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Redeeming Tennessee, 1869-1870

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University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 8-2013 "Fare well to all Radicals": Redeeming Tennessee, 1869-1870 William Edward Hardy University of Tennessee - Knoxville, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss Part of the Legal Commons, Political History Commons, and the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Hardy, William Edward, ""Fare well to all Radicals": Redeeming Tennessee, 1869-1870. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 2013. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/2432 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by William Edward Hardy entitled ""Fare well to all Radicals": Redeeming Tennessee, 1869-1870." I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in History. Stephen V. Ash, Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: Daniel Feller, Ernest Freeberg, Michael R. Fitzgerald Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official studentecor r ds.) “FARE WELL TO ALL RADICALS”: REDEEMING TENNESSEE, 1869-1870 A Dissertation Presented for the Doctor of Philosophy Degree The University of Tennessee, Knoxville William Edward Hardy August 2013 Copyright © 2013 by William E. Hardy All rights reserved. ii DEDICATION To my loving wife, Heather Michelle Hardy, who shared in the highs and lows of my pursuit to become a historian. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS One of the first lessons that I learned in graduate school was that scholars stand on the shoulders of those who came before them. I have collected a great many debts from a number of master teachers and professors whose passion for history, creative teaching methods, wisdom and encouragement have sustained me as I plow through the vineyards in my quest to pursue a career in history. I can neither repay the debts incurred nor find the words to properly acknowledge those who have meant the most to me during my graduate studies. Two master professors stand above all others as unfailing sources of encouragement, support, and guidance throughout the many years that it took to reach this point. I would never have pursued a master’s or doctoral degree in history, not to mention developed an interest in the Civil War and Reconstruction era, had it not been for Thomas C. Mackey at the University of Louisville. His office was always open. Above all, he instilled confidence in me and continues to urge me to “press on” to the next challenge. In the midst of putting the final touches on my master’s thesis and applying to a doctoral program, Mackey gave me his copy of Stephen V. Ash’s Middle Tennessee Society Transformed, 1860-1870 . Within a week I ordered Ash’s When the Yankees Came and A Year in the South and decided that if accepted, whether funded or not, I would enroll in the doctoral program at the University of Tennessee. I am forever indebted to him for his careful guidance as a patient mentor. I owe him for several red pens that were no doubt sacrificed during his close reading of the dissertation. I would like to especially thank Daniel Feller and Ernest Freeberg (enthusiastic supporters throughout my doctoral studies), as well Michael R. Fitzgerald for their willingness to serve on my dissertation committee. I am very appreciative for their thoughtful comments and suggestions throughout the course of the project. In their own ways, two additional scholars played an indispensable role in the development of this dissertation. I miss my daily conversations with the late Forrest Conklin, an emeritus communication professor and Parson Brownlow scholar. When we were not attempting to solve the problems of the world, Forrest and I retreated into the volatile world of 19 th Century Tennessee politics. Our time spent together sustained me in the early days of my research when my full-time job precluded me from traveling to the Tennessee State Library and Archives in Nashville or even the mile or so distance between my office in downtown Knoxville and the University of Tennessee Special Collections Library. I take solace in the fact that he became animated and excited by news of my findings even as he lay gravely ill in a hospital bed. I cannot express in words how much Paul H. Bergeron, friend and mentor, has meant to me. No one has done more to shape me both personally and professionally during my time in Knoxville. iv I owe thanks to a number of archivists and the staff of several institutions that I became acquainted with over the course of the past few years. Regrettably, I cannot name here all those who have assisted me during my research. I will, however, thank in particular William Eigelsbach and Nick Wyman at the University of Tennessee Special Collections Library, Steve Cotham and Sally Polhemus at the Calvin M. McClung Historical Collection, Susan Gordon and Tom Kanon at the Tennessee State Library and Archives, and Amber Paranick at the Library of Congress. In addition, Tiffani Connor, the staff, and the advisory group of the Volunteer Voices digital project deserve a special thanks. Tennessee’s free online database of original archival material enabled me to access a number of manuscripts from the convenience of my home, thereby permitting me to save much-needed personal days to visit family in the “Bluegrass State.” I am also grateful to the University of Tennessee’s History Department for financial support. I would be remiss if I did not mention the support of my colleagues at the East Tennessee Historical Society who have encouraged and supported me throughout my doctoral studies. Stephanie Henry, the Society’s grammatical guru, read drafts of a couple of chapters, thus providing me with the confidence that the quality of my writing was up to snuff before submitting for review by advisor’s critical eye. Lisa Oakley and Cherel Henderson have been supportive and understanding as I strived to finish the dissertation while living a triple life as University of Tennessee graduate student, Lincoln Memorial University adjunct professor, and working full-time as an East Tennessee Historical Society education staff member. I owe an enormous debt of gratitude to my family. My parents, David and Rosa Hardy, whose lifetime of love and support I can never repay. My in-laws, Thomas and Linda Watson, have also provided moral support throughout the course of my graduate studies. Although he remarkably never asked when I would finish, my son, Matthew, has never known a time in which his daddy was not in his office surrounded by stacks of books, microfilm, or typing away on his laptop for at least a few hours a day. I permitted the dissertation and my other job responsibilities to intrude too often over the course of Matthew’s five and half years. I look forward to much needed quality father-son time. The arrival of my daughter, Kate Elizabeth, provided me with the impetus and an uncanny endurance in which I pulled several all-nighters to bring the dissertation to a close. Kate was the best gift that I could have received upon completing and successfully defending the dissertation. My greatest debt, however, is to my wife, Heather, who has shared in the highs and lows of my pursuit to become a historian. Without her love and support, this dissertation would never have been completed. v ABSTRACT On February 10, 1869, Tennessee Governor William G. “Parson” Brownlow tendered his resignation as he prepared to take his seat in the United States Senate, to which his Radical allies in the General Assembly had elected him in the aftermath of the 1867 state election. On resigning, Brownlow expressed full confidence in DeWitt C. Senter, the man who would succeed him. Stunningly, six months later Brownlow’s Radical party verged on collapse after its Conservative rivals captured control of the General Assembly in the August 1869 state election. The new legislature speedily repealed many of the enactments of the five years of “Brownlowism” and called for a constitutional convention. That convention met in January 1870 and produced a new state constitution in less than six weeks. The Radicals’ pleas to Congress and President Ulysses S. Grant for federal intervention fell on deaf ears. Conservatives and ex- Confederates crushed the Radicals in the August 1870 judicial and November 1870 gubernatorial and legislative elections. With the election of Governor John Calvin Brown, a former Confederate general and Ku Klux Klan member, Tennessee’s Reconstruction era ended. This study explores the last chapter in Tennessee’s Reconstruction, which took place between February 1869 (Brownlow’s resignation) and November 1870 (Brown’s election). During that pivotal period, Tennessee’s political parties converged and then dissolved into intraparty factionalism, which had profound consequences for white Radicals and the state’s freed people. How these political developments came about is the central historical question addressed in this dissertation, which fills a glaring gap in the understanding of Tennessee’s Reconstruction. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1: The Breach: July 1868-February 1869 ............................................................ 12 Chapter 2: Walking a Tightrope: February-April 1869 .................................................... 56 Chapter 3: Tennessee Republicans’ House Divided: March-May 1869 ..........................
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