Last in the list we have North-east Alabama, in which we find the
following counties:--

COUNTIES FREE SLAVE
Cherokee, 12,170 1,691
DeKalb, 7,730 506
Marshall, 7,952 868
Jackson, 11,754 2,292
Morgan, 6,636 3,437
Madison, 11,937 14,329
Limestone, 8,399 8,063
Lawrence, 8,342 6,858

'It will be observed,' says Mr. Taylor,

That the three counties last named have a slave population, in the
case of Madison exceeding, and in Limestone and Lawrence nearly
equal to the number of free inhabitants. They would seem to be an
exception to our former generalization, and are only included
because there is other evidence that Athens, in Limestone County,
and Huntsville, in Morgan County, were to the last possible moment
the head-quarters of resistance to the Montgomery conspirators. It
was the Union vote of these highland counties, notwithstanding the
number of slaves in some of them, which would inevitably have been
rolled down in condemnation of an ordinance of secession. This was
well known by Yancey and his associates, and it was to avoid this
revelation of their weakness over a compact and populous area of
the State, which was in direct communication with East Tennessee,
that they refused the ordeal of the ballot upon the consummation
of their treason to the Union.