Title: Levi Hewhitt and William Hunt Petition to the Confederate Court of Tennessee

Date/Date Range :   1861 December 8

Extent: 0.1 linear feet

Abstract:

This collection consists of a legal petition for a Writ of Habeas Corpus for two men, Levi Hewhitt and William Hunt, written on December 8, 1861 in Davidson County, TN, to The Honorable West H. Humphreys, a Confederate court judge.

Call number: MS-2660

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

Aquisition Information:

This collection was purchased by Special Collections on November 2003.

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], Levi Hewhitt and William Hunt Petition to the Confederate Court of Tennessee, MS-2660. University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Special Collections Library.

Collection consists of a single folder.

West H. Humphreys was born in Montgomery County, Tennessee in 1806. He became a lawyer in 1828 after studying Law at Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky. He served in the Lower House of the State Legislature from 1835-1838. He was also State Attorney General from 1839 to 1851. He was appointed to the Federal District Court for Tennessee as a judge by then President Franklin Pierce. A fervent secessionist, he accepted an appointment to the Confederate District Court of Tennessee in. He was impeached from his position in 1862 from the Federal District Court of Tennessee. He was a Confederate Judge until the end of the Civil War. He was later a staunch Prohibitionist and wrote several books. He died in 1882.

A legal petition for a Writ of Habeas Corpus for two men, Levi Hewhitt and William Hunt, written on December 8, 1861 in Davidson County, TN, to The Honorable West H. Humphreys, confederate court judge.

The petition states that the two men are being held unlawfully in Knoxville, TN, under military office. According to their statements, they were arrested in Bradley County, TN, without any legal process, and know not which charge is preferred against them. Written is the question of whether the judge will see the two men for consideration of their petition. John M. Fleming is the attorney representing the two men.

• Hewhitt, Levi.
• Hunt, William.
• Court records -- Tennessee -- Davidson County.
• Davidson County (Tenn.) -- History.
• Legal documents.