In Knoxville, editor "Parson" Brownlow famously rejects invitation to enlist in Confederate army

The outspoken Methodist preacher and publisher of the pro-Union Knoxville Whig, William Gannaway "Parson" Brownlow rejected in a letter a cynical call from Gideon Pillow for him to join a regiment of Tennessee volunteers Pillow was raising for the Confederacy.  Brownlow answered cordially but concluded by saying that "when I shall have made up my mind to go to hell, I will cut my throat and go direct, and not travel round by way of the Southern Confederacy."   (By John Osborne)    
Source Citation
J. Blakeslee Frost, ed., The Rebellion of the United States or the War of 1861 ... (Boston, MA: author, 1862), 181. 
    Date Certainty
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    Campaigns/Elections
    How to Cite This Page: "In Knoxville, editor "Parson" Brownlow famously rejects invitation to enlist in Confederate army," House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, https://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/index.php/node/36023.