Herald and tribune. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1869-current, 1894-01-03
From the st. Louis Globe Democratl
BRIDGE BURNING IN WAR TIME.
influence Once Held by ParsOn Brown.
low in East Tennessee.
By his Te'chings and Sharp Criticisms
as an Avowed Union Man he was
Constant Source of Anxiety
to the Confederate Author
tiles at Richmond and
Nash Vile.

OF the civil war, the official records of
which will soon appear in volume of
rebellion records, was the outbreak in
November, 1851, of the East Tennessee
Unionists against the then constituted
Confederate reglme-a sort of rebellion
within rebellion, so to speak. This
startling uprising, 80 menacing to the
Southern cause, occurred nearly six
months after Tennessee had formally
seeded from the Union. Itculminated
in the success of its main object, the
seizure and destruction of the railroad
bridges, hut was quickly suppressed ere
the Unionists were fairly organized, and
only resulted in the killing of number
of people and the capture and hanging
of the bridge burners.
Incidental to these events was the
arrest and subsequent expatriation of
Parson Brownlow, Of Knoxville, con-
spicious citizen of the South. In meas
ure Brownlow, through his newspaper
teachings, had been the indirect cause
Of the outbreak, and his arrest was
natural sequence of that episode. As
editor of the Knoxville Whig he had
long been popular political idol of the
sturdy mountaineers of East Tennessee.
With Andrew johnson, Horace May
nard and Emerson Etheridge, Brown
low, had fought secession step by step.
His section of the State supported the
Union by a majority of many thousands
when the proposition to secede was sub
mitted to popular vote on the 9Th day
of June, 1861. And Brownlow remain.
cd an avowed Union man long after
the war was in full progress, and dur
ing the summer of 1861 was constant
source of anxiety to the Confederate
leaders at Richmond ard Nashville.
Indeed, he welded enormous influ-
ence through his new spaper, which he
edited with ability and courage. Months
after Johnson, Maynard and Etheridge
had fled the State, Parson Brownlow
remained steadfastly at his home in
Knoxville, which had already fallen
under Confederate military sway. But
surrounded as he was by population
wholly devoted to his political views,
thousands of whom he counted his per-
sonal friends, the Confederate local and
general authorities found themselves at
a loss how to successfully deal with the
truculent editor of the Knoxville Whig.
There is no doubt that at the last
Brownlow was in constant danger of
violence, perhaps, even, assassination.
Among the ultras most bitter feeling
mad grown up as events progressed.
But Notwithstanding every danger, from
week to week the old Knoxville Whig
continued to issue, filled with most ex-
asperating attacks on the secession
leaders and their cause. until October
26, 1851, in which number character
istic editorial rescript appeared an
nouncing its discontinuance, on the
ground that its editors indie TIM ent and
arrest for treason had been determined
upon at Nashville, asserting that his
only crime was that he had not made
war on the United States Government,
which Brownlow did not construe to be
treason, even in Tennessee.
But his teachings had already borne
their fruit. About September 30, 1851,
an East Tennessee Unionist named Will
liam Blount Carter laid plan before
Gen. Geo. H. Thomas, commanding at
Camp Dick Robinson, KY, to secretly
enter East Tennessee and organize a
force of Unionists for the capture and
holding, or failing in that the destruc-
ton of the railway lines traversing that
Ao6ioh, 90 uiNCIbiOu w rcu6Tal III
vasion then meditated. These railroads
were the direct line between the West
and Southwest and the Confederate
capital. Careful and conservative as
he was, Thomas saw promising military
results in the scheme if properly pur-
sued, and advised Carter to visit Wash
ington to secure funds necessary for
the successful prosecution of the de.
sign. Gen. Thomas reported the pro-
ject to Gen. Mcclellan, suggc sting that
the commander in chief assist the Ten
nessean as far as possible.
From the records Carter appears to
have been brave, able and energetic
man, peculiarly adapted to the work
before him. He readily convinced the
Washington authorities of its feasibility
and had no difficulty in securing the
means to carry out his desperate un-
dertaking. Returning quickly he en-
tered East Tennessee and commenced
operations.
As early as October 22-within three
weeks of the date when he first broach-
ed the scheme to Gen. Thomas-I find
him reporting to that officer, from near
Montgomery, within six miles of a
company of rebel cavalry, "and asking
for as much lead, rife powder and
caps" as his messengers-who could be
trusted could bring. On the 27th he
was at Kingston-the. heart of East
Tennessee-from whence he wrote
Thomas that he had not yet obtained
sufficient information to decide finally
his course, but asserting his unalterable
purpose to make desperate attempt
to destroy all the bridges, and adding,