The Washington herald., 1907-02-24
PLEADS FOR JOHNSON'S GRAVE
BroWnlOW. of Tennessee, Makes
Maiden Speech in the House.
Fifteen Thousand Dollars ApprOpri-
ated for Cemetery Where Only
-Four Soldiers Lie Buried.

| Walter Preston Brownlow, in the words
Of ms biography in me Congressional
7 Directory, Elected as a protectionist Re
I publican in a district which was repre-
scented from 1913 to 1853 by the late Presi-
dent Andrew Johnson as a free-trade
I Democrat" made his first speech on the
floor of the House yesterday in his service
Of ten years.
Il is the colonel's pride and boast that
/ ne has secured more and greater appro-
priations for his district than any other
man in the State ever got, and It was
an attack on an item in the sundry civil
appropriation bill by a colleague on the
Appropriations Committee which brought
him 10 his feet. It related to the care of
the grounds about the grave of Andrew
Johnson, which. by act OF last year, had
been made a national cemetery, and he
paid an eloquent tribute to Johnson s
memory.
This year the committee inserted $4,000
in the bill 10 build keepers lodge and
wall about the fifteen acres comprising
/ the cemetery. For the reason that only
Johnson and two Of his sons-in-law were
Union veteran and a member of the Com
mittee on Appropriations. ridiculed the
idea Of calling it a national cemetery.
characterizing it as a private enterprise
OF heirs OF Andrew Johnson, and moved
to strike the appropriation from the BILL
After debate, the motion was lost by an
overwhelming vote, no division being
asked. Defending the appropriation. Mr..
BroWnlow said:
The First Congressional district OF
Tennessee furnished more soldiers to the
Union service during the dark days Of the
rebellion than any Congressional district
in the United States. and yet we We're
100 miles inside the Confederate lines Ny
lcountrymen, when these soldiers left East
ern Tennessee they were followed by
blOodhOunds. and they bid their wives.
their daughters, and their sweethearts
gOOd-by by moonlight and went across the
mountains into Kentucky and joined the
Union army. When they went. they did
not go as you did in the North for thirty,
sixty, or ninety days but they went with
the fun understanding that they could
never return TO their families and their
homes unless the cause that they espoused
was successful. And yet, here from this
northern section Of the country, comes the
opposition to doing honor 20 these people
of the mountains. who were loyal to the
cause Of the Union and the old flag An
drew Johnson was surrounded and sup
ported by votes Of the State rights seces-
sion Democracy OF the South. vet he went
with the cause of the Union, stood by the
government, stood by Abraham Lincoln,
and I have asserted heretofore, and 1 re-
assert. that taking his surroundings and
his acts and comparing them I believe he
was the greatest patriot Of the civil war.
(Applause)
"BrOWnlow. Nelson. and Maynard stood
shoulder TO shoulder with Johnson, but
they had made a fight for the Union, the
Constitution, and the enforcement Of the
laws under the leadership Of John Bell
of Tennessee, and Edward Everett OF
Massachusetts," tApplause)
Efforts We're made, unsuccessfuny, to liz
dUce Col. BrOwnlow TO proceed. but he
preferred not TO hazard the effect Of his
brief imprisoned outburst.
Replying to Mr.. Charles b. lands (Rep.,
TudJ, Mr.. Brownlow acknowledged that
there were only four soldiers buried in the
cemetery
Pleading for an appropriation with
which 10 secure an extension OF the Ma
ti0ual Cemetery at Mil Springs. Ky. Mr.
Edwards. of that State. said ne did not
yield preference TO East Tennessee over
Pulaski County, Ky. in which the Gene
terry was situated. Within its limits. he
said, live over 600 veterans Of the Union
army. 80 Spanish war soldiers, seven Mex
lean wer veterans, and the widow of a
soldier of the war Of 1872. II the Gene
terry lie 121 Union soldiers.
The committee voted Sl25O0 for The pur-
pose.