author
William Gannaway Brownlow
1805–1877
A fiery Methodist preacher turned newspaper editor and politician, he became one of the loudest Unionist voices in East Tennessee during the Civil War. His turbulent life carried him from the pulpit and the printing press to the governor’s office and the U.S. Senate.
2 Audiobooks
Portrait and Biography of Parson Brownlow, The Tennessee Patriot
by William Gannaway Brownlow
About the author
Born in Virginia in 1805 and raised partly in East Tennessee, Brownlow entered the Methodist ministry as a young man before moving into journalism. He became best known as the editor of a fiercely partisan newspaper, earning the nickname "Parson Brownlow" for the combative mix of preacher, publisher, and public fighter that defined his career.
During the Civil War, Brownlow stood out as a determined Southern Unionist. His pro-Union writing made him a major target in Confederate Tennessee, and his wartime experience helped turn him into a national symbol of East Tennessee loyalty to the Union.
After the war, he served as governor of Tennessee from 1865 to 1869 and then represented the state in the U.S. Senate from 1869 to 1875. Remembered as a sharp-tongued and deeply polarizing figure, Brownlow remains one of the most vivid personalities of Reconstruction-era Tennessee.