Andrew Johnson

We learned that the 17^th President of the US called the community of Greeneville Tennessee home for much of his life. Being only a couple hours from the Smoky Mountains, we had to visit.

Johnson was born on December 29, 1808 in Raleigh North Carolina. When Andrew was only 3 years old, his father died of a heart attack, leaving his mother without a viable means to support her two sons, and took work as a washwoman. When old enough, she apprenticed both her sons to help support the family. Both sons were apprenticed to a local tailor, James Selby. Although he turned out to be a fine tailor, he was not happy and ran away after 5 years. Selby put out a warrant for his arrest in breaking his servitude bond, and provided a reward for his return. Johnson avoided returning to his home in Raleigh for fear of being arrested.

Johnson moved to Greeneville in 1827 and established a successful tailor shop. He was married at the age of 18 by Mordecai Lincoln, cousin to Abraham Lincoln’s father. The relationship would become important in the future. In addition to having a successful tailor shop, he pursued politics, becoming a member of the House of Representatives, a Senator, and Governor of Tennessee. He was a very staunch Constitutionalist, believing in the supreme sanctity of the document.

Two of Johnson’s homes exist in Greeneville and are available to view. His family home has been restored and contains many artifacts that were owned and used by the Johnson’s. His children and heirs were instrumental in gathering and providing both the home and the furnishings to the National Park Service in memory of their father.

The visitor center also has the tailor shop that Johnson operated – it has been reassembled inside the visitor center, and is worth seeing. While you can’t go inside, it is open and easily visible. The NPS has speakers hidden in the tailor shop, with the sounds of scissors cutting fabric, sewing, walking on wooden floors; it really creates a very surreal experience.

Abraham Lincoln ran with Hannibal Hamlin as his vice president during his first term. After the commencement of the Civil War, Lincoln was concerned about his ability to be reelected given the divide in the country. While he was a Republican, Johnson was a Democrat, but he personally knew Johnson due to the familial relationships, as well from his interactions in the senate. Lincoln decided he had a better chance of reelection with a Southern candidate even if from the opposing party. Apparently his tactic worked.

Johnson took office upon Lincoln’s assassination, the first time that part of our government had to perform, and it did admirably. However, despite supporting the union of the states, he did not support punishing the South for its efforts at secession. He believed reconstruction of the Union could only occur if the South was encouraged rather than punished. For that reason, he vetoed many of the bills that Congress passed after the end of the war which would have established harsh military rule of the South, or refused the citizens of the South those rights held by the rest of Americans. For his vetoes, the Congress attempted to impeach him. Luckily, he was able to withstand the impeachment vote, which also set a precedent that Congress could not easily remove a President just because he was not popular with the majority party.

If not for Johnson’s firm resolve, and full belief in the constitution as written by the founding fathers, the post-Civil War reconstruction of the South, and the ultimate reconstruction of the Union of States, may not have happened as it did. Before visiting Greeneville, I knew only vague references to Andrew Johnson, but now I know how absolutely a key figure he was in creating the US we enjoy today.

We also visited the National Cemetery in Greeneville where Andrew Johnson and most of his immediate family are buried. His only request on burial was that he be laid to rest in the family burial grounds, with his head lying on a copy of the Constitution which he loved. His requests were granted as given.

We also toured the Dickson Williams mansion while in Greeneville. It was a very interesting tour in that the docent’s grandfathers had been officers in the Confederate army, and his ancestors had been acquaintances of both the Johnson and Lincoln families. Most of the other folk on the tour were locals who had also had relationships in their families with those local and important. So our tour group was great to listen to, as they bantered about whose grandma had interacted with whose grandpa and such. It was really fun.

The mansion had significance in Greeneville as its original owners had ties to both the Lincoln and Johnson families. The other reason it is of significance is that its vineyard ended up being one of the few locations in which a Confederate General was killed by Union forces. Apparently because of its location in eastern Tennessee, Greeneville seemed to trade hands from Union to Confederate control quite frequently. On September 4, 1864 the “Rebel Raider”, General John Hunt Morgan of the Confederacy came to Greeneville just to check out its status. Despite being advised not to by his scouts because Union forces were approaching and would likely assume that he would be there, Morgan chose to stay in the Dickson Williams mansion primarily because it was the finest home in the city, and he was accustomed to staying in the finest accommodations wherever he went. The next day, Union forces overtook Greeneville, were aware of General Morgan’s presence, and based on his habits had a pretty good idea where he might be located.

When Union forces seized the area, General Morgan escaped to the church next door to the mansion. When the Union forces also seized the church, Morgan apparently decided to make a run for it and try to get to his steed in the stable across the mansions yard. Unfortunately, as he made the dash for the stable, a Union private shot him in the back as he was running, resulting in one of the few incidents of either forces killing an opposing general.

The room where General Morgan spent his last evening alive was well preserved. Most of the furniture that was in the room the last evening of the Rebel Raider’s life is still there. On the wall even hung the actual straight razor that the General had in his pack when he was shot. Allegedly the General, after preparation, we laid out for viewing in Greeneville the next day, and both Union and Confederate forces came to pay their respects.

Other notable people stayed with the Dickson Williams families over the years that they occupied this mansion. For example, this is the actual desk on which English playwright Frances Hodgson Burnett wrote Little Lord Fauntleroy, first published as a serial in 1885 and then as a book in 1886.
  While a bit hard to get to, a visit to Greeneville TN brings lots of rewards.

 

Talk to you soon!