Augustus E. Alden (1837–1886) was an American Radical Republican politician. He served as the mayor of Nashville, Tennessee, from 1867 to 1868.
Early life He was born in Augusta, Maine, in 1837. His father was Col. Darius Alden and his mother, Caroline Nickerson.
Career During the American Civil War of 1861-1865, Alden served as a unionist from Minnesota and Maine.Kent Dollar (ed.), Larry Whiteaker (ed.), W. Calvin Dickinson (ed.), Sister States, Enemy States: The Civil War in Kentucky and Tennessee, University Press of Kentucky, 2011 Bobby L. Lovett, The African-American History of Nashville, Tennessee, 1780-1930: Elites and Dilemmas, University of Arkansas Press, 1999, p. 211
During William Gannaway Brownlow's campaign for Governor of Tennessee in 1865, he acted as a registrar for Davidson County. Alden served as the mayor of Nashville from 1867 to 1868.Nashville Public Library: Mayors of Nashville, Tennessee Historians have argued Governor Brownlow staged Alden's Nashville Mayoral election of 1867.Don H. Doyle, New Men, New Cities, New South: Atlanta, Nashville, Charleston, Mobile, 1860-1910, UNC Press Books, 1990, p. 31 Others have argued he won the election thanks to African-American voters. When Mayor William Matt Brown (1865-1867) accused him of stealing the election, Governor Brownlow sent General Joseph Alexander Cooper to calm the situation down and let Alden move into his new office.
Personal life and death He married Amanda Sparling on October 19, 1871. They had no children. He died on April 23, 1886, in Seattle, Washington.
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