Isham G. Harris of Tennessee: Confederate Governor and United States Senator [Hardcover]

In 1931, when the Nashville Banner conducted a survey to determine the Greatest Tennesseans to date, the state's Confederate War Governor, Isham G. Harris (1818-1897), was tenth on the list, behind such famous Tennesseans as Andrew Jackson, James K. Polk, Andrew Johnson, and Nathan Bedford Forrest. In 1976, however, when the Banner once again conducted the survey, Harris did not appear in even the top twenty-five. The result of fading memories and the death of the generation that knew him, the glaring omission of Harris's name still seemed striking and undeserved. In Isham G. Harris of Tennessee, Sam Davis Elliott offers the first published biography of this overlooked leader, establishing him as the most prominent Tennessean in the Confederacy and a dominating player in nineteenth-century Tennessee politics.

Harris grew up on the frontier in Middle Tennessee, the youngest of a large family. He left home as a teenager, and found and lost a fortune in the boom and bust times of 1830s in Mississippi and West Tennessee. Admitted to the bar in 1841, he enjoyed almost immediate success as an attorney because of his quick intellect, naturally aggressive nature, and native ability to influence people. He launched a political career in 1847 that lasted, with some interruption, for fifty years, having never lost an election. Harris rose to prominence in the 1850s as the leader of the southern rights wing of the Democratic Party, fiercely advocating the right to hold property in slaves. He served in the Tennessee state Senate, as a U.S. congressman, and as governor during the secession crisis, when, Elliott contends, Harris used his political influence and constitutional power to trample on the state constitution to align Tennessee with the Confederacy.

As governor, Harris tirelessly dedicated himself to the Confederate war effort, raising troops and money and establishing a logistical structure and armament industry. When the Federals overran large ló&