It Happened in Tennessee: Remarkable Events That Shaped History

by Susan Sawyer

Overview

This book offers an inside look at over 30 interesting and unusual episodes that shaped the history of the Volunteer State. Read about the infamous Scopes "Monkey" Trial in 1925. Find out about Tennessee's reaction to the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. in Memphis. Discover how the Grand Ole Opry came to be the musical powerhouse that it is today.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780762764426
Publisher:	Globe Pequot Publishing
Publication date:	12/06/2011
Series:	It Happened In Series
Edition description:	2nd Edition
Pages:	144
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Susan Sawyer enjoys exploring the past and writing about historical topics. History serves as the centerpiece for many of her writings, taking the form of both fact and fiction. Drawing upon her fascination with the history of her native South, Susan has written seven historical and contemporary romance novels. She is also the author of More than Petticoats: Remarkable Tennessee Women. A graduate of the University of Tennessee, Susan worked as a magazine editor and communications consultant before establishing a career as a freelance writer. Today, she writes full-time from her home in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where she lives with her husband, Ron.

Read an Excerpt

A series of intense jolts awakened residents of the western portion of Tennessee shortly after two o'clock on the morning of December 16, 1811, convincing many people that the world was coming to an end. Little did anyone realize that the region was shaking from the first of three major earthquakes that would become known as some of the most violent quakes in the history of North America.
Though most Americans associate earthquakes with the Pacific Coast states, three powerful quakes known as the New Madrid earthquakes shook the region along the Mississippi River in 1811 and 1812. The quakes were named after New Madrid, the closest settlement to the center of the quakes, in the territory of Missouri. If the Richter scale had existed in 1811, scientists believe the quakes would have measured more than 8.0. The quake zone covered more than one million square miles, an area two to three times larger than the 1964 Alaska earthquake and ten times larger than the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.

Table of Contents

The Transylvania Purchase—1775

The Lost State of Franklin—1784

Andrew Jackson's Duel—1806

The Mysterious Death of Meriwether Lewis—1809

The New Madrid Earthquakes—1811–1812

America's First Antislavery Newspaper—1819

The Invention of the Cherokee Alphabet—1821

The Cherokee Removal—1838

The Volunteers of Tennessee—1846

The Battle of Shiloh—1862

The Making of a Confederate Hero—1863

Pauline Cushman's Escape—1863

The Sultana Disaster—1865

America's First Registered Distillery—1866

Pulaski's Secret Society—1866

The Birth of a Newspaper Empire—1878

The Grim Reaper's Visit to Memphis—1878

The British Invasion of Tennessee—1880

The First Coca-Cola Bottling Company—1899

Casey Jones and the Cannonball Express—1900

The Lynching of Murderous Mary—1916

Winning the Right to Vote for Women—1920

The Scopes “Monkey” Trial—1925

The Grand Ole Opry—1925

America's First Guide Dogs for the Blind—1929

The Girl Who Struck Out Babe Ruth—1931

The Making of the Tennessee Valley Authority-1933

The Secret Oak Ridge Project—1943

From Memphis to Stardom—1954

The Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.—1968

The World's Fair—1982

The Filming of Christy—1993