DescriptionType: Signed Letter (ALS)Date: April 30, 1860From: Charles W. Charlton, Knoxville, TN, working with and later editor of William G. "Parson" Brownlow's (Governor of Tennessee, 1865-1869) newspaper the "Whig"To: William Montgomery Churchwell, Washington, D.C., serving at that time as a provost marshal for the district of east Tennessee during the President Buchanan administration. Later to become a CSA Colonel of the 34th Tennessee Infantry Regiment (4th Provisional Tennessee Infantry) during the American Civil War. The regiment was "first organized by Colonel William M. Churchwell at Knoxville, Tennessee, August 19, 1861."Subjects: Brownlow's newspaper the "Whig" & Tennessee & National Politics:1) George William Bradfield, Newspaper Editor of the Knoxville Register (1859 - 1861), who had been a whig, but had become a strong partisan who espoused the principles of the Democratic party. "He [Bradfield] has refused, again and again, to publish anything from the pen of [Andrew] Johnson."2) Andrew Johnson, who at that time was a U.S. Senator for Tennessee, previously Governor of Tennessee, and soon to be appointed Military Governor of Tennessee by Lincoln (March 12, 1862 – March 4, 1865) during the Civil War (after which Lincoln's 2nd Vice President, becoming President when Lincoln was assassinated.3) Seeking Washington D.C. investors for Brownlow's newspaper the "Whig".Importance: Details the anti-secession politics of East Tennessee (Knoxville) immediately prior to the Civil War. Tennessee voted to join the Confederate States of America on June 8,1861, becoming the Confederacy’s 11th and last state. Some 105,000 Tennesseans voted for secession; 47,000 voted against, according to the Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture. Most against secession lived in the state’s east.Other: 2 page handwritten letter signed by Charlton. Includes original envelope. Approx. Size:9 3/4" H x 7 3/4" W.