Perilous Times in Nashville
By Mike Slate
As in our national history, the question of personal safety has risen many times in Nashville. For about the first fifteen years after our 1780 founding not a man, woman, or child was safe. Indians devised surprise attacks again and again on the encroaching settlers, and many lives were lost--some, like Jonathan Jennings, through horrific means.
Never has there been a Nashville panic like that of February, 1862. After Fort Donelson fell on February 16 it became clear that Union troops would occupy Nashville. Many Nashville secessionists quickly scattered to the winds while others, determined to remain, hunkered down in dreadful anticipation of the arrival of the invading army.
As if the Civil War had not brought enough agony, a vicious outbreak of cholera, one of several in Nashville history, claimed as many as 800 Nashville lives in the summer of 1866. Seven years later, in 1873, about 750 Nashvillians perished from the terrible disease.
By the end of the day of March 22, 1916, about thirty-two square blocks of East Nashville had become a wasteland. A particularly voracious fire, driven by high winds, had devoured nearly 700 buildings and homes. Not many years later, on March 14, 1933, another unwelcome guest—a savage tornado—roared through East Nashville threatening again the very foundations of the community.
During the 1960s Nashville was a highly visible stage for the Civil Rights Movement. At times it looked as if our city might self-destruct with racial tension. Neither whites nor blacks felt safe as the throes of mandated integration resulted in legal battles, demonstrations, sit-ins, confrontations, and riots.
Through these and other perilous times Nashville has survived, thrived, and shined. We have been and still are an industrious lot, building landmark public buildings, universities, churches, libraries, businesses, and homes. More important, we have built personal character and have raised children who have become well-known leaders in business, education, law, politics, medicine, and music. We have produced artists and poets, authors and publishers, factory technicians and practical nurses. We, along with our nation, have become a diversified and enriched society that, despite the tragic, outrageous events of September 11, 2001, must continue to mature. We will continue.
