Major General John Calvin Brown, P.A.C.S.
Major-General John Calvin Brown was born in Giles County, January 6,
1827. When nineteen years of age he was graduated at Jackson college,
Tenn., and two years later was admitted to the bar at Pulaski. From that
time (1848) until May, 1861, he practiced law successfully. He then
entered the Third infantry regiment of the provisional army of Tennessee as
captain, and on the 16th of May was commissioned colonel of that
regiment, which, with the other soldiers of Tennessee, became part of the
provisional army of the Confederate States upon the accession of
Tennessee to the Southern Confederacy. At the battle of Fort Donelson
(February 14-16, 1862) we find Colonel Brown commanding the Third
brigade of General Buckner's division, and acting a conspicuous part in the
charge which opened the way for the retreat of the Confederate army to
Nashville. The fact that the opportunity was not improved detracts nothing
from the gallant achievement of the men who made that brilliant charge.
When, on the 16th, the fort was surrendered, Colonel Brown became a
prisoner of war and remained in the enemy's hands for six months. Shortly
after his exchange he was commissioned as brigadier-general (August 30,
1862). He participated in the Kentucky campaign, and was wounded at the
battle of Perryville, October 8, 1862; with his usual gallantry fought at
Chickamauga, where he was again wounded, and recovered in time to act
an heroic part at Missionary Ridge. In all the movements of the Dalton-
Atlanta campaign he was distinguished, and on the 4th of August, 1864,
he was commissioned major-general. In Hood's gallant but disastrous effort
to retrieve the waning fortunes of the Confederacy by his Tennessee
campaign, General Brown was again among the foremost, commanding
Cheatham's division. In the fierce charge at Franklin, in which so many of
the choicest spirits of the army of Tennessee laid down their lives, he was
severely wounded. At the close of the war he resumed the practice of law
at Pulaski, Tenn. He was a member of the constitutional convention which
met at Nashville in 1870. The next year he was elected governor of the
State, being the first Democrat chosen to that position after the war. He
was the second member of his family to be thus honored, his brother, Neil
S. Brown, having been governor from 1847 to 1849. One of the leading
issues of Governor Brown's administration was the State debt, which at the
beginning of his term amounted to $43,000,000 bonded, besides a large
floating debt. At the close of his administration in 1875 (he having served
two terms), the bonded debt had been reduced to $20,000,000, the large
floating debt had been paid, and the credit of the State had been fully re-
established. After retiring from the executive office he engaged in every
position which he held. In 1864 he married Miss Bettie Childress, one of
the most beautiful and cultured women of the South. Their elegant home
was in Nashville. The death of General Brown occurred at Red Boiling
Springs, Tenn., August 17, 1889.
Source: Evans, Clement, ed. Confederate Military History, Vol.
XII, Confederate Publishing Company, Atlanta, GA, 1899
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