Nickajack: The Southern Union State

"If West Virginia can do it, so can we!"

Nickajack Overview

Total Population: 3.6 million residents (2.5 million registered voters)

Prospective State Capital: Knoxville, NK

Notable Monuments/Attractions: Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee Aquarium, US Space and Rocket Center

Major Universities: University of Tennessee - Knoxville, University of North Alabama, Alabama A&M University (HBCU)

Number of House Seats: Nickajack - 5 / Alabama - 5 (originally 7) / Tennessee - 6 (originally 9)

Statehood History

The Nickajack statehood movement was jumpstarted at the outset of the Civil War. While much of the South supported separating from the United States to retain the institution of slavery, many Union sympathizers in Southern states rejected the idea of secession. Within the Tennessee River Valley, which stretches across both North Alabama and East Tennessee, slavery was largely unprofitable as the land was inhospitable to large plantations. As a result, most residents in this region were Unionists who rejected the articles of secession when their respective states contemplated leaving the Union in early 1861. After both Tennessee and Alabama opted to join the Confederacy, these Unionists hoped to mount a secession from the secessionist movement, mirroring the same set of factors that led West Virginia to become its own state in 1863.

When Virginia voted to secede from the Union in 1861, a majority of delegates from the northwestern corner of the state rejected the proposal. While the measure still passed and the state exited the union, the aforementioned delegates quickly convened in Wheeling, WV to fight the move to secede. Ultimately, these angry Union-supporting delegates opted to secede from the secessionist movement by opting to become their own state within the Union. They held several constitutional conventions and West Virginia became the only state to successfully secede from a Confederate-led state and join the Union in 1863.

The Nickajack supporters failed to realize any of the success seen in the realization of West Virginia. While the movement did not result in new governance, it underscored the deep divides both East Tennessee and North Alabama experienced within their own states due to the regions’ unique geographies. Many Unionists of the time defected from the Confederacy and still opted to join the Union Army despite their state’s disapproval.

Nickajack Today

Today, there are almost no remnants of the Nickajack statehood movement as the disputes motivating the movement were quashed with the ending of the Civil War. It’s highly unlikely that today’s legislators from East Tennessee and North Alabama are interested in reestablishing this campaign.

The most prominent reminders of Nickajack lie in Marion County, the “land isthmus” at the Alabama-Tennessee border that would have connected the failed state’s two halves. Today, Marion County is home to the Nickajack Dam, lying less than two miles north of the Alabama-Tennessee border. It lies on the Tennessee River and creates Nickajack Lake, now a hub for lake tourism activities like boating, fishing and water sports.

Leftover Links

• Nickajack wasn’t the only separatist movement involving East Tennessee. Earlier in the state’s history, portions of East Tennessee sought to become its own state of Franklin.

• A 200-year old border dispute still has Georgia angry as many believe that the Georgia-Tennessee border was surveyed slightly too far to the south. “Fixing” the border would put much of Nickajack Lake inside of Georgia.