War on Tennessee’s Homefront

War on Tennessee’s Homefront. From prosperity to poverty and back. Warren County's resident initially voted against secession, but their sentiment turned against Abraham Lincoln after the first shots were fired at Fort Sumter and Lincoln called for volunteers to suppress the "insurrection." After a second vote in June 1861, the county chose overwhelmingly to leave the Union. More than 2,000 men from Warren County enlisted in the Confederate army. , At that time, the Caney Fork River and its tributaries powered numerous mills that provided the economic lifeblood for the prosperous Rock Island region. In 1861, Asa Faulkner dammed the Barren Fork River south of McMinnville and built the Woodman Cotton Mill. He sent cotton to major markets on the new Manchester and McMinnville branch of the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad. , The war came here in the summer of 1862, when Confederate Col. Nathan B. Forrest gathered his forces nearby before attacking Murfreesboro. In 1863, Union Gen. Joseph J. Reynolds, unaware that Asa Faulkner was a staunch Unionist who had asked Gov. Andrew Johnson for protection from Confederate raiders the previous year, ordered Woodman Cotton Mill burned. This began the destruction here, and the area was in shambles by the war's end. Farms and businesses were destroyed, and many local men lost their lives. , The county slowly recovered after the fighting ended, as industrialists developed nearby mineral and timber resources. Asa Faulkner and his son rebuilt their mill with an investment of $100,000, helping prosperity return to McMinnville and Rock Island. The Falls City (Great Falls) Cotton Mill, which still stands, operated here from 1892 to 1902., Captions , Lower Left: Woolen mill on Barren Fork River - Tennessee State Library and Archive , Center: Gen. Joseph J. Reynolds - Library of Congress , Upper Right: McMinnville 1863 - Tennessee State Library and Archive , Lower Right: "Mountain Region of North Carolina and Tennessee - Library of Congress