East Tennessee

==History==
===Native Americans===
Much of what is known about East Tennessee's prehistoric Native Americans comes as a result of the Tennessee Valley Authority's reservoir construction, as federal law required archaeological investigations to be conducted in areas that were to be flooded. Excavations at the [[Icehouse Bottom]] site near [[Vonore, Tennessee|Vonore]] revealed that Native Americans were living in East Tennessee on at least a semi-annual basis as early as 7,500 B.C.<ref name=chapman>{{cite journal |last1=Chapman |first1=Jefferson |author1-link=Jefferson Chapman |title=Tellico Archaeology: 12,000 Years of Native American History |journal=Publications in Anthropology |date=1985 |volume=41 |issue=1 |publisher=University of Tennessee |location=Knoxville}}</ref> The region's significant [[Woodland period]] (1000 B.C. – 1000 A.D.) sites include [[Mialoquo#Rose Island|Rose Island]] (also near Vonore) and [[Moccasin Bend]] (near Chattanooga).<ref name=chapman /><ref name="nhlsum">{{cite web|url=http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=1965&ResourceType=District|title=Moccasin Bend Archeological District|access-date=July 1, 2008|work=National Historic Landmark summary listing|publisher=National Park Service|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090310082850/http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=1965&ResourceType=District|archive-date=March 10, 2009}}</ref> 

During what archaeologists call the [[Mississippian culture|Mississippian period]] (c. 1000–1600 A.D.), East Tennessee's indigenous inhabitants were living in complex [[agrarian societies]] at places such as [[Toqua (Tennessee)|Toqua]] and [[Hiwassee Island]], and had formed a minor chiefdom known as [[Chiaha]] in the French Broad Valley.{{sfn|Satz|1979|pp=8–11}} [[Kingdom of Spain|Spanish]] expeditions led by [[Hernando de Soto (explorer)|Hernando de Soto]], [[Tristán de Luna y Arellano|Tristan de Luna]], and [[Juan Pardo (explorer)|Juan Pardo]] all visited East Tennessee's Mississippian-period inhabitants during the 16th century.<ref name=hudson>{{cite book |last=Hudson |first=Charles M. |author-link=Charles M. Hudson |date=2005 |title=The Juan Pardo Expeditions: Explorations of the Carolinas and Tennessee, 1566–1568 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NyAD-F3Q85kC |location=Tuscaloosa, Alabama |publisher=[[University of Alabama Press]] |pages=10–13, 36–40, 104 |isbn=9780817351908 |via=Google Books}}</ref> Some of the Native peoples who are known to have inhabited the region during this time include the [[Muscogee|Muscogee Creek]], [[Yuchi]], and [[Shawnee]].{{sfn|Corlew|1981|pp=16-17}}{{sfn|Satz|1979|pp=8–11}}

By the early 18th century, most Natives in Tennessee had disappeared, very likely wiped out by diseases introduced by the Spaniards, leaving the region sparsely populated.{{sfn|Satz|1979|pp=8–11}} The [[Cherokee]] began migrating into what is now East Tennessee from what is now [[Virginia]] in the latter 17th century, possibly to escape expanding European settlement and diseases in the north.{{sfn|Satz|1979|pp=34–35}} The Cherokee established a series of towns concentrated in the Little Tennessee and Hiwassee valleys that became known as the [[Overhill Cherokee|Overhill towns]], since traders from [[North Carolina]], [[South Carolina]], and Virginia had to cross over the mountains to reach them. Early in the 18th century, the Cherokee forced the remaining members of other Native American groups out of the state.

===Pioneer period===
[[Image:Cantilever-barn-moa-tn1.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|Early settlers of East Tennessee developed and constructed a unique type of double-[[cantilever]] barn, like this one in [[Norris, Tennessee|Norris]], which evolved from an earlier design in [[Pennsylvania]].]]
The first recorded Europeans to reach the area were three expeditions led by Spanish explorers: [[Hernando de Soto]] in 1540–1541, [[Tristán de Luna y Arellano|Tristan de Luna]] in 1559, and [[Juan Pardo (explorer)|Juan Pardo]] in 1566–1567.{{sfn|Corlew|1981|pp=25–26}}{{sfn|Langsdon|2000|pp=4–5}}<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hudson |first1=Charles M. |last2=Smith |first2=Marvin T. |last3=DePratter |first3=Chester B. |last4=Kelley |first4=Emilia |author1-link=Charles M. Hudson|title=The Tristán de Luna Expedition, 1559–1561 |journal=Southeastern Archaeology |date=1989 |volume=8 |issue=1 |pages=31–45 |jstor=40712896 |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]]}}</ref> Pardo recorded the name "Tanasqui" from a local Native American village, which evolved into the state's current name.<ref name=hudson/> In 1673, [[Abraham Wood]], a British fur trader, sent an expedition led by James Needham and Gabriel Arthur from [[Fort Henry (Virginia)|Fort Henry]] in the [[Colony of Virginia]] into Overhill Cherokee territory in modern-day northeastern Tennessee.{{sfn|Finger|2001|pp=20–21}} Needham was killed during the expedition and Arthur was taken prisoner, and remained with the Cherokees for more than a year.{{sfn|Corlew|1981|pp=27–28}} [[Longhunter]]s from Virginia explored much of East Tennessee in the 1750s and 1760s in expeditions which lasted several months or even years.{{sfn|Finger|2001|pp=40–42}}

The Cherokee alliance with [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Britain]] during the [[French and Indian War]] led to the construction of [[Fort Loudoun (Tennessee)|Fort Loudoun]] in 1756 near present-day [[Vonore, Tennessee|Vonore]], which was the first British settlement in what is now Tennessee.{{sfn|Finger|2001|p=35}} Fort Loudoun was the westernmost British outpost to that date and was designed by [[John William Gerard de Brahm]] and constructed by forces under Captain Raymond Demeré.{{sfn|Corlew|1981|pp=32–33}} Shortly after its completion, Demeré relinquished command of the fort to his brother, Captain Paul Demeré.{{sfn|Corlew|1981|p=33}} Hostilities erupted between the British and the Overhill Cherokees into [[Anglo-Cherokee War|an armed conflict]], and a [[siege of Fort Loudoun|siege of the fort]] ended with its surrender in 1760.{{sfn|Finger|2001|pp=36–37}} The next morning, Paul Demeré and many his men were killed in an ambush nearby, and most of the rest of the garrison was taken prisoner.{{sfn|Corlew|1981|p=36}} A [[Timberlake Expedition|peace expedition]] led by [[Henry Timberlake]] in 1761 provided later travelers with invaluable knowledge regarding the location of the Overhill towns and the customs of the Overhill Cherokee.

The end of the French and Indian War in 1763 brought a stream of explorers and traders into the region, among them additional longhunters. In an effort to mitigate conflicts with the Natives, Britain issued the [[Royal Proclamation of 1763]] which forbade settlements west of the Appalachian Mountains.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Middlekauff |first1=Robert |title=The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1763–1789 |date=2007 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |isbn=978-0-1951-6247-9 |pages=58–60 |edition=Revised Expanded |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nya0ODz-B-cC&pg=PA58}}</ref> Despite this proclamation, migration across the mountains continued, and the first permanent European settlers began arriving in northeastern Tennessee in the late 1760s.{{sfn|Langsdon|2000|p=8}}{{sfn|Corlew|1981|pp=43–44}} In 1769 [[William Bean]], an associate of famed explorer [[Daniel Boone]], built what is generally acknowledged as Tennessee's first permanent Euro-American residence in Tennessee along the [[Watauga River]] in present-day [[Johnson City, Tennessee|Johnson City]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Coffey |first1=Ken |title=The First Family of Tennessee |url=http://graingertnhistory.com/story_2/#more-5 |website=Grainger County Historic Society |publisher=Thomas Daugherty |access-date=August 20, 2020 |date=October 19, 2012 |archive-date=August 11, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200811133037/http://graingertnhistory.com/story_2/#more-5 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="brown">{{cite book |last1=Brown |first1=Fred |title=Marking Time |date=2005 |location=Knoxville |publisher=University of Tennessee Press |isbn=9781572333307 |pages=99–101 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Sem9B2acPfkC |access-date=October 17, 2020 |format=Paperback |via=Google Books}}</ref> Shortly thereafter, [[James Robertson (explorer)|James Robertson]] and a group of migrants from North Carolina (some historians suggest they were refugees of the [[Regulator Movement|Regulator wars]]) formed the Watauga Settlement at [[Sycamore Shoals]] in modern-day [[Elizabethton, Tennessee|Elizabethton]] on lands leased from the Cherokees. 

In 1772, the Wataugans established the [[Watauga Association]], which was the first constitutional government west of the Appalachians and the germ cell of the state of Tennessee.{{sfn|Finger|2001|pp=45–47}} Most of these settlers were English or of primarily [[English Americans|English descent]], but nearly 20% of them were [[Scotch-Irish Americans|Scotch-Irish]].{{sfn|Corlew|1981|p=106}} In 1775, the settlers reorganized themselves into the [[Washington District, North Carolina|Washington District]] to support the cause of the [[Southern theater of the American Revolutionary War|American Revolutionary War]], which had begun months before.{{sfn|Corlew|1981|pp=60–61}} The following year, the settlers petitioned the Colony of Virginia to annex the Washington District to provide protection from Native American attacks, which was denied. Later that year, they petitioned the government of North Carolina to annex the Washington District, which was granted in November 1776.{{sfn|Finger|2001|pp=64–68}}

In 1775, [[Richard Henderson (jurist)|Richard Henderson]] negotiated a series of treaties with the Cherokee to sell the lands of the Watauga settlements.<ref>{{cite book|last=Henderson|first=Archibald|author-link=Archibald Henderson (professor)|date=1920|title=The Conquest of the Old Southwest: The Romantic Story of the Early Pioneers Into Virginia, the Carolinas, Tennessee, and Kentucky, 1740–1790|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=no5BAAAAYAAJ|location=New York City|publisher=[[The Century Company]]|pages=212–236|via=Google Books}}</ref> Later that year, Daniel Boone, under Henderson's employment, blazed a trail from [[Fort Chiswell]] in Virginia through the [[Cumberland Gap]], which became part of the [[Wilderness Road]], a major thoroughfare for settlers into Tennessee and Kentucky.{{sfn|Corlew|1981|p=197}} That same year, a faction of Cherokees led by [[Dragging Canoe]]— angry over the tribe's appeasement of European settlers— split off to form what became known as the [[Chickamauga Cherokee|Chickamauga faction]], which was concentrated around what is now Chattanooga.{{sfn|Satz|1979|p=66}} The next year, the Chickamauga, aligned with British loyalists, attacked Fort Watauga.{{sfn|Corlew|1981|pp=65–67}} The warnings of Dragging Canoe's cousin [[Nancy Ward]] spared many settlers' lives from the initial attacks.<ref name="king07">{{cite book|editor-last1=King|editor-first1=Duane H.|title=The Memoirs of Lt. Henry Timberlake : The Story of a Soldier, Adventurer, and Emissary to the Cherokees, 1756–1765|date=2007|publisher=Museum of the Cherokee Indian Press|location=[[Cherokee, North Carolina]]|isbn=9780807831267|page=122|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vHr-cf5j0AEC&pg=PA122|access-date=March 28, 2015|via=Google Books}}</ref> In spite of Dragging Canoe's protests, the Cherokee were continuously induced to sign away most of the tribe's lands to the U.S. government.

During the [[American Revolutionary War|American Revolution]], the Wataugans supplied 240 militiamen (led by [[John Sevier]]) to the frontier force known as the [[Overmountain Men]], which defeated [[Loyalist (American Revolution)|British loyalists]] at the [[Battle of Kings Mountain]] in 1780.{{sfn|Finger|2001|pp=84–88}} Tennessee's first attempt at statehood was the [[State of Franklin]], formed in 1784 from three Washington District counties.{{sfn|Corlew|1981|pp=73–74}} Its capital was initially at [[Jonesborough, Tennessee|Jonesborough]] and later [[Greeneville, Tennessee|Greeneville]], and eventually grew to include eight counties. After several unsuccessful attempts at statehood, the State of Franklin rejoined North Carolina in 1788.{{sfn|Corlew|1981|pp=81–83}} North Carolina ceded the region to the federal government, which designated it as the [[Southwest Territory]] on May 26, 1790.{{sfn|Corlew|1981|pp=86–87}} [[William Blount]] was appointed as the territorial governor by President [[George Washington]], and Blount and [[James White (general)|James White]] established Knoxville as the territory's capital in 1791.{{sfn|Langsdon|2000|pp=16–17}} The Southwest Territory recorded a population of 35,691 in the [[1790 United States census|first United States census]] that year, about three-fourths of whom resided in what is now East Tennessee.{{sfn|Lamon|1980|p=4}}

In addition to the English and Scotch-Irish settlers, there were also Welsh families who settled in East Tennessee in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.<ref>The Welsh of Tennessee by Y Lolfa, 2012. Pg. 19 – {{ISBN|9781847714299}}</ref> A larger group of settlers, entirely of English descent, arrived from Virginia's [[Middle Peninsula]]. They arrived as a result of large landowners buying up land and expanding in such a way that smaller landholders had to leave the area to prosper.<ref>Tennessee History: The Land, The People And the Culture. University of Tennessee Press, 1998.  Pg. 19, 33–34 – {{ISBN|9781572330009}}</ref><ref>First Families of Tennessee: A Register of Early Settlers and Their Present-day Descendants by The East Tennessee Historical Society, 2000 pg. 77</ref>
===Antebellum period===
During the late 18th and early 19th centuries, a [[Cherokee treaties|series of land cessions]] were negotiated with the Cherokees as settlers pushed south of the Washington District.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.vanderbilt.edu/olli/class-materials/Spring2016CITWeek3.pdf |title=Treaties and Land Cessions Involving the Cherokee Nation |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=April 12, 2016 |publisher=Vanderbilt University |access-date=May 20, 2021}}</ref> The 1791 [[Treaty of Holston]], negotiated by William Blount, established terms of relations between the United States and the Cherokees. The [[Treaty of Tellico|First Treaty of Tellico]] established the boundaries of the Treaty of Holston, and a series of treaties over the next two decades ceded small amounts of Cherokee lands to the U.S. government. In the Calhoun Treaty of 1819, the U.S. government purchased Cherokee lands between the Little Tennessee and Hiwassee Rivers. In anticipation of forced removal of the Cherokees, white settlers began moving into Cherokee lands in southeast Tennessee in the 1820s and 1830s.

East Tennessee was home to one of the nation's first [[Abolitionism in the United States|abolitionist]] movements, which arose in the early 19th century. [[Quaker]]s, who had migrated to the region from Pennsylvania in the 1790s, formed the Manumission Society of Tennessee in 1814.  Notable supporters included [[Presbyterianism|Presbyterian]] clergyman [[Samuel Doak]], [[Tusculum College]] cofounder [[Hezekiah Balch]], and [[Maryville College]] president Isaac Anderson. In 1820, [[Elihu Embree]] established ''The Emancipator''— the nation's first exclusively abolitionist newspaper— in Jonesborough.<ref>{{cite book |last=Lamon |first=Lester C. |title=Blacks in Tennessee, 1791–1970 |url=https://archive.org/details/blacksintennesse0000lamo |url-access=registration |pages=7–9 |publisher=University of Tennessee Press |year=1980 |isbn=978-0-87049-324-9 |via=Internet Archive}}</ref> After Embree's death, [[Benjamin Lundy]] established the ''Genius of Universal Emancipation'' in Greeneville in 1821 to continue Embree's work. By the 1830s, however, the region's abolitionist movement had declined in the face of fierce opposition.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Goodheart |first1=Lawrence B. |title=Tennessee's Antislavery Movement Reconsidered: The Example of Elihu Embree |journal=Tennessee Historical Quarterly |date=Fall 1982 |volume=41 |issue=3 |pages=224–238 |jstor=42626297 |publisher=Tennessee Historical Society |location=Nashville}}</ref> The geography of East Tennessee, unlike parts of Middle and West Tennessee, did not allow for large [[plantation complexes in the Southern United States|plantation complexes]], and as a result, slavery remained relatively uncommon in the region.{{sfn|Corlew|1981|p=210}}

In the 1820s, the Cherokees established a [[Cherokee Nation (1794–1907)|government modeled on the U.S. Constitution]], and located their capitol at [[New Echota]] in northern Georgia.<ref name=corn>{{cite book|last=Corn|first=James F.|date=1959|title=Red Clay and Rattlesnake Springs: A History of the Cherokee Indians of Bradley County, Tennessee|location=Marceline, Missouri|publisher=[[Walsworth Publishing Company]]|pages=67–70}}</ref> In response to restrictive laws passed by the Georgia legislature, the Cherokees in 1832 moved their capital to the [[Red Clay State Historic Park|Red Clay Council Grounds]] in what is now [[Bradley County, Tennessee|Bradley County]], a short distance north of the border with Georgia.<ref name=corn/> A total of eleven general councils were held at the site between 1832 and 1838, during which the Cherokees rejected multiple compromises to surrender their lands east of the [[Mississippi River]] and move west.<ref>{{cite book|last=Lillard|first=Roy G.|date=1980|title=Bradley County|url=https://archive.org/details/tennesseecountyh06lill|publisher=Memphis State University Press|isbn=0-87870-099-4|oclc=6934932|via=Internet Archive}}</ref> The 1835 [[Treaty of New Echota]] which was not approved by the National Council at Red Clay, stipulated that the Cherokee relocate to [[Indian Territory]] in present-day [[Oklahoma]], and provided a grace period until May 1838 for them to voluntarily migrate. In 1838 and 1839, U.S. troops [[Cherokee removal|forcibly removed]] nearly 17,000 Cherokees and about 2,000 Black people the Cherokees enslaved from their homes in southeastern Tennessee to Indian Territory. An estimated 4,000 died along the way.{{sfn|Satz|1979|p=103}} The operation was orchestrated from [[Fort Cass]] in [[Charleston, Tennessee|Charleston]], which was constructed on the site of the [[Indian agency]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mtsuhistpres.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Hiwassee-River-Heritage-Center-Phase-II-Exhibit-Final-Panels-merged-compressed.pdf|title=Fort Cass|author=<!--Not stated-->|date=2013|website=mtsuhistpress.org|publisher=[[Middle Tennessee State University]]|location=Murfreesboro, Tennessee|access-date=2020-11-07|archive-date=November 8, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201108035059/https://www.mtsuhistpres.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Hiwassee-River-Heritage-Center-Phase-II-Exhibit-Final-Panels-merged-compressed.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> In the [[Cherokee language]], the event is called ''Nunna daul Isunyi'', meaning "the Trail Where We Cried", and it is commonly known as the [[Trail of Tears]].{{sfn|Satz|1979|p=103}}

The arrival of the railroad in the 1850s brought immediate economic benefits to East Tennessee, primarily to Chattanooga, which had been founded in 1839. Chattanooga quickly developed into a nexus between the mountain communities of Southern Appalachia and the cotton states of the Deep South, being referred to as the Gateway to the Deep South. In 1843, copper was discovered in the [[Copper Basin (Tennessee)|Copper Basin]] in the extreme southeast corner of the state, and by the 1850s, large [[copper mining in the United States|industrial-scale mining operations]] were taking place, making the Copper Basin one of the most productive copper mining districts in the nation.<ref name=waters>{{cite news|last=Waters|first=Jack|date=<!--Not given, probably 1990s-->|title=Mining the Copper Basin in Southeast Tennessee|url=http://www.telliquah.com/History2.htm|work=The Tellico Plains Mountain Press|location=Tellico Plains, Tennessee|access-date=2008-05-30}}</ref>

===Civil War===
{{further|Tennessee in the American Civil War}}
{{further|East Tennessee Convention}}
[[File:1861 Secession vote in East Tennessee by county.svg|right|thumb|Map showing the June 1861 Ordinance of Secession vote in East Tennessee by county. No data could be found for [[Cumberland County, Tennessee|Cumberland]] and [[Union County, Tennessee|Union counties]].]]
[[File:East Tennessee Crossing - Battle of Bean Station Re-enactment - NARA - 7718106.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|A reenactment of the [[American Civil War|Civil War]]'s [[Battle of Bean's Station]] in [[Bean Station, Tennessee|Bean Station]]]]
The [[American Civil War]] sentiments of East Tennesseans were among the most complex of any region in the nation. Because of the rarity of slavery in the region, many East Tennesseans were suspicious of the aristocratic Southern [[planter class]] that dominated the [[Southern Democrats|Southern Democratic Party]] and most Southern state legislatures. For this reason, [[Whig Party (United States)|Whig]] support ran high in East Tennessee in the years leading up to the war, especially in Knox and surrounding counties. In 1860, slaves composed about 9% of East Tennessee's population, compared to 25% statewide.<ref name="Lamon116"/> When Tennessee voted on a referendum calling for secession in February 1861, which failed, more than 80% of East Tennesseans voted against it, including majorities in every county except [[Sullivan County, Tennessee|Sullivan]] and [[Meigs County, Tennessee|Meigs]]. In June 1861, nearly 70% of East Tennesseans voted against the state's second ordinance of secession which succeeded statewide. Along with Sullivan and Meigs, however, there were pro-secession majorities in Monroe, Rhea, Sequatchie, and Polk counties.<ref name=lacy>Eric Lacy, ''Vanquished Volunteers: East Tennessee Sectionalism from Statehood to Secession'' (Johnson City, Tenn.: East Tennessee State University Press, 1965), pp. 122–126, 217–233.</ref> There were also pro-secession majorities within the cities of Knoxville and Chattanooga, although these cities' respective counties voted decisively against secession.<ref name=ezzell>Timothy Ezzell, [http://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entry.php?rec=226 Chattanooga].  ''Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture'', 2002.  Retrieved: August 18, 2009.</ref><ref>William MacArthur, Jr., ''Knoxville: Crossroads of the New South'' (Tulsa, Oklahoma: Continental Heritage Press, 1982), 42–44.</ref>

In June 1861, the [[Southern Unionist|Unionist]] [[East Tennessee Convention]] met in Greeneville, where it drafted a petition to the [[Tennessee General Assembly]] demanding that East Tennessee be allowed to form a separate Union-aligned state split off from the rest of Tennessee, similar to [[West Virginia]].<ref name=lacy /> The legislature rejected the petition, however, and Tennessee Governor [[Isham Harris]] ordered Confederate troops to occupy East Tennessee.{{sfn|Temple|1899|pp=340–365}} In the fall of 1861, Unionist guerrillas [[East Tennessee bridge burnings|burned bridges]] and attacked Confederate sympathizers throughout the region, leading the Confederacy to invoke [[martial law]] in parts of East Tennessee.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Madden |first1=David |title=Unionist Resistance to Confederate Occupation: The Bridge Burners of East Tennessee |journal=East Tennessee Historical Society Publications |date=1980 |volume=52 |pages=42–53}}</ref> Senator [[Andrew Johnson]] and Congressman [[Horace Maynard]]—who in spite of being from a Confederate state retained their seats in Congress—continuously pressed President [[Abraham Lincoln]] to send troops into East Tennessee, and Lincoln subsequently made the liberation of East Tennessee a top priority. ''[[Brownlow's Whig|Knoxville Whig]]'' editor [[William Gannaway Brownlow|William "Parson" Brownlow]], who had been one of slavery's most outspoken defenders, attacked secessionism with equal fervor and embarked on a speaking tour of the Northern states to rally support for East Tennessee.{{sfn|Corlew|1981|pp=34–35, 69–74}} In 1862, Lincoln appointed Johnson, a [[War Democrat]], as [[military governor]] of Tennessee.{{sfn|Langsdon|2000|p=131}}

Several crucial Civil War military campaigns took place in East Tennessee, although the region did not see any large-scale fighting until the second half of the war, unlike the rest of the state.<ref>{{cite web |title=CWSAC Report |url=http://www.nps.gov/hps/abpp/cwsac/cws0-1.html |website=Civil War Sites Advisory Commission |publisher=National Park Service |access-date=February 17, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181219001021/https://www.nps.gov/abpp/cwsac/cws0-1.html |archive-date=December 19, 2018 |date=December 8, 1997 |url-status=dead}}</ref> After being defeated at the [[Battle of Chickamauga]] in northwest Georgia in September 1863, Union troops of the [[Army of the Cumberland]] under the command of [[William Rosecrans]] fled to Chattanooga.{{sfn|Temple|1899|pp=468–469}} Confederate troops under [[Braxton Bragg]] attempted to besiege the Union troops into surrendering, but two months later, reinforcements from the [[Army of the Tennessee]] under the command of [[Ulysses S. Grant]], [[William Tecumseh Sherman]], [[Joseph Hooker]], and [[George Henry Thomas]] arrived.<ref>{{cite book |last=Connelly |first=Thomas Lawrence |date=1979 |title=Civil War Tennessee: Battles and Leaders |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xN9Um2IJKO0C |pages=77–79 |location=Knoxville |publisher=University of Tennessee Press |isbn=9780870492617 |via=Google Books}}</ref> Under the command of Hooker, the Union troops defeated the Confederates at the [[Battle of Lookout Mountain]] on November 24, and the following day Grant and Thomas completely ran the Confederates out of the city at the [[Battle of Missionary Ridge]].<ref>{{harvp|Connelly|1979|pp=80–82}}</ref> These battles came to be known as the [[Chattanooga campaign]] and marked a major turning point in the war, allowing Sherman to launch the [[Atlanta campaign]] from the city in the spring of 1864.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://civilwaronthewesternborder.org/timeline/atlanta-campaign |title=Atlanta Campaign |author=<!--Not stated--> |website=Civil War On the Western Border |publisher=Missouri State Library |location=Jefferson City, Missouri |access-date=2021-07-27 |quote=}}</ref> A few days after the Chattanooga campaign concluded, Confederate General [[James Longstreet]] launched the [[Knoxville campaign]] in an effort to take control of the city. The campaign ended in a Union victory at the [[Battle of Fort Sanders]] on November 29, which was under the command of Union General [[Ambrose Burnside]],{{sfn|Temple|1899|pp=491–493}} although Longstreet defeated Union troops under the command of [[James M. Shackelford]] at the [[Battle of Bean's Station]] two weeks later.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hess |first1=Earl J. |title=The Knoxville Campaign: Burnside and Longstreet in East Tennessee |date=November 15, 2012 |publisher=University of Tennessee Press |location=Knoxville |isbn=978-1-57233-924-8 |pages=207–220 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3raeHWhCVZcC |access-date=May 11, 2021 |via=Google Books}}</ref> By the beginning of 1864, East Tennessee was largely under the control of the [[Union Army]]. Despite its Unionist leanings, however, it was the last part of the state to fall to the Union.

===Reconstruction and the Progressive Era===
[[Image:Chattanooga-millworkers-1910.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|Millworkers in [[Chattanooga, Tennessee|Chattanooga]], photographed by [[Lewis Hine]] in 1910]]
After the Civil War, Northern [[Capitalism|capitalists]] began investing heavily in East Tennessee, which helped the region's ravaged economy recover much faster than most of the South. Most new industry in Tennessee was constructed in East Tennessee during this time, and Chattanooga became one of the first industrialized cities in the South.<ref name=jsh/> Knoxville also experienced a modest manufacturing boom, and new factories were constructed in other small towns such as Kingsport, Johnson City, Cleveland, Morristown, and Maryville, making them amongst the first Southern cities to experience the results of the [[Industrial Revolution in the United States]].<ref name=jsh/> Other cities in the region, such as [[Lenoir City, Tennessee|Lenoir City]], [[Harriman, Tennessee|Harriman]], [[Rockwood, Tennessee|Rockwood]], [[Dayton, Tennessee|Dayton]], and [[Englewood, Tennessee|Englewood]], were founded as [[company town]]s during this period. The [[Burra Burra Mine (Ducktown, Tennessee)|Burra Burra Mine]]—established in the 1890s in the Copper Basin—was at its height one of the nation's copper mining operations.<ref name=gamineral>{{cite web|url=https://www.gamineral.org/writings/copperbasin-cochran.html|title=Minerals and Mining of the Copper Basin|last=Cochran|first=Kim|date=<!--Not given-->|website=gamineral.org|publisher=Georgia Mineral Society|access-date=May 30, 2008}}</ref> 

In 1899, the world's first [[Coca-Cola]] bottling plant was built in Chattanooga.<ref name="ezzell" /> In the early 1900s, railroad and sawmill innovations allowed logging firms such as the Little River Lumber Company and Babock Lumber to harvest the virgin forests of the Great Smokies and adjacent ranges. Coal mining operations were established in coal-rich areas of the Cumberland Plateau and Cumberland Mountains, namely in Scott County, northern Campbell County, and western Anderson County. In the early 1890s, Tennessee's controversial [[Convict leasing|convict lease]] system sparked a miners' uprising in Anderson County that became known as the [[Coal Creek War]]. While the uprising was eventually crushed, it induced the state to do away with convict leasing, making Tennessee the first southern state to end the controversial practice.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Cotham |first1=Perry C. |title=Toil, Turmoil & Triumph: A Portrait of the Tennessee Labor Movement |date=1995 |publisher=Hillsboro Press |location=Franklin, Tennessee |isbn=9781881576648 |pages=56–80 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HWiN4VbNBLQC |access-date=May 23, 2021 |via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Shapiro |first1=Karin |title=A New South Rebellion: The Battle Against Convict Labor in the Tennessee Coalfields, 1871–1896 |date=1998 |publisher=[[University of North Carolina Press]] |location=Chapel Hill, North Carolina |isbn=9780807867051 |pages=75–102, 184–205 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nSE6DwAAQBAJ |access-date=May 23, 2021 |via=Google Books}}</ref>

Other ambitious ventures during the period included the construction of [[Ocoee Dam No. 1]] and [[Hales Bar Dam]] (completed in 1911 and 1913 respectively) by the forerunners of the [[Tennessee Electric Power Company]] (TEPCO).<ref name="jamesjones">James Jones, Jr., [http://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entry.php?rec=1369 TEPCO].  ''Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture'', 2002.  Retrieved: August 18, 2009.</ref> In the 1920s, [[Eastman Chemical Company|Tennessee Eastman]]—destined to become the state's largest employer—was established in Kingsport, and in nearby [[Elizabethton, Tennessee|Elizabethton]] the German-owned [[Bemberg Corporation]] built two large [[rayon]] mills.<ref>James Fickle, [http://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entry.php?rec=683 Industry].  ''Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture'', 2002.  Retrieved: August 18, 2009.</ref> Equally ambitious was the [[Aluminum Company of America]]'s establishment of a massive aluminum smelting operation at what is now [[Alcoa, Tennessee|Alcoa]] in 1914, which required the construction of a large plant and company town and the building of a [[Tapoco|series of dams along the Little Tennessee River]] to supply the plant with hydroelectric power.<ref name="parker">Russell Parker, "Alcoa, Tennessee: The Early Years, 1919–1939." ''East Tennessee Historical Society Publications'' Vol. 48 (1976), pp. 84–100.</ref>

In the late 19th to early 20th century, leisure resorts oriented on mineral springs flourished in the region,<ref name="springs">{{cite book |last1=Sun |first1=P.C.P |last2=Criner |first2=J.H. |last3=Poole |first3=J.L. |title=Large Springs of East Tennessee |date=1963 |publisher=[[United States Geological Survey]] |url=https://pubs.usgs.gov/wsp/1755/report.pdf |access-date=October 7, 2021}}</ref> with the most popular being [[Tate Springs]] in Grainger County, which attracted many prestigious families of the era, including the [[Henry Ford|Ford]], [[Rockefeller family|Rockefeller]], [[Harvey S. Firestone|Firestone]], [[Studebaker#The five brothers|Studebaker]], and [[Mellon family|Mellon]] families.<ref name="tslaspring">{{cite web |title=Spring Histories |url=https://sharetngov.tnsosfiles.com/tsla/exhibits/tnresorts/spring_histories.htm |website=[[Tennessee State Library]] |access-date=December 21, 2020}}</ref> The region received international attention in the [[Mary (elephant)|public execution of a circus elephant via hanging]]. After killing its trainer in a circus performance in Kingsport, the elephant was transported to [[Erwin, Tennessee|Erwin]] in nearby Unicoi County and hanged in front of a crowd of roughly 2,500 residents. A picture of the undertaking was widely distributed by American pulp magazine ''[[Argosy (magazine)|Argosy]]''.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Brummette|first1=John|title=Trains, Chains, Blame, and Elephant Appeal: A Case Study of the Public Relations Significance of Mary the Elephant|journal=Public Relations Review |date=2012|volume=38|issue=3|pages=341–346|doi=10.1016/j.pubrev.2011.11.013}}</ref>

In the 1920s, East Tennessee surpassed Middle Tennessee as the state's most populous Grand Division, primarily as a result of the larger African American population in that region fleeing to Northern industrial cities as part of the [[Great Migration (African American)|Great Migration]].<ref name="Lamon116">{{harvp|Lamon|1980|p=116}}</ref>

===Great Depression, TVA, and World War II===
[[Image:Norris Dam engineering blueprint.png|thumb|upright=1.1|[[Engineering drawing|Engineering plans]] for [[Norris Dam]] in [[Anderson County, Tennessee|Anderson County]], the first project completed by the [[Tennessee Valley Authority]] in 1936]]
Over a period of two decades, the [[Tennessee Valley Authority]] (TVA), created in 1933 at the height of the [[Great Depression]], drastically altered the economic, cultural, and physical landscape of East Tennessee. TVA sought to build a series of dams across the Tennessee River watershed to control flooding, bring cheap electricity to East Tennessee, and connect Knoxville and Chattanooga to the nation's inland waterways by creating a continuously navigable channel along the entirety of the Tennessee River. Starting with [[Norris Dam]] in 1933, the agency built 10 dams in East Tennessee (and five more across the border in North Carolina and Georgia) over a period of two decades. [[Melton Hill Dam|Melton Hill]] and [[Nickajack Dam|Nickajack]] were added in the 1960s, and the last, [[Tellico Dam]], was completed in 1979 after a [[Snail darter controversy|contentious five-year legal battle]] with environmentalists.<ref name=wheeler2>Bruce Wheeler, [http://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entry.php?rec=1362 Tennessee Valley Authority].  ''Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture'', 2002.  Retrieved: August 18, 2009.</ref> TVA also gained control of TEPCO's assets after a legal struggle in the 1930s with TEPCO president [[Jo Conn Guild]] and attorney [[Wendell Willkie]] that was eventually dismissed by the [[Supreme Court of the United States|U.S. Supreme Court]].<ref>Timothy Ezzell, [http://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entry.php?rec=579 Jo Conn Guild].  ''Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture'', 2002.  Retrieved: August 18, 2009.</ref>

TVA's construction of hydroelectric dams in East Tennessee would receive criticism with for what some have perceived as excessive use of its authority of [[eminent domain in the United States|eminent domain]] and an unwillingness to compromise with landowners. All of TVA's hydroelectric projects in East Tennessee were made possible through the use of eminent domain<ref name="slatee" /><ref>{{Cite web|title=TVA|url=https://tennesseehistory.org/tva/|url-status=live|access-date=July 5, 2021|website=[[Tennessee Historical Society]]|date=March 13, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210709185348/https://tennesseehistory.org/tva/ |archive-date=July 9, 2021 }}</ref> and required the removal of 125,000 Tennessee Valley residents.<ref name="gaventa">{{cite journal |author1=[[John Gaventa]] |title=Book Review, 'TVA and the Dispossessed: The Resettlement of Population in the Norris Dam Area' |journal=Tennessee Law Review |date=1982 |pages=979–983 |series=Symposium, the Tennessee Valley Authority |publisher=Tennessee Law Review Association |location=[[Knoxville, Tennessee]] |quote=Over the past fifty years the agency has had many opportunities to learn from its mistakes. Since 1933, over 125,000 residents have been displaced from their homesteads by TVA dam construction projects.}}</ref> Residents who refused to sell to the TVA were often forced by court orders and lawsuits.<ref name="slatee">{{cite news |last=Onion |first=Rebecca |date=September 5, 2013 |title=The Tennessee Valley Authority vs. the Family That Just Wouldn't Leave |url=https://slate.com/human-interest/2013/09/tennessee-valley-authority-the-agency-s-fight-against-one-family-that-wouldn-t-sell-their-farm.html |work=Slate Magazine |access-date=March 4, 2019}}</ref> Several dam projects inundated historic Native American sites and American Revolution-era towns.<ref>[[Jefferson Chapman]], ''Tellico Archaeology: 12,000 Years of Native American History'' (Tennessee Valley Authority, 1985).</ref><ref>Vicki Rozema, ''Footsteps of the Cherokees: A Guide to the Eastern Homelands of the Cherokee Nation'' (Winston-Salem: John F. Blair), 135.</ref> On some occasions, land that TVA had acquired through eminent domain that was expected to be inundated was not and was sold to private developers for the construction of planned communities such as [[Tellico Village, Tennessee|Tellico Village]] in Loudon County.<ref>{{cite news |last=Madden |first=Tom |date=July 2, 1981 |title=Private land TVA claimed for lake to be given away to developers |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1981/07/02/Private-land-TVA-claimed-for-lake-to-be-given-away-to-developers/4201362894400/ |work=[[UPI]] |location=Boca Raton, Florida |access-date=March 4, 2019}}</ref>

East Tennessee's physiographic layout and rural nature made it the ideal location for the [[uranium enrichment]] facilities of the [[Manhattan Project]], the [[Federal government of the United States|U.S. federal government]]'s top secret [[World War II]]-era initiative to build the first [[nuclear weapon|atomic bomb]]. Starting in 1942, the [[U.S. Army Corps of Engineers]] built what is now the city of Oak Ridge, and the following year work began on the enrichment facilities, [[K-25]] and [[Y-12 National Security Complex|Y-12]].<ref name=oakridge /> During the same period, Tennessee Eastman built the [[Holston Army Ammunition Plant|Holston Ordnance Works]] in Kingsport for the manufacture of an explosive known as [[Composition B]],<ref>Patricia Brake, [http://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entry.php?rec=1536 World War II].  ''Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture'', 2002.  Retrieved: August 18, 2009.</ref> and the [[United States Department of Defense|Department of Defense]] constructed the [[Enterprise South Industrial Park|Volunteer Ordnance Works]] in Chattanooga to produce [[TNT]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Martin |first=John |date=May 4, 2020 |title=3 In Your Town: The Bunkers at Enterprise South Nature Park |url=https://www.wrcbtv.com/story/42084598/3-in-your-town-the-bunkers-at-enterprise-south-nature-park |work=[[WRCB-TV]] |location=Chattanooga |access-date=October 7, 2021}}</ref> The ALCOA corporation, seeking to meet the wartime demand for aluminum (which was needed for aircraft construction), built its North Plant, which at the time of its completion was the world's largest plant under a single roof.<ref>Russell Parker, "Alcoa, Tennessee: The Years of Change, 1940–1960." ''East Tennessee Historical Society Publications'' Vol. 49 (1977), pp. 99–117.</ref> To meet the region's skyrocketing demand for electricity, TVA hastened its dam construction, completing [[Cherokee Dam|Cherokee]] and [[Douglas Dam|Douglas]] dams in record time and building the massive [[Fontana Dam]] just across the state line in North Carolina.<ref>Tennessee Valley Authority, ''The Douglas Project: A Comprehensive Report on the Planning, Design, Construction, and Initial Operations of the Douglas Project'', Technical Report No. 10 (Washington D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1949), 1–12, 28.</ref>

===Mid-20th century to present===
[[File:Green-McAdoo-ClintonTN-enhanced.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|A monument to 12 [[African Americans|African American]] students who integrated [[Clinton High School (Clinton, Tennessee)|Clinton High School]] in 1956]]
[[File:Sunsphere 02.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|The [[1982 World's Fair]] was held in [[Knoxville, Tennessee|Knoxville]]]]
In 1955, [[Oak Ridge High School (Tennessee)|Oak Ridge High School]] became the first public school in Tennessee to be [[School integration in the United States|integrated]]. This occurred one year after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled [[racial segregation]] to be unconstitutional in ''[[Brown v. Board of Education]]''. In 1956, judge [[Robert Love Taylor (judge)|Robert Love Taylor]] ordered nearby [[Clinton High School (Clinton, Tennessee)|Clinton High School]] to be integrated, and a crisis developed when pro-segregationists threatened violence, prompting Governor [[Frank G. Clement]] to send [[Tennessee National Guard]] troops to assist with the integration process.<ref>{{harvp|Lamon|1980|pp=100–101}}</ref>

Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, federal investments into urbanized areas provided major cities of the East Tennessee region to establish [[urban renewal]] initiatives, often involving the demolition or [[redevelopment]] of blighted commercial areas or neighborhoods for new public buildings and [[Controlled-access highway|freeways]]. These projects would often involve the controversial removal and [[redlining]] of poverty-stricken and minority households.<ref name="Duncan">{{cite web |last1=Duncan |first1=Heather |title=Losing Home: When Urban Renewal Came to Knoxville |url=https://www.wuot.org/news/2021-05-13/losing-home-when-urban-renewal-came-to-knoxville |website=WUOT-FM |publisher=[[University of Tennessee]] |access-date=January 5, 2022 |date=May 13, 2021}}</ref><ref name="jonsson">{{cite web |last1=Jonsson |first1=Patrik |last2=Robertson |first2=Noah |title=How Chattanooga is working to right the wrongs of urban renewal |url=https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2021/0928/How-Chattanooga-is-working-to-right-the-wrongs-of-urban-renewal |website=[[The Christian Science Monitor]] |access-date=January 5, 2022 |date=September 28, 2021}}</ref>

In 1965, Congress created the [[Appalachian Regional Commission]] (ARC) to improve economic development and job opportunities in the Appalachian region. The program resulted in the construction of new and improved highways in East Tennessee through the [[Appalachian Development Highway System]] and brought new industries to rural, impoverished counties in the region that had previously been dependent on declining sectors such as coal mining and logging. With the investment of the ARC, several cities emerged as industrial hubs of the East Tennessee region, including Cleveland, Kingsport, Knoxville, and Morristown.<ref name="newman">{{cite journal |last1=Newman |first1=Anne |editor1-last=Kendrick |editor1-first=Elise |title=The Recruiters and the Recruited: How One Town Filled an Industrial Park |journal=Appalachia |date=1981 |volume=15 |issue=1 |pages=6–19 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eJMHJyHZ6V8C&q=Morristown |access-date=September 14, 2020 |publisher=[[Appalachian Regional Commission]] |location=[[University of California, Berkeley]] |language=en}}</ref> Beginning around this time, East Tennessee, along with the rest of the state, began to benefit from the nationwide [[Sun Belt]] phenomenon, which brought additional economic growth to the region.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Schulman |first=Bruce J. |date=June 1993 |title=Review: The Sunbelt South: Old Times Forgotten |jstor=2703223 |journal=Reviews in American History |volume=21 |issue=2 |publisher=The Johns Hopkins University Press |location=Baltimore |pages=340–345 |doi=10.2307/2703223}}</ref> The region saw its most rapid growth in the 1970s. Chattanooga, however, began to decline in the 1960s and was declared by the Federal government to be the most polluted city in the country in 1969.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Micheli |first1=Robin |title=Rebooting Chattanooga's fortunes |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2013/11/18/hattanoogas-fortunes.html |access-date=October 4, 2021 |work=CNBC |date=November 18, 2013}}</ref> In the mid-1980s, the city leaders launched a program called "[[Vision 2000 (Chattanooga)|Vision 2000]]" which worked to revitalize and reinvent the city's economy and eventually resulted in a reversal of Chattanooga's decline.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Wotapka |first1=Dawn |title=Chattanooga Reinvents Itself, at Its Own Pace |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303624004577341932764696276 |access-date=October 7, 2021 |work=The Wall Street Journal |date=April 17, 2012 |location=New York City}}</ref>

TVA's construction of the [[Tellico Dam]] in Loudon County became the subject of national controversy in the 1970s when the endangered [[snail darter]] fish was reported to be affected by the project.<ref name="TellicoTVA">{{cite web |title=Telling the Story of Tellico: It's Complicated |url=https://www.tva.com/about-tva/our-history/built-for-the-people/telling-the-story-of-tellico-it-s-complicated |website=[[Tennessee Valley Authority]] |access-date=January 5, 2022}}</ref> After lawsuits by environmental groups, the debate was decided by the U.S. Supreme Court case ''[[Tennessee Valley Authority v. Hill]]'' in 1978, leading to amendments of the [[Endangered Species Act of 1973|Endangered Species Act]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Tennessee Valley Authority v. Hill|url=https://www.justice.gov/enrd/tennessee-valley-authority-v-hill|access-date=May 18, 2021|website=[[United States Department of Justice]]|date=April 13, 2015|archive-date=May 19, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210519030038/https://www.justice.gov/enrd/tennessee-valley-authority-v-hill|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 1982, a [[1982 World's Fair|World's Fair]] was held in Knoxville.<ref>{{cite news|last=Trieu|first=Cat|date=November 16, 2017|title=Remembering the 1982 World's Fair|url=https://www.utdailybeacon.com/arts_and_culture/lifestyle/remembering-the-1982-world-s-fair/article_7f68471c-ca7e-11e7-b14f-17dc38318998.html|work=The Daily Beacon|publisher=University of Tennessee|location=Knoxville|access-date=2021-04-25}}</ref> The fair was also known as the "Knoxville International Energy Exposition," and its theme was "Energy Turns the World." The fair attracted more than 11 million visitors during its six-month run and is the most recent world's fair to have been held in the United States.<ref>{{cite news|last=McCrary|first=Amy|date=May 28, 2016|title=The world came to Knoxville in May 1982|url=https://www.knoxnews.com/story/life/2016/05/28/the-world-came-to-knoxville-in-may-1982/90993100/|work=Knoxville News Sentinel|access-date=2021-04-24}}</ref> In 1996, the [[canoe slalom|whitewater slalom]] events of the [[Atlanta]] [[1996 Summer Olympics|Summer Olympic Games]] were held on the [[Ocoee River]] in Polk County. These are the only Olympic sporting events to have ever been held in Tennessee.<ref name="fontenay">{{cite web |last1=Fontenay |first1=Blake |title=Shooting the Rapids: How a Small East Tennessee Community Struck Olympic Gold |url=https://sos.tn.gov/tsla/tri-star-chronicles-shooting-rapids |website=[[Tennessee State Library]] |access-date=June 4, 2021 |date=April 22, 2016 |archive-date=June 4, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210604183107/https://sos.tn.gov/tsla/tri-star-chronicles-shooting-rapids |url-status=dead }}</ref>

[[File:Construction on US 25E at SR 160, 1976.jpg|250px|thumb|left|Highway construction of [[U.S. Route 25E]], part of the [[Appalachian Development Highway System]] plan, in [[Morristown, Tennessee|Morristown]], 1976.]]

Several high profile disasters have occurred in East Tennessee since the latter 20th century. On May 13, 1972, the [[1972 Bean Station bus-truck collision|deadliest motor vehicle accident in state history]] occurred near [[Bean Station, Tennessee|Bean Station]] on [[U.S. Route 11W]] when a [[Semi-trailer truck|tractor-trailer]] and a [[Greyhound Lines|Greyhound bus]] [[Head-on collision|collided head-on]], killing 14 and injuring 15.<ref>{{cite web |title=Greyhound Bus/Malone Freight Line, Inc. Truck Collision, U.S. Route 11W, Bean Station, Tennessee, May 13, 1972 |url=https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/AccidentReports/Reports/HAR7305.pdf |publisher=National Transportation Safety Board |access-date=May 6, 2020 |date=October 25, 1973}}</ref> The accident prompted the rapid construction of additional four-lane arterial highways in the East Tennessee region throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, as well as placed a focus on the completion of Interstates 40, 75, and 81, which occurred in the mid-1970s.<ref name="blood">{{Cite news |last=Lakin |first=Matt |url=http://archive.knoxnews.com/news/local/blood-on-the-asphalt-11w-wreck-left-14-people-dead-ep-360225916-356724551.html/ |title=Blood on the asphalt: 11W wreck left 14 people dead |date=August 26, 2012 |work=Knoxville News Sentinel |access-date=May 6, 2020}}</ref> On December 11, 1990, a [[1990 Interstate 75 fog disaster|99-vehicle collision]] occurred in dense fog on [[Interstate 75 in Tennessee|Interstate 75]] near [[Calhoun, Tennessee|Calhoun]], killing 12 and injuring 42, and was reportedly the largest motor vehicle accident in U.S. history at the time, in terms of the number of vehicles.<ref>{{cite report |author = National Transportation Safety Board |title = Multiple-vehicle collisions and fire during limited visibility (fog) on Interstate 75 near Calhoun, Tennessee December 11, 1990 |url = https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/AccidentReports/Reports/HAR9202.pdf |date = September 28, 1992 |access-date = February 25, 2021 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title = ''Forensic Files'': Killer Fog (Season 2, Episode 3) |url = https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1472364/ |website = IMDB |date = October 16, 1997 |access-date = January 12, 2019 }}</ref> On December 23, 2008, the [[Kingston Fossil Plant coal fly ash slurry spill|largest industrial waste spill in United States history]] occurred at TVA's [[Kingston Fossil Plant]] when a [[levee|dike]] failed, releasing more than 1.1&nbsp;billion gallons of [[fly ash|coal ash]] slurry into the [[Emory River|Emory]] and [[Clinch River]]s.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.mensjournal.com/features/coal-disaster-killing-scores-rural-americans/ |title=A Lawyer, 40 Dead Americans, and a Billion Gallons of Coal Sludge |last=Sullivan |first=J.R .|date=September 2019 |work=Men's Journal |access-date=November 2, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191102150952/https://www.mensjournal.com/features/coal-disaster-killing-scores-rural-americans/ |archive-date=2019-11-02 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Bourne |first=Joel K. |date=February 19, 2019 |title=Coal's other dark side: Toxic ash that can poison water, destroy life and toxify people |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/coal-other-dark-side-toxic-ash |work=National Geographic |access-date=2020-05-22}}</ref> The cleanup cost TVA more than $1&nbsp;billion and was completed in 2015.<ref>{{cite news |last=Flessner |first=Dave |date=May 29, 2015 |title=TVA to auction 62 parcels in Kingston after ash spill cleanup completed |url=https://www.timesfreepress.com/news/business/aroundregion/story/2015/may/29/tvaucti62-parcels-kingstafter-ash-spill-clean/306796/ |work=Chattanooga Times Free Press |location=Chattanooga, TN |access-date=2019-06-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190616180927/https://www.timesfreepress.com/news/business/aroundregion/story/2015/may/29/tvaucti62-parcels-kingstafter-ash-spill-clean/306796/ |archive-date=June 16, 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref>