In Tennessee the Unionist majority, as indicated early in February, was
overwhelming. Out of a total vote of less than 92,000, more than 67,000
opposed a state convention. The mountaineers of the eastern region
especially were stalwart loyalists, and later held to their faith
through the severe ordeal of a peculiarly cruel invasion. But the
political value of these scattered settlements was small; and in the
more populous parts the Secessionists pursued their usual aggressive and
enterprising tactics with success. Ultimately the governor and the
legislature despotically compelled secession. It was not decreed by a
popular vote, not even by a convention, but by votes of the legislature
cast in secret session, a proceeding clearly _ultra vires_ of that body.
Finally, on June 8, when a popular vote was taken, the State was in the
military control of the Confederacy.
Very similar was the case of North Carolina. The people of the uplands,
like their neighbors of Tennessee, were Unionists, and in the rest of
the State there was a prevalent Union sentiment; but the influence of
the political leaders, their direct usurpations of power, and the
customary energetic propagandism, ultimately won. After a convention had
been once voted down by popular vote, a second effort to bring one
together was successfully made, and an ordinance of secession was passed
on May 20. Arkansas was swept along with the stream, seceding on May 6,
although prior to that time the votes both for holding a state
convention and afterward in the convention itself had shown a decided
Unionist preponderance.
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