Tennessee Pledges Her Military Resources to the Confederacy

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An exemplary document, crucial to an understanding of the history of the Civil War, in which Tennessee, threatened with an attack from Union forces in Kentucky, pledges all of her arms, ordnance and related war material to the cause of the Confederacy! Some historic background is in order: On May 20, 1861 Kentucky Gov. Beriah Magoffin officially proclaimed the neutrality of Kentucky. In so doing, he warned both North and South against sending troops into the state. Nevertheless, both Union and Confederate sympathizers in the state had already begun to train and arm themselves in anticipation of the state throwing itself to either the Union of Confederate cause. Indeed, throughout the summer of 1861 William "Bull" Nelson was the Federal government's agent in the distribution of guns to loyal Unionists in eastern, northern, and central Kentucky. These groups were organizing to counter the sixty some companies of official state militia called the State Guards, under the command of Simon Bolivar Buckner. The State Guards were largely pro-Confederate. One of the outstanding State Guard companies was "The Lexington Rifles" led by future raider John Hunt Morgan. On September 2nd Federal troops in southeastern Missouri under Ulysses S. Grant occupied Belmont, Missouri, directly across the Mississippi from Columbus, Kentucky. Tennessee, which had already seceded, was no doubt seen as a threat to border state Kentucky. After the fall of Fort Sumter, Gov. Isham G. Harris declared: "Tennessee will not furnish a single man for the purpose of coercion, but 50,000 if necessary for the defense of our rights and those of our Southern brothers..." On June 8, the population voted 2: 1 for secession, and on June 24 Harris proclaimed: "all connections by the State of Tennessee with the Federal Union dissolved, and that Tennessee is a free, independent government..." The Provisional Army of Tennessee was organized, headed by Leonidas Polk, with subordinate commanders Gideon Pillow and Benjamin F. Cheatham. To counter Grant's move, Polk ordered Pillow to occupy Columbus, which he did on Sep. 3. The next day marked the end of Kentucky's neutrality, as Grant seized the ardently pro-Confederate town of Paducah, Kentucky sixty miles from Tennessee. On September 18th the legislature officially abandoned the state's position of neutrality and declared for the Union. On September 19th Lexington was occupied by Federal troops, and by mid-September Buckner had fled south taking most of the State Guard with him. Our document, signed by Tennessee Gov. ISHAM G. HARRIS (1818-1897) shows Tennessee's determination and resolve to throw her lot with the Confederacy with the hope that such consolidation would protect the state from what they feared would be the imminent invasion of Union forces from the north. This historic document, 4pp. legal folio, was executed in Nashville on Sep. 23, 1861, and reads in small part: "...The State of Tennessee...conveys, sells & assigns to the Confederate States of America, its stores & supplies in the Commissary, Quarter Master & Ordnance Departments, which are specified in the schedules hereto annexed...This transfer & sale embraces the stores & supplies...acquired since the 1st September 1861, & all supplies which may be issued before the inventories shall be completed...or which may be issued before the Government of the Confederate States shall have fully organized its staff in the State of Tennessee; it also includes ordnance & ordnance stores, arms & equipments in all said departments of every kind which have been or may hereafter be issued to troops in the Provisional Army of Tennessee which are already mustered or may be mustered into the service of the Confederate States. It is expected that the stores & supplies in the Quarter Master's Department...shall be issued to & used for the benefit of troops of the Provisional Army of Tennessee...for all which stores & supplies, arms & equipments of every kind in possession of said Department on the 1st September, 1861, or acquired since that day...the Confederate Government will pay to the State of Tennessee, promptly, the actual cost...but from this clause are excepted all guns & ordnance which belonged to the State of Tennessee on the 14th April 1861 [fall of Fort Sumter]...[for which] such arms and ordnance shall be settled for hereafter upon the same terms, which the government may agree upon with other States of the Confederacy. The State of Tennessee also assigns to the Government all its contracts for arms, munitions of war, ordnance & ordnance stores...and delivers the originals of said contracts...The sum to be paid out under this contract to be taken into the account in a final settlement of expenses incurred by the State in the war now waged with the Government of the United States..." Boldly signed by Governor Harris at bottom: "Isham G. Harris Govr", also signed by Military Board members W. G. Harding, J. E. Bailey and Neill S. Brown. At bottom, a Capt. Kensey Johns signs on behalf of the "Commission for the Confederate States of America". Confederate Comptroller LEWIS CRUGER pens an endorsement on verso, Oct. 18, 1861 forwarding the document to the Secretary of War: "...I have no evidence of the appointment of Capt. Johns as Commissioner for Confederate States to sign this contract..." To finalize the contract none other than Secretary of War JUDAH BENJAMIN (1811-1884) endorses the document, writing: "Approved J. P. Benjamin Acting Sec. Of War". Folds, light toning, overall very good. Tennessee remained the scene of monumental battles for the duration of the war, and her soldiers proved instrumental in many of the Confederacy's victories. However, the Confederate government had lost control of much of Tennessee, including the capital, Nashville, by early 1862. Harris, upon learning that Lincoln had appointed Andrew Johnson as military governor of Tennessee, ceased to make any real effort to function as governor, serving instead as a staff officer in the Confederate Army. A document of great import in understanding Tennessee's contribution to the "Cause".

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