The Road to Civil War

William D. Brayton

(November 6, 1815 — June 30, 1887) William Daniel Brayton, a Representative from Rhode Island; born in Warwick, Kent County, R.I., November 6, 1815; attended Kent Academy in East Greenwich and Kingston Academy; spent two years in Brown University, Providence, R.I.; engaged in mercantile pursuits; major of the Fourth Regiment of Rhode Island Militia in the Dorr Rebellion; town clerk of Warwick in 1844; member of the town council; member of the State house of representatives in 1841 and 1851; served in the State senate in 1848 and 1853; elected as a Republican to the Thirty-fifth and Thirty-sixth Congresses (March 4, 1857-March 3, 1861); chairman, Committee on Expenditures on Public Buildings (Thirty-sixth Congress); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1860 to the Thirty-seventh Congress; appointed collector of internal revenue for the second district of Rhode Island in 1862 and served until 1871, when he resigned; delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1872; for a number of years in charge of the money-order division of the Providence post office; died in Providence, R.I., June 30, 1887; interment in Brayton Cemetery, Apponaug, R.I. [Source: “Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774 - Present,” available at https://bioguide.congress.gov/search/bio/B000779]

Member of Rhode Island Delegation - The Road to Civil War [this display].

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