Charles Fenton Collier

Charles Fenton Collier (born September 27, 1827 in Petersburg , Virginia , † June 29, 1899 ibid) was an American lawyer , politician and officer. He belonged to the Democratic Party .

Career

Charles Fenton Collier, son of Mary A. and RR Collier, was born in Petersburg in 1827. Nothing is known about his youth. Between 1844 and 1845 he attended Washington College in Lexington and the University of Virginia in Charlottesville ( Albemarle County ). He studied law at Harvard Law School . During his studies he attended the lectures of Simon Greenleaf (1783-1853), William Kent (1802-1861) and Edward Everett (1794-1865). After receiving his license to practice law, he practiced in Petersburg with his father. He became a wealthy farmer in Prince George County and married Arabella E. Gee (1830-1890).

Between 1852 and 1854 he was a member of the Virginia House of Representatives . He was made a major in the Virginia Militia in the mid-1850s . Between 1859 and 1862 he sat again in the House of Representatives. He spoke out against the secession of his home state, but voted for it with a majority. After the outbreak of the Civil War , he served in the Virginia militia under General Walter Gwynn (1802-1882), who appointed him Lieutenant Colonel and Assistant Attorney General on his staff. Before April 26, 1861, he must have been promoted to colonel and aide-de-camp , since he signed a message from Norfolk to General Robert Edward Lee (1807-1870). Collier interrupted his military service for two years when he was elected to the first Confederate Congress in a by-election to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Roger Atkinson Pryor (1828-1919) on April 5, 1862. He took up his post on August 18, 1862. During his time in Congress he sat on the Committee on Commerce, the War Tax Committee, and the Committee on Naval Affairs. As an early supporter of Jefferson Davis (1808–1889), he respected the executive but later claimed that Congress should be involved in more decisions. He supported the conscription law of 1862, but later advocated the release of more men for indispensable service at home. On January 22, 1864, he signed a joint resolution, from Congress to the people of the Confederate States , recording their service and asking for their support. The following Harvard graduates were among the signatories: Robert Woodward Barnwell (1801–1882), Walter Preston (1819–1867), Jabez Lamar Monroe Curry (1825–1903), Julian Hartridge (1829–1879), Thomas Jenkins Semmes (1824– 1899) and William Dunlap Simpson (1823–1890). When he was re-elected in 1863, he suffered a defeat against Thomas Saunders Gholson (1808–1868). After the end of his tenure, Collier signed up as a private in Company A (Petersburg Reserves) in the 3rd  Battalion of the Virginia Reserves under Colonel Fletcher Harris Archer (1817-1902). He served there between May and June 1864. His obituary in the Richmond Times reads: Together with Colonel Archer he participated in the defense of Petersburg, on June 9th in the battle at River's Farm and on June 16, 1864 in the battle at Avrey's Farm . As a result of his achievements Colonel Archer promoted him on the battlefield for certification - adjutant . Shortly before the end of the civil war, on April 3, 1865, he sat on a committee that was authorized by the Common Council of Petersburg to surrender the city and to ask for protection. Collier described the handover in 1893 as follows: At daybreak, he and Mayor WW Townes crossed the confederate field redoubts and the Union works that surrounded Petersburg. With a parliamentary flag that was attached to a walking stick from a white handkerchief, they met a huge army of Union soldiers, which immediately gave such a cry of victory that the ground below them shook. Back in town with the victors, he and Mayor Townes signed the letter of surrender to Major General Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885).

After Collier was elected mayor of Petersburg in 1866, the military government removed him from this post in 1868. Four years later he was President of the RR Company in Petersburg, where he also practiced as a lawyer. In 1888 he was re-elected mayor of Petersburg - a post he held for five terms. Collier married his second wife, Mary Epes Jones. He was an officer in the Presbyterian Church . After a long and painful illness, Collier committed suicide in Petersburg on June 29, 1899 and was buried there at Blandford Church .

literature

• Helen P. Trimpi: Crimson Confederates: Harvard Men who Fought for the South, University of Tennessee Press, 2010, ISBN 9781572336827 , pp. 43 f.
• Charles Fenton Collier's obituary, The New York Times, June 30, 1899.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Hardy, Stella Pickett: Colonial Families of the Southern States of America, Genealogical Publishing Com., 2009, ISBN 9780806306209 , p. 152.
2. ^ Columbia University Libraries Archival Collections Kent - Family papers, 1785-1901.
3. ^ Arabella E. Gee Collier in the Find a Grave database . Retrieved January 11, 2015.
4. ↑ Fletcher H. Archer on the Encyclopedia Virginia website .

Web links

• Charles Fenton Collier in the database of Find a Grave (English)
• Charles Fenton Collier on The Political Graveyard website