USA > Tennessee > Notable men of Tennessee, from 1833 to 1875, their times and their contemporaries > Part 18
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*This is the account given of this affair by Samuel H. Staples, a son of Tolliver, who is a reputable lawyer living at Harriman, Tenn., and a Democrat, and the account corresponds with that current at the time and prevailing since.
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mountain man of extraordinary mentality, of positiveness and energy, he was also endowed with courage, keen moral convic- tions, and a physical frame of the power and strength to com- mand universal respect-a born leader among a mountain people.
In 1860 and 1861 he was an uncompromising Union man, taking a deep interest in the political discussions of the time, and powerfully influencing the mountain people whose confidence he enjoyed. With a unanimity seldom witnessed, except in the County of Sevier, the people of this region were Union men. In the June election, on the question of separation or no separa- tion, the vote in Morgan County in its favor was only thirty- eight and in Scott nineteen. I have not the figures before me as to the vote in Cumberland and Fentress Counties, but it was overwhelmingly in favor of no separation, approximating the unanimity of Morgan and Scott. These people are brave, gen- erous, and, in the main, lawabiding. No such family and neighborhood feuds, often extending over whole counties and resulting in frightful shedding of blood, as those in some of the neighboring counties in Kentucky and in West Virginia, exist or ever have existed in this section. Nor is intoxication or illicit distilling as prevalent as would he expected in a mountain region. Indeed the latter is almost wholly unknown. In morals the people are remarkable, considering the lack of schools and of the advantages of an old civilization .*
*When I was a candidate for Chancellor in 1870, my competitor, an able lawyer, did not receive a single vote in Scott County. I had can- vassed in 1860 these mountain counties, except Cumberland, as elector on the Bell-Everett ticket. Again, from 1870 to 1878, I held courts in them as Chancellor (excepting Cumberland), a part of the time in all of them, and for the whole time in one of them, and thus had a good opportunity of knowing these people. During all that time I never heard of any general lawlessness, nor have I since. One of my courts, that of Fentress County, was about ninety miles from my home in Knoxville, every foot of which I was compelled to make on horseback. But I enjoyed my trips immensely, with venison and wild turkey as my meat. Here I met Captain Dave Beatty, or "Tinker Dave," as he was commonly called, the celebrated partisan or guerrilla commander of an independent company on the Union side during the Civil war. He operated in this mountain region and was the terror of all the Confederates. I venture to tell how I quieted him. The first day I opened court in Fentress County he took a conspicuous position near me, and in a short time commenced interrupting the proceedings by loud remarks in reference to them. He seemed to think it his duty to give his opinion about all matters that came up, as had been his habit. I admonished him gently that he must keep quiet. The admonition did not silence him. The third time he
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interrupted the court with his advice I said to him in a firm but kindly manner : "Captain Beatty, when you were in command of a company in the army and gave an order, you expected and required it to be obeyed without argument or talking back. There was but one captain in your company. Now, I am captain in this court and the Sheriff is my lieu- tenant. There is but one captain here, and the privates must not inter- fere." He quickly said : "I am shut pan," and became perfectly quiet from that moment. He afterward said to me at my hotel : "Judge, you are right ; there cannot be two captains for one company." I never had any trouble with him afterward, and we became good friends. He was a brave man and in many respects a good private citizen.
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DR. JOSEPH C. STRONG.
Earnest Friend of Union-His Father in U. S. Navy-Family Prominent in Social and Business Affairs-Aided Union Guides-Strong Family Dates in United States from 1630.
IF there was anywhere a better or more earnest friend of the Union than Dr. Joseph C. Strong, of Knox County, I should like to know who he was that I might in these pages devise some special honor to his memory. This generation does not and cannot comprehend the courage it required in the South, after June, 1861, to be a Union man,-the sacrifices he made, the sufferings he endured, the dangers he was exposed to, and the reproaches and the obloquy he had to bear. And strange anomaly, the men who were false to our Government, and fought but failed to destroy it, with supreme arrogance assume that they are better than the men who were always true and faithful !
The immediate ancestor of Dr. Strong was Dr. Joseph C. Strong, a native of Massachusetts. He was a surgeon in the U. S. Navy. When President Jefferson adopted his foolish scheme of gunboats for the defense of the commerce and our coasts, he virtually destroyed our navy, and Dr. Strong there- fore resigned his position, and in 1802 came South and settled in Knoxville, Tenn. He became and so remained for many years an eminent physician in that city. On his death in 1838 he left several children, and a considerable fortune. The Hon. Charles Ready, the eminent lawyer, and for a number of years a distinguished member of Congress from Middle Tennessee, married one of his daughters. Others married prominent busi- ness men. His descendants are numerous, and are among the first in the society and in the business circles of Knoxville. Among them is the well-known, public-spirited, and wealthy citi- zen, B. R. Strong, so highly esteemed by his fellow citizens of Knoxville for his uprightness. Two brothers, Gideon and Joseph, own the magnificent farm of the late Dr. Strong on the Holston River, the old homestead, twelve miles East of Knox- ville, and they are model farmers, prosperous and wide awake,
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and are among the best citizens of East Tennessee in every way. The descendants of Dr. Strong do honor to their long line of honorable ancestry.
Dr. Joseph C. Strong lived in the country on the fine farm we have just mentioned. He was an educated gentleman, a slave holder, a practicing physician, and a man of intelligence, and possessed of a good estate. He was therefore naturally calculated to exert a wide influence among his acquaintances. In the February and June canvasses, 1861, he was an open, active, and avowed friend of the Union. But even after the State had aligned itself with the Southern Confederacy, he did not cease to work, nor grow faint-hearted. His farm was directly on the Union "trail" to Kentucky, and was the point for crossing the river for the refugees from Sevier County and a part of Knox, under the leadership of the famous guide Spencer Deaton. Dr. Strong knew all about their movements, and aided them in every conceivable manner in making their escape. His farm was a resting place for Deaton in passing to and from Kentucky. On one occasion Deaton was in Strong's barn when a Confederate regiment passed by on the public road within forty or fifty yards of the place where he was silently watching it. Dr. Strong's house was a secret place for the delivery of letters brought by Deaton from refugees in the army to their families in the neighborhood. This faithful guide-one of the most noted in East Tennessee-who success- fully piloted through the mountains thousands of fleeing Union men, was at last captured in the latter part of 1863 or early part of 1864, carried to Richmond, condemned as a spy, and hanged in Libby Prison. It was astonishing how bold and reck- less these pilots became in their operations. I recollect seeing and talking with Deaton on the streets of Knoxville in 1863, while the Confederates held possession of that place. I did not then know he was engaged as a pilot for Union men. He, and all of his calling, led desperately hazardous lives, and their services to the Union refugees, and to the Union Army as well, were invaluable.
If we seek for a much older family than that of the Strongs in the United States, we shall have to go back to Massasoit, the dusky king of the Narragansetts, or Powhatan, Emperor of the Virginians, for their ancestor Strong landed from the good ship, Mary and John, in Nantasket, in May, 1630. An
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examination of the date of the landing and the name of the vessel on which he arrived discloses the coincidence that he and Matthew Grant, the direct ancestor of Ulysses Grant, came over from England on the same vessel. The Mayflower had arrived in New England nine years earlier, but nine years is but a speck of time in nine generations of men. The Strongs can claim for their family a venerable antiquity in the United States. The passengers on the Mary and John settled at Dor- chester. As from one of them has sprung a president of the United States, we are encouraged to hope that a like good fortune may befall some one of the descendants of other passengers.
NATHANIEL G. TAYLOR.
Grandfather Owned Immense Estates-Graduated at Washington Col- lege and Princeton-Became a Minister-Distinguished Appearance- Rare Gifts-Raised Funds for Relief of Destitute People of East Ten- nessee-Aided by Rev. Dr. T. W. Humes-Elector, 1860.
NATHANIEL G. TAYLOR, one of the prominent Union leaders of East Tennessee in 1860 and 1861, was born in Carter County, in December, 1819. He was the son of James P. Taylor, a bright lawyer in his day, and the grandson of General Na- thaniel Taylor, who came from Virginia at an early day and settled in Carter County. General Taylor was the owner of an immense landed estate, amounting to tens of thousands of acres, lying in the mountain regions of East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia. He was a man of wealth, and lived in fine style for his day. In the battle of New Orleans he commanded a regiment of Tennessee troops, and distinguished himself by valor and splendid soldierly bearing.
The family of Nathaniel G. Taylor, the subject of our sketch, was wealthy and influential on both his father's and his mother's side. His educational advantages were of the first order. He took a course at Washington College, Tennessee, and then a second course at Princeton, where he was graduated about 1842. He intended becoming a lawyer, and had perhaps entered upon the study of law, when an incident happened in 1843, which changed the whole tenor of his life.
One Sabbath night, during a camp-meeting at Brushy Creek, at or near the present town of Johnson City, Miss Mary Taylor, a beautiful and lovely young lady, a sister of Mr. Taylor, and two young college mates of mine, John Miller from North Carolina, and David Gillespie of Rhea County, were conversing together in the door of one of the cabins, when they were all suddenly stricken down by a terrific flash of lightning. Miss Taylor and Mr. Miller were instantly killed; Mr. Gillespie, after weeks of suffering, finally recovered. This terrible calamity threw a gloom over the assemblage gathered at the camp ground. The news of it spread over the country
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and drew an immense crowd to the meeting. Religious feeling became deep and intense. Two or three days afterward Mr. Taylor arose near the pulpit, and with graceful and highly dramatic action and pathetic voice, delivered a surpassingly fervid, impassioned, and thrilling religious exhortation. Com- ing as this address did, when all present were already under a spell of profound excitement, the effect was electrical. The sea of human beings was stirred as if it had been swept by a tempest. I often heard Mr. Taylor afterward, in the days of his maturity, but never heard him surpass, or even equal, this effort made at the age of twenty-three. Soon after this incident he became a Methodist minister.
Mr. Taylor was endowed in many respects with rare gifts. His person was remarkably striking. Though of only medium height, there was an elegance, a rotundity, and a dignity about it that at once commanded respect. His face was highly striking. There was in it a foreign look that gave him a most distinguished appearance. Perhaps it was the blood of Poca- hontas reappearing in him. His whole person was marked by a refinement indicating high breeding. We say this about horses and cattle, and why should we not say it about man, highest and noblest created thing? His voice was strong and clear, and in its higher tones ringing and musical. His language was always chaste and elegant. He had a rich fancy, but his good taste and education held it in check. There was seldom any- thing in his speeches of an extravagant character; or that bordered on bombast. He possessed humor and sometimes indulged it, but he never descended to buffoonery. As an orator, when he had the proper spur and incentive, he was superior to his celebrated brother-in-law, Landon C. Haynes. For rough work or boisterous talk, I admit he was not Haynes' equal. It was perhaps well that Mr. Taylor did not follow the law. He neither had the industry nor the taste for a pro- fession of any details.
The people of East Tennessee owe to Mr. Taylor's memory a lasting debt of gratitude. In 1864 he originated the idea of securing some relief for the people of this section, who were already in great need of the common necessaries of life, and were likely to become in the near future almost absolutely destitute. This state of want was the natural result of the occupation of East Tennessee by three armies-General Long-
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street's in the upper part, General Burnside's in the central, and General Sherman's in the lower part. Toward the close of 1863 the destitution was becoming alarming. About this time Mr. Taylor, moved by his sympathy for the people, and of his own will, went North to secure aid for the suffering people. He began the work alone, by making public speeches, soon attracting volunteers to his aid. In Boston a great public meeting was held in Faneuil Hall. Mr. Everett, Governor Andrews, and indeed nearly all the leading men of the city attended, and took seats on the platform. Mr. Taylor made a splendid, thrilling speech, in which he pleaded with all his nature for relief for his countrymen in the valleys and moun- tains of East Tennessee. Mr. Everett followed in one of his beautiful, masterly addresses. That of Mr. Taylor was hardly inferior to that of Mr. Everett. The result was that a plan was organized, and committees were appointed for raising money in the New England States and elsewhere. Money poured in by thousands to the committees. All over New England many women and even children vied with one another in their generous contributions. Philadelphia and other cities caught the contagion, and in a few months the sum of over one hundred thousand dollars was raised. This money was judiciously laid out from time to time by these committees, for provisions, shoes, clothing, etc., and forwarded to an Executive Committee at Knoxville, and distributed through local commit- tees to all the Counties in East Tennessee. These supplies were sold at about cost to those who were in want and were able to pay for them, and this money reinvested in other supplies. To the destitute supplies were given gratuitously. Thus by the happy conception of Mr. Taylor, and in his noble efforts, aided by Mr. Everett and other philanthropic gentlemen, were the people of this section saved from great suffering and perhaps a famine during the years 1864 and 1865.
It is a gratifying fact, highly honorable to the venerable president, the Rev. Dr. T. W. Humes, and to the other members of the local Executive Committee at Knoxville that these large supplies, amounting in the aggregate to perhaps $200,000, were all distributed without reward, and the accounts closed on settlement with Northern agents, without any complaint, or even suspicion of speculation, corruption, or favoritism.
Mr. Taylor deserves for his canvass in 1860, as elector for
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the State at large, on the Bell-Everett ticket, more than a passing notice. He seemed to be deeply impressed with the danger which threatened the Government. I heard at one time, and this was concurrent testimony of all who heard him, that in his discussion with W. C. Whitthorne, at Knoxville, his speech was a remarkably brilliant and masterly effort, so far as it applied to the question of secession. It produced at the time a great sensation among scholarly men. A week or two later I heard the discussion between the same parties at Taze- well, but on this occasion his speech was less remarkable. How he sustained himself at other places I do not know, but I think well, and sometimes splendidly. The question of disunion was one well suited to his peculiar talents.
Mr. Taylor was a man of uncertain and unequal moods. It required a great theme, a great occasion, and a present stimulus or inspiration to call out his powers. His temperament and mind were rather phlegmatic. They needed shaking up and arousing. When they were quickened into activity, he was always successful. Indeed under the proper conditions he was a most chaste, graceful, and eloquent orator. He, however, was under all circumstances dignified, scholarly, pleasing, and honorable, and on some rare occasion he had but few, if any, superiors as a speaker.
Personally Mr. Taylor was a delightful gentleman. He was gentle, genial, and cheerful. His temper was even and placid. He loved ease and tranquillity. While he loved political honors, he scarcely possessed the ceaseless energy necessary for high success in that field of endeavor, and yet he was frequently a candidate for office. In 1849 he was a candidate for Congress in the first district against Andrew Johnson, but there being a good Democratic majority in favor of his competitor, he was defeated. In 1853 he was again a candidate, against Albert G. Watkins and Brookins Campbell, the early rival of Mr. Johnson, and his competitor for the Legislature in 1837 and 1839. Mr. Campbell was elected, but died while serving his first term. Mr. Taylor again became a candidate, and was elected to fill out the unexpired term of Mr. Campbell, defeat- ing Mr. Watkins. In 1855, and again in 1857, he was a candi- date, but was defeated by Mr. Watkins. In 1865 Mr. Taylor was successful in his race for Congress. After the expiration of this term, he was appointed by President Johnson Com-
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missioner of Indian affairs, which office he held until after the Administration of General Grant came into power. In 1852, and again in 1856, Mr. Taylor served as an elector on the Whig ticket.
In the canvass of 1860 he was Elector for the State at large, and rendered splendid service for the Union cause by his eloquent, earnest speeches. At a little later period, when the question of secession came directly before the people of Ten- nessee, he gave his powerful voice and influence in opposition to that movement. Yet he was not so active in his opposition as a number of other men, though equally as earnest. He was an old-line Whig, and the Whig party in Tennessee at first, at least, was almost solidly arrayed against secession.
Mr. Taylor was the father of Hon. A. A. Taylor, who was elected a member of Congress three times from the celebrated first district of Tennessee, so long represented by Andrew Johnson. He was also the father of Governor Robert L. Tay- lor, so distinguished as a stump orator and a humorous lecturer. The latter is now one of the most successful lecturers, in his line, in the United States. As a delightful orator he is with- out his peer. It was simply amazing how many beautiful, happy, unrivaled little speeches he made as Governor at Nash- ville, during the Centennial Exposition in 1897. Each was a rare gem of beauty. His voice, his words, his manner were the perfection of art.
Nathaniel G. Taylor deserves to be held in grateful re- membrance by his countrymen for his many noble virtues, his pure life, and his exalted example. He deserves to be re- membered especially by the people of East Tennessee for the splendid work he undertook alone in 1864, in securing funds and provisions for the needy and starving people, to thousands of whose homes and firesides famine came so near, and was re- lieved or averted by his efforts.
MONTGOMERY THORNBURGH.
Studied Law-State Senate Three Terms-Attorney General-Active in Conciliation-Confined at Tuscaloosa.
A brief, but honorable, and at the same time a sad story in the end, is the one I have to tell of Montgomery Thorn- burgh. He was born in Jefferson County, Tennessee, in 1817; and obtained a limited education in New Market, at his own home. He was a farmer by profession in the early part of his life, before he entered political life and studied law, though he sometimes assisted his father in his tanyard in the winter- time. In 1845 he was elected to the State Senate, although he seems to have been but twenty-eight years of age at the time. He was also elected to the Senate in 1847 and in 1849. In all his legislative career he was faithful and independent in the discharge of his duties. He must have had, and indeed did have, popular ways and manners as a candidate, for he was opposed, at least, in his last race, by strong and winning men. He was always strong and pointed on the stump as a speaker- never elegant and polished, but with his sledgehammer blows and with his plain common sense, he accomplished more than ornate speech would have done.
About 1850 Mr. Thornburgh obtained a license to practice law and was admitted to the bar. In 1851 he was elected Attorney General of the Twelfth Judicial District, and on the expiration of his term of office, he was re-elected. I have been told by his family that he was elected Attorney General three times, but as each term was six years, and as the two would have extended his time to 1862 or 1863, I believe they are mistaken.
As a prosecuting officer Mr. Thornburgh was vigilant and able, bringing out the evidence before the court and jury with great skill, and arguing the facts with vigor and power. After his many years of experience in criminal trials he became a strong jury lawyer.
In all the social relations of life Mr. Thornburgh was a gentleman of integrity and of high moral deportment, warm
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and genial in his friendships, and just in all his relations. He had many warm friends, because he was a big-hearted, as well as a big-bodied man. He was over six feet high, and weighed about two hundred and twenty pounds.
In politics Mr. Thornburgh was an earnest Whig. When the exciting contests of 1860 and of the early part of 1861- preludes to the Civil War-were everywhere filling the minds of men with anxious forebodings, he most naturally adhered to the party whose watchword was the Union and the Consti- tution. Subsequently, when the question of secession came directly before the people of the State, and the dark shadows of the tempest of revolution were appearing, he threw all his mind and powers in behalf of peace and the Union. He made speeches in favor of abiding in the old Government, and used his utmost influence in behalf of that policy. When, how- ever, the people of the State voted in favor of separation, and separation became an established fact, he yielded a quiet sub- mission to the supremacy of the Confederacy. He was a member of the Greeneville Convention, which met after the final vote on the question of secession, and in that body he both spoke and voted in favor of peaceable resolutions and measures. I think it is true that, at all times, he advised submission on the part of the people to the new government.
After the burning of the bridges in November, 1861, Mr. Thornburgh was greatly exercised in his mind over the sad condition of the Union men, many of whom had been led by overzeal and undue confidence into rebellious acts against the authorities over them, and hundreds of whom had been thrown into prison. From these causes his mind was most anxiously engaged in the work of conciliation. I saw him and consulted with him more than once, and I can recall no one who more earnestly desired the tranquillity of the Union portion of the population of East Tennessee.
Notwithstanding the pacific disposition of Mr. Thornburgh and his earnest efforts to prevent an outbreak among the Union population of the country, in the month of May, 1862, he was arrested by the Confederate military authorities on the charge of disloyalty and taken to Knoxville. At the same time Wil- liam Galbraith, Samuel P. Johnson, and James Monroe Meek were arrested in the town of New Market. In a short time they were all sent South to Tuscaloosa for confinement. After remain-
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ing there a short time, Mr. Thornburgh (and I believe the others) was sent to Macon, Ga. The hardships of travel and of prison life, the bitterness of arrest, and the odium of con- finement among a population every one of whom detested a Union man, soon told on his proud spirit and robust constitu- tion. Disease laid hold of him, and in July his strength yielded to his gloomy surroundings. Thus passed away, amid the horrors of military prison life, the spirit of one of the best and most honorable of the noble Union men of East Tennessee.
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