Harris, Isham Green [key], 1818–97, American political leader, b. Franklin co., Tenn. Admitted to the bar in 1841, he was elected in 1847 to the Tennessee senate. Harris, a states' rights Democrat, served (1849–53) in Congress and was (1857–61) governor of Tennessee. It was largely through his efforts that Tennessee joined the Confederacy in May, 1861. Forced by Union victories to leave the state, he served on the staffs of various Confederate generals from 1862 to 1865, when he fled to Mexico and then to England. In 1867 he returned to Memphis. From 1877 to his death he was a U.S. Senator from Tennessee.
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