William Little Brown diary

1805-1814

William Little Brown kept this diary while living in the home of his father, Dr. Morgan Brown, at Palmyra, Montgomery County, Tennessee, and in Kentucky; later as a student at Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky (1810-1811); while studying law under Joseph H. Hawkins in Kentucky; and while practicing law in Tennessee from the autumn of 1812 until October 4, 1813, when he joined the army at Camp Beatie, Mississippi Territory, for a brief term, under the service of General Coffee Following his army service, Brown settled in Clarksville, Tennessee. The diary mentions assistance he gave his father in operating a grist mill, an iron furnace, and a farm; the names of bedfellows who passed the night in his home; the sale of medicine to patients; setting bird traps; playing cards; cock fighting; slavery - notably a conspiracy among the negroes in December 1810; his studies and general reading; and his law library Entries date from January 1, 1805 through November 22, 1814. In addition, the diary includes clippings from the Clarkesville Leaf-Chronicle weekly editions dated October 5, 12, 19, and 26, 1916, when portions of Brown's diary were published. A typed transcription of the diary is available for consultation