Sketches of the rise, progress, and decline of secession : with a narrative of personal adventures among the rebels

Front matter

The Institute of Museum and Library Services through an Indiana State Library LSTA Grant

Parson brownlow* s book

(.Quotation from Pre sent action Copy

Preface

I HAVE prepared this work from the single stand-point of uncompromising devotion to the American Union as estabhshed by our fathers, and unmitigated hostility to the armed rebels who are seeking its destruction. My ancestors fought in its defence ; and while theu^ blood flows in my veins I shall instinctively recoil from bartering away the glory of its past and the prophecy of its future for the stained record of that vile thing, begotten by fraud, crime, and bad ambition, christened a Southern Confederacy. I cannot exchange historic renown for disgrace, national honor for infamy, how splendid soever may be the bribe or how violent soever may be the compulsion. This is my faith as an American, citizen ; and this book will show how sorely it has been put to the test. I claim, however, no merit, further than that arising from the discharge of a simple duty both of religion and patriotism. Thousands of my fellow-citizens have been b PREFACE.

equally faithful among the faithless. Theu* sufferings may be conceived from this narrative of my own.

Indeed, it is not from the slightest desire of self-glorification that I have spoken so freely of myself. It would have been sheer affectation of modesty to attempt by circumlocution of speech to do otherwise. For I have, in this matter, rather regarded myself as a type of the large body of loyal people in the border States, and have, accordingly, been the more unreserved, inasmuch as I felt that I might assume to some extent to speak in their behalf It is important that our countrymen of the North should clearly understand the embarrassmg position of this class, and the peculiar privations they have been compelled to undergo. It is chiefly due to them that the battle-field of the Rebellion has not been transferred to Northern homes. Theu* geographical location and political elements are such that, upon the soil which they inhabit, loyalty and treason have overlapped, and, being thus confronted face to face, they have been plunged into all the horrors of discord and anarchy, of divided communities and sundered households. In many

PEEFACE. 7

respects, however, we of that region do not wholly sympathize with the North any more than with the extreme South. We deprecate aUke the fanatical agitators of one section and the Disunion demagogues of the other. I believe I represent the views of multitudes of ever-true and now sufferins; patriots when I declare that, Southern man and slave-holder as I am, if the South in her madness and folly will force the issue upon the country, of Slavery and no Union, or a Union and no Slavery, I am for the Union, though every other institution in the country perish. I am for sustaining this Union if it shall require " coercion" or " subjugation," or, what is worse, the annihilation of the rebel population of the land. These peculiarities in my position, as an East-Tennesseean, it will be seen, have contributed to mould the views which I have expressed.

I am, therefore, prepared to expect that many readers will not concur in all that I have said. But I do verily believe that, as a National man, — having had an opportunity, as from an intermediate eminence, to view this question on both sides, — and having observed the bearings of the whole subject for thirty years past, I am enabled

PREFACE.

to suggest sometliing worthy the consideration of my countrymen. Hence I have not consulted the opinions of others, nor reflected whether what I say would be acceptable or unacceptable, would render the writer popular or unpopular. I seek only to utter the profound convictions of my own mind, in order that, God willing, I may be of some benefit in my day and generation, and, without fear or favor, come weal or woe, may have the sad privilege of warning my fellow-citizens, even if I may not enjoy the cheerful satisfaction of convincing them.

I have suffered deeply in person and estate, have avoided no responsibility, have endured evil treatment and imprisonment, and been compelled day by day to contemplate the near prospect of a brutal death upon the gallows, — all in behalf of the sacred cause I have espoused. I avouch these things as evidence of sincerity. Not only so, but they have left me in no mood for the use of softened forms of speech in narrating such acts or depicting the actors. Hence I have spoken plainly. Extreme fastidiousness of taste may, perhaps, shrink with over-sensitiveness from some of the language I have employed. But it was no

PKEFACE. 9

time for dalliance with polished sentences or enticing words; for an imminent necessity — hke the " burden" of the old Hebrew prophets — was upon us, and the cause of our Lord and Land could be best served by the sturdy rhetoric of defiance and the unanswerable logic of facts. The traitors merited a sword-thrust style, and deserved the strongest epithet I have applied. My persecution by them was such that I had a fair right to handle them roughly : they were not worth any other mode of treatment; and I have written Avhat I have written.

I cannot close this preface without expressing my thanks for the generous reception I have met with at the North. In Cincinnati, Columbus, Chicago, Philadelphia, New York, — indeed, wherever I liaA'e gone, — I have been welcomed by individuals and by public bodies with demonstrations of honor and kindness which seem lilvo a providential recompense for all I have endured. I shall preserve a Hfe-long recollection of such universal and spontaneous sympathy, and leave its precious memory and memorials as an heir-loom to the latest generation of my descendants. I bear this testimony all the more wilhngly, because

10 PEEFACE.

these courtesies vindicate me from aspersions, and are occasioned by no modification or concealment of my opinions. I have, everywhere, condemned the disorganizing propagandists of the North, and have publicly proclaimed that I was a Southerner by birth, education, and habits ; yet, when I also announced that I was a National man and uncompromisingly for the Union, I found that other things were forgotten, and that I had touched a chord which made us all of kin.

God grant that we may, as Sections, Churches, and Individuals, reahze ho^r great a share each of us has had in bringing about our present calamities, and, consequently, how much of the responsibility falls upon self as well as upon others ! When this shall be felt, and when a proper spirit shall accompany the conviction, the horrors of this wicked war will be appreciated, the hand of vengeance will be stayed, and

" Returning Justice lift aloft her scale."

w. a. B.

Philadelphia, May, 1862.

Contents

PAGE

Chapter I 13

Autobiographical Sketch — Northern and Southern Agitators alike to be Dreaded — Mutineers on board the Ship of State — South Carolina Methodists — Tho Right of Secession Argued— Jefferson, Madison, and Jackson all deny the Right of Secession.

Chapter II 65

Thirty-Nine Lashes and a Coat of Tar and Feathers promised me — Reply to W. L. Yancey on the Platform in Knoxville — Denying the Right of Secession — Pronouncing the African Slave-Trade Piracy — My Ancestors Fighting for this Country — South Carolina the Resort of Tories — Nullification in 1832 — Nullification among the Ancients.

Chapter III 75

Case of ReT. Dr. Neely, the Alabama Secessionist — Praying the South not to submit to the Inauguration of Lincoln — Exhortation to Moderation.

Chapter IV 81

South Carolina in 1780 — Her Citizens Tories and on the side of the British Crown — Two hundred and twenty-six Tories in Charleston addressing Sir Hemy Clinton — R. Barnwell Rhett changes his Name — The Descendants of these Tories spread over the South — South Carolina Royalty.

Chapter V 89

Threatening to Hang us for our Principles — Charges us with being a Yankee — The "Wickedness of Secession — Origin of Secession — South Carolina Fires the First Gun — Freedom of Speech to be Denied — Standing out for the Union.

Chapter VI 96

Patronage withdrawn from my Paper — Predicting the Success of Secession — The Author always after Office — Indebtedness to "Stores — Our own Partisans refusing to Endorse us — Members of the Church Spurning us.

Chapter VII 105

Position of Border-State Union Men — The Author's Yiews of Slavery given by request — Blow upon Fort Sumter struck with a view to force Yirginia to Secede — Northern and Southern Clergy — Reign of Terror in the South — Yirginia Statesmen all dead — For the Union under all Circumstances.

Chapter VIII 114

The Great Enemy of the Cotton States — Not an Abolitionist — Our Sympathies with the Government — The Rebellion Originated with the South — Charge of seeking to Subjugate the South a False Issue — The Knoxville Whig refusing to Lie and Boast for the Traitors — Not Looking to Reward in Dollars and Cents — Standing or Falling upon a Platform of Principles.

Chapter IX 121

Secession Forgeries at Knoxville — Attempt to Destroy Senator Johnson, and to Embezzle Money from Amos A. Lawrence — The Guilty Parties Detected — A "Warning to all Future Conspirators.

12 " CONTENTS.

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Chapter X 134

The Spirit of Secession — Savage Treatment of a Preacher — Attempting to give the Author the Small-Pox — Proposition to have ns Mobbed — Treatment of an Old Man — Arrest of Mr. Dicldnson — Personal Assaults in Prayer — Fvaising Lincoln's Blockade by Prayer — The Prayer-Meeting Sign — Forming a tJiiion Church — Shepherds Feeding then- Flocks — Secession an Epidemic — The Keal Traitors — False Dispatches — At then- Old Tricks again.

Chapter XI 152

The Distinction between the Parties — Infamy of the Leaders of this Rebellion — Rebel Stealing in Tennessee — Rebel Stealing in Richmond — Swindling Horse- Contracts — The Scriptures against these Extortioners.

Chapter XII 158

The Conspiracy to Break up the Government — The Plot and its Developments — Testimony of Secession "Witnesses — Documents worthy of being Preserved, and worthy of being Studied by the Friends of the Union.

Chapter XIII 177

Which Side is the Lord on? — Teachings of Secession Clergymen — Prayer of Rev. Mr. Baldwin — Providences of God before and since the Development of this Great Conspiracy — The South has had a Preponderating Influence in the Control of the Government — God has arranged the Conditions of this Great Drama to favor the Government of the United States — Union Victories of 1861 — Cities and Towns taken from the South, by Divine Permission, in 18G2 — Gambling- Hells in Richmond — Profane Swearing and Drinking in the Rebel Army — • Wickedness of the Southern Clergy — Loss of Rebel Generals.

Chapter XIV 191

Speech of W. G. Brownlow, delivered in Knoxville, in October, 1861, before the late Presidential Election, before the Bell-and-Everett Club — Proves a Conspiracy against the Government by the Breckinridge Democracy — Concedes the Election of Lincoln, but denies that to be a Sufficient Cause for Dissolving the Union — The Speaker Declared for the Union at all Hazards — My Last Interview with John Bell.

Chapter XV 210

East Tennessee — Population — Face of the Country — Climate, Soil, and Productions— Rivei's and Minerals — Knoxville, Description thereof— The "Register"' Newspaper and its Degraded Editor — Railroads and Approaches to East Tennessee— Description of Cumberland Gap — Voting out of the Union — East Tennessee Loyal to the Last !

Chapter XVII 245

Exhorting the Secession Leaders to Volunteer — Governor Harris calls for Thirty Thousand Volunteers — The Brave Secessionists try to enlist Union men — Take Offence at our Ironical Articles, and stop our Publication — Our Farewell Address to our Patrons.

Chapter XVIII 256

General Zollicoffer's Correspondence — Highly Important Revelations made by the Rebel Leaders — Union Feeling in East Tennessee — The People of East Tennessee to be crushed out.

CHAPTERS XIX. to XXII 271-458

Incidents connected with the Great Southern Rebellion in Tennessee; to which is added a Sketch of Prison-Life, and the Subsequent Release and Journey of the Author.

BROWNLOW'S

EXPERIENCES AMONG THE REBELS.

Chapter I. Autobiographical Sketch Xohtherx Axd Southern Agitators

ALIKE TO BE DREADED MUTINEERS ON BOARD THE SHIP OF STATE

SOUTH CAROLINA METHODISTS THE RIGHT OF SECESSION ARGUED

JEFFERSON, MADISON, AND JACKSON ALL DENY THE BIGHT OF SE- CESSION.

It is a delicate task for a modest man to perform, when lie undertakes to write out a memorial of himself, and especially when he shall undertake to give both his private and public life. But as I have never arisen to any thing like eminence, and as it is the custom of such only as have, to Avrite out a full history of themselves, and to give their bad as well as good deeds to the world, I will be spared the labor and mortification of any unfavorable disclosures.

It will, perhaps, be urged that both sides of a man's picture of life should be given, and then the reader, havina; the wJiole man before him, v/ill be the better prepared to aAvard to him a righteous verdict. Others will insist that a man should so conduct himself as to

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14 BROWNLOW'S EXPERIEXCES

be wholly free from improprieties, especially if he be a member of the Church, or wear clerical robes. To this I reply, that if the memoirs of only such as have lived and died without fault, and without incurring the displeasure of designing and bad men, were written, we should seldom, if ever, see a production of the kind.

I lay no claim whatever to inwiitahle excellencies ; but I do claim that my good and evil deeds, if placed in a scale, would not be so perfectly poised that neither end would preponderate ! Ki\ anecdote of my life will illustrate my Auews of this subject.

Whilst in attendance at an Annual Conference of the Methodist Church, in Abingdon, Virginia, some twelve 3^ears ago, I suffered from an attack of fever; and, either from the influence of medicine, or of fever on the brain, I became a little flighty. The opinion prevailed that I would die, and the venerable Bishop Capers, and other ministers, became anxious to know how the ''eccentric Parson" felt in view of an exchange of worlds. Accordingly, they visited my room, and the Bishop read the Scriptures, and sang and prayed with and for me. On taking his leave of me, — holding me by the hand and looking me full in the f.ice, — he inquired what my prospects were beyond the grave. It is said — and I have no doubt of the truth of the statement— that I returned for an answer, "Well, Bishop, if I had my life to live over again, I could improve it in many respects, and would try to do so. However, if the books have been properly kept in the other world, there is a small balance in my favor /"

I have lived long enough in this present evil world to have enlisted the sympathies of many friends, and at the same time to have excited the bitter resentments of many foes. This affords me proof that I have not been a negative character. That a man engaged in the work of propagating Christianity, in opposing error and defending the cause of truth, and, finally, in going about endeavorins^ to do s;ood, should find himself exposed to enemies, or should meet with violent and protracted opposition, may seem strange. But history and observation inlbrm us that such has been the lot of all decided public men, in a greater or less degree. While some emblazon a man's virtues, others will amplify his faults. A majority, however, labor

"The struggling pangs of conscious truth to hide, To quench the blushes of ingenuous shame,"

rather than pursue the opposite course ; and it is more than likely that on this account religious sectarians and political partisans have denied me justice. For it has certainly been my lot in life to have the shafts of unmerited censure hurled at me ; and since this Great Eebellion has been inaugurated, I have been doomed to bear the base insinuations of invidious tononies and pens in Bebeldom !

Perhaps it Avill be asked, Who is the person that offers this volume to the world ? In this the inquisitive reader shall be gratified; for short and simple are the domestic annals of the writer, though in his fifty-seventh year. I am the eldest son of Joseph A. Brownlow, who Avas born and raised in Eockbridge county, Virginia, and died in Sullivan county, in East Tennessee, in 1816. IsLj father died Avhen I was so young that I could not have been a judge of his character; but it has been a source of consolation to me to hear him spoken of by his old associates and schoolmates (General Sam Houston among them) as a man of good sense, brave independence, and of sterling integrity. He was a private in a Tennessee company in the War of 1812. Two of his brothers were at the battle of the Horseshoe, under General Jackson, two others of them died naval ofiicers, and their remains sleep in K'orfolk and New Orleans.

The death of my father was a grievous affliction to my mother, as she was left with five helpless children, — three sons and two daughters, — four of whom are now dead, having heard of the death of the last of the four since my banishment from home ! My mother's maiden name was Catharine Gannaavay, — a Virginian likewise, of respectable parentage, a7id slave-oivners.

She departed this transitory life in less than three months after the death of her husband. Being naturally mild and agreeable in her temperament, she was warmly endeared to a large circle of friends and acquaintance. But their consolation was in this, that, while sinking into the cold embrace of death; she was happy in the rehgion of Christ.

I was born in Wythe county^ Virginia, on the 29th of August; 1805. After the death of my parents, I hved with my mother's relations, who raised me up to hard labor, until I was eighteen years old, when I removed to Abingdon, in that State, and served as a regular apprentice to the trade of a house-carpenter. I have been a laboring-man all my life long, and have acted upon the Scriptural maxim of eating my bread in the SAveat of my brow. Though a Southern man in feeling and principle, I do not think it degrading to a man to labor, as do most of the Southern Disunionists. Whether East or West, North or South, I recognize the dignity of labor, and look forward to a day, not very distant, when educated labor w^ill be the salvation of this vast country !

My education was imperfect and irregular, even in those branches taught in the common-schools of the country. I labored, after obtaining a trade, until I acquired the means of again going to school. I afterwards entered the Methodist Travelling Ministry, and travelled ten years without intermission. I availed myself of this position to study and improve my limited education, which I did in all the English branches.

I am about six feet high, and have weighed as hea^^" as one hundred and seventy-five pounds, — have had as fine a constitution as any man need desire. I have very

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18 BKOWNLOW'S EXPERIENCES

few gray hairs in my head, and, although rather hardfavored than otherwise, I will pass for a man of forty years. I have had as strong a voice as any man in East Tennessee, where I have resided for the last thirty years, and have a family of seven children. I have been speaking all that time; and for the last twenty-iive years I have edited and published a Whig newspaper having a larger circulation than any political paper in the State, and even larger than all the papers in East Tennessee put together. I have taken a part in all the religious and political controversies of my day and time.

I have written several books ; but the one which has had the laro-est run is the one entitled, ^'The Iron Wheel Examined, and its False Spokes Extracted," — being a vindication of the Methodist Church against the attacks of Rev. J. E. Graves, of Nashville. My reply was published by the Southern Methodist Publishing House, and at the earnest solicitation of the book-agents and other leading members of the Church. It is a work of great severity, but was written in reply to one of still greater severity.

In September, 1858, I was engaged in a debate upon the Slavery question, in Philadelphia, with Eev. Abram Peyne, of New York, in which I defended the institution of Slavery as it exists in the South. The debate was published in Philadelphia, and exhibits my sentiments upon that great question, which have undergone no change since then.

AMOXQ THE REBELS. 19

I am known tlirou^liout the length and breadtli of

o o

the land as the ''Fighting Parson;" while I may say, without incurring the charge of egotism, that no man is more peaceable, as my neighbors will testify. Always poor, and always oppressed with security debts, few men in my section and of my limited means have given away more in the course of each year to charitable objects. I have never been arraigned in the Church for any immorality. I never played a card. I never was a profane swearer. I never drank a dram of liquor, until within a few years, — when it was taken as a medicine. I never had a cigar or chew of tobacco in my mouth. I never was in attendance at a theatre. I never attended a horse-race, and never witnessed their running, save on the fair-grounds of my own county. I never courted but one woman; and her I married.

I may be allowed to say that I have ever been, as I still am, quite a politician, though I have never been an office-seeker nor an office-holder. I began my political career in Tennessee in 1828, by espousing the cause of John Quincy Adams as against Andrew Jackson. The latter I reo-ard as havino; been a true patriot and a sincere lover of his country. The former I admired because he was a learned statesman, of pure moral and private character, and because I regarded him as a Federalist, representing my political opinions. I have all my life long been a Federal

Whig of tlie Washinqton and Alexander Hamilton sciLOol. I am the advocate of a concentrated Federal Government, or of a strong central Government, able to maintain its dignity, to assert its authority, and to crush out any rebellion that may be inaugurated. I have never been a Sectional, but at all times a National man, supporting men for the Presidency and Vice-Pre- 'sidency without any regard on which side of Mason & Dixon's Line they were born, or resided at the time of their nomination. In a word, I am, as I ever have been, an ardent Whig, and Clay and Webster have ever been my standards of political orthodoxy. With the breaking up of old parties, I have merged every thing into the great question of the '' Union, the Constitution, and the Enforcement of the Laws." Hence, I am an unconditional Union man, and advocate the preservation of the Union at the expense of all other considerations.

In 1832, I was chosen by the Holston Annual Conference as a member of the General Conference of the Methodist Church, which was held in Philadelphia. That year I travelled a circuit in South Carolina, having appointments in the districts or counties of Pickens and Anderson, and also in Franklin county, Georgia, south of the Tugaloo Kiver. Nullification raged in South Carolina to a fearful extent, and men of all professions took sides, either in favor of the General Government or of the South Carolina

AMONG THE EEEELS. 21

Ordinance of Disunion. Mr. Calhoun, who was an able statesman and a man of most excellent private character, resided in Anderson, and was almost an object of worship among the KuUifiers. At least, when he took snuff, they all sneezed ! The Union sentiment was very strong, but Union men were in the minority. I took a firm stand in favor of the Federal Government, and whatever influence I had was thrown into the scale against this wicked attempt of South Carolina to destroy the Government. So fierce was the opposition to me in consequence of the stand I took, that in the fall of that year I published a pamphlet vindicating myself. This Avas thirty years ago ; and it will be refreshing to my Union friends to reproduce a few paragraphs from that defence : —

''It is urged against me that I have meddled in the politics of South Carolina and acted with the Union party. Nay, it has been said that I was the tool of Colonel Sloane and Major Perry. I plead guilty to the charge of having opposed the heresy of Nullifi.- cation, but I deny having been the tool of any man, or set of men. Deeply as I have regretted the state of things existing here, and of the breaking up of the Churches, as well as the social intercourse of families and neighbors, I do not regret having taken sides in favor of the Tariff xlcts complained of, of General Jackson's proclamation against iSi ullifiers, and in favor of enforcing tlie laws of Congress. If the Tariff Acts complained of were unconstitutional, — wliich. I do not allow, — tliey afford no plea for dissolving tliis Union. South Carolina's remedy is at the ballot-box of the country, or in the Supreme Court of the United States, whose judges are able and, as I believe, impartial.

''South Carolina is looking to the formation of an independent Province, but will not be allowed any such privilege, as her leading men Avill infer from the proclamation of Old Hickory. I am threatened with proscription and starvation, because I have dared to assert that no laAV has been passed by Congress, touching the Tariff, at variance with the guarantees of the Constitution and the rights and liberties of the slave-holding States. So far as I am concerned, I ask no favors of the enemies of my Government, either in South Carolina or elsewhere. I can live without you, and live among a people who are loyal, and, having the fear of God before their eyes, they will be more likely to receive and appreciate the teachings of the gospel. That there are thousands of patriotic people in South Carolina, is true; but it is likewise true that there were more Tories here during the Eevolutionary War than in all the other States put together. And that the descendants of these old Tories are now in the lead of this Nullification Eehellion, needs no proof whatever to make the charge good. I talk plainly, for one

AMOXG THE REBELS. 23

wlio is in your midst and liable to be mobbed every day; but this is the way to talk in times like these. I am not to be taught my duty by a set of gassy Union-destroyers such as constitute the staple of the South Carolina chivalry. This attempt by moblaw to nullify the laws of the General Government is but the development of a well-planned scheme for the ulterior but wicked purpose of destroying our Government. It is a wild, visionary, and supremely ridiculous scheme, and will be put down, at all hazards, by General Jackson. In fact, he has now crushed it out, and I rejoice in its overthrow, though it may starve me out and drive me from your limits. I shall fall back into Tennessee, where the people appreciate the blessings of the best Government in the world, and where the gospel is likely to produce some other effect than that of arraying the people against the legal and constituted authorities of the land.

Thus did I wTite and publish thirty years ago, in the teeth of the Eebellion of South Carohna ! The principles I then avowed I have cherished and acted upon ever since, and will continue so to do to the end of life. I am a Southern man by birth, raising, and education, and all my interests are there ; but I am not of the number of those who believe that the South can any better preserve its rights out of the Union than in it. If those rights have been invaded, — v/hich I deny, — I

24 BEOWNLOVr's EXPEEIEXCES

hold it to be the bounden duty of every man in the South, as well as his highest obligation, to protect them under the forms of law and the guarantees of the Constitution. These rights can never be maintained by Secession, but by a faithful observance of the Constitution and of the duties it imposes.

In October of the same year, being thirty years ago, I had a controversy with a Mr. Posey, a Calvinistic preacher, a man of talents; and in a pamphlet printed by HiEAAi Baeey, of Knoxville, on page 9, there appears the first paragraph I ever published upon the Slavery question. I herewith give it entire, and ask the reader to examine it, and compare the principles I then advocated with those I now avow : —

" When I drove Mr. Posey to the wall, in our controversy, and convicted him of retailing all his slanders of me upon the authority of a negro slave of bad character, Bacchus, the propert}- of his co-laborer in his dirty work. Dr. Caedes, he came out and taunted me with the false charges that Methodist preachers were the friends of negroes and opposed to slavery, and that Wesley, their great idol, w^rote and preached against slavery ! Both of these specifications are false. Manv of the Methodist preachers are opposed to slavery; but as many more of them own slaves and advocate the institution. I own none ; but it is because of my poverty, and not because I am opposed to owning them. I am but a young man, and I notice the controversy going on between the advocates of slavery and its opponents. The Methodists in New England, and other denominations, take the ground that slave-holding is a sin, an injustice, a barbarism. I do not believe them : I believe with the Constitution of my country, that slaves are a lawful species of property, and that those who feed and clothe them well, and instruct them in religion, are better friends to them than those who set them at liberty.