On the eve of the Civil War, Tennessee was a crossroads of the upper South. Industrialists were investing not only in the mechanized production of goods and raw materials but also in railroads to transport them. European immigrants with expertise in science, industry, and engineering were part of a population intent on bettering the state’s economic prospects. When war came, many businessmen and women remained intent on doing business. As Tennessee cities changed hands, political loyalties shifted in order to accommodate the alliances necessary to keep the wheels of industry turning.
