense of dignity that their slaves initiated a change; they lacked the power and resources to secure and expand the gains they made on their own.

This engaging collection of stories is an intimate look at Dolly Parton's family, told by her oldest sister, Willadeene. Rare family photos included.

Collection of Columns on Life in East Tennessee, first published in the Greeneville Sun.

Tales from the gold old days in the East Tennessee mountains, told by old-timers from eight East Tennessee counties.

Photos, stories and more from the 200 year history of the St. James Lutheran Church.

After reading a letter from his mother, Burn cast the deciding vote to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, granting suffrage rights to millions of American women. Born and raised in McMinn County, he served in Tennessee government in various capacities for many years, including terms in the state senate and as delegate to state constitutional conventions. His accomplishments include helping secure universal suffrage rights, drafting clean election laws and leading successful careers in law and banking. He encountered more controversies in his career, such as an unsuccessful gubernatorial bid, election fraud and implementation of state legislative reapportionment

Tennessee women - a force in history. Including suffragists, civil rights activists, and movers and shakers in politics and in the music industries of Nashville and Memphis, as well as many other notables, this collective portrait of Tennessee women offers new perspectives and insights into their dreams, their struggles, and their times. As rich, diverse, and wide-ranging as the topography of the state, this book will interest scholars, general readers, and students of southern history, women's history, and Tennessee history.""Tennessee Women: Their Lives and Times"" shifts the historical lens from the more traditional view of men's roles to place women and their experiences at center stage in the historical drama. The eighteen biographical essays, written by leading historians of women, illuminate the lives of familiar figures like reformer Frances Wright, blueswoman Alberta Hunter, and the Grand Ole Opry's Minnie Pearl (Sarah Colley Cannon) and less-well-known characters like the Cherokee Beloved Woman Nan-ye-hi (Nancy Ward), antebellum free black woman Milly Swan Price, and environmentalist Doris Bradshaw.Told against the backdrop of their times, these are the life stories of women who shaped Tennessee's history from the eighteenth-century challenges of western expansion through the nineteenth- and twentieth-century struggles against racial and gender oppression to the twenty-first-century battles with community degradation. Taken as a whole, this collection of women's stories illuminates previously unrevealed historical dimensions that give readers a greater understanding of Tennessee's place within environmental and human rights movements and its role as a generator of phenomenal cultural life.

Examines the history, traditional lifestyle, and current situation of the Cherokee Indians.

Presents a brief introduction to the Cherokee Indians including information on their society, homes, food, clothing, crafts, and life today.

Part of the Rivers of America Series, tells the story of the history of the French Broad River Basin.

Absorbing stories of a race of people who created the civilization in the American wilderness and helped lay the solid foundations for the greatest nation on earth. The Scots-Irish Presbyterians settled in the American frontier during with the 18th century were a unique breed of people with an independent spirit which boldly challenged the arbitrary powers of monarchs and established the church.

History and Photographs from the South Side of Greene County.

Comprising its settlement, as the Watauga Association, from 1769 to 1777; a part of North-Carolina, from 1777 to 1784; the state of Franklin, from 1784 to 1788; a part of North-Carolina, from 1788-1800, as part of the territory of the United States from 1790-1796, and as the State of Tennessee from 1796 to 1800.

When the East Tennessee and Virginia Railway line was completed in 1858, dignitaries gathered in celebration as the final spike was hammered into the last tie in Greene County. From the 'Prelude to Conspiracy' and a bold plan approved by President Abraham Lincoln, through the tragedy described in the 'Aftermath', this work covers various events.

At the height of World War II, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, was home to 75,000 residents, and consumed more electricity than New York City, yet it was shrouded in such secrecy that it did not appear on any map. Thousands of civilians, many of them young women from small towns across the U.S., were recruited to this secret city, enticed by the promise of solid wages and war-ending work. What were they actually doing there? Very few knew. The purpose of this mysterious government project was kept a secret from the outside world and from the majority of the residents themselves. Some wondered why, despite the constant work and round-the-clock activity in this makeshift town, did no tangible product of any kind ever seem to leave its guarded gates? The women who kept this town running would find out at the end of the war, when Oak Ridge's secret was revealed and changed the world forever.

Witches who fly down chimneys. A chair that won't release its occupant until a drop of blood stains the floor. A mountain that grew--and continues to grow--from the grave of a woman who was larger than life. The ghost of a woman who jumps on the bumpers of cars driving past the graveyard where she is buried. An apple tree that growls at people who pick its fruit. A woman who rose from her grave each night to get food for a baby born to her after she was buried. A peach tree that grows onthe head of a deer. These and other legends and ghost stories handed down for generations are contained in this collection of 25 tales from East Tennessee.

The stories of one of the oldest Methodist Churches in East Tennessee.

Diary kept by the author who lived on S. Irish St. during the Civil War.

The Log House in East Tennessee argues that the introduction of portable sawmills, commercial lumbering activity, technical innovations such as balloon framing and 'box' construction, and the coming of the railroads acted in concert to eclipse log home building.

In the years following the Revolutionary War, the young American nation was in a state of chaos. Citizens pleaded with government leaders to reorganize local infrastructures and heighten regulations, but economic turmoil, Native American warfare, and political unrest persisted. By 1784, one group of North Carolina frontiersmen could no longer stand the unresponsiveness of state leaders to their growing demands. This ambitious coalition of Tennessee Valley citizens declared their region independent from North Carolina, forming the state of Franklin.

The Lost State of Franklin: America's First Secession chronicles the history of this ill-fated movement from its origins in the early settlement of East Tennessee to its eventual violent demise. Author Kevin T. Barksdale investigates how this lost state failed so ruinously, examining its history and tracing the development of its modern mythology. The Franklin independence movement emerged from the shared desires of a powerful group of landed elite, yeoman farmers, and country merchants. Over the course of four years they managed to develop a functioning state government, court system, and backcountry bureaucracy.

In 1866, President Andrew Johnson was trying to find solutions to a bewildering array of immediate post-Civil War challenges: what to do about the recently liberated slaves, how to bring the South back into the Union, whether or not former members of the Confederacy should be pardoned and forgiven for their war time acts and building a thriving national economy that would provide jobs for millions of new veterans.
Confronted with an increasingly assertive Congress that had been frustrated by its lack of influence during the presidency of Abraham Lincoln, Johnson decided to take his case directly to the American people for the fall mid-term elections of 1866, becoming the first president in history to actively engage in a political campaign.

Little-known and almost forgotten stories and legends drawn from the backroads of East Tennessee.

By 1864 neither the Union's survival nor the South's independence was any more apparent than at the beginning of the war. The grand strategies of both sides were still evolving, and Tennessee and Kentucky were often at the cusp of that work. With his customary command of myriad sources, Cooling examines the heartland conflict in all its aspects: the Confederate cavalry raids and Union counteroffensives; the harsh and punitive Reconstruction policies that were met with banditry and brutal guerrilla actions; the disparate political, economic, and sociocultural upheavals; the ever-growing war weariness of the divided populations; and the climactic battles of Franklin and Nashville that ended the Confederacy's hopes in the Western Theater. Especially notable in this volume is Cooling's use of the latest concepts of "hybrid" or "compound war" that national security experts have applied to the twenty-first-century wars in Iraq and Afghanistan--a mode of analysis that explores how catastrophic terrorism and disruptive lawlessness mix with traditional combat and irregular operations to form a new kind of warfare. Not only are such concepts relevant to the historical study of the Civil War in the heartland, Cooling suggests, but by the same token, their illumination of historical events can only enrich the ways in which policymakers view present-day conflicts.

A New History of the Civil War in East Tennessee.

Throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, a steady stream of Scots migrated to Ulster and eventually onward across the Atlantic to resettle in the United States. Many of these Scots-Irish immigrants made their way into the mountains of the southern Appalachian region. They brought with them a wealth of traditional ballads and tunes from the British Isles and Ireland, a carrying stream that merged with sounds and songs of English, German, Welsh, African American, French, and Cherokee origin. Their enduring legacy of music flows today from Appalachia back to Ireland and Scotland and around the globe. In Wayfaring Strangers, Fiona Ritchie and Doug Orr guide readers on a musical voyage across oceans, linking people and songs through centuries of adaptation and change.

Davy Crockett, the King of the Wild Frontier, is a man of legend. He is said to have killed his first bear when he was three years old. His smile alone killed another, and he skinned a bear by forcing him to run between two trees. Fact or fiction? Find out the real story of this folk hero, who did love to hunt bears, served as a congressman for Tennessee, and fought and died at the Alamo.