USA > Tennessee > Notable men of Tennessee, from 1833 to 1875, their times and their contemporaries > Part 25
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When Landon C. Haynes became an editor in the little town of Jonesboro, as before stated, a long and bitter editorial quarrel followed between him and Mr. Brownlow. Finally the latter drove him from the editorial chair, and he betook himself to the practice of law, where he became a rather successful lawyer.
In the spring of 1849 Brownlow determined to move his paper and family to Knoxville, which was a much larger place than Jonesboro. It was the commercial and political as well as the geographical center of East Tennessee as it is to-day. Scarcely had this been accomplished before he got into a long and bitter quarrel with the Knoxville Register, an old Whig paper, of good standing, whose history ran back to 1816. The Register had back of it four or five, or more, strong and wealthy stockholders. The controversy which followed was the most severe and des-
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perate one Brownlow ever had. It became personal in the ex- treme. For years, day after day, these papers teemed with the bitterest denunciations. At one time it was determined, in his temporary absence in the country, to destroy Mr. Brownlow's paper by violence, but his friends rallied to its defense and the purpose was abandoned. After a long and sometimes apparently doubtful struggle, Mr. Brownlow triumphed. He succeeded in making his paper the organ of his party. Long before 1860 the men who had conducted this controversy with Brownlow had ceased to be Whigs and had gone over to the Democratic party. When the time for secession had come, they all naturally joined in that movement.
The men who were thus engaged in this controversy with Brownlow were men of wealth, talents, and high social position. One of them was John H. Crozier, who belonged to one of the oldest families of Knoxville. He was a lawyer by profession, a man of culture and wide intelligence. On the stump and at the bar he was a fluent and pointed speaker. At an early age he served as a member of the Legislature. In the canvasses of 1840, 1844, and 1848 he took an active part on the stump in behalf of the Whig party. In 1845 and 1847 he was elected a member of Congress, in which body he served with credit ,to himself and the district. He was a keen debater, an original thinker, and a strong, vigorous writer.
James and William Williams were two more of this combina- tion arrayed against Mr. Brownlow. These men were educated, wealthy, and also belonged to an old family. The wealth they inherited was increased by shrewd business enterprises. They were both men of talents and possessed a high degree of intel- ligence. James Williams was especially noted for his ability. During the administration of Mr. Buchanan he was appointed and served as minister to Turkey.
The fourth person of the combination I have referred to was William G. Swan. He was perhaps the most talented and versa- tile, as he was certainly the boldest and most original thinker of the four. In point of ability he was no ordinary man. In 1851 he was elected Attorney General and Reporter of the State. Three or four years before the war he and John Mitchell, the celebrated "Irish Patriot," who had escaped from a confinement in the penal colony of Great Britain in Van Die- man's Land, started and edited a violent and extreme Southern
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paper in Knoxville, called The Southern Citizen, in which, among other things, they advocated the reopening of the African slave trade and a dissolution of the Union. About the year 1857 Mr. Swan was appointed by Governor Johnson Circuit Judge to fill a vacancy caused by the death of Judge James M. Welcker, which office he filled with ability and dignity. When the war came on he became in action what he had been in prin- ciple for a long time, an earnest secessionist. In 1861 he was elected to the Confederate Congress from the Knoxville district, defeating John Baxter, one of the most prominent Union leaders of a few months previous, and was re-elected in August, 1863.
These four men, forty years ago, were exceptional in ability. Their influence was great; their power immense. They wielded potent pens. Mr. Brownlow never had such a powerful combina- tion of able and wealthy men arrayed against him. They were determined to destroy him. It was a merciless fight for political existence. In addition, Mr. Brownlow was sued for libel in the courts. He was also indicted in nearly every county in the judicial district for the alleged violation of an old forgotten and obsolete penal statute against advertising lottery schemes. With unshrinking courage he met all these attempts to destroy him, and bravely dared his enemies to do their worst. Nearly any other man in the United States would have been over- whelmed, crushed, and driven out of the country, for that finally became the object of these men. After a few years, however, the triumph of Mr. Brownlow became complete. He was not destroyed, but made stronger. His enemies were silenced and driven from the field while he remained victor. After vindicating the supremacy of his paper as the party organ of East Tennes- see, he maintained this position in comparative peace up to the time of the breaking out of the Civil War. His paper daily grew in popular favor, and its circulation was greatly widened and increased. To meet the demands of the times he issued a tri-weekly as well as a weekly. At the commencement of the war its circulation had reached about 14,000 copies. This was enor- mous for a little interior town of about three thousand inhabi- tants. It went into every State and territory. Mr. Brownlow, for the first time in his life, now commenced making money. But the war soon put an end to this. In 1862 his press was confiscated by the Confederate authorities and sold.
It does not lie within the scope of this work to write biog-
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raphies or enter into details, but merely to give sketches of noted individuals connected with the great loyal movement in East Tennessee in 1860-61. It is in this instance particularly my purpose to trace out the causes of the remarkable influence exer- cised by Mr. Brownlow on the people of East Tennessee in this great crisis, rather than give the details of his life.
Why did this man have and retain till his death such a hold on the hearts of the people? There must have been strong and sufficient reasons for this remarkable influence. Like Mr. John- son he had no wealth, no powerful connections to build him up. Until 1862 or 1863, when he made some money by his latest book and by lecturing in Northern cities, it was almost literally true that he had accumulated nothing by his thirty years of in- cessant activity and toil. This influence, then, did not arise from extraneous circumstances, but was something personal to the man himself.
Perhaps no individual could be named in this country whose home character was so unlike that which he had among strangers. Seldom has any man lived who so constantly and so persistently presented to the world a false and distorted pic- ture of himself, while the genuine picture was seen only by those who were near him. He seemed to delight in creating on the minds of strangers at a distance the most unfavorable im- pressions ; in presenting a false and exaggerated, not to say a revolting, idea of himself. Those who did not know him, and judged him from his writings and speeches, would have sup- posed his heart was a boiling cauldron full of all evil passions- envy, hate, revenge, unforgiveness, and murderous intents. They could not have believed that the sunshine of peace and good will ever rested on his rugged and tempestuous brow, but that it was always covered with storms and dark clouds. When he wrote he dipped his pen in gall. He seemed to delight in a pande- monium of strife and storm and raging passion.
Yet, nothing could be more unlike than his apparent and his real nature. As a matter of fact, he was far from bitter and malignant. But few men had so much good will, such kindli- ness, such sympathy, such deep and universal charity. True, at a real or a fancied offense, he flared up in a tempest of wrath- ful indignation. He poured forth a flood of angry and terrible words. But that was the last of the matter unless the offense was repeated. He would laugh heartily, not in a mocking spirit,
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but in the utmost good nature over what he had said. By that time all anger had passed away and he was ready for peace. The offer of reconciliation was never declined by him. On ac- cepting peace he neither asked nor granted terms. The quarrel was treated as a thing that had never existed; the reconciliation was sincere and complete; there was no looking backward. There was never a time in his life, in my opinion, when he would not have met the friendly approaches of his bitterest enemies half way; indeed, more than half way. His pride and haughty spirit would have kept him from taking the first step, but when taken by his enemy he would have met the offer in the most sincere and generous manner. Even his long and bitter quarrel with Andrew Johnson, the most malignant one of his life, which lasted more than twenty years, had nearly died out on his part long before 1861, so that the reconciliation of these two strong men, when it took place, was a mere matter of form, and without a word of explanation.
It often occurred to me, as it may have done to others who knew Mr. Brownlow thoroughly, that much of his fierceness and bitterness was assumed for effect. I could not credit the fact that a man who was so mild and gentle in private could be so terrible and so bitter as he appeared to be sometimes, even over a very moderate provocation. It gave him notoriety, made peo- ple talk about him, and caused his paper to be read. Besides, he enjoyed the excitement, the "hurly-burly of battle." I do not mean that he was not a sincere man, for he was in all things one of the sincerest, despising all deceitfulness and duplicity. Making allowance for the necessity laid on all party organs to support the principles of their party, it may be affirmed that he would advocate no measure which he did not believe to be right. Fortunately the harness of party is always adjustable, so as to fit nearly all persons. As we shall see hereafter, so great was Mr. Brownlow's devotion to what he thought right, that he had the courage more than once to separate for the time being from his party and stand for a while almost alone. In writing in the tumult and excitement of the moment he often used stronger language than he would have done in his calmer moments. He was hurried forward by the impetuosity of a mighty current of feeling and thought, which overleaped all due bounds and often carried him beyond the confines of cool reason. But he felt and believed all he said at the time. In all im-
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passioned intellects, which act under the strong impulse of sin- cere conviction or of genius, there is a natural tendency to over- coloring and exaggeration. They see strongly, feel strongly, speak strongly. Mr. Brownlow was an excellent illustration of this truth. Under excitement his was a tempestuous, stormy nature, with powerful convictions.
Strangers, judging Mr. Brownlow by his writings, would most likely have supposed him to be cynical and disagreeable. Most erroneous impression. On the contrary he was warm- hearted, genial, and delightful. No stranger, perhaps, ever spent half an hour with him without an agreeable surprise, for instead of meeting a ferocious mastiff, as he perhaps expected, he met the kindest and the gentlest of men. It was a great mis- take to suppose that he was an irritable and ill-natured man. As a general rule, in his daily intercourse with men, he was far beyond most men, mild, gentle, and good-natured. Under cir- cumstances when most men would have given way to wrath, he was patient and forbearing. It was only when an insult was offered, or a wrong done him, that his temper flared up and the lightning flashed from his electric mind. In the family circle he was especially remarkable for his mildness and even temper, and it was the rarest thing for him to be out of humor. In fact, in amiability and patience he was in a high degree uncommon.
As a companion, rarely had he an equal. He abounded in, in- deed overflowed with, humor, wit, anecdote, kindliness, and cheer- fulness. Everybody delighted to be with him. Men naturally flocked around him. His personal magnetism was phenomenal. Without an effort, without desiring it, without thinking of it, without caring for it, he unconsciously stole away the hearts of men. His kindness to all around him, at all times, was perhaps his most striking characteristic, and he made no distinction between the high and the low, all alike being treated kindly. Literally it was almost an impossibility for him to say no to any request whatever, his heart responding affirmatively to every appeal for help or sympathy. During the greater part of his life he was kept in the depths of poverty by appeals for help and by his inability to say no, becoming security for all who called upon him. During all his life his house was open to all who chose to enter as abiding guests. It was the regular home of all the Methodist preachers and their families who happened to pass his way. In fact, it was a free tavern for all persons.
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With few words and no ostentation, guests were made to feel perfectly at home. They came in when they pleased and de- parted when it suited them. Mrs. Brownlow, his faithful and noble wife, contributed by her never-failing kindness and gentleness to set all guests at ease the moment they entered the house. An earnest man and earnestly at work, Mr. Brownlow had no time for ceremonies. His manners, his tastes, his habits were all most simple. He was the least demonstrative of men --- no gush of words, no compliments. Yet men saw in that plain man an original genius, a born leader and hero, and a true friend of humanity.
Another striking trait in the character of Mr. Brownlow was his generosity. Had he possessed large means, he would have been princely in liberality. He never turned away the poor empty- handed. His sympathy for the suffering was sincere and in- tense. One winter, in Knoxville, while a deep snow lay on the ground, there was suffering among the poor in his neighbor- hood. Learning this fact, he laid in a supply of food and went around and distributed it with his own hands. When the cholera visited this city in 1854, and almost decimated the popu- lation, instead of fleeing for safety, with a sublime and noble courage, he gave himself for nearly a month to the work of nursing and ministering to the sick and the dying and in bury- ing the dead.
It is equally a mistake to suppose that Mr. Brownlow was revengeful or unforgiving. His malice, except under extra- ordinary wrong, lasted only during the heat of passion. It was as brief as it was violent. Hence it so often occurred in his life, that men whom he had abused with the utmost ferocity became his warmest friends. While it lasted his wrath was terrible, but he knew how to forgive. Mr. Brownlow was too magnanimous for anything mean or dishonorable toward even his worst enemies. Although stealthily waylaid and assailed by would- be assassins in the dark, or from behind, four or five different times, with deadly intent, and more than once with nearly fatal effect, he never attempted to punish the miserable cowards, much less retaliate on them.
Mr. Brownlow's whole life was spent in the earnest advocacy of education, development, and a higher civilization. He was an early and constant advocate of railroads and of every material
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improvement. While Andrew Johnson was opposing on the stump the construction of the railroad formerly known as the East Tennessee, Virginia, and Georgia road, he (Brownlow) was doing all he could to build this great artery in the heart of our section, which has proved to be, notwithstanding its illiberal and narrow policy, a source of wonderful blessing and prosperity. In him law and order, decency and morality, temperance and religion, found a stalwart defender. The Bible, the Sabbath, and the Sabbath-school, were earnestly upheld by him on all oc- casions. At no time did he, in any way, or by any word, pander to, or smile at, the sneering assaults made upon the Bible and on our holy religion, by pretended wise men in his day, and notably in later days, the poisonous influence of which is now pouring like a flood on this generation. On the contrary, he stood, as it were, with drawn sword, ready to defend these holy things against all comers. Until enfeebled by ill-health, he always attended church on the Sabbath day, either in town or the country, thus manifesting by his example as well as by his words his reverence for sacred things. In a word, on all moral questions, he was in harmony with the most advanced thought of the age, except on slavery. On this question the despotism of Southern sentiment held him as it did thousands of good men, in its iron fetters, until the Civil War came on.
Mr. Brownlow physically was a remarkable specimen of splendid manhood. In stature he was tall, erect, round, and symmetrical. He was full six feet high, and weighed about 175 pounds. In his prime, few men presented a more manly form. Robust and athletic, in perfect health, it naturally fol- lowed that his power of endurance was remarkable. Labor did not seem to exhaust him, and there was no limit to his energy. He was always active and at work. Whatever he undertook was done with rapidity. His frame was vital with energy and force, and there was not a sluggish faculty, member, or impulse in his whole being.
This country has produced few men so absolutely unique as Mr. Brownlow. He was like his fellow men in all respects ; was in full harmony with them, and yet he stood out among them with a distinct individuality. He was original and still not odd. He was distinct, and yet not eccentric. He thought as other men, and acted, in most respects, as other men, but in all
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these manifestations there constantly flashed out that peculiar intensity which made him different from all other men. It was his individualism that distinguished him from all the world.
Mr. Brownlow was to his friends, and to the body of the people who came within his magic spell, irresistible. Men fol- lowed him as if impelled by a strange fascination.
The retentive power of Mr. Brownlow's mind was remarkable. It never seemed to lose anything. Whatever entered it was held by an iron grasp. This made him a fearful antagonist. He could at once recall all he had ever known in reference to the record and life of public men. If he became engaged in a con- troversy with any one of them, if there was a weak spot in that man's armor, either political or personal, an arrow was sure to reach the vulnerable point. He preserved carefully all let- ters received and all important documents. I have recently been furnished by his son, Colonel John B. Brownlow, with two letters written by me to him as early as 1847.
It was easy for friends to persuade Mr. Brownlow to do any- thing that did not violate his sense of right; to force him was impossible. A child could lead him; a giant could not drive him. When his mind was once made up, it was as immovable as the mountains. In decision of character he was phenomenal. Never debating long about anything, his mind acted quickly. Almost instantaneously he saw his way. While others were de- bating he had decided and was acting. At Barboursville, Ky., in November, 1863, during the siege of Knoxville by the Con- federate forces under General Longstreet, a number of refugees, among them Baxter, Netherland, Fleming, myself, and others, were debating one morning whether they would remain in that little town, shut off from all communication with the country and await the result of the siege, or go on to Cincinnati, two hundred miles distant, where they could get the news. The council was undecided in opinion. Mr. Brownlow listened, but
said not a word. Finally he arose and commenced packing his things. Some one asked him what he meant. Without stop- ping he replied, "I am going to start at once for Cincinnati." That broke up the conference. In half an hour all that dis- puting crowd, except one, perhaps, was on its way to Cin- cinnati, with Mr. Brownlow in the lead. More than once I have seen him in consultation with friends as to what should be writ-
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ten for his paper on some particular point. He would listen attentively for a while to all that was advanced, saying nothing himself. Finally he would hurriedly seize his pen, and commence writing, having decided the matter for himself.
Mr. Brownlow was not a great public speaker; and yet but few men could draw such crowds or so hold their undivided attention. In this respect, as in respect to nearly everything about this remarkable man, there was a magnetic power about him possessed by but few men. He was not eloquent, there was not a flower of rhetoric, not a single effort for mere effect in all his speeches. They were plain, strong, concise. Nothing could be more pointed, or more clear than his sen- tences, which were fairly heavy with thought, without a surplus ยท word. He drove straight home to the center. His utterances were sharp, incisive, going to the very marrow of controversy. His voice was loud and could be heard at a great distance. He spoke with great deliberation and measured every word. While uttering his most terrible threats, he was as calm and com- posed outwardly as when sitting in his office talking to a friend. Indeed his absolute composure under the most ex- citing circumstances was one of his peculiarities. He never lost presence of mind nor self control. In 1852, I heard a so- called political discussion, but in fact a personal quarrel, be- tween him and General Thomas D. Arnold, who was for a great many years well known in Tennessee as an anti-Jackson man and a Whig, and who for two terms had been a Member of Congress. Arnold had but few equals in wit, sarcasm, and personal vituperation. For nearly one hour he poured out a stream of abuse on Brownlow, in the bitterest and most taunt- ing manner, with the most defiant spirit. During all this time Brownlow stood perfectly cool and collected, only occasionally smiling good naturedly at the worst parts of the speech. When the storm of words had spent its fury, then, that calm man proceeded in his rejoinder, in a deliberate manner, to make one of the most terrible diatribes ever uttered on the stump. Yet these two men were not badly matched.
With all his extravagance of utterance, even in the very midst of the vehemence and fury of passion, his mind was as cool and as deliberate as if addressing a Sabbath-school. There was no hurry, no flurry, no violence of manner. Each word,
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each sentence was weighed as carefully, apparently, as if he had been under the sanction of an oath. He was calm, col- lected, and deliberate even in his most bitter harangues. Never have I seen a mind so cool as his when under the influence of overpowering excitement. He stood as motionless as a statue when hurling against his enemies his most terrible denunciations. No provocation, no taunt, no jeer, could ever disturb or unsettle the perfect balance of his mind. There was no tremor on his lips, no quaver in the voice, no wild gesticulation. His voice, however, was full of terror, and sounded like the roar of an enraged lion.
There was never any confusion in the words and ideas of Mr. Brownlow-no halting, no hesitation. He knew what he wanted to say and he said it in the' clearest and most concise manner. As the words dropped from his lips, they were ready for the press. So clearly did he see things, that his ideas at once drew around them the appropriate drapery of strong and vigorous speech. Before he lost his voice, in 1861-62, he spoke often, and always with marked effect. He was in fact a very powerful speaker.
Judging Mr. Brownlow by his photographs and pictures, which are generally correct likenesses, it would be supposed that he was a sour, stern man, yet nothing could be further from the fact. He was not stern; he was not sour. Good nature and kindly humor bubbled up from his heart as naturally as springs bubble up from the hillsides of his own loved East Tennessee. They were spontaneous and never ceasing. His humor was harmless and innocent. There was no sting, no poison in it. In his better days of health and robustness, his good natured humor was incessant. Sometimes it was grotesque; often it was a surprise, but always refreshing, cheerful, and kind. The fol- lowing anecdote will illustrate how grotesque and unexpected his humor sometimes was.
One afternoon, in December, 1863, a number of gentlemen of whom I was one, were returning with him from Cincinnati, to their home at Knoxville, and were stopping for a night at a comfortable country inn near the foot of the "Big Hill," south of Richmond, Ky. The party had eaten their supper and had gone to their rooms to talk and smoke. Mr. Brownlow had undressed very early, as was his custom, and had gotten into
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