The American Civil War was one of the earliest true industrial wars. Railroads, the telegraph, steamships, and mass-produced weapons were employed extensively. The mobilization of civilian factories, mines, shipyards, banks, transportation and food supplies all foreshadowed World War I. It remains the deadliest war in American history, resulting in the deaths of an estimated 750,000 soldiers and an undetermined number of civilian casualties. (Hacker 2011) One estimate of the death toll is that ten percent of all Northern males 20–45 years old, and 30 percent of all Southern white males aged 18–40 died.(Huddleston 2002)  From 1861 to 1865 about 620,000 soldiers lost their lives. (Huddleston 2002)

Historical roles of the State of Tennessee and the battles there.

During the American civil war, the land of Tennessee, cities or countries, bore numerous bloody but essential fights, as only Virginia suffered more combats. Battle of Shiloh, Stones River, Chattanooga, Nashville, and Franklin are important battles and very much influenced the whole civil war. As the last of the Southern states to break up from the Union, however, Tennessee played an significant role during the war time, with its rivers, major roads and mountain passes served as important routes for transporting. 

Most of the battles were fought in the state victories by the larger Union forces. Chronologically, they are listed as follows

Twin Rivers Campaign of 1862

Control of the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers was important in gaining control of Tennessee during the age of steamboats. Tennessee relied on northbound riverboats to receive staple commodities from the Cumberland and Tennessee valleys. (Cooling, Benjamin 1987)The idea of using the rivers to breach the Confederate defense line in the West was well known by the end of 1861; Union gunboats had been scanning Confederate fort-building on the Twin Rivers for months before the campaign. (Cooling, Benjamin 1987) Ulysses S. Grant and the United States Navy captured control of the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers in February 1862 and held off the Confederate counterattack at Shiloh in April of the same year.

Capture of Memphis

Capture of Memphis and Nashville gave the Union control of the Western and Middle sections. Control was confirmed at the battle of Murfreesboro in early January 1863.

After Nashville was captured (the first Confederate state capital to fall) Andrew Johnson, an East Tennessean from Greeneville, was appointed military governor of the state by Lincoln. During this time, the military government abolished slavery (but with questionable legality).

The Confederates continued to hold East Tennessee despite the strength of Unionist sentiment there, with the exception of strongly pro-Confederate Sullivan and Rhea Counties.

1863

After winning a decisive victory at Chickamauga in September 1863, the Confederates besieged Chattanooga but were finally driven off by Grant in November. Many of the Confederate defeats can be attributed to the poor leadership of General Braxton Bragg, who led the Army of Tennessee from Shiloh to the Confederate defeat at Chattanooga. Historian Thomas Connelly concludes that although Bragg was an able planner and a skillful organizer, he failed repeatedly in operations, in part because he was unable to collaborate effectively with his subordinates.( Connelly 1971)

1864 The last major battles came when the General John Bell Hood led the Confederates north in November 1864. He was checked at Franklin, and his army was virtually destroyed by George Thomas's greatly superior forces at Nashville in December.

Battles in Tennessee Mentioned in the Book

CHAPTER VIII“As the train carried Scarlett northward that May morning in 1862Far from the battle lines, the town and its railroads provided the connecting link between the two armies of the Confederacy, the army in Virginia and the army in Tennessee and the West.”(Mitchell 140) Here time is set in May, 1862. The major battles of that year in Tennessee were Twin Rivers Campaign in February and Battle of Shiloh in April. It is possible that contacts between the armies in minor scales still took place in Tennessee.  《飘》对田纳西州战争的研究(2):http://www.youerw.com/yingyu/lunwen_50062.html