William Heiskell was an American politician, active primarily in Tennessee, in the mid-19th century.
20 Facts About William Heiskell
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William Heiskell served a tumultuous term as Speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives in the months following the Civil War, where he opposed the radical agenda of Governor William G Brownlow, most notably refusing to sign the state house's ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment in 1866.
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William Heiskell represented Monroe County at the East Tennessee Convention in 1861.
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William Heiskell was born in Hagerstown, Maryland, one of nine children of Frederic and Catherine William Heiskell.
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In 1833, William Heiskell moved to Monroe County, Tennessee, where he established a plantation in the Little Tennessee Valley.
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William Heiskell championed railroad construction, helping to organize the East Tennessee and Georgia Railroad in the late 1840s.
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In 1846, William Heiskell ran on the Whig ticket for Monroe County's seat in the state legislature.
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William Heiskell won the seat in the subsequent election serving from 1849 to 1851.
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William Heiskell further alleged that his brother, Robert, had been arrested for helping him escape.
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William Heiskell denied the charge, and Brownlow defended him in a letter to the Treasury Department.
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Toward the end of the war, William Heiskell helped several former Confederates who were seeking pardons.
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In 1865, William Heiskell was again elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives, this time representing Knox County.
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William Heiskell voted against the latter, prompting calls for his resignation from the allies of Brownlow, who was now governor.
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Conservative Unionists, led by William Heiskell, were outraged when Brownlow threw out thousands of votes in the August 1865 congressional elections, allowing Radical candidate Samuel Arnell to win in the 6th district.
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When Representative James Mullins, a Brownlow ally, accused William Heiskell of organizing the quorum-bust, William Heiskell called Mullins a "God damned old liar and a damned thief" and threw his gavel at Mullins, nearly igniting a brawl.
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William Heiskell ruled that this did not constitute a quorum, but the house overrode his decision, and the amendment was passed.
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William Heiskell refused to sign it, and resigned the speakership in disgust.
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William Heiskell is interred with his wife, Julia, at Old Gray Cemetery in Knoxville.
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William Heiskell was appointed to the Board of Trustees for East Tennessee University in 1865.
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William Heiskell served on the inaugural Board of Trustees of Hiwassee College.