The Political War Within the War

Rosemont, a Greek Revival—style mansion completed in the 1840s, was the home of Judge Josephus Conn Guild, a state senator and representative who also served as a Lt. Colonel in the 2nd Tennessee Mounted Volunteers during the Seminole War. He hosted such notables as James K. Polk and Andrew Johnson here at his plantation, famous for horse-breeding and racing.

The Civil War changed that world forever. Guild resisted secession but became an ardent Confederate once the war began. Federal military governor Andrew Johnson ordered Guild's arrest on April 11, 1862, for "treasonable language" and "his influence?against the Government of the United States." Denied the writ of habeas corpus, Guild and two other Tennesseans were confined without trial at Fort Mackinac, Michigan. On August 1, Guild took the loyalty oath. He returned home September 25 and remained under the watchful eyes of Union officers.

Rosemont's hilltop setting made it an ideal post for pickets guarding the southern approach to town. Federal troops hauled off 40 wagonloads of the estate's timber in 1864. Guild petitioned the local commander to stop the cutting and even hid horses in the cellar to prevent their seizure.

After the war, Guild defended Confederate guerilla Champ Ferguson at a controversial military trial in Nashville, where in October 1865 the court sentenced Ferguson to death. He was the only Tennessean executed for war crimes after the Civil War. At a Democratic Party gathering in 1868, Guild observed: "How changed are the times!...we are the mere creatures of our former slaves; we are completely metamorphosed, with the exception that our skins are yet white."

(captions)
Josephus C. Guild Courtesy of Sumner County Museum
Rosemont, 1876 - Courtesy of Kenneth C. Thompson, Jr.

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