William A. Browning

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William A. Browning
Born(1835-05-02)May 2, 1835
Washington, D.C., U.S.
DiedMarch 2, 1866(1866-03-02) (aged 30)
Washington, D.C., U.S.

William A. Browning, also known as Colonel Browning (May 2, 1835 – March 2, 1866), was a 19th-century American political staffer. He served as a private secretary to U.S. Senator, then military governor of Tennessee, then Vice President and U.S. president, Andrew Johnson.[1] Browning is mostly remembered today for being the recipient of a note from Abraham Lincoln's assassin John Wilkes Booth.[2]

Biography

Browning, born May 2, 1835

District of Columbia.[4][5][6][7] William A. Browning was one of 12 children born to the couple, and the eldest son.[7] Browning was said to be a graduate of Yale College.[5] He may have married Gertrude Allis (1835 – March 1, 1858), the daughter of Emily Stockbridge and Salmon White Allis, who kept the Tontine Hotel in New Haven, Connecticut.[8]

He had been admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court of the United States.

Nashville, following a parade that included "a procession over a mile long, consisting of the 31st Wisconsin, 13th regulars, 10th Tennessee, 5th Iowa cavalry, several batteries of artillery, the Fire Department, [and] citizens on foot and on horseback."[11]

President Johnson and Col. Browning met with defeated Confederates, after which Johnson told Browning to inform the Attorney General he will be granting no further pardons for the time being; "Mr Keitt retired evidently satisfied that Mr Johnson was President and 'that treason was a stain not removed by the mere asking for a signature' " (Charleston Daily Courier, September 2, 1865)

During the fall 1864, he was apparently working for Johnson but was unable to do much work writing letters and private dispatches "due to illness."

Mary Stover, who served as his political hostesses, canceled the White House public receptions planned for the week and were said to have been "at the residence of Col. Browning most of the day."[18] President Johnson, Martha Patterson, David T. Patterson, Mary Stover, and several members of Congress all attended the funeral.[19] Browning was buried at the Congressional Cemetery, in Washington, D.C.[9]

Shortly after his funeral, a North Carolina newspaper opined, "The death of Col. Browning, formerly private secretary to the president, was hastened by his own acts. He could not resist the seductive bowl and fell a victim to its temptations. The deceased was possessed of excellent talents and was capable of filing the most responsible positions with honor. Let others take warning from his fate."[20] After Andrew Johnson's son Robert Johnson died of an overdose in 1869, an anonymous columnist wrote a widely reprinted recollection of some of the figures of the Johnson era, including Browning:[21]

Browning was one of the handsomest men in the world, tall, muscular, finely formed with an open pleasing countenance and a complexion as clear and a skin as fine as Ireland or Nantucket gives to the fairest of women. He had graduated at Yale College and was a fine belles lettres scholar and a man of many accomplishments. He had been with Mr. Johnson in Tennessee for several years and went with him to the White House. But his stay was of short duration. He received the appointment of Secretary of Legation to Mexico. He never left the country however. The same habit [alcohol abuse] which has now carried off young Johnson did its fatal work with him more speedily...Mr. Browning was married when quite young to a beautiful girl who lived but a short time after her marriage. He never seemed to recover in any degree from the shock of her death. On the contrary the pain of the separation seemed constantly to deepen and grow more poignant in his heart. The last time we met him was in Washington only a short time before his death. In the course of a brief conversation he said...'my heart is buried in my wife's grave and I want to die.' Soon afterwards he shut himself up in a room and deliberately drank whisky until it killed him.

— Unknown, "White House Reminiscences: Victims of Intemperance and Insanity" (1869)[21]

April 1865

Main article: Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
John Wilkes Booth's Calling Card, 04/14/1865. (National Archives Identifier 7873510)

On April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth left a note at Kirkwood House (where Andrew Johnson and William A. Browning had rooms) that read, "Don't wish to disturb you Are you at home? J. Wilkes Booth" Browning later testified about finding the note and that Vice President Johnson was home that day at 5 p.m. and stayed in the rest of the evening.[22] The note has fueled decades of debate as to whether Booth meant to slay Johnson himself, whether Booth and Johnson were co-conspirators, or if the note was actually meant for Browning "since one of Browning's brothers was said to be seen drinking with Booth the day of the assassination."[23] Booth and Browning had apparently had past dealings regarding the end of the war, and Booth reportedly felt betrayed by Browning's conduct.[24]

See also

References

  1. ^ "President Johnson's Private Secretary". Buffalo Weekly Express. May 2, 1865. p. 1. Retrieved 2023-06-27.
  2. ^ Kratz, Jessie (November 12, 2014). "On Exhibit: John Wilkes Booth's Calling Card". Pieces of History. Retrieved 2023-06-27.
  3. ^ "Interment Records Search Result: Browning, William A. (Section 1, Range 37, Site 85)". Historic Congressional Cemetery. Retrieved 2024-01-18.
  4. ^ "Died". Evening Star. March 2, 1866. p. 3. Retrieved 2023-06-27.
  5. ^ a b c d "Death of Colonel Browning". Evening Star. March 2, 1866. p. 2. Retrieved 2023-06-27.
  6. ^ "William A Browning in household of Peregne W Browning, Washington, District of Columbia", United States Census, 1850 – via FamilySearch
  7. ^
    ISSN 2331-9968
    . Retrieved 2023-06-27 – via Chronicling America.
  8. ^ Allis, Horatio Dana (1919). Genealogy of William Allis of Hatfield, Mass. and descendants, 1630-1919. Boston Public Library. Hartford, Conn. : Art Pr. p. 118.
  9. ^
    ISSN 2331-9968. Retrieved 2023-06-27 – via Chronicling America
    (Library of Congress, Natl. Endowment for the Humanities).
  10. ^ a b "Promotion: Col. Browning". Memphis Bulletin. September 15, 1863. p. 2. Retrieved 2023-06-26 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ "Nashville, July 4". The Courier-Journal. July 6, 1864. p. 1. Retrieved 2023-06-26 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ "The Impeachment Case: Extracts from the Testimony". Brownlow's Knoxville Whig. August 7, 1867. p. 1. Retrieved 2023-07-09.
  13. ^ "General Logan Appointed Minister to Mexico". Boston Evening Transcript. November 15, 1865. p. 4. Retrieved 2023-06-27.
  14. ^ "Death of William A. Browning". New York Daily Herald. March 3, 1866. p. 1. Retrieved 2023-06-27.
  15. ^ Lanman, Charles (1876). Biographical annals of the civil government of the United States, during its first century. From original and official sources. Washington: J. Anglim. p. 602.
  16. ^ Senate, United States Congress (1887). Journal of the Executive Proceedings of the Senate of the United States of America. order of the Senate of the United States.
  17. ISBN 978-1-57607-030-7
    .
  18. ^ "No Reception at the White House". Evening Star. March 2, 1866. p. 2. Retrieved 2023-06-26 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. ^ "Funeral of Col. Browning". National Republican. March 5, 1866. p. 3. Retrieved 2023-06-27.
  20. ^ "Death of Col. Browning". The Wilmington Herald. March 7, 1866. p. 1. Retrieved 2023-06-26 – via Newspapers.com.
  21. ^ a b "White House Reminiscences: Victims of Intemperance and Insanity". Chicago Evening Post. May 14, 1869. p. 3. Retrieved 2023-06-27.
  22. ISSN 0360-2397 – via HathiTrust
    .
  23. ISBN 978-0-8131-2724-8
    .
  24. ISBN 978-1-58979-832-8
    .
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