Augustus E. Alden

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Augustus E. Alden (1837-1886) was an American Radical Republican politician. He served as the Mayor of Nashville, Tennessee, from 1867 to 1868.

Early life[]

He was born in Augusta, Maine, in 1837.[1] His father was Col. Darius Alden and his mother, Caroline Nickerson.[1]

Career[]

During the American Civil War of 1861-1865, Alden served as a unionist from Minnesota and Maine.[2][3]

During William Gannaway Brownlow's campaign for Governor of Tennessee in 1865, he acted as a registrar for Davidson County.[2] Alden served as the mayor of Nashville from 1867 to 1868.[4] Historians have argued Governor Brownlow staged Alden's Nashville Mayoral election of 1867.[5] Others have argued he won the election thanks to African-American voters.[2] When Mayor William Matt Brown (1865-1867) accused him of stealing the election, Governor Brownlow sent General Joseph Alexander Cooper to calm the situation down and let Alden move into his new office.[2]

Personal life and death[]

He married Amanda Sparling on October 19, 1871.[1] They had no children.[1] He died on April 23, 1886, in Seattle, Washington.[1]

References[]

  1. ^ a b c d e "Friends of Metropolitan Archives of Nashville and Davidson County, TN". Archived from the original on 2016-03-13. Retrieved 2013-03-29.
  2. ^ a b c d Kent Dollar (ed.), Larry Whiteaker (ed.), W. Calvin Dickinson (ed.), Sister States, Enemy States: The Civil War in Kentucky and Tennessee, University Press of Kentucky, 2011 [1]
  3. ^ Bobby L. Lovett, The African-American History of Nashville, Tennessee, 1780-1930: Elites and Dilemmas, University of Arkansas Press, 1999, p. 211 [2]
  4. ^ Nashville Public Library: Mayors of Nashville, Tennessee
  5. ^ Don H. Doyle, New Men, New Cities, New South: Atlanta, Nashville, Charleston, Mobile, 1860-1910, UNC Press Books, 1990, p. 31 [3]
Political offices
Preceded by Mayor of Nashville, Tennessee
1867–1868 		Succeeded by
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