Tennessee’s mountain residents were bitterly divided about secession in 1861, although most were Unionist. In Huntsville, Scott County residents voted to secede and join Kentucky if Tennessee joined the Confederacy. Confederate commanders struggled to defend Tennessee’s lengthy border with Kentucky and western Virginia. A Confederate fort in LaFollette overlooked Big Creek Gap, a mountain pass, in case a Federal advance came that way, and other gaps were similarly fortified. When Confederate Gen. Simon B. Buckner inspected the posts from Clinton east to Cumberland Gap in June 1863, he found them “very imperfect.” Buckner strengthened the Cumberland Gap defenses, and Cumberland Gap National Historic Park preserves both early Confederate fortifications and later Federal works. The Confederate forts were intended to protect Knoxville, an important transportation center. In Knoxville, Knoxville National Cemetery contains remains of white Federal soldiers and U.S. Colored Troops who died in the area fighting. Both Confederate and Unionist leaders are buried in adjacent Old Gray Cemetery. The East Tennessee History Center on Gay Street interprets the region’s divided loyalties and the effects of the war.