CS Con Caruthers, Robert Looney - C.S. Delegate, TN

Robert Looney Caruthers
:CSA1stNat:
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Born: July 31, 1800

Birthplace: Carthage, Tennessee

Father: Samuel Caruthers 1767 – 1813

Mother: Elizabeth Looney 1765 – 1823

Wife: Sally Sanders 1807 – 1870
(Buried: Cedar Grove Cemetery, Lebanon, Tennessee)​

Children:

Mary Jane Caruthers 1828 – 1845​
(Buried: Cedar Grove Cemetery, Lebanon, Tennessee)​

Political Party: Whig Party

Education:
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1820 – 1821: Attended Greenville College in Tennessee​

Occupation before War:

1817 – 1819: Clerk in a country store in Smith County Tennessee​
1823 – 1824: Attorney in Smith County Tennessee​
Clerk of the Smith County Tennessee Chancery Court​
Clerk of the Tennessee State House of Representatives​
Editor of Tennessee Republican Newspaper
1827 – 1832: Tennessee State Attorney for Lebanon Tennessee​
1835: Tennessee State Representative​
1841 – 1843: United States Congressman from Tennessee​
1841 – 1843: Member of House Foreign Affairs Committee​
1841 – 1843: Member of House Indian Affairs Committee​
1841 – 1843: Member of House Military Affairs Committee​
1842: Founder of Cumberland University in Lebanon Tennessee​
1847: Founder of Cumberland University Law Department​
1852 – 1861: Judge of Tennessee State Supreme Court​

Civil War Career:

1861: Member of Washington, D.C. Peace Conference​
1861 – 1862: Tennessee Delegate to Confederate Provisional Congress​
1861: Seldom voiced his opinions in the Confederate Congress​
1861: Attended Congress irregularly and not at all after December​
1861: Supporter of the Davis Administration’s programs​
1861: Unsuccessful Candidate for Confederate States Senator​
1863: Elected Governor of Tennessee but not allowed to take office​
1863 – 1882: Law Professor at Cumberland University​

Died: October 2, 1882

Place of Death: Lebanon, Tennessee

Age at time of Death: 82 years old

Burial Place: Cedar Grove Cemetery, Lebanon, Tennessee



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Another good story was how as a Congressman he sent the first telegraph between Washington city and Baltimore with the message "President Tyler is dead."

Also he was a member of Forrest' staff late in the war.
 
He was elected to succeed the self-exiled Gov. Isham G. Harris. Harris continued to exercise limited powers when it was discovered that Caruthers couldn't be inaugurated. In the mean time Tennessee was under the rule of military governor Andrew Johnson.
 
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He could not be inaugurated as Governor because Tennessee law required taking the oath of office before the General Assembly. The US controlled that part of Tennessee and the Assembly could not convene.
 
He could not be inaugurated as Governor because Tennessee law required taking the oath of office before the General Assembly. The US controlled that part of Tennessee and the Assembly could not convene.

That's how he wound up on Forrest staff...

He and Harris had joined with Hood's army with the intent of establishing a civil government for Tennessee if it was successful at Nashville. It was not but Caruthers and Harris continued with Forrest to Mississippi and served as staff officers. Harris stayed through the surrender at Gainsville and then fled to Mexico but I believe that Caruthers returned to Tennessee sometime in March 1865.
 
That's how he wound up on Forrest staff...

He and Harris had joined with Hood's army with the intent of establishing a civil government for Tennessee if it was successful at Nashville. It was not but Caruthers and Harris continued with Forrest to Mississippi and served as staff officers. Harris stayed through the surrender at Gainsville and then fled to Mexico but I believe that Caruthers returned to Tennessee sometime in March 1865.
I'm not doubting your word, and maybe I just might possibly overlooked it but I can't find where either of these gentlemen served on Forrest's staff. Harris served on quite a few staffs from what I've read in several biographys.The staffs included A.S.Johnson's, J. E. Johnston's , Beauregard's, Bragg's, and Hood's. And all of these were volunteer positions. On Caruthers I can find no staff positions but as I previously stated I may have possibly overlooked it.
 
I'm not doubting your word, and maybe I just might possibly overlooked it but I can't find where either of these gentlemen served on Forrest's staff. Harris served on quite a few staffs from what I've read in several biographys.The staffs included A.S.Johnson's, J. E. Johnston's , Beauregard's, Bragg's, and Hood's. And all of these were volunteer positions. On Caruthers I can find no staff positions but as I previously stated I may have possibly overlooked it.

This is an excerpt from a report in The War of the Rebellion: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series II - Volume VIII, page 325. It's from Colonel J G Parkhurst, US to General W. D. Whipple US regarding a meeting at Rienzi MS with Forrest to discuss a prisoner exchange.

"At about 9 o'clock on the evening of the 23d I met General Forrest at the house of Mr. Rowland. He was accompanied by Major Anderson and Judge Caruthers of his staff."

This occurred just two months after the retreat from Nashville where both the Judge (new Governor) and the ex-Governor had been with Hood. The Army of Tennessee had been routed east and both men were with Forrest.

Captain Lewis Hosea US of General J H Wison's staff was also present at this negotiation and was apparently a fanboy for Forrest. He recorded his interactions with Caruthers in his diary. After the meeting he was inspired to telegraph Caruthers a message in Latin from Virgil - "Haec olim meminisse juvabit, tetigisse dextrano tyranni" -- It will rejoice me hereafter to remember that I have touched the right hand of your leader.

In "Isham G Harris of Tennessee: Confederate Governor and United States Senator" by Sam Davis Elliot; Harris is described at assisting with staff duties for several generals. He was with Forrest intermittently and ended the war with his command. and then fled to Mexico.

He carried a detailed dispatch to Polk in Feb '64 on Forrest behalf and was forced to man a handcar to get the message to Polk in Georgia. Forrest was quoted in an Atlanta paper saying "Harris is a fighting governor. Whilst some Governors stay home to quarrel with Jeff Davis, our Governor has been with me to fight Yankees!"

Both men acted as staff volunteers but it was not an official position.
 
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