Neill Smith Brown (April 18, 1810 – January 30, 1886) was an American politician and diplomat who served as the 12th Governor of Tennessee from 1847 to 1849, and as the United States Minister to Russia from 1850 to 1853.

Brown enrolled in the Manual Labor Academy in Spring Hill, Tennessee, and taught school in Giles County to pay his way.

[2] After studying law under Judge James Trimble, he was admitted to the bar in 1834, and briefly practiced in Pulaski, Tennessee.

[3] In 1835, Brown moved to Texas, but quickly grew disillusioned with the lack of organization there, and returned to Tennessee after a few months.

[2] The war was initially popular, but Tennesseans had grown weary of it by 1847, and Neill Brown was able to win the election by a narrow margin.

He stated that Russians lacked the spirit of invention, and were consistently copying other countries' innovations in both industry and art.

Brown was constantly frustrated by bureaucratic delays, and found Russian censorship of mail and media appalling.

He helped convince the Emperor to abandon an increase in duties on cotton imports, and secured Russian approval of the Clayton–Bulwer Treaty between the U.S. and Britain.

In his last weeks in office, Brown expressed concern over the build-up to the Crimean War, and the effect such a conflict might have on U.S. commercial interests.

[6] On April 18, 1861, following the attack on Fort Sumter in South Carolina, Brown and several other Whig leaders published a letter reaffirming their pro-Union stance.

Temple later recalled that Brown seemed "paralyzed" by the rapid rise of secessionist sentiment in the city, but nevertheless delivered an "eloquent" denunciation of secession.

[3] Following the war, Tennessee's radical governor, William Brownlow, ordered the arrest of Isham Harris, and offered a $5,000 reward for his capture.