TENNESSEE. 



TERRITORIES. 



685 



NASHVILLE, Tenn., Jiov. 19, 1861. 

 To the officers in command of the Militia of the State 



of Tennessee in the Second, Third, and fourth 



j)isitiont: 



The danger of invasion on the part of the Federal 

 forces is imminent. This invasion threatens the quiet 

 and security of your homes, and involves the destruc- 

 tion of your sacred rights of person and property. The 

 warning example of Maryland, Missouri, and Kentucky 

 bids you, if you would "preserve your firesides, your 

 homes, and the sanctity of your wives and daughters, 

 to meet the despotic invader and his minions at the 

 threshold of your State and drive him back. Let the 

 soil of Tennessee be preserved from his unhallowed 

 touch, and let him know that in defence of our liberties 

 and our altars every Tennessean is ready to yield up 

 his life. Gen. A. S. Johnston, commanding the forces 

 of the Confederate States in this department, in view 

 of the threatened danger, has called upon me to send 

 to the field such force as can be armed by the State. 



In obedience to which requisition, and to repel the 

 invader, thirty thousand of the militia of this State are 

 hereby called into the field. 



Officers in command of the militia of the second, 

 third, and fourth divisions will hold their commands 

 in readiness to receive marching orders by the '25th 

 inst, unless, in the mean time, a sufficient number of 

 volunteers shall have tendered their services to fill this 

 requisition. 



Special orders to the commanders of the militia, ap- 

 portioning this requisition among the different brigades 

 of said divisions, will be immediately forwarded, ac- 

 companied with such instructions and directions as 

 may be necessary for the movement of troops to the 

 places of rendezvous. 



In the mean time, captains will direct their companies 

 to parade on some given day, with whatever arms they 

 may have, and they will take all other proper and 

 legal steps to possess the arms within the bounds of 

 their respective districts, and immediately report to 

 the commanding officer of their regiments the number 

 of arms and accoutrements, as well as the strength of 

 their companies. 



Meanwhile Federal troops from the north- 

 western States were steadily pouring into the 

 camp at Cairo, which was well known in Ten- 

 nessee, where consternation began to prevail. 

 In East Tennessee the Union men were strong 

 in numbers, and now began to take courage. 

 On the day for the election of President Davis 

 under the permanent Constitution a very small 

 vote was polled in that part of the State. In 

 Roane County, which usually gave two thou- 

 sand votes, less than three hundred and fifty 

 were polled. In Knox County the submission 

 candidate for the Confederate Congress received 

 only eighty votes, where the Union men num- 

 bered over three thousand. 



Animated by these encouraging indications, 

 an attempt was made to embarrass the Con- 

 federate Government by burning the bridges 

 on the great line of railroad connecting the 

 Southwest with Virginia. In one week five 

 bridges were burned in East Tennessee, to im- 

 pede the movements of Confederate troops, as 

 follows : bridge over the Hiawasse River at 

 Charleston, on the East Tennessee and Georgia 

 Railroad ; bridge over Lick Creek, on the East 

 Tennessee and Virginia Railroad ; bridge over 

 the Holston River at Union, on the East Ten- 

 nessee and Virginia Railroad ; two small bridges 

 on the Chickamanga Creek, on the Western 

 and Atlantic Railroad. The telegraph wires 



were cut at various places between Knoxville 

 and Chattanooga, and Knoxville and Bristol. 

 The damage was estimated at about $50,000, 

 but the interruption of the trains was the most 

 serious consequence. 



On the East Tennessee and Virginia Railroad, 

 which extends from Knoxville to Bristol, a dis- 

 tance of 130 miles, all in East Tennessee, there 

 are 2,401 feet of trestle work; 11 truss bridges 

 of a joint length of 2,815 feet, equal to an aver- 

 age length of 256 feet; 4 arch bridges of a 

 joint length of 345 feet ; and 40 stringer bridges 

 of a joint length of 938 feet. Here are 6,499 

 feet, almost \\ mile of wooden structures, 

 which are perishable by fire. And as the East 

 Tennessee and Virginia Railroad is a link in 

 the great southern route from the Potomac to 

 the Mississippi, the destruction of its bridges 

 would necessarily be a severe blow to the Con- 

 , federate strength in Virginia. Most stringent 

 measures were adopted by the Confederate au- 

 thorities, and the work of destruction ceased. 

 (See CONFEDERATE STATES, page 153.) 



The representatives of Tennessee in the Con- 

 federate Congress were Gustavus A. Henry 

 and Landon C. Haynes, senators ; and D. M. 

 Currin, J. D. C. Atkins, H. E. Foster, Thomas 

 Menees, Geo. W. Jones, M. P. Gentry, W. G. 

 Swann, W. H. Tibbs, E. L. Gardner, and J. T. 

 Heiskell, representatives. 



TERRITORIES. The territories of the 

 United States, which were originally of very 

 vague extent, under the grants to the colonies, 

 have gradually been consolidated by treaties 

 until they extend across the continent, having an 

 Atlantic coast line of 1,900 miles. The Gulf 

 coast has a line of 1,600 miles from the Florida 

 capes to the Rio Grande. The Pacific coast 

 line is 1,620 miles, including California, Oregon, 

 and the Straits of Fuca. The area of this vast 

 territory is 2,059,623 square miles, or 1,318,- 

 156,720 acres. A large portion of this terri- 

 tory was acquired by various treaties; with 

 Great Britain in 1783, 1842, and 1846 ; with 

 Spain in 1795 and in 1819; with France in 

 1803; with Mexico in 1848. The area an- 

 nexed by this last treaty is estimated to be 

 equal to all possessed before by the United 

 States. This vast region has been very rapidly 

 surveyed and organized into separate terri- 

 tories, or admitted as States within the last 

 few years. In the year 1861 Kansas was ad- 

 mitted as a State; three new territories, Ne- 

 vada, Colorado, and Dakotah, were created; 

 and two, Arizona and Chippewa, were nearly 

 ready for organization. The Territory of Da- 

 kotah was formed out of what was Minnesota 

 Territory, 52,454,400 acres, and 156,762,880 of 

 what was formerly the northern part of Ne- 

 braska. It contains, therefore, 209,217,280 

 acres, or 326,902 square miles, and is the 

 largest of all the territories. There were sur- 

 veyed during the year, 60,639 acres. Its 

 boundary on the north is the international line 

 of 49 north latitude : east, the States of Iowa 

 arid MinHesota ; south, the Missouri River, the 



