Finding Aid for the John Bell Brownlow Letter, 1866 June 3
MS-2716University of Tennessee Special Collections Library, Knoxville, TN
Collection processed by: Elizabeth Dunham, March 8, 2006
Finding Aid written by: Elizabeth Dunham, March 8, 2006
Encoded by: Elizabeth Dunham, March 8, 2006
Summary Information
John Bell Brownlow Letter
Date/Date Range : 1866 June 3
0.1 linear feet
Abstract: This collection consists of a letter from John Bell Brownlow to an unidentified correspondent in Nashville, Tennessee. In it, Brownlow expresses his opinion of notorious Confederate guerrilla Champ Ferguson, offers his friend information documenting Ferguson's trial, and condemns the supposedly cultured Confederate sympathizers who petitioned the President to release this "monster."
MS-2716
University of Tennessee Special Collections Library, Knoxville, TN
Access and Use
The Special Collections Library purchased this letter in January of 2006.
Collection is open for research.
The copyright interests in this collection remain with the creator. For more information, contact the Special Collections Library.
[Identification of Item], John Bell Brownlow Letter, MS-2716. University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Special Collections Library.
Arrangement
Collection consists of a single letter.
Biography / History
John Bell Brownlow was born to William Gannaway "Parson" Brownlow, an ardent East Tennessee Unionist and editor of the Knoxville Whig , and Eliza O'Brien Brownlow in Elizabethton, Tennessee on October 19, 1839. He graduated from Emory and Henry College in Virginia and then served a long internship at his father's newspaper. During the Civil War, Brownlow commanded the Union's 9th Regiment of Tennessee Cavalry. After the war, he served as a special agent for the United States Treasury Department (1865-1866) and then worked for the United States Post Office. In 1904, Brownlow and his son, William G. Brownlow II, started Knoxville's first real estate firm, J.B. & W.G. Brownlow Co. John Bell Brownlow died in 1922.
Collection Scope and Content Note
This collection consists of a letter from John Bell Brownlow to an unidentified correspondent in Nashville, Tennessee. In it, Brownlow expresses his opinion of notorious Confederate guerrilla Champ Ferguson, offers his friend information documenting Ferguson's trial, and condemns the supposedly cultured Confederate sympathizers who petitioned the President to release this "monster."
Subject Terms
- Brownlow, John Bell, 1839-1922.
- Ferguson, Champ, 1821-1865.
Contents List
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John Bell Brownlow Letter, 1866 June 3 Scope Note: Transcription of letter:
Nashville, June 3, 1866.
My dear Sir:-
In accordance with the promise I made you I send you, herewith, the photograph of the Rebel Gen. Morgan. It is a very fine likeness. When he was killed he had no beard on the sides of his face but wore a long mustache and goatee. The photograph of the monster and guerrilla chief Ferguson is a perfect likeness. By the hands and orders of this fiend no less than seventy beings were murdered. This number embraces defenseless, unarmed private citizens and unarmed captured Union soldiers.
I presume you have read the records of the Court which tried him. If you have not and wish to do so I will send you the same. For several days I attended the trial. After reading the evidence of his brutality you would not believe that any respectable rebel could sympathize with him or petition for his pardon yet in this City the rebel population sympathized with him and those boasting of their chivalry and aristocratic position petitioned the President to pardon him.
I have taken pains to get a fine likeness of Morgan supposing you might desire to have it in your work.
After examining the correspondence to which reference was made in our conversation I will write you again.
Yours Truly,
John B. Brownlow
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