Herald and tribune. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1869-current, 1894-08-08
FIGHTING PARS0N
BrownlOw-A Man Whose Love For
the Union Led Him to Prison.
A Brief History of One of TenncsSee's
Unique Characters.

War is the most interesting chapter il
the entire history of that period. Th,
State was one of the strongholds of tn,
old Whig party, and the distinguishing
principle of that party was undertaking
loyalty to the Union. 1t is no exagger
alton to say that before the firing or
Fort Sumter, Tennessee was as loyal tC
the Union as Massachusetts. Previous
to that unfortunate event, no ploposi
ton, no suggestion involving even the
possibility of dissolution of the ties
that bound the State to the old flag
would have been tolerated for a mo,
ment. When Gov. Harris convened the
special session of the Legislature in
January, 1861, ito consider the present
crisis and to take such steps as may be
necessary" the Union sentiment of the
people was simply all powerful and all
pervading. And when that Legislature
submitted to the people proposition
to call convention to consider the Sc
cession of Tennessee from the Union, it
was voted down by overwhelming ma
jorities all over the State, despite the
herculean exertions of Gov. Harris, who
was an outspoken and vehement seces-
sionist from the very outset. But when,
on the 18th of April, "the shot was fired
that echoed round the world, :" the en-
tire situation was changed in an instant,
like the shifting of panoramic scene.
The tremendous tide of popular senti-
ment that had been setting steadily
and with resistless strength toward the
Union was in one moment reversed in
a mighty cataclysm of secession excite
ment that carried everything before it,,
and swept the State into the mad and
furious maelstorm of the rebellion.
Such men as John Bell and Merideth
P. Gentry, who had stood as pillars of
strength beneath the lettering temple
of the Union, declared they could not
sustain the National Govermentin what
they considered an unJustifiable in
vasiOn of the South, and at once joined
their voices in the tumultuous dapason
that was sweeping from the Potomac
to the Gulf
The Legislature, in special session,
having submitted to the people an ordin-
ance Cf secession to be voted upon on
the Sth of June, 1861, it was carried by
a majority of $1,000 votes. This result,
however, was accomplished by Middle
and West Tennessee. East Tennessee
gave majority of $4,000 votes against
the ordinance. and throughout the en-
tire succeeding struggle that section of
the State remained as true and as loyal
to the Union as were ever the Swiss
Highlanders to the Little Republic of
the Mountains" Brownlow, the Whig,
and Johnson, the Democrat, buried all
past political differences and converged
all considerations into one mighty ef-
fort to keep the State beneath the old
flag. And though the effort failed,
those two men made their names i'm
mortal as the most heroic characters
that ever essayed the ungracious task
of stemming the tide of revolution.
East Tennessee, in proportion TO popu-
lation, sent more men into the Federal
army than any other section of the
United States, and much Of this result
was due to the unflinching heroism and
impassioned zeal of Brownlow and
johnson, and especially the former.
OF the two Brownlow was the more ex-
traordinary man in many respects,
albeit the name of Johnson, by the
capriceS of fortune, has to greater
degree filled the sounding trump of
fame" Though his influence was pow.
erful and ever active, yet johnson was
not actually on the ground and exposed
by day and night to all the terrors and
horrors of that chaotic period in East
Tennessee, when man 3 convictions, no
matter on which side they were enlisted,
were best cherished to himself in the
seclusion of his home, if he valued his
life as worth more than the price of
powder and ball. On the other hand,
the personal, living, puissant presence
of Brownlow was the most conspicuous
feature of the whole situation-the one
ever ranking thorn in the side of Sc
cession. Threats only intensified his
wrath the most imminent dangers put
pinions to the barbed arrows of his in
vective, and even in the very presence
of death itself he denounced the enemies
of the Union with a reckless audacity
that would have challenged the admir-
alton of Danton in the bloody days of
the Commune. When the Confederate
armies had possession of Knoxville and
all East Tennessee was subjugated by
the secession authorities, he ran up the
stars and stripes over his residence and
dared the armed soldiery to molest it..
The pages of his paper, the Knoxville
Wing, fairly bristled, not only with
the most avowed Union sentiments, but
with the fiercest denunciation of the
Confederacy, in the defense of which
the Southern armies were then and
there present. When warned by the
military authorities that he must stop
such talk, he replied;
II am.for my country and on the side
of the General Government; and in
every contest, either ut sea or on land
shall rejoice in the triumph of the
Government troops fighting under the