Did You Know (or Care): The Tennessee Volunteers

Tennessee is known as the "Volunteer State" for the disproportionately large number of Tennesseans who volunteered for duty in the American Revolution, the War of 1812, the Texas Revolution and the Mexican-American War, not to mention the considerable number of citizens who fought on either side of the Civil War.  The University itself was dubbed "Volunteers" for the first time in 1902 by the Atlanta Constitution following a football game against Georgia Tech, although the defunct Knoxville Journal and Tribune did not use the moniker until 1905.