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In doing women's history, I also developed an interest in ETN. Often the women were left to fend off whomever tramped to their doorways. In one case a woman's son had been "lying out" for 2 years, living in the woods to evade the Confed. draft. It was a toxic mix: US and Confed. regulars, Confed. militia, guerrillas, draft dodgers, bushwhackers (male and female), and escaping POWs. Complementary to Dan Ellis's memoir is that of Albert D. Richardson, _Secret Service, the Field, the Dungeon, and the Escape_ (1866). He and fellow NY Herald Tribune reporter, Junius Browne, escaped from Camp Sorghum prison in SC through the mountains, escorted by Ellis and a teenage guide, Melvina Stevens, who Ellis also features. Since he's a writer by profession, it's a good read. Also see the recent _Lincolnites and Rebels_ on Knoxville in the CW, which fortunately dispels myths about the city, but unfortunately never explains why the outlying rural counties were very pro-Union, unlike the city which was a mixed bag.
ETN was also the only area, to my knowledge, for which a "famine relief" program was begun by the Sanitary Commission.
I also highly recommend just reading through the correspondence section of the Official Records of the Union and Confed. Armies (online via Cornell Univ.) All the officers were so articulate that it's fabulous, riveting reading--did a lot on MO.
CKL