Pulaski, Tennessee the vicinity of Pulaski was the site of a number of skirmishes during the Franklin–Nashville Campaign. Union troops occupied the state from 1862. In 1863, Confederate courier Sam Davis was hanged in Pulaski by the Union Army on suspicion of espionage. In late 1865, during the early days of the Reconstruction Era, the city was the site of founding the first Ku Klux Klan (KKK) by six Tennessee veterans of the Confederate Army. John C. Lester, John B. Kennedy, James R. Crowe, Frank O. McCord, Richard R. Reed, and J. Calvin Jones established the KKK in Pulaski on December 25,
First Tennessee was created in 1969. Two years later, this became First Tennessee National Corporation, with the intention of acquiring other banks. The company acquired five banks in 1972, and as more banks became part of the company, their names changed to First Tennessee Bank. In 1977, First National also became First Tennessee Bank. In 1981 First Express became the first national check-clearing service, and First Tennessee offered brokerage services starting the next year. In 1995, with the purchases of Maryland National Mortgage Corporation and SNMC Management Corporation, First Tennessee had $6 billion in mortgage origination and was one of the country's