The eighth president of the university (1858–60, as East Tennessee University) was a native South Carolinian who had entered the ministry at the age of 19 and had become a student at East Tennessee University in 1839, when he was already a married man in his thirties with a family. He quickly became known as Old Pap because one of his sons was enrolled in the Preparatory Department. He was awarded an AB degree in 1842, being the first person known to have completed the requirements for the degree in three years, and was immediately made principal of the Preparatory Department, a position he held until 1848.
In the winter of 1847, he was the victim of a severe fever, which affected his brain and nervous system and necessitated complete rest. He returned to the farm. Two years later, with restored health, he accepted the post of principal of Lafayette Academy in Bledsoe County. He then was the first president of Burritt College in Spencer, Tennessee, before returning to the university as its eighth president.
He accepted the UT presidency with several specific goals, among which were coeducation, physical education, and a military department. One of his first proposals was the construction of a gymnasium. A small, wooden gymnasium was built on the northern slope of the Hill, and a gymnastics teacher was hired. A military department was organized during his presidency, and he was an innovator in his attempts to obtain new funds for the college, appearing in person before the legislature to ask for funds.
His youngest son was stricken with typhoid fever shortly before Carnes became president and lingered close to death for many months. His wife then developed cancer and died a slow, painful death. These two personal hardships were too much for Carnes, and he resigned to return to Nashville. Years later, he remarried, served for a time as president of Manchester College, and returned to the presidency of Burritt College.
In 1995 Mrs. Edward L. Chavannes donated to the UT Archives a letter dated March 23, 1861, from President Carnes to his children.