William Gannaway Brownlow - Later Life

Later Life

Following his reelection as governor in 1867, Brownlow decided he would not seek a third term, and instead sought the Senate seat that would be vacated by David T. Patterson, Andrew Johnson's son-in-law, in 1869. In October 1867, the state legislature elected Brownlow over William B. Stokes by a 63 to 39 vote. By the time he was sworn in on March 4, 1869, a persistent nervous disease had weakened him considerably, and the Senate clerk had to read his speeches. One of his speeches was a defense of Ambrose Burnside, the Union general who liberated Knoxville from Confederate forces in 1863.

After his Senate term ended in 1875, Brownlow returned to Knoxville. Having sold the Whig in 1869, he purchased an interest in the Knoxville Chronicle, a Republican newspaper published by his old protégé, William Rule. The paper's name was changed to the Knoxville Whig and Chronicle. In 1876, Brownlow endorsed Rutherford B. Hayes for president. In December of the same year, he spoke at the opening of Knoxville College, which had been established for the city's African-American residents.

On the night of April 28, 1877, Brownlow collapsed at his home, and died the following afternoon. The cause of death was given as "paralysis of the bowels." He was interred in Knoxville's Old Gray Cemetery following a funeral procession described by his colleague, Oliver Perry Temple, as the largest in the city's history up to that time.