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| Keywords: COE Levin Hudson - Memphis TN.jpg General Levin Hudson Coe 1806-1850 nominated for Vice President of the United States in 1848 Born 1806 at Greensboro NC son of Major Joseph and Margaret Covey Coe Descendant of Timothy Coe 1631-1689 of England and Accomack County VA USA By 1850 his fame and popularity had spread so far and wide a major newspaper declared There was probably no office in the gift of the Democratic party Which he could not have commanded Two years prior he had been nominated for Vice President of the United States Born just south of Greensboro NC handsome young Levin Coe was raised among the trees of central Tennessee's Maury County a seedbed of rising political stars Moving to the county seat of Columbia at about the same time as the Coe family was fellow North Carolinian Samuel Polk Among Polk's children was future US President James Knox Polk Ten years older than Coe the two formed a lifelong friendship that helped launch a meteoric political career that was constantly clouded by controversy applauded by friend and feared by foe In August 1837 Levin Hudson Coe was elected to the 22nd Tennessee General Assembly representing Fayette Hardeman and Shelby Counties Winning the district by 241 votes over veteran Whig politician Adam R Alexander he served two years as a state senator On August 16 1839 he was elected to a second term defeating Whig rival E R Belcher of Bolivar Future president Andrew Johnson joined the senate from Greene County on the same date Coe was chosen speaker of the senate while former speaker James Knox Polk was seated as governor During the 1840 presidential campaign Coe's efforts on President Van Buren's behalf were anything but colorless On June 1 1840 he spoke at Raleigh denounc-ing the Whigs as Federalists Abolitionists and tariff mongers At La Grange Tennessee he debated General Thomas T Polk one of the few Polk relatives to side with the Whigs During Coe's speech he charged William Henry Harrison's father ” a signer of the Declaration of Independence -- with being among other things a Virginia aristocrat Coe continued his crusade becoming more impassioned at every stop Back home in Somerville he debated recent Whig convert Phineas T Scruggs who had left the Democrats during the campaign because of their opposition to a national bank During their rhetoric Coe drew a pistol and shot his antagonist As Scruggs recovered Coe continued his campaign In 1842 Coe and others formed a strategy to get James K Polk's name placed on the national Democratic ticket as vice president At the 1844 Democratic National Convention held in May in Baltimore the Tennessee contingency pushed a Van Buren/Polk ticket As Van Buren's support began to wane fellow Maury Countian Gideon J Pillow seizing the opportunity began to push Polk for president With Andrew Jackson's support Polk was nominated on the eighth ballot When Young Hickory assumed the reigns of power in early 1845 Tennessee political boss Adam Huntsman wrote to Polk about filling his cabinet positions 1i having been nearly a uniform rule for the president to select some confidential friend from his state in the making of his cabinet Huntsman had three recommendations Cave Johnson Aaron Vail Fat Brown and Levin Hudson Coe Huntsman expressed concern however because Tennessee Democrats were in the process of selecting a candidate for governor and he felt any one of the three were equally qualified for that office Johnson was appointed US Postmaster General Brown who married Gideon Pillow's daughter Cynthia was elected governor Before 1846 Levin Coe was appointed inspector general of the Tennessee Militia from which he derived his title In early July 1846 President Polk offered him the rank of major as quartermaster in the Army of Occupation in Mexico; and gave the rank of general which Coe had anticipated to Colonel Pillow Protests to Coe's slighting were widespread The Memphis Eagle declared it is further said on all hands Coe is tens tines better fitted for the office Of Pillow they concluded a more unfit unmerited or unpopular appointment could not possibly be made Future Union General and US President Ulysses S Grant concluded Pillow was at best conceited The winds of notoriety continued to blow for General Coe despite the disappointment In 1848 he was offered the Tennessee gubernatorial nomination ” which would have almost without question assured hint the governorship But he refused perhaps having his sights set on higher goals Fellow North Carolinian William Trousdale the War Horse of Sumner County accepted the nomination defeated Whig incumbent Neil S Thin Brown and served as governor until 1851 In the mean time Levin Coe's fame was being whipped to religious proportions by the common folk of Tennessee At the 1848 Democratic National Convention Coe gained national attention; his name was placed in nomination for vice president of the United States much the same as Polk had been four years earlier and had so unexpectedly been nominated for president instead The magic failed to work for Coe however The Democrats selected Indian fighter Lewis Cass William O Butler was his running mate Zachary Taylor became president; Millard Fill more vice president Coe's fidelity and determination as a public servant remained unshakable Late in 1849 while Coe was serving as attorney general of Memphis feelings were intense on both sides of a question of whether plebeian Memphis should annex patrician South Memphis another town running southward from Union Street At a town meeting words became heated to the point of blows General Coe drew a pistol and shot Jeptha Fowlkes president of the Memphis Farmers' and Merchants' Bank later president of the Southern Pacific Railroad Fowlkes was slightly wounded on the hand Other-wounds ran deeper Coe's standing in the community remained unscathed however A merger of the two towns was accomplished in 1850 making Levin Coe a local hero; he was the leading figure in the conciliation On Thursday May 30 1850 the city held a formal dinner in his honor at which he was presented with a silver tea service On June 4 1850 the Memphis Eagle ran an article praising his accomplishments ;Death Just eight days later he was gunned down in the streets of Memphis Controversy and heated debate had become a way of life for Coe Protesting a move by a group of businessmen to gain control of the Farmers' and Merchants' Bank of Memphis Coe found himself again in the center of contention The maneuver in Coe's opinion was an attempt to defraud the creditors and shareholders of the local institution and intended to take the matter to a court of law Set for Saturday morning June 8 1850 the hearing was to be held in the Exchange Building at Front and Poplar Streets On Friday evening General Coe received a letter signed by E W M King former attorney general of Fayette County judge of the Commercial and Criminal Court Of Memphis and president and professor of Law of the Memphis Institute and Alanson Trigg declaring that if he persisted in the platter they would take action Trigg also threatened to thrash Major William Connell who was scheduled to appear in court on Coe's behalf Fearless to the threat Coe proceeded to the hearing as scheduled After an exchange of arguments Judge Turley declared a recess and scheduled a continuance at a later date Before leaving the courtroom Coe showed the judge Trigg and King's correspondence which was filed with E M Yeager Esquire Coe confided to Turley and others lingering in the clearing courtroom that he fully expected an assassination attempt on his life Upon leaving the building about eleven o'clock Coe accompanied by Major Connell made his way to the corner of Main and Poplar Streets There they were approached by five men Alanson Trigg Major P G Gaines a Mr Arrington Trigg's overseer Colonel Tompkins and Joseph C Williams Trigg seeming somewhat agitated approached the pair reaching out his had as though to lay it on Connell's shoulder Perceiving that his life was in immediate danger Coe drew one of four pistols he was carrying and shot Trigg through the heart He fell instantly dead Coe then aimed a large dueling pistol at Williams and fired Without effect Williams and the remaining members of Trigg's party advanced Coe drew another pistol and fired again The fighting continued -- four men against two Gaines closed in on Connell shooting him through the hip Connell then drew a Bowie knife with which he stabbed his assailant six or seven times Both men lay helpless in the street covered with blood Standing alone General Coe emptied his pistols in the direction of the attackers left standing He stood dauntless until he reached for his fourth gun ” a Colt repeater which was caught in the lining of his coat Defenseless against the determined trio he retreated to a nearby house where he found a temporary lair in an open doorway As Arrington and Tompkins ducked into a neighborhood grocery to reload their guns Williams slipped unnoticed through the building in which Coe was hiding pushed the muzzle of his gun to the General's back and squeezed the trigger Williams' bullet pierced Coe's spinal column leaving him paralyzed from the waist down The wound was so hideous everyone expected his immediate death The Nashville Union erroneously reported his murder the following day After sixty-three days of terrible suffering through the heat of the Memphis summer General Levin Hudson Coe died August 10 1850 He was 44 Portraits of men People of Memphis Tennessee Men of the United States in art Memphis Tennessee in the 1840s | ||||
