Justice of the Peace Commission from Governor James D. Porter of Tennessee to R. K. Byrd of Roane County [Robert King Byrd ]

Nashville, Tenn. State of Tennessee, 1876. 1 sheet 43 x 35 cm. Printed commission form includes engraving of a seated woman holding a striped shield next to an eagle with its wings up, and a gold seal of the state. The election had been held on Aug. 3, 1876; the commission is dated Aug. 17, 1876 and is signed by Governor James D. Porter and Secretary of State Charles Gibbs. James Dave Porter (1828-1912) served in the Tennessee House of Representatives from 1859 to 1861. He introduced what became known as the Porter Resolutions, which declared that Tennessee would side with the seceding southern states if war were declared between those states and the Union. In May 1861, after the the Battle of Fort Sumter and as required by those resolutions, Tennessee sided with the Confederacy. Porter became an adjutant general and later served as General Cheatham's chief of staff. After the war, he served a governor of the state from 1875 to 1879; United States Assistant Secretary of State from 1885 to 1887; and Minister to Chile in 1893 and 1894. Porter was also president of the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway from 1880 to 1884 and was a strong supporter of the University of Nashville. He became chancellor of the University of Nashville in 1901 and president of the associated Peabody College the following year. Robert King Bird (1823-1885) commanded the Union Army's 1st Tennessee Infantry from 1861 to 1863, when it became the 1st Tennessee Mounted Infantry, or Byrd's Mounted Men. After the Civil War, he served in the Tennessee Senate from 1879 to 1881. In Very Good- Condition: small brown stains in the center section; creases from having been folded; shadow on the upper section from the gold seal in the lower section; otherwise, clean and bright. Very Good -. Item #006731

Price: $350.00