|
John Miller Fleming (December 12, 1832 – October 28, 1900) was an American newspaper editor, attorney and politician, active primarily in Tennessee during the latter half of the 19th century. He rose to prominence as editor of the ''Knoxville Register'' in the late 1850s, and worked as the editor of various newspapers, including the ''Knoxville Press and Herald'', the ''Knoxville Tribune'' (which he cofounded), and the ''Knoxville Sentinel'', in the decades following the Civil War. He also served two terms in the Tennessee House of Representatives, and was appointed Tennessee's first Superintendent of Public Instruction in 1873. Fleming campaigned against secession on the eve of the Civil War, and served as secretary of the pro-Union East Tennessee Convention in 1861. After the war, he opposed the policies of Governor William G. Brownlow and the Radical Republicans. ==Early life== Fleming was born in Rogersville, Tennessee, the son of David Fleming, a Methodist minister, and Mary (Miller) Fleming. He studied at Emory and Henry College, graduating in 1851 after winning the school's Robertson prize medal for oratory.〔Mary Rothrock, ''The French Broad-Holston Country'' (East Tennessee Historical Society, 1972), pp. 417-418.〕 During the early 1850s, he taught at the Rittenhouse Academy in Kingston, Tennessee.〔〔''(Athens Post )'', 28 April 1854, p. 3.〕 In May 1855, Fleming was hired as editor of the ''Knoxville Register'', a newspaper that had been published in Knoxville since 1816. Like many Tennessee Whigs, Fleming threw his support behind the nativist Know Nothing movement after the collapse of the national Whig Party in the mid-1850s. Arguing that "Americans should rule America," Fleming used the columns of the ''Register'' to support the presidential candidacy of Millard Fillmore and the gubernatorial candidacy of Meredith Poindexter Gentry, and criticized Governor Andrew Johnson and other Democrats. One newspaper described Fleming's ''Register'' as the most "violent know-nothing Fillmore journal in the State."〔''(Nashville Union and American )'', 11 October 1856, p. 2.〕 In 1857, Fleming quarreled with Irish Patriot John Mitchel, who spent time in Knoxville while in exile and befriended the city's Democrats. In October of that year, Mitchel confronted Fleming in front of the Lamar House Hotel over a ''Register'' column that had ridiculed him.〔Oliver Perry Temple, Mary Boyce Temple (ed.), ''Notable Men of Tennessee'' (Cosmopolitan Press, 1912), pp. 118-122.〕 After words were exchanged, Mitchel struck Fleming with a cane, and a minor brawl ensued before police intervened and dispersed the crowd that had gathered. After an hour or so had passed, Fleming returned to the street and demanded Mitchel's presence, though accounts differ as to what happened next. According to Fleming, he challenged Mitchel to a duel, but Mitchel refused.〔John M. Fleming, "(John Mitchel: The Irish Poltroon )," ''Nashville Patriot'', 6 October 1857, p. 2.〕 Mitchel, however, denied that Fleming made any such challenge. He stated Fleming appeared to be at a loss for words in this second encounter, so he merely dismissed Fleming as a "whipped man" and left the scene.〔"(The Street Fight at Knoxville Between Mitchell and Fleming )," ''Nashville Union and American'', 8 October 1857, p. 2.〕 In June 1858, Fleming resigned from the ''Register'' due to a disagreement with the paper's publisher. He turned to the study of law under the guidance of prominent Knoxville attorney John Baxter. He was admitted to the bar in late 1858, and became a partner in Baxter's law firm.〔 Fleming remained politically connected throughout the late 1850s and early 1860s. He served as secretary of the state's American Party (Know Nothing) convention in May 1857,〔"(Proceedings of the American State Convention )," ''Nashville Patriot'', 2 May 1857, p. 2.〕 and was a member of the Opposition Party's state executive committee in 1859.〔"(State Executive Committee )," ''Nashville Patriot'', 28 April 1859, p. 2.〕 In 1860, he was a delegate to the Constitutional Union Party's national convention in Baltimore, where he supported the party's eventual presidential nominee, John Bell.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「John M. Fleming」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|