I'm a Civil War buff too. I have a Civil War map from 1863 hanging on my livingroom wall along with the book that came with it.
IMO, TN is the greatest. Someone mentioned hating Atlanta and I agree. Atlanta is awful so don't go there. LOL Memphis is our Atlanta so don't go there either. If you decide later to move to TN, stick to the East side close to the mountains. I'm about two hours from the Great Smokey Mountains and the Blue Ridge Mountains so my area is very hilly. I'm in Athens, between Chattanooga and Knoxville.
I've visited the Atlanta area a few times and agree. It's way to busy a city for my liking. I was born and raised in Rochester, New York so I've had my fill of big cities. They're okay to visit, but I don't want to live there.
My last trip to Tennessee included a trip out to Fort Pillow, on the western border of the state. I was a bit disappointed though because I wasn't able to partake in any hiking of the site. They were getting ready to hold a reenactment (it was a Friday afternoon), and because it was in April, they wouldn't take anyone out into the woods because of the snakes in the area.