Tennessee in the American Civil War was one of the most divided states in the country at the outset of the war. Before the bombardment of Fort Sumter, Tennessee was staunchly pro-Union, though there were still a few secessionist hot beds in the western and middle portion of the state. The situation rapidly changed when Fort Sumter was bombarded and Lincoln made the call for 75,000 volunteers to suppress the rebellion. Tennesseans saw this as a threat to their "southern brethren," and though Tennessee voted to secede, there were still areas scattered all over state that had strong Union sympathies. The areas Unionism was most prominent
Commemoration of the American Civil War The Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission Act, from the 107th, 108th, 109th 110th, 111th, 112th Congress all died in committee after being sent for review from other sub/committees. What all these acts have in common for the Civil War Sesquicentennial was to establish a commission to commemorate the sesquicentennial of the American Civil War, and a grant program. This Grant program would have appropriated $3,500,000.00 to the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) for grants for activities relating to the Sesquicentennial Civil War, but NEH is not directly sponsoring any Sesquicentennial projects. State humanities councils may sponsor their own sesquicentennial activities,