Robert L. Caruthers

Robert Looney Caruthers (July 31, 1800 – October 2, 1882) was an American judge, politician, and professor. He helped establish Cumberland University in 1842, serving as the first president of its board of trustees, and was a cofounder of the Cumberland School of Law, one of the oldest law schools in the South. He served as a Tennessee state attorney general in the late 1820s and early 1830s, and was a justice of the Tennessee Supreme Court in the 1850s and early 1860s. He also served one term in the United States House of Representatives (1841–1843). In 1863, he was elected Governor of Tennessee by the state's Confederates, but never took office.

Early life and career Robert Looney Caruthers was born near Carthage, Tennessee, the youngest of seven children of Samuel and Elizabeth Looney Caruthers. After his death, Robert went to live with an uncle in Columbia, Tennessee, That same year, he was appointed attorney general for the Sixth Judicial District (based in Lebanon) by Governor Sam Houston. He served in this position until 1832. In 1834, he was elected brigadier general in the Tennessee militia.

In 1835, Caruthers was elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives, representing Wilson County. He served on the House Judiciary Committee, and did not seek reelection. He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives for Tennessee's 7th District for the 1841–1843 term. Once again, he served just one term, and did not seek reelection.

Prior to the outbreak of the Civil War, Caruthers was a delegate to the Washington Peace Convention in February 1861, which sought to find a peaceful resolution to the sectional strife between the North and South. In August 1861, he resigned from the court to represent Tennessee in the Provisional Confederate Congress.

On July 17, 1863, the state's Confederate leaders met in Winchester, Tennessee, and nominated Caruthers for governor to replace Isham G. Harris, who was prohibited by the state constitution from seeking a fourth consecutive term. He was appointed president of the school's first board of trustees in the Summer of 1842, and helped the school secure a charter in December of the following year. He remained president of the board until his death in 1882. The school, which had an initial enrollment of seven students, held its first classes in Robert Caruthers' law office. In 1878, in memory of his brother, Abraham, he funded the construction of Caruthers Hall, which housed the law school for several decades. He resigned from the faculty in 1880.

Death and legacy

Caruthers died in Lebanon on October 2, 1882. He was buried in the city's Cedar Grove Cemetery. Along with being an elder in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, Caruthers was the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Tennessee Free and Accepted Masons. His house, built in 1828, still stands on West Main Street in Lebanon. The house was designed by Henry Reiff, who built the original Hermitage mansion for Andrew Jackson in Hermitage in 1819.