Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 05.pdf/256

 The Supreme Court of Tennessee. the events following the capture of Fort Sumter on April 12, soon brought the peo ple of the State to the side of Confederacy. The regiment rendezvoused at Winchester on April 27, and elected Governor Turney as their colonel. On May 1, Colonel Turney set out with his regiment for Virginia, where the Confederate troops were mustering. This was more than a month before the secession of the State.

His regiment enlisted di rectly in the service of the Confederate States as the First Tennessee Regiment. To distinguish it from the First Tennessee, raised by the State, the regiment was al ways known as " Turney's First Tennes see." Thus Governor Turney was not only the first man to ad vocate the immediate secession of the State, but was the first captain and the first colonel in the State in the service of the Confederacy. The regiment was attached to the army PETER of Northern Virginia, taking part in che first battle of Manassas and surrendering at Appomattox with thirty-eight men in line out of eleven hundred and sixty-five that marched away from Winchester, to whom were added more than eight hundred others by recruit ments at various times, that brought the total enlistment above two thousand. Colo nel Turney was at the head of his gallant regiment, whom he affectionately christened "hog-drivers," during the whole of Jackson's Valley campaign, in which it took part. He was severely wounded at the battle of Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 1862, a ball enter-

229

ing his mouth and passing through his neck, barely missing the spinal cord and the arteries. His vigorous constitution enabled him to withstand the shock of the wound. After recovery, he attempted to resume his command; but the cold of Virginia made it necessary for him to seek a milder climate, and he was assigned to a command in Florida. He continued to serve there until his surrender, May :g, 1865. He then returned to Winchester to the practice of the law. He took a prominent part in resisting the aggressions of Gov ernor Brownlow, which were particu larly directed at his part of the State, be cause of its intense loyalty to the cause of the Confederacy. In 1870 he became a candidate for Supreme Judge, and was nomi nated by the Demo cratic convention and elected. He was reelected in 1878, and again in 1886. On the reorganization of the TURNEY. court in 1886, he was elected Chief-Justice, and continued to serve until Jan. 16, 1893, when he vacated the office by the accept ance of that of Governor. He accordingly served as judge for nearly twenty-three years, the longest period of the service of any judge in the history of the State. He is a man of great personal popularity. His easy manner, that never partakes oí haughtiness or of familiarity, an absence of affectation, and a genial spirit of good fellow ship make him liked by all who know him.. These qualities, added to his proverbial honesty and well-known talents, made him