Mountain Rebels: East Tennessee Confederates and Civil War, 18601870. By W. Todd Groce. (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1999. Pp. xviii, 218. Preface, illustrations, maps, tables, notes, bibliography, index. $28.00.) Civil War Tennessee, like other border states (including Arkansas), was deeply divided in sentiment between Federal and Confederate loyalties. On whole, secessionists dominated western and central sections of state, while East Tennessee remained staunchly Unionist. In each region, of course, there existed a sizable minority opposition, and this was especially true in East Tennessee. W. Todd Groce, in his well-written and scholarly Mountain Rebels: East Tennessee Confederates and Civil War, 1860-1870, has examined this forgotten Confederate minority, observing that the Confederate experience of East Tennessee was distinctive, if not unique, differing not only in degree but also in kind from that of other Southerners (p. 153). According to Groce, executive director of Georgia Historical Society, these East Tennessee rebels were reluctant warriors, motivated to arms by economic and political self-interest, and were never fully accepted (or trusted) by Confederate authorities in Richmond. After war, they returned home only to experience a reign of terror and intimidation on part of a hostile Unionist population. In all, Groce gracefully intertwines social, economic, political, and military history to answer three basic questions: Who were secessionists of East Tennessee? Why did they chose separation over union? What happened to them during and after war that had made them so invisible to us today? (p. xvi). In analyzing identity of these secessionists, author draws extensively on primary sources-including government reports, newspapers, and diaries-to render a very detailed and convincing portrait of rebel leadership in East Tennessee. Presenting a collective profile of one hundred high-ranking Confederate officers from region, Groce concludes that East Tennessee Confederates were, typically, slave owning, Democratic city-dwellers who came from commercial and professional ranks. They were younger and wealthier than their Unionist neighbors. Integrated into southern economy and culture after completion of East Tennessee and Virginia Railroad in 1858, these East Tennessee townspeople soon became oriented toward states of future Confederacy. Indeed, East Tennessee secessionists chose separation over union because of economic benefits reaped from a profitable trade with Deep South. Groce also considered East Tennessee service in Confederacy, observing that no more than 25,000 East Tennesseans (or 13. …