Event

An important ruling on the concept of self-defense resulted from one of the most famous murder trials in Tennessee history. On November 9, 1908, Robin Cooper shot and killed Edward W. Carmack in downtown Nashville. Cooper was the son of…

The hard-fought Creek War of 1813 and 1814, also known as the First Creek War, actually began in the spring of 1812, when a party of Creek warriors returning from a visit to the British in Canada attacked a small…

Richard Henderson, land speculator and representative for North Carolina on the western Virginia/North Carolina survey team, drew up the Cumberland Compact in 1780. Signed on May 1, 1780, by 250 men of the new Cumberland settlement, it served as a…

The engagement at Dandridge occurred when Federal troops, commanded by Maj. Gen. John Parke, moved toward Dandridge in East Tennessee on January 14 in search of forage. Upon receiving reports of the Federal move, Confederate Lieut. Gen. James Longstreet ordered…

Davis Bridge was a small yet fierce battle in the Civil War. Taking place near Pocahontas, Tennessee, on October 5, 1862, the battle served an important role in the Corinth Campaign. Had it been a major Union victory, the battle…

A number of natural and technological tragedies, as well as epidemics, have shaped the Tennessee experience. Many resulted in massive property damage and/or loss of life and immeasurable human suffering. Storms have inflicted terrible damage in Tennessee throughout the last…

In 1889 the Tennessee General Assembly passed four acts of self-described electoral reform that resulted in the disfranchisement of a significant portion of African American voters as well as many poor white voters. The timing of the legislation resulted from…

Dueling, defined as private combat governed by formal rules, was a manifestation of the romantic spirit that once existed in the South. A relic of feudalism, the duel was popularized among rank-conscious southern gentry by European officers who participated in…

One of the worst passenger rail accidents in United States history occurred July 9, 1918, at the Dutchman's Grade, in Belle Meade, five miles west of Nashville. The southbound Memphis to Atlanta Passenger Express No. 1 collided head-on with a…

Between mid-December 1811 and mid-March 1812 a series of catastrophic earthquakes shook West Tennessee and the rest of the Central Mississippi Valley. Judging from reports and eyewitness accounts, the quakes would have measured among the highest ever recorded on the…

When Andrew Jackson became president of the United States in 1829, he chose John Henry Eaton, his biographer, leading political adviser, and Tennessee friend, to be secretary of war. Just a few months earlier, Eaton had married Margaret "Peggy" O'Neale…

On March 12, 1929, Margaret Bowen, a worker at American Glanzstoff, led a walkout of 523 women operatives. After other shifts joined the walkout the next day, the plant closed on March 14. Four days later Bemberg workers struck in…

The Tennessee Supreme Court decision in Evans v. McCabe (1932) held that the Tennessee Constitution prohibits the state from enacting and collecting a tax on income earned within the state. (1) L. C. Evans, a Nashvillian who owned a farm…

In 1858 John O'Mahony established the Fenian Brotherhood of America to provide money, arms, and military leadership for an anticipated rising against England by the Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood. An odd twist in this story of nineteenth-century Irish nationalism was the…

Tennessee towns host over thirty fiddle and old-time music contests every year. Many of these current music festivals date only to the 1970s as Tennesseans rediscovered their local musical and folklore traditions, but fiddle contests have a long history in…

Moderate to heavy rainfall in December 1936 was no harbinger of disaster. However, as the rain, snow, and sleet continued through most of January 1937, soils became saturated, and the Mississippi, Cumberland, and Tennessee Rivers and their tributaries overflowed into…

Each year, hundreds of festivals throughout Tennessee celebrate the state’s diverse culture. Festivals provide economic opportunities and offer a venue for people to express the distinctive character of their town or city. Many Tennessee festivals are based on food, reflecting…

This significant decision of the Tennessee Supreme Court provides a valuable understanding of the Tennessee judiciary's peculiar relationship with the institution of slavery. The case arose after the death in 1842 of Loyd Ford of Washington County. Ford, a yeoman…

Following the evacuation of Atlanta, Confederate General John Bell Hood formulated an elaborate plan to draw General William T. Sherman away from that city and place his own army in position to recapture Middle Tennessee. Hood planned to march his…

The worst mine disaster in Tennessee history took place on May 19, 1902, at the Fraterville mine, near Coal Creek (now Lake City), Campbell County. At about 7:30 a.m., 184 men and boys entered the mine. Minutes later a horrendous…