Allen D. Candler
56thGovernor of Georgia
In office October 29, 1898 – October 25, 1902
Preceded by	William Y. Atkinson
Succeeded by	Joseph M. Terrell
14thSecretary of State of Georgia
In office 1894–1898
Preceded by	Philip Cook, Sr.
Succeeded by	William C. Clifton
Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromGeorgia's9th district
In office March 4, 1883 – March 3, 1891
Preceded by	Emory Speer
Succeeded by	Thomas E. Winn
Member of theGeorgia Senate
In office 1878–1880
Member of theGeorgia House of Representatives
In office 1873–1878
Personal details
Born	Allen Daniel Candler (1834-11-04)November 4, 1834 Auraria,Georgia, U.S.
Died	October 26, 1910(1910-10-26) (aged 75) Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Eugenia Williams
Residence	Gainesville, Georgia
Alma mater	Mercer University
Occupation	Teacher farmer railroad owner

Allen Daniel Candler (November 4, 1834 – October 26, 1910) was aGeorgia state legislator,U.S. Representative and the56th Governor of Georgia.

Candler was born the eldest of twelve children to Daniel Gill Candler and Nancy Caroline Matthews^[1] inAuraria, Georgia, inLumpkin County, a mountainous mining community. Candler attended country schools and thenMercer University inMacon, Georgia, graduating in 1859. Candler studied law briefly, and then taught school.

In May 1862, Candler enlisted as aprivate in theConfederate34th Georgia Volunteer Infantry, and was immediately elected afirst lieutenant by the members of his company. Candler fought in some of theCivil War's most brutal battles:Vicksburg,Missionary Ridge,Resaca,Kennesaw Mountain,Atlanta, andJonesboro. By war's end, he was serving as acolonel under GeneralJoseph E. Johnston in theArmy of Tennessee inNorth Carolina. He was wounded at Kennesaw and lost an eye in Jonesboro. At the end of the war, he quipped that he was more fortunate than many of his comrades -- "I counted myself quite wealthy [with] … one wife, and baby, one eye, and one silver dollar."^[2]

After the war, Candler settled inJonesboro, Georgia, thenGainesville, Georgia. He turned to farming, then politics; he was one of many conservativeDemocrats pushing to wrest control of the state back from theReconstructionRepublican state government, which was backed by the occupyingUnion Army. In 1872, he was electedMayor of Gainesville. In 1873, he was elected to theGeorgia House of Representatives, serving there until his election to theGeorgia Senate in 1878, where he served just two years. During this time, Candler was also involved in manufacturing and was the president of a railroad.

In 1882, Candler was elected to the48th Congress, serving in theU.S. House of Representatives from 1883 to 1891.^[3] In 1886, he triggered a community conflict when he proposed a piece of legislation on behalf of some of his constituents. The law would set aside federal pension funds "for the relief of the First Georgia State Troops," the regiment organized by Union officer James G. Brown in 1864. Almost immediately after Congressman Candler offered his pension bill, north Georgia rebels burst into angry protest, calling the soldiers "first Georgia hogback Yankey fellers."^[4]

In his third term as U.S. Representative, he was the chairman of the Committee on Education. Candler declined to run again in the 1890 election.

Candler served asSecretary of State of Georgia from 1894 to 1898 before resigning to pursue the Governorship. Campaigning as the "one-eyed ploughboy from Pigeon Roost" he won with 70% of the vote against Populist candidateJ. R. Hogan. After a first two-year term, Candler was returned to office in 1900, defeating Populist candidateGeorge W. Trayler.

Candler was known as a conservative governor. While he established pensions for Confederate widows, he otherwise cut back both taxes and government expenditures. Candler pushed for the establishment of a whites-only Democratic primary based on the legal notion that the Democratic Party was a private organization and therefore not subject to theFifteenth Constitutional Amendment giving all Americans the right to vote, regardless of race. Since the Democratic Party had a monopoly on power in Southern states, the real selection of officeholders in Georgia occurred during the Democratic primary to select Democratic candidates for the fall general election. Democrats consistently won all of these offices from the end ofReconstruction in 1871 until the 1970s.

Candler's tenure as governor coincided with some of the most violent lynchings in Georgia's history.^[5] Although he publicly denounced mob violence, at the same time he blamed the victims of these incidents on black criminality and the increasing annoyance among whites of blacks demanding equal treatment.^[6] In an incident which culminated with the notorious lynching ofSam Hose in 1899,^[7] he berated the "better class" of blacks for not aiding authorities in his apprehension. These views were prominently printed in the Atlanta newspapers alongside those of the editors which urged the mobs on.^[8] Candler did ask the courts for speedier trials to head-off mob violence.

After leaving the Governor's office, Candler served as the State's first compiler of records.

He died in 1910 inAtlanta, Georgia. He was buried at Alta Vista cemetery in Gainesville.

Candler County, Georgia, was named in 1914 for Candler in appreciation for his passion and diligence in compiling and editing nearly thirty volumes of the State's historical records from theColonial,Revolutionary and Confederate periods.

• Butts, Sarah Harriett,Mothers of Some Distinguished Georgians, J.J. Little & Co., 1902
• Brundage, William Fitzhugh,Lynching in the New South: Georgia and Virginia, 1880-1930, University of Illinois Press, 1993,ISBN 0-252-06345-7
• Davis, Leroy,A Clashing of the Soul: John Hope and the Dilemma of African American Leadership and Black Higher Education in the Early Twentieth Century, University of Georgia Press, 1998,ISBN 0-8203-1987-2

Wikimedia Commons has media related toAllen D. Candler.

• United States Congress."Allen D. Candler (id: C000109)".Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved on 2009-03-01
• New Georgia Encyclopedia entryArchived 2007-02-25 at theWayback Machine
• Governor Allen Daniel Candler: Confederate Colonel
• Two Georgia Governors

• 1834 births
• 1910 deaths
• Democratic Party members of the Georgia House of Representatives
• Democratic Party Georgia (U.S. state) state senators
• Confederate States Army officers
• Democratic Party governors of Georgia (U.S. state)
• People of Georgia (U.S. state) in the American Civil War
• Mayors of places in Georgia (U.S. state)
• Mercer University alumni
• Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Georgia (U.S. state)
• People from Jonesboro, Georgia
• People from Gainesville, Georgia
• People from Lumpkin County, Georgia
• 20th-century American people
• Candler family
• 19th-century United States representatives
• 19th-century members of the Georgia General Assembly
• Neo-Confederates

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Commons category link from Wikidata
• Webarchive template wayback links