USA > Tennessee > Notable men of Tennessee, from 1833 to 1875, their times and their contemporaries > Part 17
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note before he hurried off and was on his way to sign the bond.
There is something touching, and pathetic in these strong, determined men, so long intimate and tender friends, at last diverging and separating in their political courses, but con- tinuing friends to the last, ever ready, as in the days of their vigorous manhood, to do for each other acts of kindness. Such was the brave Nelson and such the ever-faithful and kind Brown- low.
The statement that Mr. Nelson possessed a high order of intellect deserves some explanation. He unquestionably had a strong mind, but he was so honest that it made him slow and cautious in his mental operations. He arrived at conclusions on important questions only after the most careful reflection. On new questions he would express no opinion until he had looked into them most carefully and thoroughly. But in his investiga- tion he overlooked no important point. When his mind reached its conclusions, it rested on them in perfect confidence and security. In his arguments as a lawyer before the courts and juries he was elaborate and diffuse. He overlooked no im- portant point in his cases.
It is almost useless to add after what I have said as to his characteristics, that in his intercourse with his professional brethren, with his clients, and the bench, he was a model of fairness, courtesy, and noble bearing. I believe that he was never even suspected of a dishonorable act during his profes- sional career, much less guilty of one. His enemies even would have entrusted their lives-their all-to his honor and his keeping.
In August, 1873, T. A. R. Nelson died at his home in Knox- ville, of cholera, in the sixty-first year of his age. When stricken down he was in the full possession of all his mental and physical powers, and had the reasonable assurance of many years of usefulness and activity. Thus passed away a man, the like of whom, we shall not, in all probability, see soon again. Time had apparently somewhat softened and mellowed his fiery spirit. The vaulting ambition which once filled, but never marred, his soul, seemed to have been somewhat subdued, and he appeared only anxious to discharge his duty as a citizen and a Christian. He had for many years been an active and earnest member of the Presbyterian Church. At the time of his
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death he was an active worker in the Sabbath school of the Second Presbyterian Church of Knoxville, of which he was a member. He and Mr. Maynard were members of the same Church, and like Mr. Maynard, one of his last acts was to deliver an able address before the Church on the Bible. Both of these great men spent their last days in good works, as if prescient of the coming end.
DEWITT C. SENTER.
Active in Influence for Undivided Country-Father Prominent-Speaker of Senate and Governor-Later Years Passed in Retirement.
DEWITT C. SENTER of Grainger County deserves honorable mention for the part he bore in the great political contest of 1861. Previous to that time he had become somewhat promi- nent as a young member of the celebrated Legislature, elected in August, 1859, which by the passage of the ordinance of secession of May, 1861, assumed to vote Tennessee out of the Union. Amid the wild excitement of Civil War, Mr. Senter, with unflinching courage, stood with the little band of Spartan heroes-who voted "no" on that fatal measure. At home, too, in his own county, his voice and active influence were earnestly given in behalf of an undivided country. It was to local leaders like Butler, Brown, Staples, Houk, Senter, and others, who worked so earnestly and bravely in their respective counties in the winter and spring of 1861 that the great Union victories in East Tennessee were due in a degree not generally recognized. They worked with earnest determination among their neigh- bors and friends, where they had the greatest influence, with telling effect. Never was there a greater mistake made than to assume that a few great leaders alone won the marvelous Union victories in East Tennessee. This honor belongs, though in greatly unequal degrees, to a great number of persons, some of them distinguished throughout the land, and some entirely un- known to fame beyond the limits of the State, and, in some cases, beyond their own counties. But for the exertions of local leaders, led by a few prominent men, Johnson, Nelson, and Maynard would have found the battle lost when they returned from Washington in the spring of 1861.
DeWitt C. Senter was a son of William T. Senter, who died some time before the Civil War. The elder Senter was a Methodist minister of considerable celebrity from 1830, or earlier, to 1850. He was a member of the Constitutional Con- vention of 1834. In the political canvass of 1840, like Gov- ernor James C. Jones, he suddenly sprang into great notoriety
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by his ability as a stump speaker. Wherever he spoke he aroused the wildest enthusiasm. He had a spicy, incisive, thrill- ing kind of eloquence precisely adapted to the hot temper and bitter violence of that abnormal period of political fermentation. He was, in fact, singularly pointed, caustic, and effective in speaking. In some respects he was superior to James C. Jones in a political discussion. Woe to the man who fell into his hands in 1840. He had no mercy on a political opponent. He would launch at him a torrent of wit, argument, and denuncia- tion, in rapid speech and thrilling tones, that was apt to over- whelm him. At a great mass meeting at Brushy Creek, in Washington County, in October, 1840, I heard him almost an- nihilate a certain politician who had the temerity to demand a hearing and to appear on the stump. The celebrated Vir- ginia-South Carolina orator, William C. Preston, who was pres- ent, was greatly interested in Senter's wild eloquence. He hung upon his words with intense delight.
In 1843 William T. Senter was elected to Congress as a Whig from the Second District. But except in the heat of a canvass he was of a phlegmatic temperament, and therefore he made no especial reputation as a debater in that body. He needed opposition to kindle the fire of his genius.
When Tennessee was reorganized in 1865 DeWitt C. Senter was again elected to the Legislature. In 1867 he became a member of the Senate and was made its Speaker. When William G. Brownlow resigned as Governor in February, 1869, in order to take his seat in the United States Senate, Mr. Senter became Governor of the State by virtue of the Constitution. At the approaching election he was naturally a candidate be- fore the people for the office he then held. William B. Stokes, who had served with some reputation in the Union army as Colonel of a Tennessee Regiment, became a candidate also. The nominating convention split after disgraceful scenes of passion, and both candidates were separately nominated by their respective friends. The excitement throughout the State be- came great and surpassingly bitter. A joint canvass between the two candidates followed, distinguished for its personalities and want of dignity and propriety. The administration of Governor Senter had not been sufficiently fortunate to escape criticism. A majority perhaps of the Union men ranged them- selves on the side of Colonel Stokes. From the first Governor
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Senter began to pander to the feelings and prejudices of the late secessionists. Before the close of the canvass he openly declared in favor of their enfranchisement. The election laws of the State, restricting the elective franchise, were openly disregarded and violated by Senter's friends, and those lately laboring under the disability of disfranchisement went to the poles and voted as freely as the Union men. Senter was elected by a large majority, receiving the entire vote of those lately in arms against the government. A Democratic Legis- lature was also elected. Thus the State, through the open violation of the law on the part of Governor Senter, passed back into the hands of those who had carried it into secession in 1861. A Constitutional Convention was speedily called, and every vestige of the unfriendly legislation of 1865-1869 was erased from the statute book. Governor Senter gave the late secessionists the opportunity they desired at the ballot box, by openly disregarding the election laws, and it would have been amazingly strange if they had not joyfully accepted it.
At the end of the term of Governor Senter the Democratic party came into power in the State by an immense majority. He retired to private life on a farm near Morristown, from which he never emerged, though possibly not exceeding thirty- seven or thirty-eight years of age. The Democratic party had no further use for him, and the Republicans did not forgive him for his course in 1869. He recently departed this life on his farm. After his retirement he never took any active part in politics, though I believe he still claimed to be a Republican.
His administration has never been a source of pride to the people of the State. Hungry and rapacious men swarmed around him in search of spoils. The public service was lowered and corrupted. But the Democratic party has been blind and silent as to its faults, because to Senter they owed their en- franchisement, and their restoration to power in the State. He was mainly elected by Democrats and became on this account their Governor.
Governor Senter was unquestionably a man of excellent natural ability. If he had been a student, and had remained in public life long enough for the full maturity of his fine powers, he might have become a somewhat remarkable man. He was rather a handsome, striking-looking person. His voice, in the
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glow and fervor of debate, like his father's, was peculiarly thrilling. Like his father, also, when aroused, he was animated, pointed, and aggressive, but I hardly think he was so caustic, so incisive. While in many respects he was much like his father, he was never the latter's equal. On the whole, Governor Senter had that in him which might have been developed into more than ordinary power.
GENERAL JAMES G. SPEARS.
Early Struggles-Clerk of Circuit Court-Happy Marriage-A Demo- crat-Delegate to Knoxville Convention-Daring Operation-Led His Regiment at Fishing Creek-In Battle at Murfreesboro-Hot-headed- A. L. Spears, His Son, a Brave Officer in Union Army-a Lawyer.
GENERAL JAMES G. SPEARS was born in Bledsoe County, Ten- nessee, in 1816, and died at Braden's Knob in the same county, July 22, 1869. From his infancy his road in life seemed rough and hard. He was the eldest of five children, and the burden of supporting the family rested on his shoulders, his father having lost the bulk of his estate in speculation. It is the same old story told of Lincoln and Johnson and Garfield, and of many other great men, and being daily repeated in actual life by ambitious, brave boys-of aspiration, of toil, disappoint- ment, struggles with poverty, and finally of success achieved. As remarked by his faithful wife, "It seemed as if it was his misfortune always to get hold of the rough end of everything, and he viewed everything in that light-that if it was not a hard road to travel it was not worth going." This was the key to his mind-courage, persistence, ambition. Every ob- stacle on his way must be swept aside. Success is certain with a man of such a will.
After young Spears became of age he acquired a meager education by his own efforts. He was fond of reading and embraced every opportunity to gain knowledge. After leaving school he studied law, and located at Pikeville, Tenn. In 1848 he was elected Clerk of the Circuit Court and served two terms in that capacity. After the expiration of his terms as Clerk, he resumed his profession as a lawyer. He must have had con- siderable aptitude for making and saving money, for about 1851 he bought a farm near Pikeville, built a house on it and moved to it, and put his colored people there to cultivate it and take care of his fine stock, of which he was very fond. In 1849 he married Miss Adeline K. Brown, daughter of William L. Brown of Bledsoe County, who still survives her husband, loved and respected for her own virtues, as well as honored
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as the relict of a man in many respects of no ordinary mold. This marriage proved to be a happy one. Mr. Spears spoke of his wife with great tenderness, and often said that "if he wanted to marry a dozen times he would court the same woman every time." His children consisted of five sons and one daughter. They were A. L. Spears of Jasper, N. B. Spears of Pell City, Ala., J. Brown Spears of Pikeville, W. D. Spears of Jasper, James G. Spears, Jr., and Mrs. James Robertson of Sequachee City. All are still living, except Colonel A. L. Spears, who died in 1900.
General Spears was in politics a Democrat. In 1860 he supported Stephen A. Douglas against John C. Breckinridge, the regular Democratic nominee for President in Tennessee- the disunion candidate of the South. Mr. Lincoln was elected, and Mr. Spears was willing to abide by his election rather than have a disruption of the Government. He was a delegate to the Knoxville Convention in May, 1861, and afterward to the more important meeting of that body in Greeneville in June. He was a member of the Business Committee, consisting of thirty-one members, to which were referred all important resolu- tions.
There was no member of these bodies who was more bitter and extreme in his opinion, not even Colonal William Clift. He therefore favored the violent measures proposed by a dis- tinguished member of that body, which were at first unani- mously reported for adoption by the Committee. He returned home not entirely satisfied with the pacific policy finally adopted by the Greeneville convention.
After returning home, like nine-tenths of the Union men, it was not his desire nor purpose to take up arms against the Southern Confederacy, but to remain at home a quiet spectator of the great strife. But he was not permitted to do this. Learn- ing that a warrant for his arrest for disloyalty to the South had been issued against him, some time in the early fall of 1861, he, in company with Colonel D. C. Trewhitt and others, secretly left their homes, and passed through the mountains into Ken- tucky-the land of refuge for fleeing, persecuted loyalists of East Tennessee. Here he raised a regiment among the refugees and became its Colonel.
While at Cumberland Gap he undertook a bold operation, such as his daring spirit delighted in. Leaving the Gap, he
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marched to the North side of the mountain, and crossing Log Mountain, he turned westwardly, and pushed on through the mountains to Big Creek Gap, distant by this indirect route some forty or more miles from his starting point; then he pushed on to Wallace's Cross Roads, distant twenty-odd miles farther, and eighteen miles from Knoxville. Here he surprised a Con- federate force, and scattered it in confusion, killing, wounding, and capturing sixty-five men. He returned by the same route to Cumberland Gap without the loss of a man.
It is impossible to follow Colonel Spears with details in his various marches and battles of the next three years. It can only be briefly mentioned that he led his regiment in the battle of Mill Spring, or Fishing Creek, and by his bravery con- tributed to the first decisive battle on the part of the Federals in the War. Soon after this event he was made Brigadier General of Volunteers, in recognition of his bravery. He was with General George W. Morgan when Cumberland Gap was captured, and had a conspicuous part in the skillful maneuvers by which it was accomplished. He was also with him when the latter was forced to abandon Cumberland Gap, in the fall of 1862, to avoid capture by the superior forces of General E. Kirby Smith at the time he and General Bragg jointly invaded Kentucky. General Spears helped to conduct the celebrated re- treat from Cumberland Gap, through northeastern Kentucky to the Ohio River, during which the Union forces were constantly harassed by the enemy in front, in the rear and on the flanks, and subjected to extreme want of water and food, a single drink sometimes costing five dollars.
General Spears had an honorable part in the battle of Mur- freesboro, and also in that of Chattanooga, besides participating in many skirmishes. Wherever he was he bore himself bravely. When President Lincoln issued his emancipation proclamation, he denounced it as illegal and unauthorized. He was repre- sented as saying, at that time, a great many insubordinate things, but I will let his good wife, tell the tale and the result in her own language: "He thought the Government could be preserved without altering the Constitution. He went into the war to support and uphold the old constitution, and he was not the man to go against his principles. He would stand by them, let every other man take his own course. Through the jealousy of some of his officers his sentiments were reported to the Presi-
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dent, and charges were preferred against him, which caused Mr. Lincoln to order an investigation, which led to a dismissal from the army."
This was an unfortunate ending of the honorable military career of General Spears, which every true friend of his regrets. But there was nothing in it positively disgraceful to him. He had not shown cowardice in the face of the enemy ; he had not betrayed his country. He was brave in battle, but hot-headed, impulsive, and obstinate in what he thought was right. His violent temper and courage in the expressions of his views carried him too far, and as an officer his conduct became insubordina- tion, which under the Articles of War could not be tolerated. He could have resigned, but this his proud, defiant spirit would not allow him to do in order to escape the consequences of his acts. Thus he showed himself to be brave to desperation in the very extremity of his fortunes.
No man ever doubted the courage of General Spears. In addition he was manly and honorable, while the career he ran shows that he possessed remarkably strong qualities. He was the first volunteer officer from Tennessee who was made a Brigadier General. This was early in 1862, and only a few months after he had entered the service. Even General Joseph A. Cooper, who finally won the first place as a distinguished officer among Tennesseeans, did not receive a Brigadier's com- mission until the summer of 1864, nearly three years after entering the service.
General Spears, after leaving the army returned to the prac- tice of his profession and to the work of regaining his fortune, which I infer had been a considerable one at the outbreak of the war. His health also was impaired by the hardships to which he had been exposed in his campaigns, and he never fully regained it. His life ended, as before stated, July 22, 1869, in the fifty-third year of his age.
A few words as to A. L. Spears, his eldest son, who also was a soldier and an officer in the Union Army. This young man, aged eighteen, was a student at Emory and Henry College, Va., when the war broke out, and was in sentiment and sympathy with the South. It happened that he heard the Hon. John. B. Floyd boast, in a speech, I think, that he had, as Secretary of War, stripped the North of arms and sent them South for the use of those in insurrection against the United States. This
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baseness of Floyd was so shocking to the honor of young Spears that he immediately determined to leave college and enter the Union army. When he got home, however, his services were needed to take care of the family and the estate, his father being on the point of going to Kentucky to join the army. He accordingly concluded, by the direction of his father, to remain at home. After staying there a few weeks or months, he found himself the object of such suspicion and persecution that he was compelled to seek safety in flight to Kentucky, not- withstanding his father's orders to the contrary.
In Kentucky he at once entered the army. In a short time he was appointed the Adjutant of his regiment, and continued in this position until the close, or near the close of the war.
He was with his regiment in all its battles, including Sher- man's Georgia Campaign, on every field, displaying the quali- ties of a brave and noble soldier. After the war ended he studied law and followed that profession with great success, accumulating a large estate. In person he was large, tall, and fine-looking. He was well informed, and a most delightful con- versationalist. He was broad and liberal in his opinions, and altogether a most striking and attractive man.
BENJAMIN TOLLIVER STAPLES.
Family Among Settlers of Jamestown-Taught by Parents-Leader in Cumberland Plateau-Defeated Twice for Legislature-Activity in Behalf of Union-Raised a Regiment-Wounded and Taken Prisoner- Tortured and Shot-The Mountain Man-"Tinker Dave."
BENJAMIN TOLLIVER STAPLES, one of the leaders of the people on the Union side in 1861, was born in Morgan County, Tennessee, December 24, 1817, the youngest of fifteen children. His father, John Staples, at the age of eighteen, was a soldier in the Revolution, and served through the entire war. He was with Washington at Yorktown, and witnessed and shared in the crowning glory of the surrender of the British Army. His family were among the early settlers of Jamestown, the first cradle of English-speaking people on this continent. John Staples moved with his family to the gold fields of Georgia, where he lost a considerable fortune, and then came to Morgan County, Tennessee, a poor man.
Tolliver Staples-the name by which he was generally known -though a man of good education, never went to school a day. He was taught by his parents, both of whom were educated. Before his twentieth year, he was employed by the County Sur- veyor as an assistant. Afterward he became County Surveyor himself, which position he held for a number of years. In addition to surveying he also farmed and raised stock.
At the breaking out of the Rebellion and for some years previously, Staples was Clerk and Master of the Chancery Court of Morgan County-an office requiring for the proper performance of its duties highest fidelity. In 1853 and again in 1855 he was a Whig candidate for Representative in the Legis- lature for the District composed of the Counties of Morgan, Scott, and Fentress, and though the district was largely Demo- cratic, he was each time defeated by less than one hundred votes.
In 1860 Tolliver Staples was an ardent friend of the Union, and a supporter of Bell for the Presidency. When the Civil War was inaugurated, true to the teachings of the Whig party,
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he remained an unflinching friend of the old Government. He canvassed Morgan County, and devoted all the energies of his mind and body to defeat the insane and unwise measure. He was a delegate to the Knoxville Convention, called, it will be remem- bered, to aid in defeating the secession of Tennessee. His activity in behalf of the Union and his outspoken opposition to the Southern Confederacy led to his arrest in November or December, 1861, and his incarceration in jail at Knoxville. This was after the bridges on the railroads were burned, at that time of universal gloom and terror, when the prisons were overflowing with Union men, and the scaffold so frequently had its victims.
After his release he made his escape into Kentucky and thence to Nashville. Here, he and others obtained authority to raise a regiment of Tennessee Cavalry for service in the Federal Army, of which Isham Young became Colonel; R. A. Davis, Lieutenant Colonel; J. S. Duncan, Major; and of which he was appointed Adjutant. On the 17th of March, 1863, he and Colonel Davis, Major Duncan, and a few soldiers en- countered a Confederate force at Pine Knot, Kentucky, where he was wounded and taken prisoner, his horse being killed. Major Duncan was also killed, and Colonel Davis wounded, though the latter succeeded in escaping. Staples was carried to Monticello, Ky. On the 22d he was given in charge of the command of the noted Confederate guerrilla, Champ Ferguson, to be taken to Knoxville. The guard took him about fifteen miles on the road toward Albany, Ky., where he was cruelly and inhumanely abused, even tortured, and finally shot .*
Thus while a prisoner was a brave and a noble man foully murdered. This killing excited widespread sorrow and indig- nation at the time, and is even yet recalled with horror.
Benjamin Tolliver Staples deserves mention, because of the wide influence he exerted, in 1861, on the people of a large part of the Cumberland Plateau. The brightest and brainiest man in all that region, he was also earnest and active. On all ques- tions of the current politics of the day he was well posted,- he was a fluent talker, and was full of action and enthusiasm. A
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