Peter Turney - Early Life

Early Life

Turney was born at Jasper, Tennessee, the son of Hopkins L. Turney and Teresa Francis. His father was a prominent politician who was elected to the United States Senate in 1845 with the help of the Andrew Johnson-led "Immortal Thirteen." Shortly after Peter's birth, the Turneys moved to Winchester, Tennessee. He attended public schools in Franklin County and a private school in Nashville, and read law, initially with his father, and later (after his father was elected to the Senate) with Judge W.E. Venable. After his admission to the bar in 1848, he practiced in Winchester.

A strong Southern Democrat, Turney campaigned for John C. Breckinridge in the presidential race of 1860, and called for immediate secession after Abraham Lincoln's victory. In February 1861, he was the pro-secession candidate from his district for a proposed state convention at which Tennessee would have considered the secession issue (his pro-Union opponent was future governor Albert S. Marks). When Tennessee voters rejected this convention and upheld the state's ties to the Union, Turney spearheaded a movement that called for Franklin County to secede from Tennessee and join Alabama.

In the two weeks following the Battle of Fort Sumter in April 1861, as sentiments in Tennessee shifted in favor of secession, Turney raised a regiment of troops, the First Tennessee Infantry (sometimes called "Turney's First" to distinguish it from a similarly-designated regiment). As Tennessee had yet to officially secede, Turney acted mostly in secret until early May, when the state aligned itself militarily with the Confederacy.

Turney's unit arrived in Virginia on May 8, and was eventually attached to the Army of Northern Virginia. The unit took part in the First Battle of Bull Run in July 1861, and spent the subsequent months patrolling the Potomac River region. In 1862, the unit took part in the Shenandoah Campaign, the Seven Days Battles, and the Peninsula Campaign. At the Battle of Fredericksburg in December 1862, Turney was shot in the mouth, and never returned to active fighting. While he was away recovering, his unit fought in the Battle of Gettysburg, marching with the left flank of Pickett's Charge. Turney was given an administrative command in Florida in 1864, and remained there until the end of the war.