Category Archives: Elisa Brownlow

The Knoxville Whig & Rebel Ventilator

Posted on October 5, 2014 by Dick Stanley

Parson William Brownlow’s Knoxville Whig newspaper added the words Rebel Ventilator to its flag in the runup to the Civil War. The fiery Union editor maintained it until the occupying Rebels drove him out of town, turning his steam presses … Continue reading →

Posted in Col. Alfred G.W. O'Brien, Elisa Brownlow, Parson William Brownlow, Thirteenth Mississippi | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Civil War dresses

Posted on November 30, 2011 by Dick Stanley

The novel’s fictional character Parthenia Leila Ellis, of course, wore full black mourning because she was a new widow. But her good friend, the historical figure Elisa Brownlow might have worn something like this pretty plum wheat dress with bell-shaped … Continue reading →

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Rebel Gen. McLaws’ Union brother-in-law

Posted on April 8, 2011 by Dick Stanley

Another major Civil War figure whose family life buttresses my fictional division between Unionist Parthenia Leila Ellis and her Confederate husband Clayton Ellis, was Gen. Lafayette McLaws. McLaws, whose division was the first in the attack on Fort Sanders, joined … Continue reading →

Posted in "Knoxville 1863", Col. Alfred G.W. O'Brien, Elisa Brownlow, Gen. Lafayette McLaws, Parthenia Leila Ellis, Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Susan Brownlow’s grave

Posted on March 27, 2011 by Dick Stanley

Susan  Brownlow, daughter of the parson the Confederacy hated, was a young widow (Sawyers) with a five-year-old child at the time of the novel, though she often left the child with one of the family’s house slaves. She was a … Continue reading →

Posted in "Knoxville 1863", Elisa Brownlow, Knoxville, Parson William Brownlow, Susan Brownlow | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Bill Brownlow: Confederate dissenter

Posted on February 19, 2011 by Dick Stanley

Dissent from Confederate political-correctness was not unusual in the Civil War, as professional historian Victoria Bynum’s latest book relates. Parson Bill Brownlow probably was unique, however, in his willingness to risk all by publicizing his dissent in the pages of … Continue reading →

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Susan Brownlow

Posted on November 27, 2010 by Dick Stanley

Parson William Gannaway Brownlow was as popular in the North as he was despised in the South. So when the Confederates finally kicked him out of Knoxville, he and his wife Elisa and their daughter, Susan, enjoyed great acclaim in … Continue reading →

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Pulling cream candy

Posted on October 16, 2010 by Dick Stanley

In the novel, the widow Ellis suggested that her friends, Elisa and Susan Brownlow, spend an afternoon with her pulling cream candy. The taffy-like mixture of sugar, butter and vanilla extract is still sometimes made at home, though it was … Continue reading →

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Stonewall’s Unionist sister

Posted on August 11, 2010 by Dick Stanley

One of the themes of Knoxville 1863 is the bitter division of the town and surrounding area between Unionists and Confederates. Leila Ellis, Confederate Major Clayton Ellis’s widow, is herself a Union sympathizer. Not to mention Knoxville Unionist Elisa Brownlow’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Col. Alfred G.W. O'Brien, Elisa Brownlow, Families Divided By The War, Parson William Brownlow | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment