Born and raised in Georgia,descended from more Tennessee families than from any other state that I’m aware of, I learned to respect the soldiers of both sides. I recall that when I was a kid, visiting souveneir shops at battle sites, I was fond of kid-sized headgear from both sides. It turns out as an adult, that in addition to Confederate soldiers in my family history, I discovered a great,great grandfather who was a Tennessee Union veteran. He was from East Tennesse, which supplied the Union with most of its 30,000 Tennessee volunteers. Like my Cofederate kin, I respect him as one who had the courage of his convictions, a very rare quality these days.
Indeed East Tennessee was a back and forth between Unionists and Confederate loyalties, over property, trade and whiskey and the “powers” that contained them. A whole lot of fighting over these loyalties on the Cumberland Plateau.