John Hervey Crozier (February 10, 1812 – October 25, 1889) was an American attorney and politician active primarily in

Knoxville, Tennessee Knoxville is a city in and the county seat of Knox County, Tennessee, Knox County in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States census, Knoxville's population was 190,740, making it the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Di ...

, USA, during the mid-nineteenth century. Described as "an orator of uncommon brilliancy" and "one of the brainiest men ever sent by Tennessee to congress,"The Funeral of Miss Cornelia Crozier
Newspaper clipping on file at the Calvin M. McClung Historical Collection. Retrieved: 24 July 2010. Crozier represented

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

's 3rd congressional district in the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...

from 1845 to 1849. While originally a member of the Whig Party, Crozier switched his allegiance to the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

in the 1850s, and supported the Confederacy during the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

. Crozier retired from public life after the war, and spent his remaining years engaged in scholarly pursuits.East Tennessee Historical Society, Mary Rothrock (ed.), ''The French Broad-Holston Country: A History of Knox County, Tennessee'' (Knoxville, Tenn.: The Society, 1972), pp. 403-405.

Biography

Early life and career

Crozier was born in Knoxville on February 10, 1812, the youngest son of Captain John and Hannah Barton Crozier. Crozier's father, an immigrant from

County Fermanagh County Fermanagh ( ; ) is one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the six counties of Northern Ireland. The county covers an area of 1,691 km2 (653 sq mi) and has a population of 61,805 a ...

in Northern Ireland, was among the earliest settlers in Knoxville, and served as Knoxville's postmaster from 1804 until 1838. Peggy Barton Crozier (one Crozier's sisters), was the eldest daughter of John and Hannah Barton Crozier, and had married Dr. J.G.M. Ramsey on March 1, 1823 while her parents were then residing at Fruit Hill. After attending public schools, the younger Crozier graduated from East Tennessee College (now the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state, ...

) in 1829. He was admitted to the Tennessee

bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (u ...

, and practiced law in Knoxville. In 1835, after Knox County attorney-general John Nelson resigned, Crozier was appointed to fill out his term. From 1837 to 1839, Crozier represented Knox County 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 ...

. In 1839, he was elected to Knoxville's Board of Aldermen, and in 1844, he was a presidential elector for the

Clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...

/ Frelinghuysen ticket. Crozier was elected to the Twenty-ninth and Thirtieth congresses, serving from March 4, 1845 to March 3, 1849. During the Thirtieth Congress, he was chairman of the Committee on Expenditures in the Department of War, although he opposed the then-ongoing

Mexican–American War The Mexican–American War, also known in the United States as the Mexican War and in Mexico as the (''United States intervention in Mexico''), was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848. It followed the 1 ...

. Crozier also obtained $50,000 in federal funding for navigational improvements to the

Tennessee River The Tennessee River is the largest tributary of the Ohio River. It is approximately long and is located in the southeastern United States in the Tennessee Valley. The river was once popularly known as the Cherokee River, among other names, ...

, which he hoped would eventually connect Knoxville and Chattanooga to the nation's inland waterways. After his second term, Crozier resumed the practice of law in Knoxville, and along with his brother-in-law,

J. G. M. Ramsey James Gettys McGready Ramsey (March 25, 1797 – April 11, 1884) was an American historian, physician, planter, slave owner, and businessman, active primarily in East Tennessee during the nineteenth century. Ramsey is perhaps best known for h ...

, championed railroad construction in the region. Crozier supported Whig candidate

Winfield Scott Winfield Scott (June 13, 1786May 29, 1866) was an American military commander and political candidate. He served as a general in the United States Army from 1814 to 1861, taking part in the War of 1812, the Mexican–American War, the early s ...

during the presidential election of 1852, but after the Whig Party disintegrated in subsequent months, he affiliated himself with the Democratic Party. Crozier supported Democratic presidential candidate

James Buchanan James Buchanan Jr. ( ; April 23, 1791June 1, 1868) was an American lawyer, diplomat and politician who served as the 15th president of the United States from 1857 to 1861. He previously served as secretary of state from 1845 to 1849 and repr ...

in 1856, and campaigned in Knoxville on behalf of Southern Democrat

John C. Breckinridge John Cabell Breckinridge (January 16, 1821 – May 17, 1875) was an American lawyer, politician, and soldier. He represented Kentucky in both houses of Congress and became the 14th and youngest-ever vice president of the United States. Serving ...

during the presidential election of 1860.Robert McKenzie, ''Lincolnites and Rebels: A Divided Town in the American Civil War'' (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006), pp. 45–46, 99.

The Civil War

Crozier's defection to the Democratic Party resumed a string of personal attacks from '' Knoxville Whig'' editor, William "Parson" Brownlow, which Crozier later claimed drove him from public life.William Gannaway Brownlow, ''Sketches of the Rise, Progress, and Decline of Secession'' (Philadelphia: G.W. Childs, 1862), pp. 289-290. During the presidential campaign of 1860, Crozier and Brownlow attacked one another in speeches, and continued quarrelling via newspaper editorials in 1861 as they stood on opposite sides of the secession debate. Brownlow called Crozier "a corrupt demagogue, a selfish liar, and an unmitigated coward," while Crozier argued that Brownlow had earned his fortune by publishing lies. In December 1861, Crozier's nephew, Confederate district attorney J. C. Ramsey, had Brownlow jailed for treason. When the

Union Army During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union (American Civil War), Union of the collective U.S. st ...

occupied Knoxville in September 1863, General

Ambrose Burnside Ambrose Everett Burnside (May 23, 1824 – September 13, 1881) was an American army officer and politician who became a senior Union general in the Civil War and three times Governor of Rhode Island, as well as being a successful inventor ...

chose as his headquarters Crozier's house at the corner of Gay Street and Clinch Avenue (now the location of the Hyatt Place Knoxville/Downtown).East Tennessee Historical Society, Lucile Deaderick (ed.), ''Heart of the Valley: A History of Knoxville, Tennessee'' (Knoxville, Tenn.: East Tennessee Historical Society, 1976), pp. 31, 636. Crozier's extensive personal library made his house the ideal choice for Burnside, an avid reader. During the waning years of the war, Crozier made amends with the city's Unionists. In 1865, Brownlow won a $25,000 judgement against Crozier and two other Confederate leaders, but the decision was eventually annulled.

Later life

After the war, Crozier retired from practice to engage in "literary pursuits." In 1869, he delivered a lecture before the Young Men's Literary Society entitled, "What Studies Most Expand the Human Mind?" In 1883, he helped revive the

East Tennessee Historical Society The East Tennessee Historical Society (ETHS), headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States, is a non-profit organization dedicated to the study of East Tennessee history, the preservation of historically significant artifacts, and educating ...

, which he and his brother-in-law, J. G. M. Ramsey, had established in 1834. Crozier died in Knoxville on October 25, 1889, and was

interred Burial, also known as interment or inhumation, is a method of final disposition whereby a dead body is placed into the ground, sometimes with objects. This is usually accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and objec ...

Old Gray Cemetery Old Gray Cemetery is the second-oldest cemetery in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States. Established in 1850, the cemetery contains the graves of some of Knoxville's most influential citizens, ranging from politicians and soldiers, to artists an ...

. Following family tradition, his grave was not individually marked (the family plot is currently marked by a monument with the single name of "Crozier"). Crozier's daughter,

Lizzie Crozier French Margaret Elizabeth Crozier French (May 7, 1851 – May 14, 1926) was an American educator, women's suffragist and social reform activist. She was one of the primary leaders in the push for women's rights in Tennessee in the early 1900s, and ...

, led efforts for

women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...

and coeducation in Tennessee.Jayne Crumpler DeFiore
Lizzie Crozier French
''Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture'', 2009. Retrieved: 1 November 2011. His son, John Crozier, Jr., was an early aviation pioneer who began building a human-powered flying machine in the 1890s, but was killed in a feud in Grainger County before he could complete it.Jack Neely
Appalachian Flyers: The Amazing Stories of East Tennessee's Forgotten Air Pioneers
''Metro Pulse'', 24 May 2001. Retrieved: 24 July 2010.

References

External links

Calvin M. McClung Historical Collection – Crozier family photograph
— includes John Hervey Crozier (back row, far left) {{DEFAULTSORT:Crozier, John Hervey 1812 births 1889 deaths Tennessee lawyers Members of the Tennessee House of Representatives University of Tennessee alumni Politicians from Knoxville, Tennessee Tennessee Democrats Whig Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Tennessee 19th-century American politicians 19th-century American lawyers