Henry Clay Evans

Henry Clay Evans (June 18, 1843 – December 12, 1921) was an American politician, businessman, and civic leader who represented Tennessee’s 3rd District in the United States House of Representatives from March 4, 1889, to March 3, 1891, and was twice a candidate for Governor of Tennessee, in 1894 and 1906. He served as U.S. Commissioner of Pensions from April 1, 1897, to May 13, 1902, and as United States consul general to London from 1902 to 1905. A prominent Republican in a predominantly Democratic state, he was known for his advocacy of progressive measures, his conflicts with both Democratic opponents and rival Republican factions, and his long involvement in the civic and educational development of Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Evans was born on June 18, 1843, in Juniata County, Pennsylvania, to Jesse and Anna Single Evans. In 1844 his family moved west and settled in Platteville, Grant County, Wisconsin, where he was raised. He attended the common schools and later pursued business training, first at a business school in Madison, Wisconsin, and then at a business school in Chicago, from which he graduated in 1861. This early commercial education prepared him for a career that would combine business enterprise with public service.

During the American Civil War, Evans enlisted on May 6, 1864, as a corporal in Company A, 41st Regiment, Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry. He served in the Union Army until his discharge as a quartermaster sergeant on September 24, 1864. Following his discharge, he spent about a year in Chattanooga, Tennessee, as an agent with the quartermaster department, gaining his first sustained exposure to the city that would later become his political base. Afterward he spent time in Texas and New York. In 1869 he married Adelaide Durand in Westfield, New York; the couple had three children. By 1870 he had returned to Chattanooga, where he settled permanently and embarked on a career in manufacturing and local politics.

In Chattanooga, Evans engaged in the manufacture of freight cars and soon emerged as a leading industrialist. He became president of the Chattanooga Car and Foundry Company and remained its principal owner until 1917, helping to shape the city’s industrial growth. His prominence in business led naturally into public life. Elected mayor of Chattanooga in 1881, he served two terms from 1882 to 1883. As mayor and later as a civic leader, he championed public education, organizing the city’s public-school system and serving as its first school commissioner. From 1884 to 1885 he worked as cashier of Chattanooga’s First National Bank, further consolidating his standing in the city’s commercial community.

Evans’s rising profile in Tennessee Republican politics culminated in his election to the Fifty-first Congress as a Republican from Tennessee’s 3rd District, serving from March 4, 1889, to March 3, 1891. In Congress he supported progressive causes, notably the Lodge Bill, a federal elections measure designed to protect African American voting rights in the South. His support for such legislation and his alignment with national Republican policies placed him at odds with the Southern Democrat-controlled Tennessee state legislature. In the 1890 elections, his congressional district was gerrymandered in a way that ensured his defeat and contributed to his unsuccessful bid for reelection to the Fifty-second Congress. From 1891 to 1893 he served in Washington as First Assistant Postmaster General, gaining administrative experience in the federal government.

Evans remained a central figure in Tennessee Republican politics through the 1890s and early 1900s. In 1894 he ran for Governor of Tennessee and, on the face of the initial returns, was elected. However, a subsequent recount by the Democratic-controlled state authorities rejected thousands of votes, and his Democratic opponent, Peter Turney, was declared the winner. This controversial outcome became one of the most disputed elections in Tennessee’s history. Evans was again a candidate for governor in 1906, though he was unsuccessful. Throughout his career he frequently quarreled with fellow Tennessee Republicans, first with Congressman Leonidas C. Houk and later with the faction led by Congressman Walter P. Brownlow. Brownlow and his allies played a key role in thwarting Evans’s bid for the Republican vice-presidential nomination at the 1896 Republican National Convention, limiting his ascent in national politics even as he remained influential within the party.

On April 1, 1897, President William McKinley appointed Evans U.S. Commissioner of Pensions, a position he held until May 13, 1902. In this role he oversaw the administration of pensions for Civil War veterans and their families, managing one of the federal government’s largest and most politically sensitive bureaus at the turn of the twentieth century. On May 9, 1902, he was appointed United States consul general to London, England, one of the most important posts in the American consular service. He resigned from that position in 1905, concluding his formal diplomatic career and returning to Tennessee.

In his later years, Evans continued to play a prominent role in Chattanooga’s civic affairs. In 1911 he was chosen commissioner of health and education for the city, a position in which he again focused on public schooling and municipal welfare, reinforcing his long-standing reputation as a champion of education. He also remained associated with the Chattanooga Car and Foundry Company until shortly before the end of his life, retaining an interest in the industrial development he had helped to foster. Evans died from heart disease in Chattanooga on December 12, 1921, at the age of 78. He was interred at Forest Hills Cemetery in the St. Elmo neighborhood of Chattanooga, Tennessee, closing a career that had spanned local, state, and national public service.