John Henry CALDWELL, Congress, AL (1826-1902)

CALDWELL, John Henry, a Representative from Alabama; born in Huntsville, Ala., April 4, 1826; attended the common schools of Huntsville and Bacon College, Harrodsburg, Ky.; taught school in Limestone County, Ala., four years; moved to Jacksonville, Ala., in 1848; was principal of the Jacksonville Female Academy 1848-1852 and of the Jacksonville Male Academy 1853-1857; edited the Jacksonville Republican in 1851 and 1852 and assumed the editorship of the Sunny South in 1855; member of the State house of representatives in 1857 and 1858; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1859 and commenced practice in Jacksonville, Ala.; during the Civil War enlisted in the Confederate Army and organized Company A of the Tenth Alabama Regiment, from St. Clair and Calhoun Counties, and served throughout the war; promoted to major and then to lieutenant colonel; served in the Army of Virginia; elected solicitor for the tenth judicial circuit in 1863 but was deposed by the Provisional Governor in 1865; reelected the same year, and in 1867 was removed from office for refusing to obey military orders; elected as a Democrat to the Forty-third and Forty-fourth Congresses (March 4, 1873-March 3, 1877); chairman, Committee on Agriculture (Forty-fourth Congress); was not a candidate for renomination in 1876; resumed the practice of law; died in Jacksonville, Ala., September 4, 1902; interment in Jacksonville Cemetery.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present