third in tobacco production behind Virginia and Ken- 

 tucky. In that year she produced 29,550,432 pounds. 

 The total amount produced in the country that year 

 came to more than 200 milhon pounds. 



The Mexican War of 1846 caused a temporary reduc- 

 tion in the production of A-fifierican tobacco. At the 

 dawn of the Civil War, Tennessee tobacco production 

 was still limited to the northwestern and north central 

 parts of the state. "White Burley" was relatively un- 

 heard of until after the War. Tennessee farmers were 

 still producing the dark tobacco which was especially 

 in great demand on foreign markets. In 1859, Virginia 

 still led the country in total tobacco production, but 

 Kentucky followed a close second. Tennessee ranked 

 third again, recording almost 43.5 million pounds. 



R 



armers go to war 



In 1860, nine-tenths of all the tobacco grown in the 

 United States came from slave states. Virginia, North 

 Carolina, Kentucky and Tennessee accounted for about 

 four-fifths of tlie nation's total. The South was also 

 a great tobacco manufacturing area. Just before the 

 War, other than New York the principal manufacturing 

 centers of tobacco were: Richmond, Petersburg, Lynch- 

 burg and Danville, Virginia; Clarksville, Tennessee; 

 Henderson, Kentucky; Fayette, and St. Louis, Missouri; 

 and xMilton, North Carolina. 



When the War began. President Lincoln called on 

 Tennessee to provide troops. A referendum proved 

 Tennessee's sympathies to lie with the Confederate 

 States of America— she seceded from the Union and 



28 



