Robert Tracy McKenzie
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195182941
- eISBN:
- 9780199788897
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195182941.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, American History: 19th Century
This chapter concentrates on the treatment of civilians in Knoxville during the period between Tennessee's secession in June 1861 and the banishment of William G. Brownlow from the Confederacy for ...
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This chapter concentrates on the treatment of civilians in Knoxville during the period between Tennessee's secession in June 1861 and the banishment of William G. Brownlow from the Confederacy for treason in March 1862. Brownlow and other Unionists remained outspoken in their opposition to secession long after Tennessee seceded, and although local Confederates lobbied for a crackdown on civil liberties, Confederate authorities at Nashville and Richmond tolerated local Unionists' dissent until a series of infamous bridge burnings in November 1861 convinced them that their leniency had been counterproductive. Knoxville became the scene of four executions, and hundreds of political prisoners from all across East Tennessee were incarcerated there throughout the winter. The most famous inmate was Brownlow himself, who after three months in jail was escorted across the lines to the Union.Less
This chapter concentrates on the treatment of civilians in Knoxville during the period between Tennessee's secession in June 1861 and the banishment of William G. Brownlow from the Confederacy for treason in March 1862. Brownlow and other Unionists remained outspoken in their opposition to secession long after Tennessee seceded, and although local Confederates lobbied for a crackdown on civil liberties, Confederate authorities at Nashville and Richmond tolerated local Unionists' dissent until a series of infamous bridge burnings in November 1861 convinced them that their leniency had been counterproductive. Knoxville became the scene of four executions, and hundreds of political prisoners from all across East Tennessee were incarcerated there throughout the winter. The most famous inmate was Brownlow himself, who after three months in jail was escorted across the lines to the Union.
