Horace Maynard
Encyclopedia
Horace Maynard was an American educator, attorney, politician and diplomat active primarily in the second half of the 19th century. Initially elected to the House of Representatives
from Tennessee's 2nd Congressional District in 1857, Maynard, an ardent Union
supporter, became one of the few Southern congressmen to maintain his seat in the House during the Civil War
. Toward the end of the war, Maynard served as Tennessee's attorney general under Governor Andrew Johnson
, and later served as ambassador to Turkey
under President Ulysses S. Grant
and Postmaster General under President Rutherford B. Hayes
.
Maynard left his teaching position at East Tennessee College
in the early 1840s to pursue a career in law, and quickly developed a reputation among his peers for his reasoning ability and biting sarcastic style. He spent much of his first two terms in Congress fighting to preserve the Union, and during the Civil War he consistently urged President Abraham Lincoln
to send Union forces to free East Tennessee
from its Confederate
occupiers. Maynard returned to Congress after the war, but being a Republican in a Democrat-controlled state, he struggled in statewide elections.
, Maynard was educated at Millbury Academy and later at Amherst College
. When Maynard entered Amherst, he puzzled his classmates by placing a "V" above his door, the meaning of which was revealed in 1838 when Maynard was named valedictorian
of his graduating class. In 1839, he moved to Knoxville, Tennessee
, where he accepted a position as a professor at East Tennessee College (now the University of Tennessee
). He initially taught in the university's preparatory (high school
) department, but in 1841 he became a college-level teacher of mathematics and ancient languages.
Maynard was initially disenchanted with Knoxville, which he considered backward and unsophisticated, and contemplated leaving Tennessee. After he was admitted to the bar in 1844, however, he found a niche arguing cases in local courts, and decided to make the city his permanent home. Knoxville attorney Oliver Perry Temple
(1820–1907), a colleague of Maynard, described Maynard as "abrupt and unamiable, and often offensive in his manners, snapping up men without hesitation." This style agitated Maynard's peers, but at the same time gained their respect.
. In 1857, with the Knoxville Whig backing his campaign, he captured the 2nd District's congressional seat. In his 1859 reelection campaign, Maynard easily defeated fellow attorney J. C. Ramsey, winning 67% of the vote.
Maynard initially supported the Whig Party
, and served as a presidential elector in 1852. After the collapse of the Whig Party, he ran for Congress on the American, Opposition
and Unionist party tickets in 1857, 1859, and 1861, respectively.
.
Along with fellow Unionists Andrew Johnson
, T.A.R. Nelson
, and William G. Brownlow
, Maynard worked feverishly to keep Tennessee in the Union amidst the secession crisis of 1860 and 1861. In the weeks leading up to the state's June 8 referendum on secession, Maynard travelled across East Tennessee, giving dozens of pro-Union speeches. Maynard was also a member of the Knox County
delegation to the East Tennessee Union Convention
, which sought to create a separate Union-aligned state in East Tennessee.
to take his seat in Congress. When Confederate forces occupied East Tennessee later that year, Maynard consistently pleaded with Lincoln to send troops to free the region, warning that East Tennesseans' "tears and blood will be a blot on your administration that time can never efface." In December 1861, Maynard blasted General George H. Thomas
for balking at an invasion of the region in the wake of so-called bridge-burning conspiracy
, calling his efforts "disgraceful." Later that month, General George B. McClellan
wrote to General Don Carlos Buell
:
In spite of Maynard's efforts, Union troops did not enter Knoxville until September 1863. By the time Maynard returned to the city, a rift had developed among East Tennessee's Unionists between those who supported the Emancipation Proclamation (led by Maynard and Brownlow) and those who simply sought a return to the pre-war status quo (led by Nelson and Knoxville mayor James C. Luttrell
). In 1864, Maynard was appointed Tennessee's attorney general by Andrew Johnson, who had been installed as the state's military governor.
in 1866 and was elected to the 39th Congress as an Unconditional Unionist the same year following the readmission of Tennessee
into the Union. He then served in the 40th, 41st, 42nd and 43rd Congresses as a Republican. During the 43rd Congress he acted as chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Banking and Currency. In 1868, while serving in Congress, Maynard was appointed to the Tennessee Supreme Court
by Governor Brownlow to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Samuel Milligan
. Maynard held both offices simultaneously, but his right to do so was challenged in Calloway v. Strum, 48 Tennessee (1 Heiskell), 764. The court in that case held that Maynard's judicial acts were valid based on the presumption that his acceptance of the Supreme Court appointment constituted a resignation of his congressional office, and that it was up to Congress to address his continued occupation of that office.
Maynard reached the height of his political career in 1873 when he defeated both Andrew Johnson and popular West Tennessee politician B. F. Cheatham in the race for Tennessee's at-large congressional district. The following year, he ran for Governor of Tennessee as a Republican, but lost to James D. Porter, Jr.
. He was appointed Minister
to Turkey
and served from 1875 to 1880 in that post. He was appointed United States Postmaster General
in the Cabinet of President Rutherford B. Hayes and served from June 2, 1880 to March 5, 1881.
Maynard died suddenly from heart disease in Knoxville in 1882, and was buried in Knoxville's Old Gray Cemetery.
wrote that Maynard was the "best read man" of East Tennessee's lawyers, while abolitionist Frederick Douglass
once remarked that Maynard had a "three story head." Knoxville mayor Peter Staub
(a Democrat) said that even though he disliked Maynard, he was so impressed with Maynard's reasoning and rhetoric that he voted for him twice. Oliver Perry Temple wrote of Maynard: "Many were the persons he stung and wounded by his biting sarcasm or pungent wit." Humorist George Washington Harris
mocked Maynard ("Stilyards") in his story, "The Widow McCloud's Mare."
During the 1850s, Knox County attempted to sue the newly-formed Union County, Tennessee, out of existence. Maynard successfully represented Union County, and in return, the county named its county seat, Maynardville
, in his honor. Horace Maynard High School served the county from 1923 until 1997, when it became a middle school. During the Spanish-American War
, the USS Nashville
, commanded by Maynard's son, Washburn, fired the war's first American shot. Another son, James, was president of the Knoxville-based Brookside Mills
in the early 1900s.
|-
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
from Tennessee's 2nd Congressional District in 1857, Maynard, an ardent Union
Union (American Civil War)
During the American Civil War, the Union was a name used to refer to the federal government of the United States, which was supported by the twenty free states and five border slave states. It was opposed by 11 southern slave states that had declared a secession to join together to form the...
supporter, became one of the few Southern congressmen to maintain his seat in the House during the Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
. Toward the end of the war, Maynard served as Tennessee's attorney general under Governor Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson was the 17th President of the United States . As Vice-President of the United States in 1865, he succeeded Abraham Lincoln following the latter's assassination. Johnson then presided over the initial and contentious Reconstruction era of the United States following the American...
, and later served as ambassador to Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
under President Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant was the 18th President of the United States as well as military commander during the Civil War and post-war Reconstruction periods. Under Grant's command, the Union Army defeated the Confederate military and ended the Confederate States of America...
and Postmaster General under President Rutherford B. Hayes
Rutherford B. Hayes
Rutherford Birchard Hayes was the 19th President of the United States . As president, he oversaw the end of Reconstruction and the United States' entry into the Second Industrial Revolution...
.
Maynard left his teaching position at East Tennessee College
University of Tennessee
The University of Tennessee is a public land-grant university headquartered at Knoxville, Tennessee, United States...
in the early 1840s to pursue a career in law, and quickly developed a reputation among his peers for his reasoning ability and biting sarcastic style. He spent much of his first two terms in Congress fighting to preserve the Union, and during the Civil War he consistently urged President Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
to send Union forces to free East Tennessee
East Tennessee
East Tennessee is a name given to approximately the eastern third of the U.S. state of Tennessee, one of the three Grand Divisions of Tennessee defined in state law. East Tennessee consists of 33 counties, 30 located within the Eastern Time Zone and three counties in the Central Time Zone, namely...
from its Confederate
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
occupiers. Maynard returned to Congress after the war, but being a Republican in a Democrat-controlled state, he struggled in statewide elections.
Early life
Born in Westborough, MassachusettsWestborough, Massachusetts
Westborough is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 18,272 at the 2010 census. The town is governed under the New England open town meeting system, headed by a five member elected Board of Selectmen whose duties include licensing, appointing various...
, Maynard was educated at Millbury Academy and later at Amherst College
Amherst College
Amherst College is a private liberal arts college located in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. Amherst is an exclusively undergraduate four-year institution and enrolled 1,744 students in the fall of 2009...
. When Maynard entered Amherst, he puzzled his classmates by placing a "V" above his door, the meaning of which was revealed in 1838 when Maynard was named valedictorian
Valedictorian
Valedictorian is an academic title conferred upon the student who delivers the closing or farewell statement at a graduation ceremony. Usually, the valedictorian is the highest ranked student among those graduating from an educational institution...
of his graduating class. In 1839, he moved to Knoxville, Tennessee
Knoxville, Tennessee
Founded in 1786, Knoxville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Tennessee, U.S.A., behind Memphis and Nashville, and is the county seat of Knox County. It is the largest city in East Tennessee, and the second-largest city in the Appalachia region...
, where he accepted a position as a professor at East Tennessee College (now the University of Tennessee
University of Tennessee
The University of Tennessee is a public land-grant university headquartered at Knoxville, Tennessee, United States...
). He initially taught in the university's preparatory (high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
) department, but in 1841 he became a college-level teacher of mathematics and ancient languages.
Maynard was initially disenchanted with Knoxville, which he considered backward and unsophisticated, and contemplated leaving Tennessee. After he was admitted to the bar in 1844, however, he found a niche arguing cases in local courts, and decided to make the city his permanent home. Knoxville attorney Oliver Perry Temple
Oliver Perry Temple
Oliver Perry Temple was an American attorney, author, judge, and economic promoter active primarily in East Tennessee in the latter half of the 19th century. During the months leading up to the Civil War, Temple played a pivotal role in organizing East Tennessee's Unionists...
(1820–1907), a colleague of Maynard, described Maynard as "abrupt and unamiable, and often offensive in his manners, snapping up men without hesitation." This style agitated Maynard's peers, but at the same time gained their respect.
Early congressional terms
When Maynard first ran for Congress in 1853, he was ruthlessly attacked in local newspapers, and was defeated by William ChurchwellWilliam Montgomery Churchwell
William Montgomery Churchwell was an American politician and a member of the United States House of Representatives.-Biography:He was born near Knoxville, Tennessee in Knox County on February 20, 1826. He attended private schools and Emory and Henry College in Emory, Virginia from 1840 to 1843. He...
. In 1857, with the Knoxville Whig backing his campaign, he captured the 2nd District's congressional seat. In his 1859 reelection campaign, Maynard easily defeated fellow attorney J. C. Ramsey, winning 67% of the vote.
Maynard initially supported the Whig Party
Whig Party (United States)
The Whig Party was a political party of the United States during the era of Jacksonian democracy. Considered integral to the Second Party System and operating from the early 1830s to the mid-1850s, the party was formed in opposition to the policies of President Andrew Jackson and his Democratic...
, and served as a presidential elector in 1852. After the collapse of the Whig Party, he ran for Congress on the American, Opposition
Opposition Party (United States)
The Opposition Party in the United States is a label with two different applications in Congressional history, as a majority party in Congress 1854-58, and as a Third Party in the South 1858-1860....
and Unionist party tickets in 1857, 1859, and 1861, respectively.
Secession crisis and views on slavery
Maynard's complex views on slavery reflected shifting sentiments that were common among East Tennessee Unionists. During the 1830s, Maynard, the son of an abolitionist, found slavery contemptible, calling it "a curse to the country." By 1850, however, Maynard was defending the practice of slavery in letters to his father, arguing there was a "bright as well as a dark side to slavery." In 1860, Maynard owned four slaves, and while he opposed secession as a congressman, he nevertheless defended slavery. Toward the end of the Civil War, Maynard again adopted an abolitionist viewpoint, and supported Lincoln's Emancipation ProclamationEmancipation Proclamation
The Emancipation Proclamation is an executive order issued by United States President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, during the American Civil War using his war powers. It proclaimed the freedom of 3.1 million of the nation's 4 million slaves, and immediately freed 50,000 of them, with nearly...
.
Along with fellow Unionists Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson was the 17th President of the United States . As Vice-President of the United States in 1865, he succeeded Abraham Lincoln following the latter's assassination. Johnson then presided over the initial and contentious Reconstruction era of the United States following the American...
, T.A.R. Nelson
Thomas Amos Rogers Nelson
Thomas Amos Rogers Nelson was an American attorney, politician, and judge, active primarily in East Tennessee during the mid-19th century. He represented Tennessee's 1st Congressional District in the 36th U.S. Congress , where he gained a reputation as a staunch pro-Union southerner...
, and William G. Brownlow
William Gannaway Brownlow
William Gannaway "Parson" Brownlow was an American newspaper editor, minister, and politician who served as Governor of the state of Tennessee from 1865 to 1869 and as a United States Senator from Tennessee from 1869 to 1875...
, Maynard worked feverishly to keep Tennessee in the Union amidst the secession crisis of 1860 and 1861. In the weeks leading up to the state's June 8 referendum on secession, Maynard travelled across East Tennessee, giving dozens of pro-Union speeches. Maynard was also a member of the Knox County
Knox County, Tennessee
Knox County is a county in the U.S. state of Tennessee. Its 2007 population was estimated at 423,874 by the United States Census Bureau. Its county seat is Knoxville, as it has been since the creation of the county. The county is at the geographical center of the Great Valley of East Tennessee...
delegation to the East Tennessee Union Convention
East Tennessee Convention of 1861
The East Tennessee Convention consisted of a series of meetings held in 1861 on the eve of the American Civil War in which 29 counties in East Tennessee and one county in Middle Tennessee denounced secessionist activities within the state of Tennessee and resolved to break away and form an...
, which sought to create a separate Union-aligned state in East Tennessee.
Civil War
After the East Tennessee Union Convention adjourned in June 1861, Maynard headed for Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
to take his seat in Congress. When Confederate forces occupied East Tennessee later that year, Maynard consistently pleaded with Lincoln to send troops to free the region, warning that East Tennesseans' "tears and blood will be a blot on your administration that time can never efface." In December 1861, Maynard blasted General George H. Thomas
George Henry Thomas
George Henry Thomas was a career United States Army officer and a Union General during the American Civil War, one of the principal commanders in the Western Theater....
for balking at an invasion of the region in the wake of so-called bridge-burning conspiracy
East Tennessee bridge-burning conspiracy
The East Tennessee bridge-burning conspiracy was a Civil War-era guerrilla warfare operation carried out by Union sympathizers in Confederate-occupied East Tennessee in 1861. The operation, which was planned by Carter County minister William B...
, calling his efforts "disgraceful." Later that month, General George B. McClellan
George B. McClellan
George Brinton McClellan was a major general during the American Civil War. He organized the famous Army of the Potomac and served briefly as the general-in-chief of the Union Army. Early in the war, McClellan played an important role in raising a well-trained and organized army for the Union...
wrote to General Don Carlos Buell
Don Carlos Buell
Don Carlos Buell was a career United States Army officer who fought in the Seminole War, the Mexican-American War, and the American Civil War. Buell led Union armies in two great Civil War battles—Shiloh and Perryville. The nation was angry at his failure to defeat the outnumbered...
:
"Johnson, Maynard, etc., are again becoming frantic, and have President Lincoln's sympathy excited. Political considerations would make it advisable to get the arms and troops into Eastern Tennessee at a very early day..."
In spite of Maynard's efforts, Union troops did not enter Knoxville until September 1863. By the time Maynard returned to the city, a rift had developed among East Tennessee's Unionists between those who supported the Emancipation Proclamation (led by Maynard and Brownlow) and those who simply sought a return to the pre-war status quo (led by Nelson and Knoxville mayor James C. Luttrell
James C. Luttrell
James Churchwell Luttrell II was an American attorney and politician who served as Mayor of Knoxville, Tennessee, during the Civil War. His eight-year term was the longest for any Knoxville mayor until the late 20th century, when it was surpassed by Victor Ashe's 16-year term...
). In 1864, Maynard was appointed Tennessee's attorney general by Andrew Johnson, who had been installed as the state's military governor.
Postwar activities
Maynard attended the National Union ConventionNational Union Convention
The National Union Convention was held on August 14, 15 , and 16 1866, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.The convention was called in advance of the mid-year elections of 1866 in an attempt to help president Johnson,...
in 1866 and was elected to the 39th Congress as an Unconditional Unionist the same year following the readmission of Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
into the Union. He then served in the 40th, 41st, 42nd and 43rd Congresses as a Republican. During the 43rd Congress he acted as chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Banking and Currency. In 1868, while serving in Congress, Maynard was appointed to the Tennessee Supreme Court
Tennessee Supreme Court
The Tennessee Supreme Court is the state supreme court of the state of Tennessee. Cornelia Clark is the current Chief Justice.Unlike other states, in which the state attorney general is directly elected or appointed by the governor or state legislature, the Tennessee Supreme Court appoints the...
by Governor Brownlow to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Samuel Milligan
Samuel Milligan
Samuel Milligan was a Justice of the Tennessee Supreme Court, and a judge of the United States Court of Claims....
. Maynard held both offices simultaneously, but his right to do so was challenged in Calloway v. Strum, 48 Tennessee (1 Heiskell), 764. The court in that case held that Maynard's judicial acts were valid based on the presumption that his acceptance of the Supreme Court appointment constituted a resignation of his congressional office, and that it was up to Congress to address his continued occupation of that office.
Maynard reached the height of his political career in 1873 when he defeated both Andrew Johnson and popular West Tennessee politician B. F. Cheatham in the race for Tennessee's at-large congressional district. The following year, he ran for Governor of Tennessee as a Republican, but lost to James D. Porter, Jr.
James D. Porter, Jr.
James Davis Porter was governor of the U.S. state of Tennessee from 1875 to 1879.-Biography:A native of Paris, Tennessee, Porter graduated from the former University of Nashville at age 18. He was elected to the Tennessee General Assembly in 1859. When the American Civil War loomed, Porter sided...
. He was appointed Minister
United States Ambassador to Turkey
The United States of America has maintained many high level contacts with Turkey since the nineteenth century.-Chargé d'Affaires:*George W. Erving *David Porter -Minister Resident:*David Porter *Dabney Smith Carr...
to Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
and served from 1875 to 1880 in that post. He was appointed United States Postmaster General
United States Postmaster General
The United States Postmaster General is the Chief Executive Officer of the United States Postal Service. The office, in one form or another, is older than both the United States Constitution and the United States Declaration of Independence...
in the Cabinet of President Rutherford B. Hayes and served from June 2, 1880 to March 5, 1881.
Maynard died suddenly from heart disease in Knoxville in 1882, and was buried in Knoxville's Old Gray Cemetery.
Legacy
Maynard was remembered among his peers for his powerful intellect and sense of persuasiveness. Knoxville Journal editor William RuleWilliam Rule (American editor)
William Rule was an American newspaper editor and politician, best known as the founder of the Knoxville Journal, which was published in Knoxville, Tennessee, from 1870 until 1991. A protégé of vitriolic newspaper editor William G...
wrote that Maynard was the "best read man" of East Tennessee's lawyers, while abolitionist Frederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass was an American social reformer, orator, writer and statesman. After escaping from slavery, he became a leader of the abolitionist movement, gaining note for his dazzling oratory and incisive antislavery writing...
once remarked that Maynard had a "three story head." Knoxville mayor Peter Staub
Peter Staub
Peter Staub was a Swiss-born American businessman, politician, and diplomat. He immigrated to the United States in 1854, and moved to Knoxville, Tennessee, in 1856, where he lived for most of the remainder of his life...
(a Democrat) said that even though he disliked Maynard, he was so impressed with Maynard's reasoning and rhetoric that he voted for him twice. Oliver Perry Temple wrote of Maynard: "Many were the persons he stung and wounded by his biting sarcasm or pungent wit." Humorist George Washington Harris
George Washington Harris
George Washington Harris was an American humorist best known for his character, "Sut Lovingood," an Appalachian backwoods reveler fond of telling tall tales...
mocked Maynard ("Stilyards") in his story, "The Widow McCloud's Mare."
During the 1850s, Knox County attempted to sue the newly-formed Union County, Tennessee, out of existence. Maynard successfully represented Union County, and in return, the county named its county seat, Maynardville
Maynardville, Tennessee
Maynardville is a city in and the county seat of Union County, Tennessee, United States. Its population was 1,782 at the 2000 census. It is included in the Knoxville, Tennessee Metropolitan Statistical Area....
, in his honor. Horace Maynard High School served the county from 1923 until 1997, when it became a middle school. During the Spanish-American War
Spanish-American War
The Spanish–American War was a conflict in 1898 between Spain and the United States, effectively the result of American intervention in the ongoing Cuban War of Independence...
, the USS Nashville
USS Nashville (PG-7)
USS Nashville , a gunboat, was the only ship of its class. It was the third ship of the United States Navy to hold the name Nashville....
, commanded by Maynard's son, Washburn, fired the war's first American shot. Another son, James, was president of the Knoxville-based Brookside Mills
Brookside Mills
Brookside Mills was a textile manufacturing company that operated in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The company's Second Creek factory was the city's largest employer in the early 1900s. Brookside Village, a neighborhood in North Knoxville, was originally...
in the early 1900s.
External links
- Finding Aid for the Horace Maynard Papers — University of Tennessee Special Collections
|-