Absolom West | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Absolom Madden West c. 1818 Alabama, U.S. |
| Died | September 30, 1894 (aged 75–76) |
| Resting place | Hillcrest Cemetery |
| Party | Whig(Before 1854) Democratic(1854–1876) Greenback(1876–1889) |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | United States Confederate States |
| Branch/service | Mississippi Militia |
| Rank | Brigadier General |
| Battles/wars | American Civil War |
Absolom Madden West (c. 1818 – September 30, 1894) was an American planter, Confederate militia general, state politician, railroad president and labor organizer. Born inAlabama, he became a plantation owner inHolmes County, Mississippi, and president of theMississippi Central Railroad. He served in theAmerican Civil War. After the war, he served in theMississippi State Senate and ran forVice President of the United States, unsuccessfully.
West was born in 1818 inAlabama. His father, Anderson West, was a county sheriff.
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West obtained Federal land grants inMississippi and moved toHolmes County, Mississippi, in 1837, where he became aplanter. He won election to theMississippi State Senate as aWhig in 1847. In 1853, he became an officer of the newly formedMississippi Central Railroad.[1]
Although initially an opponent ofsecession, when theAmerican Civil War broke out, West became abrigadier general in theMississippi Militia.[2] He raised aregiment, and later assumed various administrative offices for the state. Sometimes simultaneously, he served as quartermaster-general, paymaster-general, and commissary-general of the Mississippi militia.[1] At his direction, the legislature established a commission consisting of one lawyer and two businessmen to examine and audit the books and papers of his several offices. At the end of the war, West was the only officer of the state to make a final accounting.[3] After 1864, West also served as president of theMississippi Central Railroad.[4] After the war, the railroad was sold to theIllinois Central, and West was returned to the State Senate.
Soon thereafter, West was elected to the FederalHouse of Representatives although he, along with the rest of the unreconstructed Mississippi delegation, was not permitted to be seated.[5] In the years that followed, West established a branch of theNational Labor Union, and served as aDemocratic elector for president in theelection of 1876.
Re-elected to the State Senate, West soon became disenchanted with the Democrats, and joined theGreenback Party. For that party and for theAnti-Monopoly Party, West was a candidate for vice president on the ticket ofBenjamin Butler in1884.
West purchasedOakleigh, an Antebellum mansion inHolly Springs, Mississippi, from JudgeJeremiah W. Clapp in 1870.[4][6] He died on September 30, 1894.
| Party political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Greenback nominee forVice President of the United States 1884 | Party dissolved |
