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Nashville police trace first line-of-duty death to 1866 killing
Metro Nashville police plan to recognize John Kennelly, who was killed while responding to a street fight in 1866, as the city’s first officer slain on duty. Researchers uncovered the case more than 160 years later, correcting the department’s previous identification of its first line-of-duty death.
More than 160 years after Nashville police officer John Kennelly was killed while responding to a street fight, the Metro Nashville Police Department plans to recognize him as the city’s first officer slain in the line of duty.
The department had previously identified Robert Frazier, who was shot and killed in 1875, as its first officer killed on the job. Researchers with the nonprofit Officer Down Memorial Page brought Kennelly’s case to the department’s attention earlier this year. Sgt. Daniel Cole then spent two months reviewing records and letters and locating Kennelly’s grave.
“I don’t know why this case had never been looked at,” Cole said. “In 160 years, it was not properly recognized.”
Kennelly was 30 and living near what is now Broadway and Fourth Avenue with his wife, Mary, when he heard a disturbance outside the Broadway Varieties Theater shortly before midnight on May 29, 1866. He and his partner, Pink Dews, confronted four men they recognized as Union soldiers. The men had previously been sent back to their camp after a drunken disturbance involving Kennelly and Dews.
This time, the soldiers had staged the commotion to draw the officers to the scene, according to Cole’s research. Kennelly was stabbed and had his throat cut. Dews was stabbed in the back but survived.
The killing came soon after the Civil War, when tensions remained high in Nashville. The city had been occupied by Union forces in 1862 and served as a Union supply and transportation hub. Former Union infantrymen were still in the area after the war, helping rebuild infrastructure, while many local police officers retained strong Southern allegiances.
Philip Antoni, a Union veteran accused of killing Kennelly, was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to hang. Henry Allen and George Moore, also former Union soldiers, were convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
All three men were pardoned before Antoni’s scheduled execution. A petition to Tennessee Gov. William Gannaway Brownlow argued for leniency, citing Allen’s youth and family circumstances and including support from former fellow soldiers. The petition also included a claim by Army Maj. Gen. William P. Carlin that Kennelly had provoked the confrontation. The three men were released on Feb. 3, 1867.
Kennelly was first buried near Fort Negley, where many Union soldiers were interred. His family later had his remains moved to Calvary Cemetery, a burial place for many Confederate soldiers. He is buried near Mary, who became a dressmaker and shop owner after his death. Her fashion work was displayed at the Tennessee State Museum in summer 2026.