Category Archives: Parson William Brownlow

Was The South Ever Confederate, Anyway?

Posted on July 4, 2015 by Dick Stanley

The old arguments over the Confederate battle flag (pride or racist symbol, or both), intensified after a photograph surfaced of a mass murderer in Charleston, South Carolina, holding one. This war retrospective, by contemporary Knoxville journalist Jack Neely, whose title … Continue reading →

Posted in "Knoxville 1863", Families Divided By The War, Gen. William P. Sanders, Parson William Brownlow | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

A Knoxville newspaper in North Carolina

Posted on March 6, 2015 by Dick Stanley

Hometown Southern newspapers were scattered across the South in July of 1864, according to the Richmond Whig. Including the Knoxville Register which “after visiting sundry places is now in Charlotte, N. C.” It was not alone: “Fugitive Papers.—We have in … Continue reading →

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Parson Brownlow’s wife Elisa

Posted on February 20, 2015 by Dick Stanley

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 … Continue reading →

Posted in "Knoxville 1863", Civil War clothing, Parson William Brownlow, Parthenia Leila Ellis, Susan Brownlow | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

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

The Bridge Burners

Posted on May 5, 2012 by Dick Stanley

In 1861, a group of forty Unionists of East Tennessee, some of them from Knoxville, set out to put their actions where their politics were. They plotted to burn regional railroad bridges to stop or at least slow Confederate soldiers … Continue reading →

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Brownlow’s religious attacks

Posted on July 25, 2011 by Dick Stanley

Parson Brownlow of Knoxville liked to say that he was “never neutral” on any issue. Even before he became the scourge of East Tennessee Confederates, the Methodist minister had been attacking Baptists who were encroaching on Methodist popularity among the … Continue reading →

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Parson Brownlow’s prediction

Posted on July 21, 2011 by Dick Stanley

In 1862, fiery Knoxville Unionist newspaper editor and Methodist parson William G. Brownlow, turned his steam-powered presses to producing a personal memoir predicting the collapse of secession. He wasn’t far off—secession collapsed three years later. “Sketches of the Rise, Progress, … Continue reading →

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Reprise: That Yankee-lovin’ parson

Posted on June 3, 2011 by Dick Stanley

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

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