Nickajack: The Failed Appalachian State
"If West Virginia can do it, so can we!"
Nickajack Today
Total Population (2020): 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)
What is “Nickajack”?
Nickajack generally refers to the mountainous regions of northern Alabama and eastern Tennessee. The term originates from the 1794 Nickajack Expedition, a pivotal moment in western expansion as American settlers destroyed one of the Cherokee Nation’s final strongholds. This allowed frontiersmen the ability to settle throughout eastern Tennessee and eventually led to US control of the Tennessee River Valley. American historians refer to the destroyed Cherokee settlement as “Nickajack Town” and today the site lies beneath Nickajack Lake on the border between Alabama and Tennessee.
Nickajack History
The Nickajack statehood movement began at the start 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. These angry, Union-supporting delegates opted to secede from the secessionist movement by becoming 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.
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More from Battleground: Learn about Tennessee's Three Grand Divisions