Edward Carmack, WCTU, and Nancy Cox-McCormack

This may not seem like a stop for a Women’s History Highlights tour, but there are many women connected to this statue—both its commission and it creator. Edward Carmack was a businessman, congressman, and in 1901, he became a U.S. Senator. Carmack’s most passionate political cause was the prohibition of alcohol, which led him to join forces with the influential women of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, known as the WCTU. Using prohibition as his main campaign issue, he ran unsuccessfully against the incumbent Democratic governor in 1908. 

After the primary election loss, Carmack became the editor of the Tennessean newspaper. He regularly published harsh editorials about the governor and others who wanted to keep alcohol legal, including his former friend Duncan Cooper, the editor of the rival paper—the Nashville American. A newspaper feud ensued, and tensions grew between the two men. Carmack unexpectedly met Cooper and his son, Robin, on the streets of downtown. Carmack shot Robin, who returned fire, killing Carmack. Carmack’s death made him a martyr for the state prohibition movement, and the leaders of the WCTU used this growing public support to persuade the General Assembly to pass legislation that banned all manufacture, sale, possession, and consumption of alcohol in Tennessee. This happened nine years before the ratification of the Eighteenth Amendment, which prohibited alcohol nationwide in 1919. 

The statue of Edward Carmack was placed here on the capitol grounds by the WCTU in 1925. It was a female sculptor, Nancy Cox-McCormack, who was awarded the commission, and it was dedicated to the memory of Senator Edward Ward Carmack. In the 1980s, the statue was raised above this tunnel to allow for an underground escalator from Legislative Plaza to run to the basement of the capitol. One lawmaker suggested that the tunnel be named the “Motlow Tunnel” and the name stuck. If you are asking yourself, “Who are the Motlows?” Well, it was the Motlow family that began the Jack Daniels distillery—an ironic twist of fate for the man and the many women of the WCTU who helped to outlaw alcohol in Tennessee for over twenty years.

Now, cross the street, turn LEFT and walk to the corner of the block. This is the Tennessee Supreme Court, your next stop.