Nashville, TN news and local guide

Before the Civil War the city government itself owned up to 60 enslaved people, who built the water system and kept up the streets, and slave auctions were held in the heart of town. The cholera epidemic of 1849 and 1850 killed hundreds, including former President James K. Polk. In February 1862, after the fall of Fort Donelson, Nashville became the first Confederate state capital taken by U.S. troops. Many people who escaped slavery found refuge in contraband camps around the city. The Confederate attempt to retake it failed at the Battle of Nashville on December 15 and 16, 1864, one of the most decisive Union victories of the war. In 1868 the Confederate veteran John W. Morton founded the Nashville chapter of the Ku Klux Klan. By 1871 the Fisk Jubilee Singers of Fisk University were touring the United States and Europe singing spirituals, which raised money for the school and drew attention to Nashville's music. Sources Wikipedia: Nashville, Tennessee