Presentation

There have been at least six violent encounters involving Nashville newspaper editors, from 1841 to 1908. Shotguns, pistols, and even a cane sword were all used to settle disputes between editors and the targets of their editorials. In this presentation, “Ink & Blood: Nashville’s Fighting Editors,” Nashville Retrospect editor Allen Forkum explains each incident and explores how they may have been connected to a larger, 19th-century social context. Nashville’s two most famous editorial fights—one involving a former U.S. senator—will be examined in detail. Also discussed are the clashes between Edward Ward Carmack and African-American editor and journalist Ida B. Wells.

For more about some of the stories featured in this presentation, get these issue of The Nashville Retrospect: 

“Editor vs. Editor” by Allen Forkum (Marling vs. Zollicoffer), August 2009 issue

“The Jackson-Dickinson Duel” by Paul Clements, September 2009 issue

“Carmack Statue Dedicated on Capitol Hill” (1925) (Carmack vs. Wells), July 2020 issue

“Our Egyptian Mummy” by Dr. Tom Kanon, March 2011 issue

The Retrospect‘s Nashville History Map (Benton vs. Jackson)

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Sources: Joanne B. Freeman, Brian Hallett, Library of Congress, Metro Archives, Metro Nashville Historical Commission, Nashville Public Library, National Portrait Gallery, New York Public Library, Newspapers.com, Tennessee Historical Society, Tennessee State Library and Archives, Regent Antiques (London), James Summerville, Wikipedia, Winthrop University, Bertram Wyatt-Brown

Cover illustration by Jim Young (Nashville Tennessean)