710 



TENNESSEE. 



"NASHVILLE, TENN., September 26 3 p. M. 

 To General U. 8. Grant, Washington, D. O. ; 



Governor Brownlow is in Knoxville. Have seen 

 his instructions to General Cooper not to permit the 

 city authorities to hold their election. The mayor is 

 determined to hold an election, in defiance of the 

 State authorities. A collision is inevitable. If I 

 command the peace, my action will be a practical de- 

 cision against the State authority and against the 

 franchise law. I cannot preserve the peace without 

 interfering in case of collision. 



GEOEGE H. THOMAS, 

 Major-General, United States Army. 



General Grant replied as follows : 



WASHINGTON, D. C., /Septem er 26 4 P. M. 

 Major-General George H. Thotnas : 



You are to prevent conflict. If the Executive of 

 the State issues his proclamation declaring insurrec- 

 tion or invasion to exist, too formidable to be put 

 down by the force at his own command, and calls 

 upon the United States to aid him, then aid will 

 have to be given. Your mission is to preserve the 

 peace, and not to take sides in political differences 

 until called out in accordance with the law. You are 

 to prevent mobs from aiding either party_. If called 

 upon legally to interfere, your duty is plain. 



U. S. GBANT, General. 



About ten o'clock p. M., General Thomas re- 

 ceived the following from the General-in-Chief: 



WASHINGTON, D. C., September 26 9 r. M. 

 Major-General George H. Thomas; 



Nothing is clearer than that the military cannot be 

 made use of to defeat the Executive of a State in en- 

 forcing the laws of the State. You are not to pre- 

 vent the legal State force from the execution ot its 

 orders. U. S. GEANT, General. 



This last communication being transmitted 

 to the mayor of Nashville, that official wrote 

 as follows to General Thomas: 



I do not know precisely what construction to place 

 upon the above telegram. 



I am certainly not conscious of ever having con- 

 templated a resistance to the laws of the State of 

 Tennessee, nor have I desired to defeat the Executive 

 of the State or Ms efforts, to enforce the laws thereof. 



I have only designed, if not prevented by armed 

 violence, to hold a strictly legal election in a perfectly 

 peaceful manner and in lull accordance with the pro- 

 visions of the charter of this city. 



You are directed by the telegram received " not to 

 prevent the legal State force from the execution of 

 its orders." I shall be pleased if you will inform me 

 explicitly, whether you deem it your duty, under the 

 orders received by you, to uphold General Cooper and 

 his militia, in their threatened attempt to prevent the 

 peaceful holding of the election heretofore ordered 

 by the corporate authorities of Nashville. If so, I 

 have no choice left me but to yield to the authority 

 of the Government of the United States with a re- 

 spectful but emphatic protest, however, against the 

 signal and deplorable mistake which I must consider 

 to have been made in this case, and with the expres- 

 sion of that profound regret, which I cannot but feel, 

 on this grave occasion, in view of' the deplorable and 

 ruinous consequences now plainly in store for this 

 devoted city, whose chartered interests I have so 

 long endeavored to protect. 



P. S. I have the honor to ask an early response 

 to the above communication. 



W. MATT BEOWN, Mayor of Nashville. 



After a short delay, General Thomas made 

 the following reply : 



HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT CUMBERLAND, ) 



NASHVILLE, September 27. 1S6T. ( 

 Hon. William Matt Brown, Mayor of Nashville : 



In reply to your inquiry, " whether you (I) deem 

 it your (my) duty, under the orders you (I) have re- 



ceived, to uphold General Cooper and his militia in 

 the threatened attempt to prevent the peaceful hold- 

 ing of the election heretofore ordered by the corpo- 

 rate authorities of Nashville," I have to say that the 

 proper interpretation of General Grant's telegraphic 

 order is to sustain the State authorities in the execu- 

 tion of their orders. It is not left to me to decide 

 the question of the legality or illegality of the elec- 

 tion ordered by you. 



Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 



GEOEGE II. THOMAS, 

 Major-General United States Army, Commanding. 



Soon after the receipt of this, the mayor pub- 

 lished the following: 



MAYOR'S OFFICE, Septeml>er 27, 1867. 

 Governor^ Brownlow having, through General 

 Cooper, notified the city authorities that he would, 

 use force to prevent the holding of an election under 

 the charter and by-laws of the corporation, and by 

 the judges appointed by the Board of Aldermen, 

 according to law ; and General G. H. Thomas hav- 

 ing notified me officially in writing, that he would 

 use the military power of the United States in sus- 

 taining the Governor of the State in forcibly pre- 

 venting a peaceable election ; and the city authorities 

 having, under a solemn protest against this most un- 

 just, illegal, and high-handed course, determined to 

 submit to force, but to refuse to recognize the legal- 

 ity of the election which may, under the circum- 

 stances, be held ; I do, therefore, hereby withdraw 

 my name as a candidate at the election (so called), 

 being unwilling to be understood by my silence as in 

 any way, either as an officer or an individual, lend- 

 ing countenance to such gross violations of law and 

 right. W. MATT BEOWN, Mayor. 



General Thomas then wrote to the mayor as 

 follows : 



HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE CUMBERLAND, | 

 NASHVILLE, September 28, 1867. ] 

 Hon. W. Matt Brown, Mayor, etc. : 



SIR : In .reply to your communication of this date, 

 received at two o'clock, p. M. ; I have to state that I 

 did not inform you officially in writing, as stated by 

 you in your communication to the public, published 

 in the papers this morning, that I would use the mili- 

 tary power of the United States in sustaining the 

 Governor of the State in forcibly preventing a peace- 

 able election, etc. ; but I did state in that communica- 

 tion that the proper interpretation of General Grant's 

 telegraphic order is to sustain the State authorities in 

 the execution of their orders. How these words can 

 be construed as meaning that I intended to use the 

 troops to prevent a peaceable election, I confess I can- 

 not understand. The proclamation of the Governor, 

 and his order to General Cooper requesting him to 

 prevent you from holding an election, and the instruc- 

 tions sent to me to sustain him (the Governor) in the 

 execution of his orders, could not be obeyed if both 

 elections were permitted, as you remember that the 

 Governor required General Cooper to prohibit the 

 election under the city charter; and you, in your 

 proclamation, declared you would hold said election 

 in defiance of all power except thafof the United 

 States. Your obedient servant, 



GEO. H. THOMAS, Maj.-Gen. Com'd'g Dep't. 



Mr. Brown having withdrawn from the con- 

 test, the election passed of quietly, and the 

 Radical candidate for mayor was elected. It 

 was the intention of Mayor Brown to hold pos- 

 session of the office until this question of legal 

 right had been tested in the courts ; but his re- 

 fusal to give up the office and papers, being fol- 

 lowed by a visit from Captain Blackburn, of the 

 btate Guards, with the following credentials, he 

 gave way, and the new dynasty prevailed in 

 Nashville: 



