Elected to Congress in 1862 as a Union supporter, Hawkins was denied his seat due to the secession of Tennessee from the Union (an act by his fellow Representatives that would seem to suggest that secession was legally possible and binding). He was later appointed United States Attorney for West Tennessee during the latter stages of the Civil War.
He was elected governor as a Republican in 1880. Partly due to difficulties caused by the state's relatively large indebtedness, he was renominated by the Republican Party in 1882 but defeated in November by Democrat challenger William B. Bate. After Hawkins' term ended in 1883, only two more Republicans were to serve as governor of Tennessee, for a total of only six years, until the election of Winfield Dunn in 1970.
Elected to Congress in 1862 as a Union supporter, Hawkins was denied his seat due to the secession of Tennessee from the Union (an act by his fellow Representatives that would seem to suggest that secession was legally possible and binding).
Hawkins was considering moving on to California, where his brother had gone five years before, when he heard reports that Geronimo and the Apaches were on the warpath, and signed up with a regiment of the New Mexico Volunteers to run them down.
Hawkins accompanied Charles Bishop Eddy on a promotional trip to New York, where they talked to bankers and capitalists, outlining plans for the formation of corporations and establishment of bond issues necessary for the promotion and construction of the El Paso and Northeastern Railroad from El Paso northward.
Hawkins then suggested that it instead be placed across the street from the superintendent’s office, where a man would think twice before entering a saloon for a drink.
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