William M. Browne

William M. Browne

William M. Browne

William Montague Browne lived from 1823 to 1883 and was a well-known politician and newsman and, as listed on his gravestone, colonel and aide-de-camp in the Confederate States Army.

Nisha Katti

1823 - 1883

William Montague Brown lived from 1823 to 1883 and was a well-known politician and newsman and, as listed on his gravestone, colonel and aide-de-camp in the Confederate States Army. He was originally from County Mayo in Ireland and, although his early education is not definitively known, he was rumored to have served in the Crimean War within the British Army. He was living in the United States by the 1850s and wrote for the New York Journal of Commerce, concerned mostly with foreign affairs. He moved to Washington D.C. to write for the Washington Constitution and later bought the paper, using it as a vehicle for his pro-Buchanan administration views. He promoted the Democratic Party strongly through his position as owner of this paper, and became known as a very outspoken secessionist. He attempted a New York Congressional campaign in 1858 as a Democratic secessionist, but anti-slavery Democrat John Haskin won the seat. Apparently, Browne was six feet tall, standing out from the crowd, with a “genial face and large head, though it was not out of proportion to his body.” He had an iron gray beard which made him “patriarchal in appearance” and gray eyes with a “touch of wistful sadness or weakness or a wildish look,” (Coulter 29). Browne moved to Athens, Georgia in 1861 and was known as Constitution Browne at this time. He was made Assistant Secretary of State by Jefferson Davis and Robert Toombs, and after his resignation from this position, he held other positions such as military aide-de-camp to President Davis, Colonel of cavalry and Commandant of Conscription in Georgia. He achieved the rank of Brigadier General in 1864, but a few months later, when his position was not confirmed by congress, he was returned to colonel. After the war, Browne was back in Athens. He studied law and became a certified lawyer by 1866. He also got back into the news business by becoming editor of the Southern Banner a few years later.