National Tennessee Day – October 26, 2026

History of National Tennessee Day

Tennessee has a turbulent history. It is believed that the first settlers were of Asian descent, and they crossed the Bering Strait land bridge about 20,000 years ago. Spanish explorers came in 1540 in search of gold, and the English moved in in the 17th century. The major indigenous groups during this time were the Chickasaws and the Cherokee. The name ‘Tennessee’ came from the Cherokee village ‘Tanasi.’

Tennessee played a prominent role as volunteers during the Creek War, under the leadership of Andrew Jackson from 1813 to 1814 at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in Alabama. The volunteers responded to the attack of Creek warriors on Fort Mims, Alabama, leading to the destruction of many Muskogee towns. The Cherokee of East Tennessee, despite their efforts to assimilate into the dominant culture, were driven out of the land by the U.S. government from 1838 to 1839. With other native populations of America, they were routed via the Trail of Tears to Oklahoma.

However, during the American Civil War in 1861, Tennessee was initially faithful to the Union, but later, voted for secession and joined the new Confederate States of America. The Union army won most of their encounters in Tennessee and had occupied most of the land by 1864. Tennessee became a major site of racial segregation protests after the Nashville 1959 to 1961 sit-ins for the civil rights movement and the 1968 Memphis sanitation workers strike. Martin Luther King, Jr. was in Memphis to support the sanitation workers when he was assassinated on April 4.