I’m in Anderson County. There could be a damn good movie made about East Tennessee during the Civil War and men of The First Tennessee Cavalty fighting just a few miles from their own homes in Jefferson and Knox Counties. Two of my great grandmothers brothers were in the First Tennessee Cavalry and were in the Battle of Mossy Creek (Jefferson City now). Joseph and Thomas Thornhill lived near Morristown. I have seen some records of meetings where men met to discuss what would happen if Tennessee left the Union. A lot of them went to Kentucky for fear of their lives. Some of them tried to burn the railroad bridges They nearly burned the bridge that crossed the Holston river in east Knox County. The exact same spot where the railroad crosses the Holston along side Highway 11E.
My mother was raised on the banks of Mossy Creek in Jefferson City...area called Jaybird Hill...Dad’s family was from the Qualla reservation in Cherokee, NC...(I’m a half-breed *GRIN*) Have you looked at the history of Cades Cove during the War Between the States??? It is fascinating...