764 



TENNESSEE. 



history of the secession movement, and the 

 measures adopted by the Federal Government, 

 he proceeded as follows : 



The President has conducted this mighty contest, 

 until, as commander-in-chief of the army, he has caused 

 the national flag again to float undisputed over the 

 Capitol of our State. Meanwhile, the State Govern- 

 ment has disappeared. The executive has abdicated ; 

 the Legislature has dissolved : the judiciary is in abey- 

 ance. The great ship of state, freighted with its pre- 

 cious cargo of human interests and human hopes, its 

 sails all set, and its glorious old flag unfurled, has been 

 suddenly abandoned by its officers and mutinous crew, 

 and left to float at the mercy of the winds, and to be 

 plundered by every rover upon the deep. Indeed, the 

 work of plunder has already commenced. The archives 

 have been desecrated, the public property stolen and 

 destroyed ; the vaults of the State Bank violated, and 

 its treasures robbed, including the funds carefully 

 gathered and consecrated for all time to the instruction 

 of our children. 



In such a lamentable crisis, the Government of the 

 United States could not be unmindful of its high con- 

 stitutional obligation to guarantee to every State in 

 this Union a republican form of government, an obli- 

 gation which every State has a direct and immediate 

 interest in having observed toward every other State ; 

 and from which, by no action on the part of the peo- 

 ple in any State, can the Federal Government be ab- 

 solved. A republican form of government, in conson- 

 ance with the Constitution of the United States, is one 

 of the fundamental conditions of our political existence, 

 by which every part of the country is alike bound, and 

 from which no part can escape. This obligation the 

 national Government is now attempting to discharge. 

 I have been appointed, in the absence of the regular 

 and established State authorities, as Military Governor 

 for the time being, to preserve the public property of the 

 State, to give the protection of law actively enforced 

 to her citizens, and, as speedily as may be, to restore 

 her Government to the same condition as before the ex- 

 isting rebellion. 



In this grateful but arduous undertaking, I shall 

 avail myself of all the aid that may be afforded by my 

 fellow citizens. And for this purpose I respectfully 

 but earnestly invite all the people of Tennessee, desir- 

 ous or willing to see a restoration of her ancient Gov- 

 ernment, without distinction of party affiliations or past 

 political opinions or action, to unite with me, by coun- 

 sel and cooperative agency, to accomplish this great 

 end. I find most, if not all of the offices, both State 

 and Federal, vacated either by actual abandonment, or 

 by the action of the incumbents in attempting to sub- 

 ordinate their functions to a power in hostility to the 

 fundamental law of the State, and subversive of her 

 national allegiance. These offices must be filled tem- 

 porarily, until the State shall be restored so far to its 

 accustomed quiet, that the people can peaceably as- 

 semble at the ballot box and select agents of their own 

 choice. Otherwise anarchy would prevail, and no 

 man's life or property would be safe from the desperate 

 and unprincipled. 



I shall, therefore, as early as practicable, designate 

 for various positions under the State and county Gov- 

 ernments, from among my fellow citizens, persons of 

 probity and intelligence, and bearing true allegiance to 

 the Constitution and Government of the United States, 

 who will execute the functions of their respective offi- 

 ces, until their places can be filled by the action of the 

 people. Their authority, when their appointments 

 shall have been made, will be accordingly respected 

 and observed. 



To the people themselves, the protection of the Gov- 

 ernment is extended. All their rights will be duly re- 

 spected, and their wrongs redressed when made known. 

 Those who through the dark and weary night of the 

 rebellion have maintained their allegiance to the Fed- 

 eral Government will be honored. The erring and 

 misguided will be welcomed on their return. And 

 while it may become necessary, in vindicating the 



violated majesty of the law, and in reasserting its im- 

 perial sway, to punish intelligent and conscious treason 

 in high places, no merely retaliatory or vindictive pol- 

 icy will oe adopted. To those, especially, who in a pri- 

 vate, unofficial capacity have assumed an attitude of 

 hostility to the Government, a full and complete am- 

 nesty for all past acts and declarations is offered, upon 

 the one condition of their again yielding themselves 

 peaceful citizens to the just supremacy of the laws. 

 This I advise them to do for their own good, and for 

 the peace and welfare of our beloved State, endeared 

 to me by the associations of long and active years, and 

 by the enjoyment of her highest honors. 



The address was listened to with respect and 

 some favor ; but the Union feeling developed 

 in Nashville, and other parts of Middle Tennes- 

 see, after their occupation by the Federal forces, 

 was far from answering the expectations of the 

 North, or even of the Tennessee Unionists 

 themselves. On the 9th of March, the citizens 

 of Shelbyville, in Bedford county, burned a 

 quantity of Confederate stores, to prevent them 

 from falling into the hands of the Confederates ; 

 and soon afterward the people of Gallatin, a 

 place in which the Southern party had before 

 been strongly in the ascendant, held a town 

 meeting, and expressed a readiness to return to 

 their allegiance ; but these were exceptional 

 instances, and the Federal occupation did not 

 become popular until there seemed reason to 

 think it would be permanent. 



On the 25th, the governor required the 

 Common Council and other city officials of 

 Nashville, to take the oath of allegiance to the 

 United States, and on their refusal to do so, he 

 issued a proclamation declaring vacant the 

 offices of most of them, and appointing persons 

 to act in their places until a new election could 

 be held by the people. The mayor of Nash- 

 ville, and some other citizens, were arrested on 

 the 29th, on the charge of " disloyal practices." 

 The newspaper press was placed under military 

 supervision ; several papers suspended publica- 

 tion, and on April 10th, the " Daily Nashville 

 Union " was commenced by S. C. Mercer, a 

 refugee from Kentucky. Affairs soon began to 

 wear a more nattering aspect. " For several 

 days," says the " Union " of April llth, "the 

 office of Governor Johnson in the Capitol has 

 been thronged with secession men and women 

 from the city, and adjacent country, earnestly 

 interceding for their sons who have been, or 

 are now, in the rebel army, and expressing the 

 utmost willingness and even anxiety, to take 

 the oath of allegiance to the good old Govern- 

 ment, and faithfully discharge the duties of 

 law-abiding, and loyal citizens." On the 12th, 

 the editor of the " Nashville Banner" was ar- 

 rested, and placed in confinement, on the charge 

 of uttering treasonable and seditious language; 

 and on the 15th, J. C. Guild, of Gallatiu, judge 

 of the Chancery Court, was arrested on charge 

 of treason, by an officer of Governor Johnson's 

 staff, and conveyed to Nashville. 



On the 20th the following letter was ad- 

 dressed to the governor by seven Confederate 

 officers confined at Camp Chase, near Colum- 

 bus, on behalf of themselves and "a great 



