And given the large number of East Tennesseans who volunteered for the Union army, the people did more than just wait for liberation.
It was a choice between state or federal government being the primary authority. Your opinion of the Confederacy notwithstanding, the war was about economics and power, and who was going to hold more of it.
In my opinion (since we’re throwing opinions around), the war was primarily over the Tenth Amendment, which DC found inconvenient.