Soon after the Parson was compelled by his enemies to suspend the
publication of the _Whig_, he was prevailed upon by his friends, who
more than himself feared for his personal safety, to act upon an
intimation of the readiness of the rebel authorities to grant him a safe
conduct to the North, and, as stated below, communicated with the
Secretary of War at Richmond, Va. The result was that in November last
an order was sent to the military commander at Knoxville to take him to
the nearest Federal lines. After completing his preparation to go North,
notwithstanding his agreement with Secretary Benjamin, he was arrested
and thrown into prison a second time.
The imprisonment soon told severely upon the health of the Parson, and
after a month he was stricken down with typhoid fever. Permission being
granted by the rebel prosecuting attorney, he was removed to his private
residence. Here he was laid up for nearly eight weeks. Notwithstanding
his prostration by sickness, the rebel surveillance over him did not
stop. His house was surrounded day and night by guards. His friends were
never allowed to visit him, and the members of his family were not
permitted to leave the premises except under guard. Nor was this all.
Open insults and threats were offered by the rebel soldiery whenever
opportunity afforded. At one time a company of cavalry that had been in
the battle of Fishing Creek, and never stopped running until they got
to Knoxville, and passing the house when the Parson's wife was looking
out of the window, one of the troopers rode up to her, and insultingly
asked, "Are you not ashamed to be the wife of that damned traitor and
Lincolnite?" Whereupon the ready-witted woman at once replied: "I am
glad that I am not the wife of a miserable coward that ran away from a
battle-field."
Feeling strong enough to travel, the Parson again wrote to Benjamin,
complaining of the bad faith with which he had been treated, and
reminding the Secretary of War of the promise of a safe conduct to the
Federal lines. A week elapsed, when the post commander at Knoxville
received a dispatch directing the Parson to be released from
confinement, and to be taken to the nearest Federal outposts over the
route most convenient to him, and under an escort of his own choice. In
pursuance to this order the Parson left Knoxville accompanied by his
doctor, and escorted by Lieutenant O'Brien, an officer in the army, and
relative of his wife. The party proceeded by rail, _via_ Chattanooga, to
Shelbyville, in Bedford county, in the Southern part of this State. Here
they were detained ten days by Morgan's Cavalry, who were engaged in
removing a large quantity of bacon and beef stored in the town, and had
orders from General Hardee not to allow any one to pass their lines
until the whole of the meat had been got away. At last the party were
permitted to proceed overland, under a flag of truce, to the pickets of
General Wood's division. General Wood at once sent them, under escort,
to the city. Parson Brownlow proceeded immediately to the headquarters
of General Buell, with whom he had a long interview; afterward repaired
to the St. Cloud Hotel, in Nashville, and in the front of the same, on
the evening of March 17th, he made the following remarks: