Quill
  1. Overview: The Road to Civil War
  2. Full Record: The Road to Civil War
  3. Mississippi Delegation

The Road to Civil War

Mississippi Delegation

This is one of the 45 delegations in the convention, accounting for 7 of 449 people who took part.

Members (7):

Name Visualize Details Delegations
William Barksdale Visualize (August 21, 1821 — July 2, 1863) William Barksdale, (brother of Ethelbert Barksdale), a Representative from Mississippi; born in Rutherford County, Tenn., August 21, 1821; attended the University of Nashville; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1839 and commenced practice in Columbus, Lowndes County, Miss.; for a time was editor of the Columbus Democrat; served in the Mexican War as quartermaster of the Mississippi Volunteers; delegate to the Democratic National Convention at Baltimore in 1852; elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-third and to the three succeeding Congresses and served from March 4, 1853, until January 12, 1861, when he withdrew; entered the Confederate Army during the Civil War as colonel of the Thirteenth Regiment of Mississippi Volunteers; promoted to the rank of brigadier general on August 12, 1862; commanded a Mississippi brigade in Longstreet's corps; killed in the Battle of Gettysburg, Pa., July 2, 1863; interment in Greenwood Cemetery, Jackson, Miss. [Source: “Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774 - Present,” available at https://bioguide.congress.gov/search/bio/B000147] Mississippi Delegation (This negotiation)
Albert G. Brown Visualize (May 31, 1813 — June 12, 1880) Albert Gallatin Brown, a Representative and a Senator from Mississippi; born in Chester District, S.C., May 31, 1813; moved with his parents to Copiah County, Miss., in 1823; attended Mississippi College, Clinton, Miss., and Jefferson College, Washington, Miss.; studied law; admitted to the bar in 1833 and commenced practice in Gallatin, Miss.; member, State house of representatives 1835-1839; elected as a Democrat to the Twenty-sixth Congress (March 4, 1839-March 3, 1841); declined to be a candidate for renomination in 1840; judge of the circuit superior court 1842-1843; Governor of Mississippi 1844-1848; elected to the Thirtieth, Thirty-first, and Thirty-second Congresses (March 4, 1847-March 3, 1853); chairman, Committee on the District of Columbia (Thirty-first Congress); was not a candidate for reelection in 1852; elected to the United States Senate in 1854 to fill the vacancy in the term beginning March 4, 1853; reelected in 1859 and served from January 7, 1854, until January 12, 1861, when he withdrew; seat declared vacant by Senate resolution on March 14, 1861; chairman, Committee on the District of Columbia (Thirty-fourth through Thirty-sixth Congresses), Committee on Enrolled Bills (Thirty-sixth Congress); during the Civil War entered the Confederate Army as a captain; elected a member of the Confederate Senate in 1862 and served in the First and Second Confederate Congresses; engaged in agricultural pursuits; died near Terry, Hinds County, Miss., June 12, 1880; interment in Greenwood Cemetery, Jackson, Miss. [Source: “Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774 - Present,” available at https://bioguide.congress.gov/search/bio/B000900] Mississippi Delegation (This negotiation)
Jefferson Davis Visualize (June 3, 1808 — December 6, 1889) Jefferson Davis, (Son-in-law of President Zachary Taylor), a Representative and a Senator from Mississippi; born in what is now Fairview, Todd County, Ky., June 3, 1808; moved with his parents to a plantation near Woodville, Wilkinson County, Miss.; attended the country schools, St. Thomas College, Washington County, Ky., Jefferson College, Adams County, Miss., Wilkinson County Academy, and Transylvania University, Lexington, Ky.; graduated from the United States Military Academy, West Point, N.Y., in 1828; served in the Black Hawk War in 1832; promoted to the rank of first lieutenant in the First Dragoons in 1833, and served until 1835, when he resigned; moved to his plantation, 'Brierfield,' in Warren County, Miss., and engaged in cotton planting; elected as a Democrat to the Twenty-ninth Congress and served from March 4, 1845, until October 28, 1846, when he resigned to command the First Regiment of Mississippi Riflemen in the war with Mexico; appointed to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Jesse Speight; subsequently elected and served from August 10, 1847, until September 23, 1851, when he resigned; chairman, Committee on Military Affairs (Thirtieth through Thirty-second Congresses); unsuccessful candidate for Governor in 1851; appointed Secretary of War by President Franklin Pierce 1853-1857; again elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1857, until January 21, 1861, when he withdrew; seat declared vacant by Senate resolution on March 14, 1861; chairman, Committee on Military Affairs and the Militia (Thirty-fifth and Thirty-sixth Congresses); commissioned major general of the State militia in January 1861; chosen President of the Confederacy by the Provisional Congress and inaugurated in Montgomery, Ala., February 18, 1861; elected President of the Confederacy for a term of six years and inaugurated in Richmond, Va., February 22, 1862; captured by Union troops in Irwinsville, Ga., May 10, 1865; imprisoned in Fortress Monroe, indicted for treason, and was paroled in the custody of the court in 1867; returned to Mississippi and spent the remaining years of his life writing; died in New Orleans, La., on December 6, 1889; lay in state in City Hall of New Orleans, December 8-11, followed by interment in Metairie Cemetery, New Orleans, La.; reinterment on May 31, 1893, in Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond, Va.; the legal disabilities placed upon him were removed, and he was posthumously restored to the full rights of citizenship, effective December 25, 1868, pursuant to a Joint Resolution of Congress (Public Law 95-466), approved October 17, 1978. [Source: “Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774 - Present,” available at https://bioguide.congress.gov/search/bio/D000113] Mississippi Delegation (This negotiation)
Reuben Davis Visualize (January 18, 1813 — October 14, 1890) Reuben Davis, a Representative from Mississippi; born in Winchester, Tenn., January 18, 1813; moved with his parents to Alabama about 1818; attended the public schools; studied medicine, but practiced only a few years, when he abandoned the profession; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1834 and commenced practice in Aberdeen, Miss.; prosecuting attorney for the sixth judicial district 1835-1839; unsuccessful Whig candidate for the Twenty-sixth Congress in 1838; judge of the high court of appeals in 1842, but after four months' service resigned; served as colonel of the Second Regiment of Mississippi Volunteers in the war with Mexico; member of the State house of representatives 1855-1857; elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-fifth and Thirty-sixth Congresses and served from March 4, 1857, to January 12, 1861, when he withdrew; during the Civil War served in the Confederate Army as brigadier general; resumed the practice of law; unsuccessful Greenback candidate for the Forty-sixth Congress in 1878; died in Huntsville, Ala., October 14, 1890; interment in Odd Fellows Cemetery, Aberdeen, Monroe County, Miss. [Source: “Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774 - Present,” available at https://bioguide.congress.gov/search/bio/D000127] Mississippi Delegation (This negotiation)
Lucius Q. C. Lamar Visualize (September 17, 1825 — January 23, 1893) Lamar was a lawyer, professor of mathematics, judge, and politician. Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar was born in Putnam County, Georgia and moved to Mississippi in 1849. He graduated from Emory College in Oxford, George and was admitted to the bar in 1847. He then practiced law and worked as a professor of mathematics at the University of Mississippi at Oxford. Lamar was elected as a Democrat to the United States House of Representatives and served during the Thirty-Fifth and Thirty-Sixth Congresses and retired in December 1860 in order to join the secession convention of Mississippi. Lamar drafted the Mississippi ordnance of secession and served as a diplomat for the Confederacy to Russia, France, and England. He was part of the State constitutional conventions in 1865, 1868, 1875, 1877, and 1881. Lamar was elected as a Senator to the United States Congress and served during the Forty-Third and Forty-Fourth Congresses from 1873 to 1877, and again from 1876 to 1885. After serving in Congress, he was appointed Secretary of the Interior by President Grover Cleveland and served in that capacity from 1885 to 1888. To round out service in all three branches of government, Lamar was appointed as an Associate Justice to the Supreme Court of the United States in 1888. He served as a Supreme Court justice until his death in 1893. [Source: “Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774 - Present,” available at https://bioguide.congress.gov/search/bio/L000030] Mississippi Delegation (The Civil Rights Act of 1875) , Mississippi Delegation (This negotiation)
John J. McRae Visualize (January 10, 1815 — May 31, 1868) John Jones McRae, a Senator and a Representative from Mississippi; born in Sneedsboro (now McFarlan), N.C., January 10, 1815; moved with his parents to Winchester, Wayne County, Miss., in 1817; pursued an academic course; graduated from Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, in 1834; studied law in Pearlington, Miss.; admitted to the bar and practiced; founded the Eastern Clarion at Paulding, Miss.; member, State house of representatives 1848-1850, serving as speaker in 1850; appointed as a Democrat to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Jefferson Davis and served from December 1, 1851, to March 17, 1852, when a successor was elected and qualified; Governor of Mississippi 1854-1858; elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-fifth Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of John A. Quitman; reelected to the Thirty-sixth Congress and served from December 7, 1858, until he withdrew on January 12, 1861; representative from Mississippi in the Confederate Congress 1862-1864; went to British Honduras in May 1868, and died at Belize, May 31, 1868; interment at Belize, British Honduras. [Source: “Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774 - Present,” available at https://bioguide.congress.gov/search/bio/M000596] Mississippi Delegation (This negotiation)
Otho R. Singleton Visualize (October 14, 1814 — January 11, 1889) Otho Robards Singleton, a Representative from Mississippi; born near Nicholasville, Jessamine County, Ky., October 14, 1814; attended the common schools; was graduated from St. Joseph's College, Bardstown, Ky., and from the law department of the University of Lexington; was admitted to the bar in 1838 and commenced practice in Canton, Madison County, Miss.; member of the State house of representatives in 1846 and 1847; served in the State senate 1848-1854; elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-third Congress (March 4, 1853-March 3, 1855); unsuccessful candidate for reelection; elected to the Thirty-fifth and Thirty-sixth Congresses and served from March 4, 1857, until January 12, 1861, when he withdrew; Representative from Mississippi in the Confederate Congress 1861-1865; elected as a Democrat to the Forty-fourth and to the five succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1875-March 3, 1887); was not a candidate for renomination in 1886; died in Washington, D.C., January 11, 1889; interment in Canton Cemetery, Canton, Madison County, Miss. [Source: “Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774 - Present,” available at https://bioguide.congress.gov/search/bio/S000445] Mississippi Delegation (This negotiation)