Washington Curran Whitthorne (April 19, 1825September 21, 1891) was a Tennessee

attorney Attorney may refer to: * Lawyer ** Attorney at law, in some jurisdictions * Attorney, one who has power of attorney * ''The Attorney'', a 2013 South Korean film See also * Attorney general, the principal legal officer of (or advisor to) a gove ...

, Democratic politician, and an Adjutant General in the

Confederate Army The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighting ...

Early life and career

Whitthorne was born near

Petersburg, Tennessee Petersburg is a town in Lincoln and Marshall counties in the U.S. state of Tennessee. The population was 580 at the 2000 census and 544 at the 2010 census. It used to be the location of Morgan school before consolidation Geography Petersburg is l ...

in Marshall County.United States Congress's pg. 109 One day when Whitthorne was young James K. Polk stayed at his family's home.Bar Association of Tennessee's pp. 126-129 Polk saw how bright he was and asked, "What are you going to make of this boy?" His father replied "I am going to make him the President of the United States." Polk then told them to send the boy to

Columbia Columbia may refer to: * Columbia (personification), the historical female national personification of the United States, and a poetic name for America Places North America Natural features * Columbia Plateau, a geologic and geographic region in ...

and he would make him a lawyer. He attended Campbell Academy in

Lebanon, Tennessee Lebanon is the county seat of Wilson County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 38,431 at the 2020 census. Lebanon is located in Middle Tennessee, approximately east of downtown Nashville. Lebanon is part of the Nashville Metropolit ...

and subsequently East Tennessee College (now the University of Tennessee) where he graduated in 1843. He subsequently studied law and was admitted to the

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 ...

in 1845, serving in various governmental positions, and working for James K. Polk until he entered private practice in 1848 in Columbia, Tennessee. He owned slaves. On July 4, 1848 Whitthorne married Matilda Jane Campbell, a cousin of Polk. He was elected to serve in the Tennessee State Senate from 1855 to 1858. Whitthorne was then elected Speaker of 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 ...

from 1859 to 1861.

Civil War service

In 1861 he became Adjutant General of Tennessee for the Confederacy, and served in that post through the end of the Civil War. He also served on the staff of generals Robert Anderson,

Marcus Joseph Wright Marcus Joseph Wright (June 5, 1831 – December 27, 1922) was a lawyer, author, and a Confederate general in the American Civil War. He was agent for collection of Confederate records for ''War of the Rebellion: Official Records of the Union an ...

Samuel P. Carter Samuel Perry "Powhatan" Carter (August 6, 1819 – May 26, 1891) was a United States naval officer who served in the Union Army as a Brevet (military), brevet Major general (United States), major general during the American Civil War and became ...

, and

William J. Hardee William Joseph Hardee (October 12, 1815November 6, 1873) was a career United States Army, U.S. Army and Confederate States Army officer. For the U.S. Army, he served in the Second Seminole War and in the Mexican–American War, where he was capt ...

Postbellum career

After Lee had surrendered at Appomattox, Whitthorne was held as prisoner of war at Columbia in order to be shielded from Federal prosecution. President

Andrew Johnson Andrew Johnson (December 29, 1808July 31, 1875) was the 17th president of the United States, serving from 1865 to 1869. He assumed the presidency as he was vice president at the time of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Johnson was a Dem ...

interceded, gave him a Presidential pardon, and restored his civil rights. In 1870, Whitthorne began a campaign for the United States House of Representatives. He won the election and would eventually serve six consecutive terms during his initial service in the House of Representatives, chairing the

House Committee on Naval Affairs The U.S. House Committee on Armed Services, commonly known as the House Armed Services Committee or HASC, is a standing committee of the United States House of Representatives. It is responsible for funding and oversight of the Department of Defe ...

from 1875 to 1881.The National Cyclopedia of American Biography pg. 140 Upon the resignation of Senator

Howell E. Jackson Howell Edmunds Jackson (April 8, 1832 – August 8, 1895) was an American attorney, politician, and jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1893 until his death in 1895. His brief tenure on the Su ...

, Whitthorne was appointed to the U.S. Senate by

governor of Tennessee The governor of Tennessee is the head of government of the U.S. state of Tennessee. The governor is the only official in Tennessee state government who is directly elected by the voters of the entire state. The current governor is Bill Lee, a ...

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 then subsequently elected to the balance of the term by the

Tennessee General Assembly The Tennessee General Assembly (TNGA) is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is a part-time bicameral legislature consisting of a Senate and a House of Representatives. The Speaker of the Senate carries the additional title ...

, serving in the Senate from April 16, 1886 to March 3, 1887. Following his Senate service he served two more subsequent consecutive terms in the United States House of Representatives, from 1887 to 1891. After serving in the House of Representatives Whitthorne returned to

and died there later in 1891, being interred at Rose Hill Cemetery. Whitthorne Middle School in Columbia, formerly Whitthorne Junior High School, is named in his honor.

References

*Bar Association of Tennessee's; ''Proceedings of the ... Annual Session of the Bar Association of Tennessee'', The Association, (1905) *''The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography: Being the History of the United States as Illustrated in the Lives of the Founders, Builders, and Defenders of the Republic, and of the Men and Women who are Doing the Work and Moulding the Thought of the Present Time'', J. T. White company, (1900) * United States Congress, W. H. Michael; ''Official Congressional Directory'' (1890)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Whitthorne, Washington C. 1825 births 1891 deaths People from Marshall County, Tennessee American people of Irish descent Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Tennessee Democratic Party United States senators from Tennessee Democratic Party members of the Tennessee House of Representatives Democratic Party Tennessee state senators Tennessee lawyers American slave owners Confederate States Army generals People of Tennessee in the American Civil War 19th-century American politicians United States senators who owned slaves