Skip to main content Skip to search results Skip to Facets & Filters

Brownlow, William Gannaway, 1805-1877

 

Dates

  • Existence: 1805 - 1877

Biography

William Gannaway "Parson" Brownlow (August 29, 1805 – April 29, 1877) was an American newspaper publisher, Methodist minister, book author, prisoner of war, lecturer, and politician who served as the 17th Governor of Tennessee from 1865 to 1869 and as a United States Senator from Tennessee from 1869 to 1875. Brownlow rose to prominence in the late 1830s and early 1840s as editor of the Whig, a polemical newspaper in East Tennessee that promoted Whig Party ideals and opposed secession in the years leading up to the American Civil War. Brownlow's uncompromising and radical viewpoints made him one of the most divisive figures in Tennessee political history and one of the most controversial Reconstruction Era politicians of the United States.

Found in 3 Collections and/or Records:

William Gannaway Brownlow letter

 Collection
Identifier: Mss 864515.3
Mss 864515.3
Date(s): 1864-09-15
Scope and Contents

Letter from William Gannaway Brownlow in Knoxville, Kenntucky in which he expresses sentiment that the Rebelliom should be put down at all costs.

William Gannaway Brownlow letter

 Collection
Identifier: Mss 867124.1
Mss 867124.1
Date(s): 1867-01-24
Scope and Contents

Two-page letter from William Gannaway Brownlow in Nashville, Tennessee to James Speed, asking him to assist in arguing the state case of the franchise law before the Supreme Court.

William Gannaway Brownlow sentiment

 Collection
Identifier: Mss 862362
Mss 862362
Date(s): 1862-06-12
Back to top