September 22, 2011
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 9/22/2011
Excellent broadside "PARSON BROWNLOW'S FAREWELL ADDRESS, in view of his IMPRIONSMENT BY THE REBELS" 10-3/4"x14-1/2", Published by Thomas W. Hartley, Philadelphia, with nice engraving of William G. Brownlow by Illman & Sons inset at top center. With full printing of his famous letter, which reads in part: "...The Confederate authorities have determined upon my arrest, and I am to be indicted before the Grand Jury of the Confederate Court, which commenced its session in Nashville on Monday last...I can doubtless be allowed my personal liberty, by entering into bonds to keep the peace and to demean myself toward the leaders of Secession in Knoxville who have been seeking to have me assassinated all summer and fall...I have committed no offense. I have not shouldered arms against the Confederate Government, or the State or encouraged others to do so. I have discouraged rebellion publicly and privately... I have refused to make war on the Government of the United States; I have refused to publish to the world false and exaggerated accounts of the several engagements had between the contending armies; I have refused to write out and publish false versions of the origin of this war, and of the breaking up of the best Government the world ever knew..." Much more. About very good condition and very displayable. William Gannaway 'Parson' Brownlow (1805-1877) was an American newspaper editor, minister, and politician who served as Governor of the state of Tennessee from 1865 to 1869 and as a United States Senator from Tennessee from 1869 to 1875. Brownlow's uncompromising and radical viewpoints and his relentless invectives against his opponents made him one of the most divisive figures in Tennessee political history and one of the most controversial politicians of the Reconstruction-era South. His gubernatorial policies, which have been described as both autocratic and progressive, helped Tennessee become the first former Confederate state to be readmitted to the Union after the U.S. Civil War. His policy of enfranchising former slaves brought him into conflict with the newly formed Ku Klux Klan and its leader, Nathan Bedford Forrest, which arose from disenfranchised ex-Confederate elements. Brownlow often boasted that he was "never neutral" on any issue. Beginning his career as a Methodist circuit rider in the 1820s, Brownlow was both censured and praised by his superiors for his vicious verbal attacks against missionaries from other religions (primarily Baptist and Presbyterian) as they competed for converts across Southern Appalachia. As a newspaper editor, he became notorious for his relentless personal attacks against his religious and political opponents, sometimes to the point of being physically assaulted, while at the same time building a large base of fiercely loyal subscribers. At the onset of the Civil War, he blasted both abolitionists and secessionists alike, going so far as to claim that both groups were on the same side. As governor he adopted the stance of the Radical Republicans and spent much of his term opposing the policies of his longtime political foe Andrew Johnson.
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