[3] He went to school at Emory and Henry College in Virginia, where in 1860, he apparently accidentally killed a fellow student named James W. Reese."[8] In June 1861 the Parson heard tell Andrew Johnson, returning from a trip to Kingston, would inadvertently be boarding a train that carried 2,000 Confederate troops.He sent John Bell Brownlow to get a good horse and buggy and get Johnson out of Kingston before he encountered the rebels.[10] He also represented the U.S. government on the boards of directors at five American world's fairs including the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St.[15][2] At the Buffalo Exposition, he saw "Leon Czolgosz attempting to surge through the great crowd to get near President McKinley to fire the assassin's bullet."[10] Brownlow was discharged from federal service by President Theodore Roosevelt after criticizing Postmaster General Sereno Payne.