Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1872-10-31

paper will no doubt, be read with curious
interest;
Received of Joel A.. Battle. Treasurer of
Tennessee, seven hundred and fifty dollars, IN
gold coin, which is in full of my salary as Gov
ernor of Tennessee, for the quarter ending the
iS' u : 0Oi "'' - -'' IsHAMG HARRIS
Greensboro, Ga, March II, 1865"
And then this will prove equally inter-
estering and instructive:
GREENSBORO, GA, April q, 1865.
Received of Bank of Tennessee seven hun
quarters salary, as Governor of the State of
Tennessee. I. G. HARRIS, Governor etc.
Per Leon Trousdale, COL and A. D. G..
The language and dates of These docu-
ments demand attention. Judge Caruth-
ers was "electedn Governor in August,
1863, yet as late as April 2lst, 1865, we find
him still receipting, ''away down in Geor
gia," for gold coin" as his salary as Gov
ernor Of Tennessee-more than three years
after he left the Capital of the State, and
nearly two years after he had left the soil
of Tennessee! The State of Tennessee
was then entirely within the possession of
the National authorities, and had been for
/ many months. Andrew Johnson having
provided for the redemption of civil gov
| eminent in Tennessee, had been elected
Vice President of the United States. Gov.
Brownlow had been duly installed,
and was recognized Governor of the
State, with his Office at the Capital.
President Lincoln had been assassi-
dent. Gen. Lee had surrendered and the
armies of the Confederacy were dissolving
| forever. All pretense, even of a govern
ment of Tennessee outside of its limits, had
been abandoned. The rebellion was over
| thrown and all pretended authorities, rest
ing upon its military power, had persisted.
| The war-worn Confederate soldiers of Ten
nessee, paroled by the conquerors, ragged,
foot-sore and dispirited, were vending
their weary ways, as best they could, to
find again some rest and consolation in
their homes, made desolate by the blasts of
war. They were returning with spirits
broken, hopes crushed, without money or
scrip for father, mother, sister, wife or
child, save mass of Confederate trash
that was not worth the carrying. What a
consolation it would have been to these
brave, but defeated, disbanded and inn
poverished soldiers, as they contemplated
the ruin of their households and felt the
sore extremity of their own disaster could
they have known that Isham. G. Harris,
t"GOvernor of Tennessee. J" was, ON the 2lSt
day ofAora, 1865, drawing his quarterly in.
stalment of $3.50 90, IN gold coin, from the
money that had belonged to the people OF
Tennessee "before the war broke out!n
Now, if Mr.. Johnson had been military
Governor" of Tennessee, and Gov. Brown
low was then the regular civil Governor
of Tennessee, drawing his salary as such.
will Gov. Harris explain to the people
what kind of Governor he was, and what
Executive service he had been rendering
the people of the State, when he drew his
salary 'in gold coi1r' at Greensboro, Ga,
on the 21st of April 1865. And will he tell
the Confederate soldier who came home
penniless-who had been paid his ST. per
month in Confederate trIsh-how it hap
pened that the same kind of money"
that was palmed off on the soldier, was not
good enough for the official travelerin high
life, who had been adjoining his name
with the very imposing suffix of "Gover-
nor of Tennessee for nearly two year af-
ter his term had expired, and that, too,
''away down in Georgia."