The Free State of Scott

Support for Southern secession was far from universal. From Searcy County, Arkansas which formed the “ Arkansas Peace Society” to assist residents in avoiding  Confederate conscription and enlist in the Union Army instead to the informal ” Republic of Winston”  (Winston County. Alabama) which passed a resolution stating that ”… if a state could secede from the Union than a county could secede from a state…” and later went on to shelter up to 10,000 Confederate deserters, opposition took many forms, but none took the issue as far as the citizens of Scott County, Tennessee.

On June 4, 1861, then Tennessee US Senator Andrew Johnson delivered a speech from the steps of the Scott County Courthouse in Huntsville  during which he stated “… it is not the free men of the North that the secessionists are fearing most, but the free men of the South…” A few days later the free men of Scott County voted overwhelmingly (541-19) in opposition to the state referendum on succession and later that year the County Court voted to approve the Scott County General Assembly unanimous resolution approving the county’s  own secession from Tennessee. Thus was born the “Independent State of Scott.”

The response from Governor of Tennessee was rapid. A force of 1,700 soldiers was dispatched to march to Huntsville with orders to put down the” rebellion.”  They never reached their objective, fierce resistance compelled their retreat.

The Free State of Scott would continue to exist until late in the 20th century. In 1986, Scott County repealed it’s secession proclamation and  petitioned the state of Tennessee for readmission, which was ceremonially granted. Neither the Federal government nor the Confederacy ever recognized Scott, no foreign country did either. However on State Road 63 near the county seat, a roadside marker recognizes the distinctly “American” events that began on a June day, long ago.

Brother Jon Taylor, Patriotic Instructor.