Clemens had just met James P. Brownlow (1841?–79), second son of William Gannaway Brownlow (1805–77), the current governor of Tennessee (1865–69). The father began his career as an itinerant Methodist preacher and gained prominence as the editor of the Knoxville Whig, earning himself the nickname “fighting parson” for his fiery editorials and courageous political views. During the war he was an outspoken pro-Union leader. His son James fled from Knoxville through the Confederate lines in the winter of 1861–62 to join the Union Army. As a captain in the infantry, then in the cavalry, he fought in some seventy battles, distinguishing himself by his bravery and winning the affection of his regiment. President Johnson promoted him to the rank of brevet brigadier general of the United States Volunteers in June 1865. In 1866 he joined the Eighth Cavalry, based in San Francisco, but resigned his commission in March 1868 (Knoxville Census, 107; Boatner, 93; “Gen. James P. Brownlow,” New York Times, 29 Apr 79, 4; Heitman, 1:255).

Clemens refers to the seventy-five thousand acres of land in Fentress County, Tennessee, purchased by his father, John Marshall Clemens, for $400 in about 1830. In 1866 Clemens had washed his hands of all attempts to sell this property, but for much of the last eighteen months, Orion had been making a concerted effort to sell it—traveling to Tennessee in order to pay overdue taxes, survey boundaries, and acquire necessary documents. As recently as November 1867, however, he lamented that it would “take many months yet, it may take years, to straighten up all these titles.” By early 1868 he had found an interested buyer, but no sale was ever concluded ( L1 , 79 n. 11; SLC to MEC, 22 May 66click to open link, L1 , 341–42; OC to JLC and PAM, 21, 26, and 28 Nov 67, NPV; OC to MEC, 12 Feb 68 and 5 Mar 68, CU-MARK). Tennessee, like other Southern states, began after the war to try to attract new immigrants from Europe as well as emigrants from the Northern states. The “intolerant and proscriptive spirit” of the Confederates, according to Governor Brownlow, had discouraged “men of capital and enterprise” from settling in Tennessee, in spite of its “mild and healthy climate, fertile soil, magnificent scenery, and pure and abundant water.” Upon Brownlow’s recommendation, a state board of immigration was established, which was authorized to “do all and everything which may and will advance and encourage immigration” (Hesseltine 1932, 108). Partly through it, numerous local “immigration societies” were formed throughout the state, with the aim of populating their respective regions (Bokum, 60–79, 161–62). Neither General Thomas nor the Fentress County society of which he was presumably head has been identified. Captain Brownlow, like his father, believed that the election of Grant to the presidency would mean “peace; it means that carpetbaggers are not to be molested ... that capital, coming to us from abroad ... is not to be spurned,” thus ensuring economic growth and increased land values (Hesseltine 1957, 132). Grant and Colfax had just been nominated at the Republican National Convention on 20 and 21 May; the Democratic candidates, Horatio Seymour and Francis P. Blair, Jr., were nominated in July.

John Bell Brownlow (1839–1922), eldest son of Governor Brownlow, was a soldier, journalist, and historian. Shortly before the war he joined his father in editing the Knoxville Whig, then became its editor when his father was elected governor in 1865. During the early months of the war, the Whig was the only pro-Union newspaper published within Confederate territory. It was suppressed by Confederate authorities from October 1861 to October 1863. John Brownlow’s editorial style so resembled his father’s that “many things the son wrote were as much the father’s as if he had written them” (Coulter, 263–64, 402–3).