Wayne County, Tennessee: History
Wayne County was created in 1817 from parts of Hickman and Humphreys counties. Waynesboro, its county seat, was established in 1821. Located along the Tennessee River, the city of Clifton emerged as a key river port in the mid-19th century.
Like several other counties on the Western Highland Rim near the Tennessee River, Wayne County was largely pro-Union during the Civil War, contrary to the generally pro-Confederate sympathies of West and Middle Tennessee. In Tennessee's Ordinance of Secession referendum on June 8, 1861, Wayne County voted to remain in the Union by a margin of 905 to 409. Wayne was one of only eight counties in West or Middle Tennessee to support the Union, and had the second highest vote against secession of these eight, behind only Fentress County. Earlier on February 9, 1861, Wayne County voters had voted against holding a secession convention by a margin of 737 to 255.