Lost State: Nickajack

http://loststates.blogspot.com

http://loststates.blogspot.com

http://loststates.blogspot.com

http://loststates.blogspot.com

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The forgotten Union state in the Confederate south

With the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War this week—and the premiere of a new Lincoln movie The Conspirator, it makes sense to revisit one of the important untold stories of the war between the states—namely that many southerners did not want to secede from the Union. Slavery benefited wealthy plantation owners, not the poor dirt farmers of the Appalachians. Many of these hill people resented being dragged into what they considered "a rich man’s war." This sentiment led to a movement to create a pro-Union (or at least neutral) state in the south, named Nickajack. It's it's discussed in my book Lost States.  Read on for more about the lost state of Nickajack. The epicenter of this anti-secession sentiment was Winston County, Alabama. On July 4th, 1861, 2,500 people gathered there to declare their neutrality. The “Free State of Winston” was born.

Winston soon became a haven for anti-war types—sort of a Berkeley for the Civil War era.

Of course, the Confederates weren’t too happy about this, and regularly staged raids into Winston County to gather up unwilling conscripts. Winston’s draft-dodgers didn’t flee to the North, they just hid—and Winston County had lots of valleys and hollows to hide in. Some men got caught and ended up fighting for the Confederacy; others joined the Union Army; and some just kept hiding. For all we know, they may still be squirreling themselves away in the backwoods of Winston County. Winston wasn’t alone. People of the surrounding counties had much the same sentiment. And all of eastern Tennessee voted against secession—as did the people of northwest Georgia. A plan was formulated to connect these disaffected southerners and create a neutral state—called Nickajack. No official map of Nickajack was ever made... my map is an approximation. For more, get Lost States.

Lost State: Forgottonia

So... I'm going to mine http://loststates.blogspot.com and repost Mike's entries until he comes off the Hiatus.

I figure if the site suddenly becomes popular with insane amounts of link-tos and site-hits he'll get off his ass and start posting again.

http://loststates.blogspot.com

http://loststates.blogspot.com

http://loststates.blogspot.com

http://loststates.blogspot.com

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Forgottonia Revisited

Forgottonia seems to be a hot topic these days, so I thought I'd revisit the entry from Lost States:

Illinois has lots of freeways. Lots. But one section of the state got left out--the counties in the western bulge. Largely cut off from the rest of the state by the Illinois River, this area didn’t get any fancy freeways in the Interstate boom of the 1960s and 70s. In protest, a group of residents decided to form their own state, Forgottonia. They appointed a governor and tried to attract attention. But what they really wanted was Interstate 72, which would provide a shortcut between Chicago and Kansas City. The highway legislation that would have built I-72 was defeated in Congress in 1968, and then again in the early 70s. Parts of I-72 were eventually built decades later, but even today I-72 only extends to the Illinois-Missouri border. And so Forgottonia still struggles. Businesses have steadily left. Amtrak’s arm had to be twisted to ensure continued service. The region even had a college up and move to a different state—which is pretty amazing considering the infrastructure they decided to leave behind. Such is the sad story of Forgottonia. It never had a real shot at statehood—and it’s still pretty much forgotten. 

But they do have corn. Lots and lots of corn. So as long as America keeps drinking 64-ounce fountain drinks, Forgottonia’s people will survive. About the only thing that could hurt Forgottonia today would be medical reports suggesting high-fructose corn syrup isn’t healthy.

California split approved by state legislature - in 1859

It's true. The California state legislature approved splitting the state in two... back in 1859. The US Constitution Article IV Section 3 states that all it takes to split a state (and thus create a new state) is to get approval of the state legislature and the US Congress. Signoff by a state legislature has occurred three times in American history.

1) Massachusetts voted to set its northern district free to become Maine in 1820. 2) In the Civil War era, the "restored" Virginia government voted to create West Virginia. (There is considerable dispute about the legality of this vote, however). 3) California's legislature voted to split the state in two in 1859. The first two votes resulted in new states, but California never got officially sliced. Why? The US Congress refused to ratify the plan, because they were worried that a new state would upset the tenuous balance between north and south. Of course, that "balance" was upset shortly thereafter anyway—when the Civil War broke out. Above is the split that the California legislature approved... hoping to create the new state of "Colorado." This week, California legislator Jeff Stone proposed a new split. But his goofy plan certainly doesn't have the support that the 1859 plan had. Hmmm. Maybe in some dusty back room in the US Capitol, the 1859 plan is still sitting there, waiting for Congress to finally give it the thumbs up.