James Z. George

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Biography

James Z. George was born in Monroe County, Georgia, but moved to Noxubee County, Mississippi at age eight when his widowed mother remarried, and two years later, to Carroll County, Mississippi, where he received his education in the common schools.<ref name="Green Bag">Thomas H. Somerville, "A Sketch of the Supreme Court of Mississippi", in Horace W. Fuller, ed., The Green Bag, Vol. XI (1899), p. 513.</ref> He served as a private in the Mexican–American War under Colonel Jefferson Davis, and participated in the Battle of Monterey.<ref name="Green Bag" /> On his return, George read law and was admitted to the bar. In 1854 he became a reporter of the Supreme Court of Mississippi and, over the next 20 years, George prepared a 10-volume digest of its cases.

George was a slave owner.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Citation</ref> As a member of the Mississippi Secession Convention, George signed the Secession Ordinance. During the Civil War, George first served as Captain of Company C, 20th Mississippi Infantry Regiment, before resigning his commission in the Confederate Army to serve as a Brigadier general of the Mississippi State Troops in October, 1862.<ref>Template:Cite thesis p. 108.</ref> Frustrated by the disorganization of the State Troops and facing disrespect from Confederate officers, George left the State Troops service in November 1863,<ref>Template:Cite thesis p. 110.</ref> and rejoined the Confederate service as a colonel of the 5th Mississippi Cavalry. He was captured twice and spent two years in a prisoner of war camp, where he conducted a law course for his fellow captives. After the war, he returned to Mississippi and resumed the practice of law. In 1879 he was appointed to the Supreme Court of Mississippi and immediately was chosen as chief justice by his colleagues.<ref name="Southwick">Leslie Southwick, Mississippi Supreme Court Elections: A Historical Perspective 1916-1996, 18 Miss. C. L. Rev. 115 (1997–1998).</ref>

From 1881 until his death, George represented Mississippi in the United States Senate, where he was recognized for his skills in debate, helped frame the future Sherman Anti-Trust Act, introduced the bill for agricultural college experiment stations, and encouraged the establishment of the Department of Agriculture. Alarmed by the proposed Lodge Bill, which would have provided for federal supervision of elections, he campaigned in Mississippi for a constitutional convention in order to legally disenfranchise African-Americans, without resorting to violence, fraud, and other extralegal measures that had been used prior.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> He was a major figure during the Mississippi Constitutional Convention of 1890 itself, leading a hardline faction promoting the disenfranchisement of blacks without disenfranchising whites (as opposed to those who wanted to apply property and educational requirements to whites and blacks), and successfully defended the constitution before the Senate and the Supreme Court.<ref>Ogden, Frederic D. The Poll Tax in the South (University of Alabama Press, 1958), 211</ref>

George died in Mississippi City, Mississippi, where he had gone for health treatment. He is buried, along with his wife, Elizabeth Brooks (Young) George,<ref>Family History Compiled by Lucy Henderson Horton, Press of the News, Franklin, Tennessee, 1922</ref> in Evergreen Cemetery in North Carrollton, Mississippi.<ref>The Political Graveyard: Index to Politicians: George</ref> George's wife Elizabeth was the granddaughter of Col. William Martin Jr. of Tennessee, and the great-granddaughter of General Joseph Martin, an early Virginia explorer and Revolutionary War commander.<ref>Family History Compiled by Lucy Henderson Horton, Press of the News, Franklin, Tenn., 1922</ref>

In 1931, the state of Mississippi donated a bronze statue of George to the United States Capitol's National Statuary Hall Collection.

The J. Z. George High School in North Carrollton, Mississippi is named in his honor, which is less than Template:Convert from his burial place.Template:Citation needed In addition, George County, Mississippi, is also named in his honor.Template:Citation needed

See also

• Battle of Collierville – Col. J. Z. George captured.
• List of members of the United States Congress who died in office (1790–1899)
• Fever Beach

References

<references />

Further reading

• Timothy B. Smith. James Z. George: Mississippi's Great Commoner (University Press of Mississippi; 2012) 256 pages; scholarly biography
• Garner, James W. "Senatorial Career of J. Z. George," Publications of the Mississippi Historical Society 7 (1903): 245-62;
• Ringold, May Spencer. "Senator James Zachariah George of Mississippi: Bourbon or Liberal?" Journal of Mississippi History 16, no. 3 (1954): 164-83

External links

• On-line biography