Isaac H. Duval

Isaac H. Duval

Isaac Harding Duval (born September 1, 1824 in Wellsburg , Brooke County , Virginia , † July 10, 1902 ) was an American army officer and politician . Between 1869 and 1871 he represented the first constituency of the state of West Virginia in the US House of Representatives .

Career

Isaac Duval was born in Wellsburg in 1824, which was then still part of Virginia, but became part of the new state of West Virginia in 1863. He first attended the public schools in his home country and then moved to Fort Smith , Arkansas , where he joined his older brother who ran a trading post there. Afterwards Duval worked as a scout in the prairies of the west. In 1849 he moved to California to participate in the gold rush . A little later he joined the so-called López Expedition, which at the time unsuccessfully sought Cuba's independence from Spain . In 1853 he returned to Wellsburg, where he started trading.

During the Civil War , Duval joined a volunteer regiment from what would later be West Virginia as a supporter of the Union. In the course of the war, in which he was involved in several battles, he rose to become brigadier general. Later he was also awarded the rank of Major General Brevet . After the war, he began a political career as a member of the Republican Party in the state of West Virginia, which had existed since 1863 . Between 1867 and 1869 he was a member of the State Senate . At the same time, as adjutant general, he was head of the militia of the new state.

In 1868, Duval was elected to the US House of Representatives in Washington, DC in the First District of West Virginia . There he succeeded Chester D. Hubbard on March 4, 1869 . Since he renounced another candidacy in 1870, he could only complete one legislative period in Congress until March 3, 1871 . During this time, the 15th Amendment to the Constitution came into force, extending the right to vote to include African Americans . Between 1871 and 1872 Duval worked for the federal tax office, from 1872 to 1884 he was the head of the federal tax office in the first tax district of West Virginia. From 1887 to 1889, Duval was a member of the House of Representatives from West Virginia . Then he withdrew from politics. Isaac Duval died on July 10, 1902 in his birthplace Wellsburg.

Web links

• Isaac H. Duval in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• Isaac H. Duval in the database of Find a Grave (English)