CIVIL WAR CONFEDERATE GENERAL COLONEL 3rd TN GOVERNOR PANIC '73 DOCUMENT SIGNED!

Description

JOHN CALVIN BROWN
“Rebel, Redeemer & Railroader”
(1827 – 1889)
CIVIL WAR WIA CONFEDERATE BRIGADIER GENERAL 1862-1865,
CIVIL WAR POW COLONEL and COMMANDER OF THE '
HARD-FIGHTING
'  3
rd
TENNESSEE INFANTRY 1861-1862,
CIVIL WAR RECONSTRUCTION ERA GOVERNOR OF TENNESSEE 1871-1875,
PRESIDENT OF THE 1870 TENNESSEE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION WHICH WROTE THE CURRENT STATE CONSTITUTION
&
TENNESSEE RAILROAD PRESIDENT 1880s!
Major General Brown led his confederate rebels at the battles of Perryville and Chickamauga, and in the Carolinas Campaign. He was wounded towards the final stages of the war at the battle of Franklin, TN on Nov. 30, 1864.
Although Gen. Brown originally opposed secession, he fought for the Confederacy during the American Civil War, eventually rising to the rank of Major General. Post-War he was the dominant leader of Tennessee’s Bourbon Democrats.
Following his gubernatorial tenure, he advocated railroad construction, briefly serving as President of the Texas & Pacific
in 1888, and as President of the
Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company
in 1889.
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HERE’s A “
PANIC OF 1873
” DOCUMENT SIGNED BY BROWN AS GOVERNOR OF TN – A LARGE OFFICIAL STATE OF TENNESSEE ,000 GOVERNMENT BOND, DATED AT NASHVILLE, DEC. 15, 1873, FOR YIELDING SIX PERCENT INTEREST WITH 227 COUPONS ATTACHED IN INCREMENTS OF .
NOTE
:
Brown's most pressing issue as TN Governor was the state's skyrocketing debt. In previous decades, Tennessee had accumulated million in bonded debt, mostly to pay for internal improvements, such as turnpike construction and loans to railroads. Governor William Brownlow further exacerbated the problem by issuing more bonds to pay the interest on outstanding bonds in the late 1860s. By the time Brown took office, the state was struggling to pay the interest on this debt. Brown managed to reduce the state's bonded debt to million, and eliminated all of the state's floating debt.
His efforts proved futile, however, and the state eventually defaulted following the Panic of 1873
.
This attractive document measures 16.5” x 28” (fully opened) and is in VERY GOOD+ CONDITION, with punch hole cancellations, THANKFULLY, NOT AFFECTING BROWN’S SIGNATURE.
A FINE ADDITION TO YOUR HISTORICAL CIVIL WAR CONFEDERATE “
GENERALS IN GRAY”
AUTOGRAPH, MANUSCRIPT & SCRIPOPHILY COLLECTION!
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BIOGRAPHY OF CONFEDERATE
JOHN CALVIN BROWN
John Calvin Brown
(January 6, 1827 – August 17, 1889) was an American politician, soldier and businessman. He served as
Governor of Tennessee
from 1871 to 1875, and was president of the state's 1870 constitutional convention, which wrote the current
Tennessee State Constitution
. Although he originally opposed secession, Brown fought for the
Confederacy
during the
American Civil War
, eventually rising to the rank of
major-general
.
A leader of the state's
Bourbon Democrats
, Brown dedicated much of his time as governor to solving the state's mounting debt issues. Following his gubernatorial tenure, he advocated railroad construction, briefly serving as president of the
Texas & Pacific Railroad
in 1888, and as president of the
Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company
in 1889.
Early life and education
John Calvin Brown was born in
Giles County, Tennessee
, the son of Duncan and Margaret Smith Brown. He was the younger brother of
Neill S. Brown
, who served as governor of Tennessee in the late 1840s. John graduated from
Jackson College
in
Columbia, Tennessee
, in 1846. He studied law with his uncle, Hugh Brown, in
Spring Hill
, and was admitted to the
bar
in 1848. He began practicing law in
Pulaski
that same year.
Like his brother, Brown was a
Whig
prior to the American Civil War, and following the Whig Party's collapse in the mid-1850s, he continued to support former Whig candidates. During the presidential election of 1860, he served as an
elector
for the
Constitution Union Party
candidate
John Bell
, who opposed secession, and took a neutral stance on the issue of slavery. In the weeks following the
Battle of Fort Sumter
in April 1861, however, secessionist sentiment swept across
Middle Tennessee
, and Brown, along with his brother and, eventually, John Bell, switched sides and supported the burgeoning Confederacy.
American Civil War
In May 1861, Brown enlisted as a
private
in the Confederate
infantry
, and was elected
colonel
of the 3rd Tennessee Infantry shortly afterward. He was later placed in charge of a
brigade
consisting of three
Tennessee
regiments
.
Following the
surrender of Fort Donelson
, he was held as a
prisoner of war
for six months in
Fort Warren, Massachusetts
, before being exchanged in August 1862. Soon afterwards, he was promoted to
brigadier-general
and assigned command of a new and larger brigade composed of troops from
Florida
and
Mississippi
. He took part in
Braxton Bragg
's campaigns in Kentucky and Tennessee in late 1862 through 1863. Brown was wounded in the battles of
Perryville
and
Chickamauga
while leading his brigade. His men were a part of the defensive line on
Missionary Ridge
in 1863.
In 1864, Brown fought in the
Atlanta Campaign
, at various times temporarily commanding a
division
. In August, he was promoted to major-general and formally assigned command of a division in
Cheatham
's Corps. He was again wounded at
Battle of Franklin
in 1864, where six of his fellow generals were killed.
He was incapacitated for several months and did not rejoin the army until the end of the
Carolinas Campaign
in April 1865. He surrendered with
Joseph E. Johnston
's forces at
Bennett Place
and was paroled a month later.
Governor of Tennessee
Governor Brown's home in
Pulaski
(present-day Grissom Colonial Hall)
Brown returned to Pulaski and resumed his law practice following the war. He was elected to the
Tennessee General Assembly
in 1869. In the following year, he was a delegate to the state
constitutional convention
, and was elected its president by his peers. This convention overhauled the state's 1834 constitution, essentially updating it to meet post-Civil War demands. The document most notably guaranteed the right to vote to all males of at least 21 years of age, regardless of race, but also instituted a
poll tax
. Although it has been amended a number of times, it remains Tennessee's current state constitution.
Brown in 1902
Although he had been a Whig before the Civil War, Brown joined the Democratic Party after the war, and was nominated as the party's candidate for governor in 1870. Since the new constitution restored voting rights to ex-Confederates, Brown easily defeated his
Republican
opponent,
William H. Wisener
of
Shelbyville
, by a 78,979 to 41,500 vote. He was reelected by a narrower margin, 97,700 votes to 84,089, over Republican candidate
Alfred A. Freeman
in 1872.
Brown's most pressing issue was the state's skyrocketing debt. In previous decades, Tennessee had accumulated million in
bonded debt
, mostly to pay for internal improvements, such as turnpike construction and loans to railroads. Governor
William Brownlow
exacerbated the problem by issuing more bonds to pay the interest on outstanding bonds in the late 1860s. By the time Brown took office, the state was struggling to pay the interest on this debt. Brown managed to reduce the state's bonded debt to million, and eliminated all of the state's floating debt.
His efforts proved futile, however, and the state eventually defaulted following the
Panic of 1873
.
Brown's administration enacted the state's first truly effective
public school
legislation, which called for the establishment of county and city
school superintendents
, and the creation of the office of State Superintendent of Public Instruction. Brown also advocated a
board of directors
to govern local school districts, and the organization of separate schools for
African-American
and white children. To support these schools, Governor Brown called for the
Legislature
to institute a small state tax and give cities and counties the power to raise additional taxes.
In 1875, along with several other former Confederate generals, he competed for an open
United States Senate
seat, but lost on the 54th ballot in the state legislature to former President
Andrew Johnson
.
Later life
In 1876, Brown, who supported
Thomas A. Scott
's efforts to build a transcontinental railroad in the South, joined the Texas & Pacific Railroad as a vice president. He was appointed
receiver
of this railroad in 1885, and was elevated to president in 1888. The following year, he became president of the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company, which was one of the largest industrial firms in the South. Brown also served as president of the Bon Air Coal Company, a coal mining operation on the
Cumberland Plateau
near
Crossville
, in the 1880s.
Brown fell ill in the Summer of 1889, and traveled to
Red Boiling Springs
, a mineral springs resort in north-central Tennessee, in hopes of recovering. On August 17, 1889, however, he suffered a stomach
hemorrhage
and died. His body was returned to Pulaski and interred in the city's Maplewood Cemetery.
Personal life
Brown's first wife, Anne Pointer, died in 1858. They had no children. He married his second wife, Elizabeth Childress of
Murfreesboro
, in 1864. Her paternal aunt was First Lady
Sarah Childress Polk
, and her father resided at the
Childress-Ray House
. They had four children: Marie, Daisy, Elizabeth, and John C. Brown, Jr. Brown's wife, Elizabeth, was among the women featured in Annie Somers Gilchrist's 1902 book,
Some Representative Women of Tennessee
. The Browns' daughter, Marie, was married to Governor
Benton McMillin
.
Dates of rank in the Confederate States of America Army
Private: May 1, 1861
Colonel: May 16, 1861, Col. 3
rd
Tennessee Infantry
Brigadier-General: August 30, 1862 (CS Gen & Staff)
Major-General: August 4, 1864
Listed as a:
POW
(date and place not stated); Exchanged Aug 27, 1862 (place not stated -
Exchanged for Hugh P Kennedy 31st PA Infantry); and
Wounded-in-Action
at the battle of Franklin, TN on Nov. 30, 1864.
Other Information
:
Born Jan 6, 1827 in Giles County, TN
Died Aug. 17, 1889 in Red Boiling Springs, TN
I am a proud member of the Universal Autograph Collectors Club (UACC), The Ephemera Society of America, the Manuscript Society and the American Political Items Collectors (APIC) (member name: John Lissandrello). I subscribe to each organizations' code of ethics and authenticity is guaranteed. ~Providing quality service and historical memorabilia online for over 20 years.~
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