Augustus E. Alden

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. "Friends of Metropolitan Archives of Nashville and Davidson County, TN". Archived from the original on 2016-03-13. Retrieved 2013-03-29.
2. 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
3. Bobby L. Lovett, The African-American History of Nashville, Tennessee, 1780-1930: Elites and Dilemmas, University of Arkansas Press, 1999, p. 211
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