James Mullins (American politician)

Mullins was born at "Three Forks of the Duck River" in Bedford County, Tennessee, on September 15, 1807. He initially worked as a farmer, but gradually turned to the milling business. By the outbreak of the Civil War, he had become a successful millwright,^[3] and owned several slaves.^[4] He was appointed a colonel in the Tennessee state militia in 1831, and served as Sheriff of Bedford County from 1840 to 1846.^[5] In 1843, he petitioned the state government for tax relief for Bedford County.^[6]

Mullins was originally a member of the Whig Party.^[4] After that party's dissolution in the mid-1850s, he aligned with the nativist American Party ("Know Nothings"), and was a member of the Bedford County delegation at Tennessee's American Party conventions in Nashville in February 1856 and February 1857 (his fellow Bedford Countian, William H. Wisener, was president of the latter convention).^[7][8] By the late 1850s, Mullins had thrown his support behind the Opposition Party, a hodgepodge group of ex-Whigs, ex-Know Nothings, and disgruntled Democrats formed to counter the rising secessionist sentiments championed by Southern Democrats. Mullins represented Bedford at the state's Opposition Party conventions in March 1859 and February 1860.^[9][10]

Mullins' opposition to secession put him at odds with Bedford County and Middle Tennessee in general, and he was compelled to flee in 1862. During the Civil War, he served in the Union Army from 1862 to 1864 as a member of the staff of General Williams Rosecrans, commander of the Army of the Cumberland. He was with the Army of the Cumberland at the battles of Stones River and Hoover's Gap, and during the Tullahoma Campaign.^[3]

In the years following the war, Mullins remained committed to Southern Unionist causes. He was a member of the Union League of America,^[11] and was a featured speaker at the Loyal Southern Convention in Philadelphia in September 1866.^[12]

At a statewide convention of Tennessee Unionists in January 1865, Mullins was nominated for the seat representing Bedford and Rutherford counties in the Tennessee House of Representatives.^[13] He was elected to the seat on March 4 of that year. The legislature convened in April, and quickly ratified the Thirteenth Amendment, which outlawed slavery.

While the state legislature was dominated during this period by Southern Unionists (ex-Confederates were barred from voting), a rift quickly developed between the "conservatives," who were aligned nationally with President Andrew Johnson, and the "radicals," who supported Governor William G. Brownlow, and were aligned nationally with the Radical Republicans. Conservatives, led by Speaker of the House William Heiskell, generally sought a return to pre-Civil War conditions (though with slavery outlawed), while Radicals wanted to extend voting rights to African-Americans and punish former Confederates. Mullins voted with the Radical block, and became one of Brownlow's staunchest allies in the state house.^[14]

In February 1866, a franchise bill was introduced in the legislature that would give Governor Brownlow the power to throw out the votes of any county in any election in which ex-Confederates were suspected of casting ballots. Conservative legislators opposed the bill, but having little chance of stopping its passage, fled the capital in an attempt to prevent a quorum. Mullins loudly accused the Speaker of the House, William Heiskell, of organizing the quorum bust. Enraged, Heiskell called Mullins a "God damned old liar and a damned thief," and threw his gavel at Mullins.^[14] Reports differ as to Mullins' response, with at least one stating he had to be restrained from attacking Heiskell,^[14] and another stating he merely placed the gavel in his pocket and called Heiskell a "darned old fool."^[15] The franchise bill passed a few weeks later.^[14]

Mullins was praised by radicals and derided by conservatives for his actions in the legislature. Brownlow's newspaper, the Knoxville Whig, stated that Mullins was a "terror to the copperheads" in the legislature, and described him as an "old patriot" who "stands like the pillars of the Alleghenies, unheeding the storms of copperheadism and treason, which beat in unrelenting fury above his head."^[16] The Cleveland Banner, on the other hand, stated that Mullins was "making an ass of himself."^[17]

In July 1866, Brownlow called a special session of the General Assembly to consider the Fourteenth Amendment, which extended civil rights to African Americans. Conservatives vehemently opposed the amendment and organized another quorum bust. After two of the quorum-busting legislators were arrested and confined to the House chamber, the radicals argued this constituted a quorum, and pushed through the vote in favor ratifying the amendment. Heiskell resigned the Speakership in disgust.^[18] Mullins served as Speaker pro tempore at various times in late 1866 and early 1867.^[19]