Chronological History of the American Civil War

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Governor Brownlow found Hurst the perfect purveyor of Reconstruction justice. His tenure as 12th Circuit Judge would fill another saga of vindictiveness, leaving those of us outside the “Hurst Nation” with nothing more than bitter memories. Hurst will die destitute in 1882 and without any heirs, save his wife, Melocky. Even after his death, he was not immune to the scorn of his detractors, who often rode over his grave and spat upon it. Fielding Hurst’s home is still standing in Purdy, Tennessee in McNairy County, but that is about all that is there since, he burned their courthouse and about everything else in town. The Tarnished Governor of Tennessee ... A few facts you might not know about the Great American Civil War. On the marble banister in the State Capitol, you can still see the bullet marks, where the Provisional Governor of Tennessee Brownlow (pictured) ordered the militia to fire on his own legislature. They have never been repaired and remain as a reminder of the event. “Parson” William Gannaway Brownlow became Tennessee’s ‘most hated man.’ He was an avid supporter of the Union in the Civil War, but that didn’t earn him his reputation, as there were many Union sympathizers in the War Between the States in Tennessee. Born in Wythe County, Virginia on August 29, 1805, by 11 years old, he had lost both parents, living

and working on an uncle’s farm. At 18, he apprenticed himself with another uncle to build houses. While attending a nearby religious revival or “camp meeting” as they were called, he found his ‘calling.’ Brownlow joined the ranks of the Methodist Circuit riders. With a horse and a Bible, the circuit rider would travel from settlement to settlement preaching whenever opportunity presented itself. Most of the region were Baptist. Brownlow wasted no time in making enemies of them, when he remarked: “...Baptist habits are bad and their custom of taking a little whiskey for the stomach’s sake is a cloak for bold drunkenness.” This kind of antics often involved him in fist fights with settlers and earned him the nickname “the fighting Parson.” He would later marry Elisa O'Brien and started work in her father’s

ironworks business. In 1839 during slow times, he started a small newspaper “Tennessee Whig.” This was during Andrew Jackson’s time; who was a Democrat. Soon Whigs and Democrat were fighting in the paper and in the streets. He regarded his critics as enemies and took every opportunity he could to denounce them. He would print anything to make his point against other religions, Irish settlers, and as a slave owner that was ok, but fought against ‘state’s rights.’ Not long after the war started, afraid for his life, Parson Brownlow still printing his paper, went into hiding in the Smoky Mountains. So, when Confederate President Davis offered him safe passage to the North, he said he would go. But, he took so long about going he was thrown in jail first. When released, he finally makes it north and writes a collection of stories that become a best seller. He soon becomes a huge celebrity in the North and exploited it for all it was worth – making the Tennessee supporter highly regarded among Union officials, who were looking for “people they could trust” once order was restored to Tennessee. He was anything but…Brownlow came for vengeance. His paper published the names of former Confederate soldiers and supporters and called for their outright murder by all “good Union citizens.” He had no regard for anyone who had supported the South. His celebrity status in the North continued and it eventually earned him an appointment to Provisional Governor of Tennessee in 1865 by the conquering Union Army. At one point and against Union orders, he had sworn to uphold, he used his dictatorial authority to hang a captured uniformed soldier of Terry’s Texas Rangers. Although the Confederate soldier was regarded as a Prisoner of War by the Union Army. While President Johnson fought bitterly with Congress to kill the Reconstruction Acts, Brownlow actively lobbied for them and, when the Congress went against Johnson and passed them, it handed Tennessee’s appointed Governor the ultimate tool for his revenge. The representatives, however, outright refused to do so. Seizing property without due process was unconstitutional and the representatives