Title: Edmund Dillahunter Letter

Date/Date Range :   1849 July 21

Extent: 0.1 linear feet

Abstract:

In a July 21, 1849 letter to General George W. Gordon, Edmund Dillahunter of Middle Tennessee discusses a recent cholera epidemic as well as the local political scene. He expresses his dislike of secession and his fear that the rift over "the slavery question" will only escalate.

Call number: MS-2239

Repository: University of Tennessee Special Collections Library, Knoxville, TN

Aquisition Information:

This collection was purchased by Special Collections in August 2000.

Access Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Copyright:

The copyright interests in this collection remain with the creator. For more information, contact the Special Collections Library.

Preferred Citation:

[Identification of Item], Edmund Dillahunter Letter, MS-2239. University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Special Collections Library.

Collection consists of a single folder.

No biographical information has been found on Edmund Dillahunter or General George W. Gordon. A General George W. Gordon of Tennessee did fight for the Confederacy in the Civil War, but this letter is not addressed to him. The General Gordon to whom this letter was sent had a wife and children in 1849. The Confederate general was born in 1839, making him only 10 years old at the time the letter was written.

In a July 21, 1849 letter to General George W. Gordon, Edmund Dillahunter discusses a number of matters related to Middle Tennessee. He begins the letter by praising E.B. Smith of Pulaski, who has asked Gordon to write a letter of recommendation to the Secretary of War regarding Smith's desire to be made a naval agent in Memphis. Dillahunter then describes the waning of the cholera epidemic which had plagued Middle Tennessee. He notes that "the Cholera has left Middle Tennessee pretty much. There is an occasional case at Nashville and the neighborhood, but it no longer prevails as an epidemic."

Dillahunter concludes his letter with local political news, discussing "the slavery question" and the talks of secession. He argues that "no man should ever be tolerated as a public leader who can seriously talk about the dissolution of our union as a remedy for visiting evils." Fearing that "the question involved may at any time be made a legal one," Dillahunter states that "the people of Tennessee are not prepared either for anarchy or civil war."

• Tennessee -- Politics and government -- 1820-1858.
• Cholera -- United States -- History -- 19th century.