In the novel, the historical Elisa Brownlow and my fictional Leila Ellis are close friends. This photo of Mrs. Brownlow was taken in Philadelphia, Pa, soon after the war began when the Confederates had kicked her husband out of Knoxville for being vehemently anti-Rebel.
Parson William Gannaway Brownlow was then as popular in the North as he was despised in the South because he was pro-Union. So he and Elisa and their daughter, Susan, enjoyed great acclaim in Philadelphia. He gave speeches and wrote pamphlets. Later, when emancipation became part of the Union cause, he would not be so popular because he was not and never had been an abolitionist.
KNOXVILLE 1863, the novel 