The house in Greenville, Tennessee, where Andrew Johnson lived before and after his presidency. |
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A painting of Johnson -- saved from destruction during the Civil War -- hangs in the house. |
“Would you like to visit Johnson’s house?” she asked. The ticket for entry was well within my ballpark — free — so I got mine for the 11 a.m. tour and strolled around a corner.
At Johnson’s house — the one where he lived before and after his presidency — I met two Englishmen from London on an epic two-week Revolutionary War/Civil War sojourn. I’d have offered to show them around the country, but Mrs. B required my return to Nashville by Wednesday.
During the tour, the excellent NPS ranger dished on slave-holding Johnson’s complicated life and legacy. Sidenote: He lived and worked in a downstairs bedroom/office, separately from his wife, Eliza.
My ears perked up when the ranger told our small group about Rebel soldiers evicting Eliza and the rest of the family from the house in 1861 while Andrew was elsewhere. During the war, Confederates trashed the place. Some even left graffiti on the wall of a second-floor bedroom.
“Andrew Johnson the old traitor,” one of them wrote. (The graffiti is protected by Plexiglas.)
Anywho, the tour was superb. So was my aptly named “Awesome Chicken” sandwich at the Tannery Downtown on East Depot Street.
Greeneville, I shall return.
Graffiti left in the Johnson house by Confederate soldiers. |
At the Andrew Johnson National Historic Site visitors center, you can cast your vote for -- or against -- President Johnson's impeachment, just as lawmakers did in 1868. |