John Hervey Crozier
Encyclopedia
John Hervey Crozier was an American
attorney and politician active primarily in Knoxville, Tennessee
, USA, during the mid-nineteenth century. Described as "an orator of uncommon brilliancy" and "one of the brainiest men ever sent by Tennessee to congress," Crozier represented Tennessee
's 3rd congressional district
in the United States House of Representatives
from 1845 to 1849. While originally a member of the Whig Party
, Crozier switched his allegiance to the Democratic Party
in the 1850s, and supported the Confederacy during the Civil War
. Crozier retired from public life after the war, and spent his remaining years engaged in scholarly pursuits.
in Northern Ireland, was among the earliest settlers in Knoxville, and served as Knoxville's postmaster from 1804 until 1838. After attending public schools, the younger Crozier graduated from East Tennessee College (now the University of Tennessee
) in 1829. He was admitted to the Tennessee bar
, and practiced law in Knoxville. In 1835, after Knox County
attorney-general John Nelson resigned, Crozier was appointed to fill out his term.
From 1837 to 1839, Crozier represented Knox County in the Tennessee House of Representatives
. In 1839, he was elected to Knoxville's Board of Aldermen, and in 1844, he was a presidential elector for the Clay
/Frelinghuysen
ticket. Crozier was elected to the Twenty-ninth and Thirtieth congresses, serving from March 4, 1845 to March 3, 1849. During the Thirtieth Congress, he was chairman of the Committee on Expenditures in the Department of War, although he opposed the then-ongoing Mexican-American War. Crozier also obtained $50,000 in federal funding for navigational improvements to the Tennessee River
, which he hoped would eventually connect Knoxville and Chattanooga to the nation's inland waterways.
After his second term, Crozier resumed the practice of law in Knoxville, and along with his brother-in-law, J. G. M. Ramsey
, championed railroad construction in the region. Crozier supported Whig candidate Winfield Scott
during the presidential election of 1852, but after the Whig Party disintegrated in subsequent months, he affiliated himself with the Democratic Party. Crozier supported Democratic presidential candidate James Buchanan
in 1856, and campaigned in Knoxville on behalf of Southern Democrat John C. Breckinridge
during the presidential election of 1860.
Crozier's defection to the Democratic Party provoked a string of personal attacks from Knoxville Whig editor, William "Parson" Brownlow
, which Crozier later claimed drove him from public life. During the presidential campaign of 1860, Crozier and Brownlow attacked one another in speeches, and continued quarrelling via newspaper editorials in 1861 as they stood on opposite sides of the secession debate. Brownlow called Crozier "a corrupt demagogue, a selfish liar, and an unmitigated coward," while Crozier argued that Brownlow had earned his fortune by publishing lies. In December 1861, Crozier's nephew, Confederate district attorney J. C. Ramsey, had Brownlow jailed for treason.
When the Union Army
occupied Knoxville in September 1863, General Ambrose Burnside
chose as his headquarters Crozier's house at the corner of Gay Street
and Clinch Avenue (now the location of the Farragut Hotel). Crozier's extensive personal library made his house the ideal choice for Burnside, an avid reader. During the waning years of the war, Crozier made amends with the city's Unionists. In 1865, Brownlow won a $25,000 judgement against Crozier and two other Confederate leaders, but the decision was eventually annulled.
, which he and his brother-in-law, J. G. M. Ramsey, had established in 1834. Crozier died in Knoxville on October 25, 1889, and was interred
in Old Gray Cemetery. Following family tradition, his grave was not individually marked (the family plot is currently marked by a monument with the single name of "Crozier").
Crozier's daughter, Lizzie Crozier French
, led efforts for women's suffrage
and coeducation in Tennessee. His son, John Crozier, Jr., was an early aviation pioneer who began building a human-powered flying machine in the 1890s, but was killed in a feud in Grainger County before he could complete it.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
attorney and politician active primarily in Knoxville, Tennessee
Knoxville, Tennessee
Founded in 1786, Knoxville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Tennessee, U.S.A., behind Memphis and Nashville, and is the county seat of Knox County. It is the largest city in East Tennessee, and the second-largest city in the Appalachia region...
, USA, during the mid-nineteenth century. Described as "an orator of uncommon brilliancy" and "one of the brainiest men ever sent by Tennessee to congress," Crozier represented Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
's 3rd congressional district
Tennessee's 3rd congressional district
The 3rd Congressional District of Tennessee is a congressional district in Tennessee. It currently includes a north-south strip in the eastern part of the state. Current Republican Representative Chuck Fleischmann has served since 2011....
in the United States House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
from 1845 to 1849. While originally a member of the Whig Party
Whig Party (United States)
The Whig Party was a political party of the United States during the era of Jacksonian democracy. Considered integral to the Second Party System and operating from the early 1830s to the mid-1850s, the party was formed in opposition to the policies of President Andrew Jackson and his Democratic...
, Crozier switched his allegiance to the Democratic Party
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
in the 1850s, and supported the Confederacy during the Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
. Crozier retired from public life after the war, and spent his remaining years engaged in scholarly pursuits.
Early life and career
Crozier was born in Knoxville on February 10, 1812, the youngest son of John and Hannah Barton Crozier. Crozier's father, an immigrant from County FermanaghCounty Fermanagh
Fermanagh District Council is the only one of the 26 district councils in Northern Ireland that contains all of the county it is named after. The district council also contains a small section of County Tyrone in the Dromore and Kilskeery road areas....
in Northern Ireland, was among the earliest settlers in Knoxville, and served as Knoxville's postmaster from 1804 until 1838. After attending public schools, the younger Crozier graduated from East Tennessee College (now the University of Tennessee
University of Tennessee
The University of Tennessee is a public land-grant university headquartered at Knoxville, Tennessee, United States...
) in 1829. He was admitted to the Tennessee bar
Bar association
A bar association is a professional body of lawyers. Some bar associations are responsible for the regulation of the legal profession in their jurisdiction; others are professional organizations dedicated to serving their members; in many cases, they are both...
, and practiced law in Knoxville. In 1835, after Knox County
Knox County, Tennessee
Knox County is a county in the U.S. state of Tennessee. Its 2007 population was estimated at 423,874 by the United States Census Bureau. Its county seat is Knoxville, as it has been since the creation of the county. The county is at the geographical center of the Great Valley of East Tennessee...
attorney-general John Nelson resigned, Crozier was appointed to fill out his term.
From 1837 to 1839, Crozier represented Knox County in the Tennessee House of Representatives
Tennessee House of Representatives
The Tennessee House of Representatives is the lower house of the Tennessee General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Tennessee.-Constitutional requirements:...
. In 1839, he was elected to Knoxville's Board of Aldermen, and in 1844, he was a presidential elector for the Clay
Henry Clay
Henry Clay, Sr. , was a lawyer, politician and skilled orator who represented Kentucky separately in both the Senate and in the House of Representatives...
/Frelinghuysen
Theodore Frelinghuysen
Theodore Frelinghuysen was an American politician, serving as New Jersey Attorney General, United States Senator, and Mayor of Newark, New Jersey before running as a candidate for Vice President with Henry Clay on the Whig ticket in the election of 1844...
ticket. Crozier was elected to the Twenty-ninth and Thirtieth congresses, serving from March 4, 1845 to March 3, 1849. During the Thirtieth Congress, he was chairman of the Committee on Expenditures in the Department of War, although he opposed the then-ongoing Mexican-American War. Crozier also obtained $50,000 in federal funding for navigational improvements to the Tennessee River
Tennessee River
The Tennessee River is the largest tributary of the Ohio River. It is approximately 652 miles long and is located in the southeastern United States in the Tennessee Valley. The river was once popularly known as the Cherokee River, among other names...
, which he hoped would eventually connect Knoxville and Chattanooga to the nation's inland waterways.
After his second term, Crozier resumed the practice of law in Knoxville, and along with his brother-in-law, J. G. M. Ramsey
J. G. M. Ramsey
James Gettys McGready Ramsey was an American historian, physician, and businessman, active primarily in East Tennessee during the nineteenth century. Ramsey is perhaps best known for his book, The Annals of Tennessee, a seminal work documenting the state's frontier and early statehood periods...
, championed railroad construction in the region. Crozier supported Whig candidate Winfield Scott
Winfield Scott
Winfield Scott was a United States Army general, and unsuccessful presidential candidate of the Whig Party in 1852....
during the presidential election of 1852, but after the Whig Party disintegrated in subsequent months, he affiliated himself with the Democratic Party. Crozier supported Democratic presidential candidate James Buchanan
James Buchanan
James Buchanan, Jr. was the 15th President of the United States . He is the only president from Pennsylvania, the only president who remained a lifelong bachelor and the last to be born in the 18th century....
in 1856, and campaigned in Knoxville on behalf of Southern Democrat John C. Breckinridge
John C. Breckinridge
John Cabell Breckinridge was an American lawyer and politician. He served as a U.S. Representative and U.S. Senator from Kentucky and was the 14th Vice President of the United States , to date the youngest vice president in U.S...
during the presidential election of 1860.
The Civil War
William Gannaway Brownlow
William Gannaway "Parson" Brownlow was an American newspaper editor, minister, and politician who served as Governor of the state of Tennessee from 1865 to 1869 and as a United States Senator from Tennessee from 1869 to 1875...
, which Crozier later claimed drove him from public life. During the presidential campaign of 1860, Crozier and Brownlow attacked one another in speeches, and continued quarrelling via newspaper editorials in 1861 as they stood on opposite sides of the secession debate. Brownlow called Crozier "a corrupt demagogue, a selfish liar, and an unmitigated coward," while Crozier argued that Brownlow had earned his fortune by publishing lies. In December 1861, Crozier's nephew, Confederate district attorney J. C. Ramsey, had Brownlow jailed for treason.
When the Union Army
Union Army
The Union Army was the land force that fought for the Union during the American Civil War. It was also known as the Federal Army, the U.S. Army, the Northern Army and the National Army...
occupied Knoxville in September 1863, General Ambrose Burnside
Ambrose Burnside
Ambrose Everett Burnside was an American soldier, railroad executive, inventor, industrialist, and politician from Rhode Island, serving as governor and a U.S. Senator...
chose as his headquarters Crozier's house at the corner of Gay Street
Gay Street (Knoxville)
Gay Street is a street in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA, that traverses the heart of the city's downtown area. Since its development in the 1790s, Gay Street has served as the city's principal financial and commercial thoroughfare, and has played a primary role in the city's historical and cultural...
and Clinch Avenue (now the location of the Farragut Hotel). Crozier's extensive personal library made his house the ideal choice for Burnside, an avid reader. During the waning years of the war, Crozier made amends with the city's Unionists. In 1865, Brownlow won a $25,000 judgement against Crozier and two other Confederate leaders, but the decision was eventually annulled.
Later life
After the war, Crozier retired from practice to engage in "literary pursuits." In 1869, he delivered a lecture before the Young Men's Literary Society entitled, "What Studies Most Expand the Human Mind?" In 1883, he helped revive the East Tennessee Historical SocietyEast Tennessee Historical Society
The East Tennessee Historical Society , headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA, is a non-profit organization dedicated to the study of East Tennessee history, the preservation of historically significant artifacts, and educating the citizens of Tennessee...
, which he and his brother-in-law, J. G. M. Ramsey, had established in 1834. Crozier died in Knoxville on October 25, 1889, and was interred
Burial
Burial is the act of placing a person or object into the ground. This is accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing an object in it, and covering it over.-History:...
in Old Gray Cemetery. Following family tradition, his grave was not individually marked (the family plot is currently marked by a monument with the single name of "Crozier").
Crozier's daughter, Lizzie Crozier French
Lizzie Crozier French
Margaret Elizabeth "Lizzie" Crozier French was an American educator, women's suffragist and social reform activist...
, led efforts for women's suffrage
Women's suffrage
Women's suffrage or woman suffrage is the right of women to vote and to run for office. The expression is also used for the economic and political reform movement aimed at extending these rights to women and without any restrictions or qualifications such as property ownership, payment of tax, or...
and coeducation in Tennessee. His son, John Crozier, Jr., was an early aviation pioneer who began building a human-powered flying machine in the 1890s, but was killed in a feud in Grainger County before he could complete it.
External links
- Calvin M. McClung Historical Collection – Crozier family photograph — includes John Hervey Crozier (back row, far left)