Neill Smith Brown (April 18, 1810January 30, 1886) was an American politician and diplomat who served as the 12th Governor of Tennessee from 1847 to 1849, and as the United States Minister to Russia from 1850 to 1853. He also served several terms in the Tennessee House of Representatives, and was Speaker of the House for the 1855–1857 term. A lifelong Whig, Brown campaigned to keep Tennessee in the Union in the years leading up to the Civil War. However, once the war began, he sided with the Confederacy. Early life Brown was born in Giles County, Tennessee, the son of Duncan and Margaret Smith Brown. His ancestors were Scots-Irish, and his grandfather, Angus Brown, was a veteran of the American Revolution. His father was an ardent Whig. Brown enrolled in the Manual Labor Academy in Spring Hill, Tennessee, and taught school in Giles County to pay his way. After studying law under Judge James Trimble, he was admitted to the bar in 1834, and briefly practiced in Pulaski, Tennessee. In 1835, Brown moved to Texas, but quickly grew disillusioned with the lack of organization there, and returned to Tennessee after a few months. In 1836, he fought with the First Tennessee Mounted Volunteers in the Second Seminole War, and eventually rose to the rank of sergeant-major. Tennessee politics Brown was a founding member of Tennessee's Whig Party. He was an elector for Hugh Lawson White in 1836, and campaigned for William Henry Harrison and Henry Clay in the presidential elections of 1840 and 1844, respectively. He was elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives in 1837, becoming the legislature's youngest member during the 1837-1839 term. In 1843, Brown ran a competitive race against Democratic incumbent Aaron V. Brown (no relation) for the 6th District congressional seat, but was defeated. In 1847, Brown won the Whig nomination for governor. His opponent was once again Aaron Brown, who had been elected governor in 1845. Aaron Brown, an associate of President James K. Polk, was an ardent supporter of the Mexican–American War, while Neill Brown opposed it. The war was initially popular, but Tennesseans had grown weary of it by 1847, and Neill Brown was able to win the election by a narrow margin. The Whigs also gained control of the state legislature. During Brown's lone term as governor, he oversaw the completion of a state school for the blind in Nashville