During a dispute between state and local authorities, federal troops keep the peace in Nashville city elections.

Federal troops were called in to keep order during a fiercely controversial election day in Nashville, Tennessee.  The mayor of the city and the governor of the state were in a political contest over whose judges would carry out the balloting with the governor threatening to use the state militia to ensure he would prevail.  Although Tennessee was not subject to the Military Reconstruction Acts, federal troops under General George H. Thomas did patrol the streets and polling places and no confrontation took place. The mayor gave in to the state authorities, under protest, and the election went off peacefully.  (By John Osborne)

Source Citation

United States Senate and the U.S. War Department, "Federal Aid in Domestic Disturbances, 1903-1922," Congressional Serial Set, 67th Congress (Washington DC: Government Printing Office, 1922), 96-98.

    Date Certainty
    Exact
    Type
    Campaigns/Elections
    How to Cite This Page: "During a dispute between state and local authorities, federal troops keep the peace in Nashville city elections.," House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, https://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/node/47738.