The One-Hit Wonders
In the 20th and 21st centuries we Mississippians are accustomed to our Members of Congress getting elected and serving for 30+ years - or longer in many cases. For the focus of this blog (the Territory until 1900) there are 41 members who served only one term in either the House or the Senate.
In order to create my version of this list I had to come up with some parameters. The first question was to define what I mean by “one hit” which for me means they only served within one term for their respective house (two years for the US House and six years for the US Senate). That could mean they were appointed to fill a vacancy in the US Senate, elected to only one term in the House or Senate, or elected in a special election to the House. Even with that said, there are exceptions to my self-imposed rules.
Also don’t forget your high school civics lesson that the legislatures of each state elected the US Senators until the US Constitution was changed by the 17th Amendment in 1913 so when I say a senator was elected it wasn’t by the voters.
Also I have not included those who served more than one term in the US Congress as a whole. For example, Jefferson Davis, Stephen Adams, Albert Gallatin Brown and William Sullivan served in both the House and the Senate representing Mississippi (there are others as well) so they do not make the list. Some were elected to Congress from other states in addition to serving from Mississippi such as William Gwin (elected from MS and CA), Jesse Speight (elected from MS and NC), Henry Foote (elected from MS and TN), and David Holmes (elected from VA and MS). Foote and Holmes also served as Governors of Mississippi.
I expect to have more biographical detail on each one of these gents as the blog progresses but as for now here’s my list:
Robert Huntington Adams - US Senator from Adams County in 1830- Appointed in 1830 to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Thomas Reed - He only served from January 6th until his death on July 2nd
James Alcorn - US Senate from Coahoma County from 1871-1877 - He had been in the State Senate before the Civil War and was elected governor when he was elected to the US Senate (see more on Hiram Revels below)
Adelbert Ames - US Senate from Hinds County (?) from 1870-1874 - He was appointed the military commander of Mississippi during Reconstruction and when Mississippi was re-admitted as a state he became one of the two US Senators along with Hiram Revels (see below) - He resigned from the Senate in 1874 when he was elected Governor - Facing trumped-up charges of impeachment he moved back home to Massachusetts
William Taylor Sullivan Barry - US House from 1853-1855 from Lowndes County - He defeated Unionist Democrat Jonathan Wilcox by about 200 votes - He decided not to run for re-election and was subsequently elected back to the State House of Representatives and would soon be elected Speaker of the House
Joseph Beeman - US House from 1891-1893 from Scott County - He defeated the incumbent Chapman Anderson in the 5th District Democratic Convention - Beeman was a populist “alliance” candidate and decided to not run for re-election
Hendley Bennett - US House from 1855-1857 - He was a Franklin, TN native who moved to Mississippi at a young age and practiced law in Lowndes County and was elected a circuit judge - When WTS Barry (see above) decided to not seek re-election Bennett ran - Bennett was defeated in the Democratic convention by Reuben Davis in 1857
John Black - US Senator from Wayne County (from the former town of Winchester) from 1832-1838- He originally was a pro-Jackson man but transitioned to be identified as an Anti-Jacksonian then as a Whig - He knew he would not be re-elected by the Mississippi Legislature because it was solidly pro-Andrew Jackson - Before he was in Congress he was a circuit judge and a member of the State Supreme Court - His resignation would impact a couple of One Hitters
Walker Brooke - US Senator from Warren County (by way of Holmes County) from 1853-1853 - He was a Whig and was elected to fill the vacancy caused by fellow Whig Henry S. Foote when Foote was elected governor - Brooke did not seek re-election but served in the Provisional Confederate Congress and died choking on an overgrown oyster at a tavern in Vicksburg in 1869
Blanche K. Bruce - US Senator from Bolivar County from 1875-1881- Was the first African American to serve a full term in the Senate after Henry Pease (also a one-hitter) decided to not seek a full term having been appointed to fill Adelbert Ames’ vacancy (see above) - Remained in Washington, DC at various posts in the federal government
Harry Cage - US House from Wilkinson County from 1833-1835 - He was one of two members elected at-large with Franklin Plummer - Was also a judge on the Mississippi Supreme Court
Joseph Chalmers - US Senate from Marshall County from 1845-1847 - He was first appointed then elected to fill the remainder of Robert Walker’s term (who had resigned to become James K. Polk’s Secretary of the Treasury) - His son James Chalmers served three terms in the US House
Walter Denny - US House from Jackson County from 1895-1897 - Had been circuit and chancery clerk of Jackson County and was a delegate to the 1890 Constitutional Convention - He defeated Thomas Stockdale in the Democratic Convention (as well as two others)
David Dickson - US House from Pike County from 1835-1837 - He was previously Lt. Governor under George Poindexter, was Secretary of State and had run for Congress in 1828 and 1830 - When both Franklin Plummer and Harry Cage decided not to run he and JFH Claiborne became the two at-large members of Congress - He died while a Member of Congress
John Freeman - US House from Hinds County from 1851-1853 - Defeated William McWillie as a Unionist Democrat - Previously served as Mississippi’s Attorney General for two terms
Samuel Gholson - US House from Monroe County from 1837-1838 - While Mississippi still elected it’s two members at large in 1837, Gholson received the second highest vote after JFH Claiborne which meant two pro-Jackson Democrats were elected- In a story I will share in another post, the Whigs decided to challenge the election and the US House (with the approval of then-Speaker of the House soon-to-be US President James K. Polk) decided Mississippi had to re-do the election and neither Gholson nor Claiborne were the top vote-getters - Seargent Prentiss and Thomas Word won the spots (see below on both of them)- Gholson would later be appointed federal judge and was a general in the Confederate Army
Thomas Marston Greene - Territorial Delegate from Jefferson County from 1801-1803 - Elected after the death of MS’s first Territorial Delegate Narsworthy Hunter (see below)
William Gwin - US House from 1841-1843 - He was a physician in both Clinton and Vicksburg and had been Andrew Jackson’s personal secretary and was appointed US Marshal by Jackson - (I need more research to determine where he was living at the time of his election) - He declined to run again and was soon in California where he would become the first US Senator from there when California became a state
William Haile - US House from 1826-1828 from Wilkinson County - His term was an odd one in that he was elected to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Christopher Rankin and was at the same time elected to the full term that was to begin in 1828 - Then he resigned and Thomas Hinds took the same path of getting elected to his vacant term and the next full term
Wiley P. Harris - US House from Copiah County serving from 1853-1855 - He was the hand-picked successor to Albert Gallatin Brown and ran unopposed
John Henderson - US Senate from Wilkinson County from 1839-1845 - He defeated Thomas Hickman Williams for re-election from the legislature - He would later be indicted along with John Anthony Quitman and a sitting MS Supreme Court justice for being involved in a plot to overthrow Cuba
Thomas Hinds - US House from 1828-1831 from Jefferson County - See William Haile above for more info but he decided after one term not to run again - He gained fame by serving under then-General Andrew Jackson in the Battle of New Orleans leading the Mississippi troops
Albert Howe - US House from Panola County serving from 1873-1875 - He was a carpetbagger from Massachusetts who moved to Sardis and became prominent via federal government appointments and was elected to the State House- He beat sitting Congressman George Harris in the 2nd District Republican convention on the 24th ballot - He lost re-election in 1875 to Wiley Wells who ran as an Independent Republican - He moved to Chicago after his loss and entered into the financial brokerage business
Narsworthy Hunter - The first Territorial Delegate to Congress from Mississippi from 1801-1802 - Not much is known about his early life other than he helped to organize the militia - He died while serving as the non-voting delegate in Washington, DC
Elza Jeffords - US House from 1883-1885 from Issaquena County - From the 1880 Census Mississippi was given a 7th Congressional District which cut in half what was known as the “shoestring district” that ran the length of the state along the Mississippi River from Tunica to Wilkinson Counties (it was drawn by the post-Reconstruction Democratic-controlled Legislature to keep Adams County Republican John R. Lynch from winning re-election) - Jeffords had been a member of the State Supreme Court and won the GOP Nominating Convention in 1882 over a few challengers - He was unable to be re-nominated as the GOP candidate in 1885 and the seat went to eight-term Democratic Congressman Thomas Catchings from Warren County
William Lake - US House from 1855-1857 from Warren County - He ran as a “Know Nothing” American candidate and defeated sitting Congressman Otho Singleton from Madison County by about 200 votes - Singleton would come back two years later and defeat Lake by about 800 votes - After being elected to the State House in 1857 he became a candidate for the Confederate Congress in 1861 against his fellow legislator Henry Chambers from Rankin County - Their campaigning became so intense that Chambers challenged Lake to duel at a dueling ground across the Mississippi River from Memphis - Lake was killed and Chambers was elected - It might explain why Chambers had no opponent for re-election
Walter Leake - One of the first two US Senators elected when Mississippi became a state in 1817 - He lived in Clinton and would later be US Marshal and Governor - He came to the Mississippi Territory as a Territorial Judge appointed by Thomas Jefferson - Before his appointment he made an unsuccessful run for Congress against Jefferson’s son-in-law and future VA Governor Thomas Mann Randolph and I’d be willing to bet Leake got the judicial appointment to get him out of town
William Love - US House from 1897-1898 from Amite County - He was a two-term State Senator and a member of the 1890 Constitutional Convention - He defeated Walter Denny (see above) in a mix of the first primary elections and county conventions - He died of typhoid fever before he could finish his first term
William McWillie - US House from 1849-1851 from Madison County - He was a “States Rights Democrat” and was defeated by Unionist Democrat John Freeman (see above)- He would later become governor
Benjamin Nabers - US House from 1851-1853 from modern-day Benton County - Like John Freeman, he too was a Unionist Democrat and he defeated Jacob Thompson who would soon serve as Secretary of the Interior to President James Buchanan - He moved to Memphis then to Holly Springs and was Marshall County Chancery Clerk for one term until his death
Jason Niles - US House from 1873-1875 from Attala County - Was a Circuit Judge and a State Representative - From the 1870 Census Mississippi was given an additional seat in Congress (the new 4th district) and Niles won in the nominating convention - He was defeated by the indefatigable Democrat Otho Singleton by almost 10,000 votes in 1874
Henry Pease - US Senate from 1874-1875 from Warren County (?) - When Adelbert Ames was elected governor in 1873 there was still about two years left on his term which meant the Legislature had to elect someone to fill the term and there was no appointment - Pease was then serving as the appointed state superintendent of education and was the GOP candidate for the remainder of the term - After his term (Blanch Bruce was elected at the same time for the next full term) he was appointed postmaster in Vicksburg then moved to the Dakota Territory
Seargent S. Prentiss - US House from 1838-1839 from Warren County - Prentiss’ election occurred because the Gholson/Claiborne event mentioned above - He decided not to seek election for the next term
Hiram Revels - US Senate from Adams County from 1870-1871 - When Mississippi was brought back into the Union during Reconstruction the GOP-controlled Legislature elected Revels for the “unexpired” seat that was held by Albert Gallatin Brown when he resigned at the beginning of the Civil War (Adelbert Ames was elected to the other seat) - The Legislature had already elected James Alcorn to the full term to begin in 1871so he knew from the beginning he’d only serve for a short time - He went on to fill a vacancy as MS Secretary of State and would be president of then Oakland College (now Alcorn State University) - He gives Mississippi the honor of having elected the first African American US Senator
James Spencer - US House from Claiborne County from 1895-1897 - While Mississippi was moving from party conventions to primary elections among the voters, the 7th District held a convention in Canton that began with sitting Congressman Charles Hooker in the lead - Spencer was the dark horse of the three running and, on the 1,156th ballot (that’s not typo!), was elected when Hooker threw his votes to him - He would lose the primary election in 1897
Patrick Tompkins - US House from Warren County from 1847-1849 - In the first elections where members were elected by district, the Whig Tompkins (a sitting circuit judge) defeated sitting Democrat Robert Roberts from Scott County by about 500 votes for the 3rd District spot - He contracted “Gold Rush Fever” and moved to California and did not seek re-election
James Trotter - US Senate from Monroe County for 5 1/2 months in 1838 - He was elected by the Legislature to complete John Black’s seat (see above) and decided Washington was not his cup of tea - He moved to Holly Springs and became a member of the State Supreme Court
Tucker Tilghman - US House from Hinds (?) County from 1843-1845 - He had just completed his term as governor (and may or may not have returned to Lowndes County) when he took the last of four at-large spots for the House - There were eight men running and Tucker squeaked by future Texas Congressman Volney Howard by about 600 votes
Wiley Wells - US House from 1875-1877 from Marshall County - He was appointed US Attorney for the Northern District by Ulysses Grant and defeated GOP Congressman Albert Howe (see above) running as an Independent Republican - Chose not to run for re-election and went into the US Foreign Service in Shanghai, China
John Wilcox - US House from 1851-1853 from Monroe County - He was one of the three Unionist Democrats that defeated the States Rights Democrats in 1850 (see John Freeman and Benjamin Nabers above) - He defeated W.S. Featherston - He was then defeated by William TS Barry (another one to see above) by about 200 votes - He moved to Texas and was elected to the Confederate Congress
Thomas Hickman Williams - US Senate from 1838-1839 from Pontotoc County - He picked up the rest of the term vacated by James Trotter which was vacated by John Black - He was defeated by John Henderson for reelection
Thomas Word - US House from Pontotoc from 1838-1839 - See Samuel Gholson above for more of the story - He chose not to run again then moved to Texas and was elected to the State Senate - A North Carolina native, he served in the State Assembly there and was in the MS House before running for Congress - I’m unsure on how many people can say they served in three different state legislatures
