{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2022}} {{Infobox person | name = Sumner Archibald Cunningham | image = Sumner Archibald Cunningham wmm.jpg | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1843|07|21}} | birth_place = Bedford County, Tennessee, U.S. | death_date = {{death-date and age|December 13, 1913|July 21, 1843}} | death_place = Nashville, Tennessee, U.S. | resting_place = Willow Mount Cemetery, Shelbyville, Tennessee, U.S. | resting_place_coordinates = | other_names = | known_for = | education = | alma mater = | employer = | occupation = Editor | party = | spouse = Laura Davis | children = 1 son, 1 daughter | relatives = | module = {{Infobox military person | embed = yes | allegiance = Confederate States | branch = Confederate States Army | service_years = 1861–1865 }} }} thumb|Wartime photograph of Cunningham '''Sumner Archibald Cunningham''' (July 21, 1843 – December 20, 1913) was an American Confederate soldier and journalist. He was the editor of a short lived Confederate magazine called "Our Day" (1883-1884) published in New York. In 1893 he established the ''Confederate Veteran'', a bimonthly magazine about veterans of the Confederate States Army until his death in 1913. He was a critic of Reconstruction, "scalawags", "carpetbaggers", and "Negro" legislators.
==Early life== Sumner Archibald Cunningham was born on July 21, 1843, in Bedford County, Tennessee.<ref name="goffjstorarticle">{{cite journal |last=Goff |first=Reda C. |title=The Confederate Veteran Magazine |journal=Tennessee Historical Quarterly |volume=31 |issue=1 |pages=45–60 |jstor=42623281 | date = Spring 1972 }}</ref><ref name=encyclopediabio>{{cite web|last1=Simpson|first1=John A.|title=Sumner A. Cunningham|url=https://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entry.php?rec=346|website=The Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture|publisher=Tennessee Historical Society & University of Tennessee Press|accessdate=December 14, 2015|date=December 25, 2009}}</ref><ref name=uncpapers>{{cite web|title=Collection Title: Sumner Archibald Cunningham Papers, 1891–1945.|url=http://www2.lib.unc.edu/mss/inv/c/Cunningham,Sumner_Archibald.html|website=The Southern Historical Collection at the Louis Round Wilson Special Collections Library|publisher=University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill|accessdate=December 14, 2015}}</ref> His father was John Washington Campbell Cunningham and his mother, Mary A. Buchanan.<ref name="goffjstorarticle"/> His family owned slaves.<ref name="simpson25">{{cite book|last1=Simpson|first1=John A.|title=Edith D. Pope and Her Nashville Friends: Guards of the Lost Cause in the Confederate Veteran|date=2003|publisher=University of Tennessee Press|location=Knoxville, Tennessee|isbn=9781572332119|oclc=428118511|pages=25–26; 38–39}}</ref>
During the American Civil War of 1861–1865, Cunningham served in the Confederate States Army.<ref name="simpson25"/> He was stationed at Camp Trousdale in Portland, Tennessee, until he was captured by Union forces in the Battle of Fort Donelson and imprisoned at Camp Morton in Indianapolis.<ref name="goffjstorarticle"/> After he was released in exchange of other prisoners in Vicksburg, Mississippi, he fought in the Battle of Chickamauga on September 18–20, 1863, the Battle of Missionary Ridge on November 25, 1863, and the Battle of Franklin on November 30, 1864.<ref name="goffjstorarticle"/><ref name=encyclopediabio/> He became a sergeant-major, but left the CSA after the Battle of Nashville on December 15–16, 1864.<ref name="simpson25"/>
==Career== Cunningham moved to Shelbyville, Tennessee, where he worked as a "dry good merchant."<ref name="simpson25"/> He also managed a bookstore in Shelbyville.<ref name="nostalgiaforanickel">{{cite journal |last=Evans |first=Josephine King |title=Nostalgia for a Nickel: The "Confederate Veteran" |journal=Tennessee Historical Quarterly |volume=48 |issue=4 |pages=238–244 |jstor=42626824 | date = Winter 1989 }}</ref> In 1871, he authored ''Reminiscences of the Forty-first Tennessee Infantry''.<ref name="simpson25"/> That year, he purchased ''The Shelbyville Commercial'', a newspaper in Shelbyville, and served as its editor,<ref name="simpson25"/> as he did with the ''Rural Sun'', a Nashville newspaper, in 1874–1875.<ref name="goffjstorarticle"/> By 1876, he purchased ''The Chattanooga Times'', the main newspaper in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and edited it.<ref name="simpson25"/> By 1878, Cunningham "leased" it to Adolph Ochs, who purchased it in 1880.<ref name="goffjstorarticle"/> Cunningham purchased and edited ''The Cartersville Express'', a newspaper in Cartersville, Georgia, in 1879.<ref name="simpson25"/> In 1883, he founded ''Our Day'', a newspaper published in New York City whose target readership was Southerners,<ref name="goffjstorarticle"/> but it failed by 1885.<ref name=encyclopediabio/> He became a journalist for ''The Nashville American'', serving as a correspondent from 1885 to 1892.<ref name="simpson25"/>
Cunningham founded ''The Confederate Veteran'' in 1893 in Nashville, Tennessee.<ref name=uncpapers/><ref name="davidj284">David J. Eicher, ''Dixie Betrayed: How the South Really Lost the Civil War'', New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2006, p. 284</ref> Initially, it was a fundraising newsletter for the construction of a monument in honor of Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederate States of America, in Richmond, Virginia.<ref name="simpson25"/> Over the years, it became "one of the New South's most influential monthlies" and made Cunningham a leader of the Lost Cause movement.<ref name=encyclopediabio/>
Cunningham attended meetings of the executive committee of the United Confederate Veterans, as he did for example in Louisville, Kentucky in 1903.<ref name="sacunninghamreturns">{{cite news|title=S. A. Cunningham Returns. Invitation To U. C. V. Backed by Commercial Organizations. |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/118990359/?terms=%22S.%2BA.%2BCunningham%22 |newspaper=The Tennessean |location=Nashville, Tennessee |date=November 19, 1903 |page=1 |via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = December 14, 2015 }} {{Open access}}</ref> Additionally, he encouraged the co-founders of the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC), Caroline Meriwether Goodlett and Anna Raines, to make up after Raines complained Goodlett had taken over.<ref name="cox13">{{cite book|last1=Cox|first1=Karen L.|title=Dixie's Daughters: The United Daughters of the Confederacy and the Preservation of Confederate Culture|url=https://archive.org/details/dixiesdaughtersu00coxk|url-access=limited|date=2003|publisher=University Press of Florida|location=Gainesville, Florida|isbn=9780813026251|page=[https://archive.org/details/dixiesdaughtersu00coxk/page/n43 23]}}</ref> thumb|right|The Sam Davis Statue Cunningham attended the dedication of the Confederate Monument in Owensboro, Kentucky in September 1900.<ref>Joseph Brent, Confederate Monument in Owensboro NRHP Nomination Form (Kentucky Heritage Commission, 1997) p.1</ref> On April 29, 1909, he attended the dedication of the Sam Davis Statue outside the Tennessee State Capitol in Nashville; it was Cunningham who had suggested its commission.<ref name="speechofpresentation">{{cite news|title=Speech of Presentation. Maj. Lewis Delivers Trust of Monument Commission. |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/119212127/?terms=%22S.%2BA.%2BCunningham%22 |newspaper=The Tennessean |location=Nashville, Tennessee |date=April 30, 1909 |page=5 |via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = December 14, 2015 }} {{Open access}}</ref> In 1913, he was responsible for the construction of a sculpture of Union veteran Richard Owen to the Indiana Capitol in Indianapolis, Indiana; Cunningham was praised for his willingness to celebrate a Union veteran.<ref name="hightribute">{{cite news|title=High Tribute Is Paid The Confederate Veteran Editor. |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/119366464/?terms=%22S.A.%2BCunningham |newspaper=The Tennessean |location=Nashville, Tennessee |date=May 18, 1913 |page=18 |via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = December 14, 2015 }} {{Open access}}</ref> Meanwhile, he was working on a monument to Dan Emmett, the songwriter of "Dixie" by the time of his death.<ref name=encyclopediabio/> He also served on the committee for the construction of the Jefferson Davis State Historic Site in Fairview, Kentucky, but he died before it was erected.<ref name="goffjstorarticle"/>
Cunningham's portrait was painted by Cornelius Hankins.<ref name="nostalgiaforanickel"/>
==Personal life== Cunningham married to Laura Davis on November 27, 1866.<ref name="goffjstorarticle"/> They had a son, Paul Davis Cunningham, who drowned in the Rio Grande River while surveying the border between the United States and Mexico in his role as an engineer for the United States Army.<ref name="editorandauthordead">{{cite news|title=Editor and Author Dead. S.A. Cunningham Dies At St. Thomas Hospital After Brief Illness. Stricken Wednesday. Funeral Services This Afternoon--Interment at Shelbyville, Childhood Home. |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/119366464/?terms=%22S.A.%2BCunningham |newspaper=The Tennessean |location=Nashville, Tennessee |date=December 21, 1913 |page=2 |via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = December 14, 2015 }} {{Open access}}</ref><ref name="drowned">{{cite news|title=Drowned. Paul D. Cunningham Meets Death in Rapids of the Rio Grande. Skiff Was Overturned. The Sad Fatality Occurs Fifty Miles From Eagle Pass. Well Known Here. |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/118787885/?terms=%22S.A.%2BCunningham%22 |newspaper=The Tennessean |location=Nashville, Tennessee |date=July 15, 1901 |page=1 |via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = December 14, 2015 }} {{Open access}}</ref> He also had a daughter, who died as an infant.<ref name="editorandauthordead"/> His wife predeceased him in 1879.<ref name="goffjstorarticle"/>
==Death and legacy== Cunningham died of nose haemorrhage on December 13, 1913, at Saint Thomas Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee.<ref name=encyclopediabio/><ref name=uncpapers/> His funeral was held at the First Presbyterian Church in Nashville.<ref name="editorandauthordead"/> Pallbearers included generals Bennett H. Young, Virgil Young Cook, and John P. Hickman.<ref name="editorandauthordead"/> He was buried at the Willow Mount Cemetery in Shelbyville, Tennessee.<ref name="laidtorestat">{{cite news|title=S. A. Cunningham Laid To Rest At Old Home. |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/119368018/?terms=%22S.A.%2BCunningham|newspaper=The Tennessean |location=Nashville, Tennessee |date=December 23, 1913 |page=11 |via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = December 14, 2015 }} {{Open access}}</ref>
By January 1914, the Nashville and Tennessee chapters of the United Daughters of the Confederacy passed a resolution in honor of Cunningham.<ref name="resolution">{{cite news|title=Pay Tribute To S. A. Cunningham: State and Local Daughters of the Confederacy Pass Resolutions. |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/119375403/?terms=%22Sumner%2BArchibald%2BCunningham |newspaper=The Tennessean |location=Nashville, Tennessee |date=January 8, 1914 |page=11 |via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = December 14, 2015 }} {{Open access}}</ref> Meanwhile, in May 1914, he was honored at their annual convention.<ref name="tributesto">{{cite news|title=Tributes To S. A. Cunningham: Memorial Exercises Feature of Program of U.D.C. Convention |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/119368018/?terms=%22S.A.%2BCunningham|newspaper=The Tennessean |location=Nashville, Tennessee |date=May 15, 1914 |page=8 |via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = December 14, 2015 }} {{Open access}}</ref>
In 1915, a memorial museum of Confederate veterans named in honor of Cunningham was considered.<ref name="toraise10">{{cite news|title=To Raise $10,000 For Memorial To S. A. Cunningham. Address to Various Confederate Organizations Is Issued by Committee. Want Fireproof Building. Upon Walls Will Be Hung Pictures of Confederate Generals and Others. |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/121851184/?terms=%22S.%2BA.%2BCunningham%22 |newspaper=The Tennessean |location=Nashville, Tennessee |date=September 2, 1915 |page=3 |via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = December 14, 2015 }} {{Open access}}</ref> A fundraising campaign of US$10,000 was launched for a fireproof building.<ref name="toraise10"/> However, the project failed due to lack of funds, despite renewed appeals in 1916 and 1917.<ref name="needmoremoney">{{cite news|title=Need More Money For Memorial Museum |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/118971077/?terms=%22S.%2BA.%2BCunningham%22 |newspaper=The Tennessean |location=Nashville, Tennessee |date=August 13, 1916 |page=5 |via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = December 14, 2015 }} {{Open access}}</ref><ref name="workofraisingfunds">{{cite news|title=Work of Raising Funds To Be Pushed. Meeting of Confederate Organization Called in Interest of Cunningham Memorial. |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/119218526/?terms=%22S.%2BA.%2BCunningham%22 |newspaper=The Tennessean |location=Nashville, Tennessee |date=October 9, 1917 |page=6 |via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = December 14, 2015}} {{Open access}}</ref>
On October 28, 1921, a bronze and granite monument designed by Italian sculptor Giuseppe Moretti was added to Cunningham's grave in Shelbyville.<ref name="goffjstorarticle"/><ref name="simpson25"/> The Nashville chapter of the UDC endowed the ''S. A. Cunningham Scholarship'' at Peabody College (now Vanderbilt University) in his memory.<ref name="simpson25"/>
Cunningham was succeeded as editor of ''The Confederate Veteran'' by Edith D. Pope.<ref name=uncpapers/> His papers are held at the Louis Round Wilson Special Collections Library on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.<ref name=uncpapers/>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *{{commons category-inline}}
==Further reading== *{{cite book|last1=Simpson|first1=John A.|title=S.A. Cunningham & the Confederate Heritage|date=1994|publisher=University of Georgia Press|location=Athens, Georgia|isbn=9780820315706|oclc=27813718|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/sacunninghamconf00simp}}
{{Portal bar|American Civil War|Biography|Journalism|Tennessee}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cunningham, Sumner Archibald}} Category:1843 births Category:1913 deaths Category:19th-century American newspaper founders Category:American magazine editors Category:American newspaper editors Category:American newspaper executives Category:Businesspeople from Tennessee Category:Confederate States Army officers Category:People from Bedford County, Tennessee Category:People from Nashville, Tennessee Category:People of Tennessee in the American Civil War Category:Neo-Confederates