Editing Decatur County, Tennessee (section)

==History==
{{See also|Perry County, Tennessee#History}}
This county is named after naval hero [[Stephen Decatur|Stephen Decatur, Jr.]], who gained national recognition in the [[First Barbary War]], the [[Second Barbary War]], and the [[War of 1812]] by his leadership and achievements at sea. The county was created in November 1845 from the part of [[Perry County, Tennessee|Perry County]] west of the [[Tennessee River]] in response to a petition by citizens on the west side of the river.<ref name=tehc />

Like several other counties west of the Tennessee River, Decatur County was substantially pro-[[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] during [[American Civil War|the Civil War]], contrary to the generally pro-[[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] sympathies of [[West Tennessee|West]] and [[Middle Tennessee]]. In Tennessee's Ordinance of Secession referendum on June 8, 1861, Decatur County voted to remain in the Union by a margin of 550 to 310,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://votearchive.com/tn-sec-ref-1861/|publisher=Vote Archive|title=Tennessee Secession Referendum, 1861}}</ref> being one of only eight counties in West or Middle Tennessee to support the Union. Earlier on February 9, 1861, Decatur County voters had voted against holding a secession convention by a margin of 514 to 251.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://votearchive.com/tn-sec-conv-vote-1861/|title=Tennessee Vote on Secession Convention, 1861|publisher=[[The Fayetteville Observer|Fayetteville Observer]]|date=March 21, 1861}}</ref>

In 2015, the Decatur County [[clerk of court]] and the entire staff of that office resigned, to express conscientious objection to the [[United States Supreme Court]]'s ruling in ''[[Obergefell v. Hodges]]'', which would oblige the office to issue [[marriage license]]s to [[same-sex couple]]s.<ref>{{cite news
|url = http://www.alternet.org/entire-staff-tenn-county-clerks-office-resigns-over-same-sex-marriage 
|title = Entire staff in Tenn. county clerk's office resigns over same-sex marriage 
|magazine = Alternet 
|date = July 5, 2015 
|access-date = July 9, 2015 
|last = Boggioni 
|first = Tom 
}}</ref>