Isham G. Harris

Isham G. Harris
Governor of Tennessee
In office November 3, 1857 – 1862
Lieutenant	John C. Burch (1857-1859) Tazewell W. Newman (1859-1861) B.L. Stovall (1861) Edward S. Cheatham (1861-1862)
Preceded by	Andrew Johnson
Succeeded by	Andrew Johnson as Military Governor
United States Senator from Tennessee
In office March 4, 1877 – July 8, 1897
Preceded by	Henry Cooper
Succeeded by	Thomas B. Turley
Personal details
Born	February 10, 1818(1818-02-10) Franklin County, Tennessee
Died	July 8, 1897(1897-07-08) (aged 79) Washington, D.C.
Political party	Democratic

Isham Green Harris (February 10, 1818 – July 8, 1897) was an American politician. He served as Governor of Tennessee from 1857 to 1862 and as a U.S. Senator from 1877 until his death.

As governor, his decision not to respond to President Abraham Lincoln's request for troops to quell the secession of the Southern states helped make Tennessee the last state to join the Confederacy. During the American Civil War, Harris served as staff officer in the Confederate Army.

Following the defeat of the CSA, Harris fled to Mexico, but returned to Memphis after learning most Confederate officials were not being prosecuted for treason. He was subsequently elected to four terms in the United States Senate and served as its President pro tempore.

Early life

Harris was born in Franklin County, Tennessee near Tullahoma. He was the ninth child of Isham Green Harris, a farmer and Methodist minister, and his wife Lucy Davidson Harris. His parents had moved from North Carolina to Middle Tennessee in 1806. He was educated at Carrick Academy in Winchester, Tennessee until he was fourteen. He moved to Paris, Tennessee where he joined up with his brother William, an attorney, and became a store clerk. In 1838, with funds provided by his brother, Harris established his own business in Ripley, Mississippi, an area that had only been recently opened to settlers after a treaty with the Chickasaw Indians.

While in Ripley he studied law. He sold his successful business three years later for $7,000 and returned to Paris where he continued studying law under Judge Andrew McCampbell. On May 3, 1841 he was admitted to the bar in Henry County and began a lucrative practice in Paris. He was considered one of the leading criminal attorneys in the state. On July 6, 1843 Harris married Martha Mariah Travis (nicknamed Crockett), the daughter of Major Edward Travis, a War of 1812 veteran. The couple had seven sons. By 1850 the family had a three hundred acre farm and a home in Paris. By 1860 their total property worth $45,000 and included twenty slaves and a plantation in Shelby County.

Early career

He was elected to the Tennessee State Senate in 1847, serving one term there and then two in the U.S. House of Representatives, from 1849 to 1853. During his first term in the House, he chaired the Committee on Invalid Pensions. A Democrat, he was his party's nominee for governor in 1857 and was elected, succeeding Andrew Johnson.

Civil War period

Perhaps rather surprisingly given the troubled and volatile nature of the times, he was re-elected twice, in 1859 and 1861. When President Abraham Lincoln declared that there was rebellion in the South in 1861 and asked for troops to help quell it, Harris refused to make the call, and none were provided. This helped push Tennessee to become the last state to secede from the Union and join the Confederacy.

The Confederate government had lost control of much of Tennessee, including the capital, Nashville, by early 1862. Apparently, upon learning that Lincoln had appointed Andrew Johnson as military governor of Tennessee, Harris, while not resigning formally, ceased to make any real effort to function as governor, serving instead as a staff officer in the Confederate States Army, first for Albert Sidney Johnston and then for Joseph E. Johnston. Gov. Harris was present at the Battle of Shiloh (Pittsburg Landing), Tn. on April 6–7, 1862. At 2:15pm on the afternoon of April 6 at Shiloh, Gov. Harris found General Albert Sidney Johnston slumping in his saddle he asked the General "General are you wounded?" to which Johnston replied "Yes, I fear gravely so". Harris and other Staff officers moved General Johnston to a small ravine near the famous "Hornets Nest" and desperatley tried to aid the General. A bullet had cut the main artery in his leg and he bled to death at 2:30pm. on April 6, 1862. Governor Harris and the others secretly moved General Johnston's body to Shiloh Church so as not to cause moral damage to the troops, where his body remained till the Confederate Army withdrew to Corinth, Ms. the next day, April 7, 1862. ending the Battle of Shiloh.

Post-war career

Isham G. Harris

After the war, Harris fled with General Hylan B. Lyon and other Confederates to Mexico, hoping to rally with Maximillian. Harris then sought refuge in England. Upon learning that only the highest-ranking officials of the Confederacy were being punished, and that it might be possible for all others to have their civil rights restored, he returned to Tennessee and resumed the practice of law in Memphis, Tennessee. He was subsequently elected to four terms in the U.S. Senate, serving from 1877 until his death, and is, to date, Tennessee's second-longest serving Senator, next to Kenneth McKellar. From 1893 to 1895 (53rd Congress), Harris was President pro tempore of the Senate. Other Senate assignments in his career included chairing the District of Columbia Committee in the 46th Congress and the 53rd Congress, the Committee on Epidemic Diseases in the 49th Congress through the 52nd Congress, and the Committee on Private Land Claims in the 54th and 55th Congresses.

Death and legacy

His funeral was held in the Senate chamber of the United States Capitol and he is buried at Elmwood Cemetery in Memphis, where many prominent West Tennessee political figures are buried.

References

• Isham G. Harris at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress Retrieved on 2008-02-13
• Elliott, Sam Davis. Isham G. Harris of Tennessee: Confederate Governor and United Senator. Baton Rouge, LA.:Louisiana State University Press, 2009 ISBN 978-0-8071-3490-0
• Hall, Kermit L in The Confederate Governors. edited by Yearns, W. Buck. Athens, Georgia: University of Georgia Press, 1985 ISBN 0-8203-0719-X

Political offices
Preceded by Andrew Johnson	Governor of Tennessee 1857–1862	Succeeded by Andrew Johnson As Military Governor
Preceded by Charles F. Manderson	President pro tempore of the United States Senate March 22, 1893 – January 7, 1895	Succeeded by Matt Whitaker Ransom
Preceded by Matt Whitaker Ransom	President pro tempore of the United States Senate January 10, 1895 – March 4, 1895	Succeeded by William P. Frye
United States House of Representatives
Preceded by Lucien Bonaparte Chase	Member from Tennessee's 9th congressional district 1849–1853	Succeeded by Emerson Etheridge
United States Senate
Preceded by Henry Cooper	Senator from Tennessee (Class 2) 1877–1897 Served alongside: James E. Bailey, Howell E. Jackson, Washington C. Whitthorne, William B. Bate	Succeeded by Thomas B. Turley