Richard M. Edwards
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Richard Mitchell Edwards (December 31, 1822 – January 19, 1907) was an American attorney, politician and soldier who served one term in the
Tennessee House of Representatives The Tennessee House of Representatives is the lower house of the Tennessee General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Tennessee. Constitutional requirements According to the state constitution of 1870, this body is to consis ...
(1861–1862). A
Southern Unionist In the United States, Southern Unionists were white Southerners living in the Confederate States of America and the Southern Border States opposed to secession. Many fought for the Union during the Civil War. These people are also referred t ...
, he represented Bradley County at the
East Tennessee Convention The East Tennessee Convention was an assembly of Southern Unionist delegates primarily from East Tennessee that met on three occasions during the Civil War. The convention most notably declared the secessionist actions taken by the Tennessee sta ...
in 1861, and served as colonel of the 4th Tennessee Cavalry of the Union Army during the Civil War. He ran unsuccessfully for governor on the
Greenback Party The Greenback Party (known successively as the Independent Party, the National Independent Party and the Greenback Labor Party) was an Political parties in the United States, American political party with an Competition law, anti-monopoly ideolog ...
ticket in 1878 and 1880.


Early life

Edwards was born near
Philadelphia, Tennessee Philadelphia is a city in Loudon County, Tennessee, United States. Its population was 656 at the 2010 census. It is included in the Knoxville Metropolitan Statistical Area. History Philadelphia was founded in the early 1820s by William Knox ...
, in what was then Roane County, but is now part of Loudon County. He may have been orphaned at a young age, and was raised by his uncle, Dr. Pleasant James Riley Edwards. In 1836, he moved with his uncle to
Cleveland, Tennessee Cleveland is the county seat of, and largest city in, Bradley County, Tennessee. The population was 47,356 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Cleveland metropolitan area, Tennessee (consisting of Bradle ...
, where his uncle became a prominent physician, and would eventually be elected mayor.Stewart Lillard, "Introduction," ''Down the Tennessee: The Mexican War Reminisciences of an East Tennessee Volunteer'' (Loftin and Company, 1997), pp. vii-viii. The younger Edwards would later recall spending much of his childhood "fishing, hunting and playing with the Indian boys of the Ocoee district," and remembered the departure of his
Cherokee The Cherokee (; , or ) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, they were concentrated in their homelands, in towns along river valleys of what is now southwestern ...
friends on the
Trail of Tears The Trail of Tears was the forced displacement of about 60,000 people of the " Five Civilized Tribes" between 1830 and 1850, and the additional thousands of Native Americans and their black slaves within that were ethnically cleansed by the U ...
as one of the "saddest" days of his life.Billarp's Weekly Letter
" ''Camden (TN) Chronicle'', 12 November 1897, p. 2.
In the early 1840s, Edwards attended Cleveland's Oak Grove Academy. In November 1847, during the
Mexican–American War The Mexican–American War (Spanish language, Spanish: ''guerra de Estados Unidos-México, guerra mexicano-estadounidense''), also known in the United States as the Mexican War, and in Mexico as the United States intervention in Mexico, ...
, Edwards enlisted in Company I of the 5th Tennessee Volunteer Infantry, and was elected the company's
corporal Corporal is a military rank in use by the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. The rank is usually the lowest ranking non-commissioned officer. In some militaries, the rank of corporal nominally corr ...
. After traveling downriver via flatboat to
New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...
, he arrived with his company in
Veracruz Veracruz, formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave, is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entit ...
in January 1848. In February, he took part in skirmishes in the
Orizaba Orizaba (, Otomi: ) is a city and municipality in the Mexican state of Veracruz. It is located 20 km west of its sister city Córdoba, and is adjacent to Río Blanco and Ixtaczoquitlán, on Federal Highways 180 and 190. The city had a ...
area, and helped escort General William G. Belknap from Veracruz to the National Bridge (en route to Mexico City). In April 1848, he was appointed hospital steward at Veracruz by Dr. Barclay McGhee, a prominent Monroe County physician who was serving as a military surgeon. He later wrote that he helped alleviate an outbreak of yellow fever by using a water cure that his uncle had taught him. He was discharged in July 1848.Richard M. Edwards, Stewart Lillard (ed.), ''Down the Tennessee: The Mexican War Reminisciences of an East Tennessee Volunteer'' (Loftin and Company, 1997; originally published in the ''Knoxville Tribune'', 1895). After the war, Edwards studied law under Samuel A. Smith, and was admitted to the bar. He married Mary Lucinda Craigmiles in 1851, and commenced the practice of law in Cleveland, initially specializing in "legal affairs for soldiers." A
Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (Cyprus) (DCY) **Democratic Part ...
, he supported
Andrew Johnson Andrew Johnson (December 29, 1808July 31, 1875) was the 17th president of the United States, serving from 1865 to 1869. The 16th vice president, he assumed the presidency following the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Johnson was a South ...
for governor in 1853, and was appointed vice president of the state's Democratic Party convention in April of that year. After Johnson won the election, he appointed Edwards to the Board of Directors of the
East Tennessee and Georgia Railroad The East Tennessee and Georgia Railroad Company was incorporated under special act of Tennessee on February 19, 1836 as the Hiwassee Rail Road Company.Interstate Commerce Commission. ''Southern Ry. Co.'', Volume 37, Interstate Commerce Commission ...
.


Civil War

During the contentious 1860 presidential election, Edwards campaigned for the Northern Democratic candidate,
Stephen Douglas Stephen Arnold Douglas ( né Douglass; April 23, 1813 – June 3, 1861) was an American politician and lawyer from Illinois. As a U.S. senator, he was one of two nominees of the badly split Democratic Party to run for president in the 1860 ...
, and openly opposed the Southern Democratic candidate,
John C. Breckinridge John Cabell Breckinridge (January 16, 1821 – May 17, 1875) was an American politician who served as the 14th vice president of the United States, with President James Buchanan, from 1857 to 1861. Assuming office at the age of 36, Breckinrid ...
. As the secession crisis intensified in 1861, he remained committed to the Union, and endorsed his district's Unionist congressional candidate, George W. Bridges, in March of that year. Edwards was a delegate to the
Knoxville Knoxville is a city in Knox County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located on the Tennessee River and had a population of 190,740 at the 2020 United States census. It is the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division ...
and Greeneville sessions of the pro-Union
East Tennessee Convention The East Tennessee Convention was an assembly of Southern Unionist delegates primarily from East Tennessee that met on three occasions during the Civil War. The convention most notably declared the secessionist actions taken by the Tennessee sta ...
in May and June 1861, and represented Bradley County on the Convention's powerful business committee at both sessions. While in Greeneville, Edwards made a pact with several other Convention delegates, including Joseph A. Cooper and Robert K. Byrd, to return to their respective homes and raise and drill companies for military service. In August 1861, Edwards was elected to the
Tennessee House of Representatives The Tennessee House of Representatives is the lower house of the Tennessee General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Tennessee. Constitutional requirements According to the state constitution of 1870, this body is to consis ...
seat for Bradley County. Since the state had seceded and joined the Confederacy, Edwards and several other Unionist members of the legislature—including John M. Fleming, Robert H. Hodsden, and
Dewitt Clinton Senter Dewitt Clinton Senter (March 26, 1830June 14, 1898) was an American politician who served as the 18th Governor of Tennessee from 1869 to 1871. He had previously served in the Tennessee House of Representatives (1855–1861), where he opposed ...
—were required to take the Confederate oath of allegiance in order to take their seats. He remained with the legislature until February 1862, when the Union Army's capture of Nashville forced the state government to flee. In March 1862, he joined the commissary of the Union Army's First Tennessee Regiment, led by fellow East Tennessee Convention delegate General James G. Spears.James Alex Baggett,
Homegrown Yankees: Tennessee's Union Cavalry in the Civil War
' (LSU Press, 2009).
Richard M. Edwards
" ''The Reports of Committees of the House of Representatives for the First Session of the Fifty-second Congress'' (U.S. Government Printing Office, 1892), Report No. 109.
Commissioned by Tennessee's military governor Andrew Johnson to raise a cavalry regiment, Edwards spent the Spring of 1862 recruiting soldiers and acquiring horses and other supplies for what would initially be known as the First East Tennessee Cavalry. By July he had recruited over 400 men, including future congressman
Jacob Montgomery Thornburgh Jacob Montgomery Thornburgh (July 3, 1837Rothrock (''French Broad-Holston Country'', p. 497) lists July 5 as his date of birth. Thornburgh's grave monument at Old Gray Cemetery gives July 3 as his date of birth.– September 19, 1890) was an ...
(who was appointed lieutenant-colonel of the regiment) and Sevier County sheriff and bridge burner William C. Pickens. In September, Edwards and his burgeoning regiment marched with General George W. Morgan from the
Cumberland Gap The Cumberland Gap is a Mountain pass, pass in the Eastern United States, eastern United States through the long ridge of the Cumberland Mountains, within the Appalachian Mountains and near the tripoint of Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee. At&n ...
area to
Greenup, Kentucky Greenup is a home rule-class city in and the county seat of Greenup County, Kentucky, United States, located at the confluence of the Little Sandy River with the Ohio River. The population was 1,095 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Hunti ...
, on the
Ohio River The Ohio River () is a river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing in a southwesterly direction from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to its river mouth, mouth on the Mississippi Riv ...
.Alexander Eckel,
History of the Fourth Tennessee Cavalry
' (Overmountain Press, 1929), pp. 16-18, 27-28.
After he and Pickens quarreled over who should command the regiment, Pickens and several of the recruits split off in hopes of forming their own regiment. In November, the First East Tennessee was transferred to the
Army of the Cumberland The Army of the Cumberland was one of the principal Union armies in the Western Theater during the American Civil War. It was originally known as the Army of the Ohio. History The origin of the Army of the Cumberland dates back to the creatio ...
and ordered to
Louisville, Kentucky Louisville is the List of cities in Kentucky, most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeastern United States, Southeast, and the list of United States cities by population, 27th-most-populous city ...
, where Edwards continued to recruit men from among the East Tennessee Unionist refugees who were flocking to the area. The competition among the new regiments for recruits was intense. At one point, Governor Johnson's son, Robert Johnson, who was commanding one of the new regiments, was placed under house arrest for enticing 125 men away from Edwards' regiment. In January 1863, Edwards and his regiment were ordered to Nashville. Here, they engaged primarily in drilling and performing scouting operations. To avoid confusion with an infantry division that had previously been promised conversion to cavalry as soon as horses became available, the First East Tennessee was redesignated the Fourth Tennessee Volunteer Cavalry. On July 6, 1863, Edwards resigned his command of the Fourth Tennessee. Several factors had converged to force his resignation. First, he had yet to take the oath of allegiance, which required Union Army officers to swear they had never served in the Confederate government (Edwards had taken the Confederate oath in order to take his seat in the state legislature in late 1861). Furthermore, several Union Army commanders had grown skeptical of Edwards after he endorsed a speech by New York congressman Sunset Cox that criticized President Abraham Lincoln's war policy. Finally, Edwards' ability to command was questioned after he became embroiled in an internal quarrel with a regimental surgeon. After resigning, Edwards continued to recruit men, hoping at some point to reassume command of the Fourth.


Postwar politics

During the years following the Civil War, Edwards supported the allies of President Andrew Johnson—commonly called "Conservatives"—who sought more lenient measures toward former Confederates. He spoke out against the policies of Tennessee's Radical Republican postwar governor,
William G. Brownlow William Gannaway "Parson" Brownlow (August 29, 1805April 29, 1877) was an American newspaper publisher, Methodist minister, book author, prisoner of war, lecturer, and politician who served as the 17th governor of Tennessee from 1865 to 1869 and ...
, specifically Brownlow's "franchise" laws aimed at preventing former Confederates from voting. At a Conservative rally in
Athens, Tennessee Athens is the county seat of McMinn County, Tennessee, United States and the principal city of the Athens Micropolitan Statistical Area has a population of 53,569. The city is located almost equidistantly between the major cities of Knoxville a ...
, in March 1867, Edwards called for armed resistance to the franchise laws, and was arrested for making "insurrectionary and treasonable speech." He was convicted of using seditious language and barred from holding public office for three years, though the conviction was overturned on appeal in April 1868. Following the enaction of the new state constitution in 1870, Edwards ran for district attorney general, but was defeated by A.J. Trewhitt. In 1878, Edwards ran for governor on the populist Greenback ticket. During this period, the dominant issue in state politics was over how to manage the state's out-of-control debt, much of which had been accrued due to railroad construction. Edwards blamed railroad bondholders for the debt, going so far as to accuse them of plundering the state treasury, and calling for the state to invalidate railroad bonds. A ''Knoxville Chronicle'' reporter who interviewed Edwards during this period noted, "he chews the stump of his cigar as if he had a bondholder between his teeth, or a railroad magnate, and wished to crush every bit of life out of them." In the election, he placed a distant third, winning just 15,155 votes to 89,958 for the victorious Democratic candidate, Albert S. Marks, and 42,284 for the Republican, Eli M. Wight.
Tennessee Blue Book
' (1890), p. 170.
Edwards once again ran for governor on the Greenback ticket in 1880. He expressed disappointment over how Marks had managed the debt issue, and accused Marks of allowing the state's workers to be "plundered by soulless corporations." He managed to win just 3,459 votes, however, well behind the Republican candidate,
Alvin Hawkins Alvin Hawkins (December 2, 1821 – April 27, 1905) was an American jurist and politician. He served as the 22nd Governor of Tennessee from 1881 to 1883, one of just three Republicans to hold this position from the end of Reconstruction to the la ...
(103,964 votes), the "state credit" Democrat, John V. Wright (73,783), and the "low tax" Democrat, S.F. Wilson (57,080). Edwards opted against a third bid for governor in 1882, instead endorsing the Democratic candidate,
William B. Bate William Brimage Bate (October 7, 1826March 9, 1905) was a planter and slaveholder, Confederate officer, and politician in Tennessee. After the Reconstruction era, he served as the 23rd governor of Tennessee from 1883 to 1887. He was elected to th ...
.And Still They Come
" ''Morristown (TN) Gazette'', 18 October 1882, p. 2.


Later life

Edwards spent his later years writing stories and memoirs for newspapers and other publications. These included a multipart series on his Mexican–American War experiences, which appeared in the ''Knoxville Tribune'' in the mid-1890s, and has since been edited and republished as a book, ''Down the Tennessee: The Mexican War Reminisciences of an East Tennessee Volunteer'', by historian Stewart Lillard. Edwards also wrote the chapter, "Bradley County and the Town of Cleveland, Tennessee," for the 1893 book, ''East Tennessee: Historical and Biographical''. Edwards died at the Soldiers' Home in
Johnson City, Tennessee Johnson City is a city in Washington, Carter, and Sullivan counties in the U.S. state of Tennessee, mostly in Washington County. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 71,046, making it Tennessee's eighth-most populous cit ...
, on January 19, 1907. He was interred in Fort Hill Cemetery in Cleveland.


See also

* Daniel C. Trewhitt


References


External links


Bradley County and the Town of Cleveland, Tennessee
— chapter written by Edwards for the 1893 book, ''East Tennessee: Historical and Biographical'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Edwards, Richard Mitchell 1822 births 1907 deaths People from Cleveland, Tennessee Members of the Tennessee House of Representatives Union army colonels Tennessee Democrats Tennessee Greenbacks Tennessee politicians convicted of crimes American military personnel of the Mexican–American War People of Tennessee in the American Civil War Southern Unionists in the American Civil War People convicted of sedition 19th-century members of the Tennessee General Assembly