 washington curran whitthorne (april 19, 1825september 21, 1891) was a tennessee attorney, democratic politician, and an adjutant general in the confederate army. ==early life and career== whitthorne was born near petersburg, tennessee in marshall county.united states congress's pg. 109 one day when whitthorne was young james k. polk stayed at his family's home.bar association of tennessee's pp. 126-129 polk saw how bright he was and asked, "what are you going to make of this boy?" his father replied "i am going to make him the president of the united states." polk then told them to send the boy to columbia and he would make him a lawyer. he attended campbell academy in lebanon, tennessee and subsequently east tennessee college (now the university of tennessee) where he graduated in 1843. he subsequently studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1845, serving in various governmental positions, and working for james k. polk until he entered private practice in 1848 in columbia, tennessee. on july 4, 1848 whitthorne married matilda jane campbell, a cousin of polk. he was elected to serve in the tennessee state senate from 1855 to 1858. whitthorne was then elected speaker of the tennessee house of representatives from 1859 to 1861. ==civil war service== in 1861 he became adjutant general of tennessee for the confederacy, and served in that post through the end of the civil war. he also served on the staff of generals robert anderson, marcus joseph wright, samuel p. carter, and william j. hardee. ==postbellum career== after lee had surrendered at appomattox, whitthorne was held as prisoner of war at columbia in order to be shielded from federal prosecution. president andrew johnson interceded, gave him a presidential pardon, and r
1825_births 1891_deaths Confederate_States_Army_generals Confederate_States_Army_officers Democratic_Party_United_States_Senators Democratic_Party_members_of_the_United_States_House_of_Representatives Members_of_the_Tennessee_House_of_Representatives Members_of_the_United_States_House_of_Representatives_from_Tennessee People_from_Marshall_County,_Tennessee People_of_Tennessee_in_the_American_Civil_War Tennessee_Democrats Tennessee_State_Senators United_States_Senators_from_Tennessee