TENNESSEE LAWMAN
Honoring the Men and Women behind the Badge
Through the last of the eighteenth and most of the nineteenth centuries the lawmen of Tennessee were part-time citizen law enforcement officers who served when needed and worked mostly at other occupations. In the decades following the Civil War police work became a career.
Copyright © 2005-2006, Tennessee Lawman
Left - Rattle used to raise an alarm and call help
Center - Lantern to light the way on dark streets
Right - Nippers to latch onto the wrist of a prisoner
In Tennessee, as in the rest of the United States, the system of law enforcement originated in medieval England. The old-English system included a “shire-reeve” who was the representative of the Crown in each shire. This position transferred to America as the county sheriff. In the English countryside the parish constable was the primary law enforcement officer and as town and cities grew, constables, who served during the day, were augmented at night by “the watch,” a group assigned to guard the gates and to patrol the streets.
The history of law enforcement in Tennessee began with the appointment of sheriffs in newly formed counties. Before county and town governments were organized, pioneers posted watches in the fort-like compounds at night to alert the group to any hostile threat, mainly Cherokee raiding parties. Towns grew out of the pioneer settlements.
Fort Nashborough was established in the spring of 1779. The North Carolina legislature formed Davidson County in April 1783 and named Sheriff Daniel Williams its first lawman. Nashville was incorporated by North Carolina in 1784. A police was established in an act of the Tennessee legislature to incorporate Nashville on September 11, 1806. The police force consisting of a High Constable and night watches or patrols. High Constable John Deatheredge was the first to serve as the towns chief law enforcement officer. The night watch was also appointed to maintain peace and order between sunset and sunrise.
Memphis was a rough and tumble riverboat stopover when the town was incorporated in 1826, a few years after the Jackson Purchase expanded the state to the Mississippi River. Shelby County Sheriff Samuel R. Brown was elected when the county was organized in 1820. The first Memphis lawman was Town Constable John J. Balch, a tinker elected to the post on May 12, 1827.
Early Tennessee lawmen enforced criminal and civil law, serving papers of the county and town court, collecting taxes and arresting law breakers. They also took on many other responsibilities necessary to the community including health, sanitation and public works.
In addition to other duties, sheriffs had the responsibility for punishment of felons. Punishment was corporal and public, as in medieval Europe and ancient Rome. Beatings of up to 39 lashes, branding and cutting off ears were punishment for lesser felonies. Murderers and other major felons were hanged. These punishments were carried out in the public square or on other public grounds and were witnessed by the whole community. This was the consequence for criminal behavior until 1831 when the Tennessee State Penitentiary House was built. The county sheriff continued to execute murderers by hanging until 1909.
By the middle of the nineteenth century, night police replaced the night watch and the title “Marshal” was being adopted for the chief law enforcement officer in towns and cities. For the most part, however, law enforcement remained a part-time force of citizen lawmen whose qualifications were character and physical prowess.
The reform that Sir Robert Peel had implemented in 1829 London was the origin of the modern professional police force. The Metropolitan Police of London was founded on the fundamental concepts of crime prevention, crime detection and public cooperation. The backbone of the force was the “Peelers” or “Bobbies” who patrolled London’s streets as a visible presence to deter criminal activity. The force was trained, paid a salary and wore a uniform.
The metropolitan system of policing soon came to the United States, to New York City in 1845 and the to other major cities. The Metropolitan Police came to Tennessee, nominally at least, following the Civil War when Tennessee's Governor William Gannaway Brownlow created the Metropolitan Police District of the County of Shelby to police the Memphis area. Metropolitan forces were also formed in Nashville and Chattanooga. They wore federal army style uniforms.
The Metropolitans, as they were called, were in one sense the first state because they had statewide powers and answered directly to the governor. Although they were called "Brownlow's Band" and had little support from the general populous, much of their structure and policy had a positive impact on policing in Tennessee.
In the decades following the Civil War lawlessness was rampant throughout the state. Reestablishing law and order was further challenged by economic and social upheaval. Law and order resembled that in the “wild west.” The bravery and grit of many lawmen were tested by desperados resorting to gunplay.