General military newspaperman officer statesman
Zollicoffer was born on May 19, 1812 in Maury County, Tennessee, the son of John Jacob and Martha (Kirk) Zollicoffer. Of Swiss descent, he was the great-grandson of Jacob Christopher Zollicoffer, who came to America in the early eighteenth century with Baron de Graffenreid and was associated with the settlement at New Bern, North Carolina. His grandfather, Capt. George Zollicoffer, a Revolutionary soldier, received a land grant in Tennessee.
Although Felix's father owned a thousand acres, the boy was taken out of the old-field school to work one year on the plantation; for one year he attended Jackson College at Columbia, Tennessee.
At sixteen, Zollicoffer entered newspaper work in Paris, Tennessee, but after two years his paper failed and he became a journeyman printer in Knoxville until he worked off his indebtedness. In 1834 he became editor and part owner of the Columbia Observer, and in addition helped to edit in these years the Southern Agriculturist and the Huntsville (Alabama) Mercury. Also he dabbled in literature: one essay, "Hours, " printed in The Literary and Miscellaneous Scrap Book (1837) of William Fields (later The Scrap Book), was often declaimed by schoolboys. In 1835 he was appointed state printer of Tennessee; the following year he abandoned journalism to serve one year as lieutenant in the Seminole War. Gradually Zollicoffer became a political power in the state. In 1842 he was appointed associate editor of the Nashville Republican Banner, to aid the Whig James C. Jones in his approaching gubernatorial campaign against James K. Polk. Never strong, Zollicoffer conducted the campaign successfully while suffering from aneurism of the aorta. As soon as he had recovered, he was appointed adjutant-general and state comptroller (1845-1849), and then served as state senator from 1849 to 1852. But these minor offices were small indication of his political power, for he was Tennessee's "Warwick and kingmaker" beyond any question, as was proved in 1850 when he returned to the Banner as editor and forced the nomination by the Whigs and the eventual election of William Bate Campbell as governor. Two years later he ran for congressman, but neglected his own campaign to work for Gen. Winfield Scott, whose nomination he had opposed in the Whig convention. So bitter was this campaign that John Leake Marling, editor of the Democratic Nashville Union, in an editorial on Augгые 20, 1852, charged Zollicoffer with misrepresenting Franklin Pierce's views on slavery and the South, and virtually termed him a liar. In the duel which followed, both men were wounded: Zollicoffer slightly in his pistol hand, Marling seriously in the head. It was generally thought that the quarrel was political rather than personal, and the two men later became reconciled. Chiefly through Zollicoffer's efforts, Scott carried Tennessee; Zollicoffer was elected to Congress, and resigned from the Banner. He served until 1859, but declined to run for a fourth term. As a state-rights Whig he worked steadily for peace and understanding between the sections, supported the American or Know-Nothing party in 1856, and toured New York in 1860 in support of John Bell's candidacy for the presidency. In 1861 he was a member of the peace conference at Washington; he was speaking at a rally against secession when news of war reached Nashville. Immediately Gov. Isham G. Harris offered him a major-generalship and the command of the Tennessee troops, which he declined on account of lack of experience, but he did accept a commission as brigadier-general in the Confederate Army. He was put in command of East Tennessee, to try to check the strong Unionist tendencies there. Late in 1861 he was ordered to move with his army to Mill Springs, Kentucky. At the battle of Fishing Creek, Zollicoffer went past his own lines; meeting with the Federal troops under Col. Speed S. Fry, he requested them not to fire. But his aide-de-camp fired at Fry, and when the Federal troops retaliated Zollicoffer was killed. His body was returned to Nashville for burial. Although he was not the first Confederate general killed in action, his death shocked the entire South, and brought forth universal and deserved tribute to his bravery and ability.
On September 24, 1835, Zollicoffer was married to Louisa Pocahontas Gordon, daughter of Capt. John Gordon of the "Border Spies. " Of their eleven children, the five boys died in infancy.
