Alfred Ely
Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromNew York's29th district
In office March 4, 1859 – March 3, 1863
Preceded by	Samuel George Andrews
Succeeded by	Augustus Frank
Personal details
Born	(1815-02-15)February 15, 1815 Lyme, Connecticut, US
Died	May 18, 1892(1892-05-18) (aged 77) Rochester, New York, US
Resting place	Mount Hope Cemetery Rochester, New York
Party	Republican
Signature

Alfred Ely (February 15, 1815 – May 18, 1892) was aU.S. Representative from New York. He was elected as aRepublican to theThirty-sixth andThirty-seventh Congresses (March 4, 1859 – March 3, 1863), servingNew York's 29th congressional district. Ely was captured byConfederate forces while spectating at theFirst Battle of Bull Run.^[1]

Born inLyme, Connecticut, Ely attended the common schools andBacon Academy atColchester, Connecticut. He moved toRochester, New York, in 1835. He studied law and wasadmitted to the bar in 1841. Ely commenced practice in Rochester.

Ely was elected as aRepublican to theThirty-sixth andThirty-seventh Congresses (March 4, 1859 – March 3, 1863). He served as chairman of theCommittee on Invalid Pensions (Thirty-seventh Congress). He was not a candidate for renomination in 1862.

While witnessing theFirst Battle of Bull Run, Congressman Ely was taken a prisoner by the Confederates and imprisoned inLibby Prison ofRichmond, Virginia; he was there for nearly six months along with many others. Among those captured wasWilliam H. Upham the future 18th Governor of Wisconsin who was a private in the Belle City Rifles of the2nd Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment.

In December 1861, Ely was exchanged forCharles J. Faulkner, by the latter's own negotiations. At 5:00 AM on Christmas Day Ely was set free fromLibby Prison. After Ely's release, D. Appleton & Company of New York published a journal of his experience in Libby Prison in 1862. Thereafter, he resumed the practice of law. He died inRochester, New York, May 18, 1892. He was interred in the Ely vault inMount Hope Cemetery.

• United States Congress."Alfred Ely (id: E000164)".Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• "Alfred Ely".Find a Grave. RetrievedSeptember 3, 2010.

 This article incorporatespublic domain material fromBiographical Directory of the United States Congress.Federal government of the United States.

• 1815 births
• 1892 deaths
• Union army officers
• People of New York (state) in the American Civil War
• New York (state) lawyers
• People from Lyme, Connecticut
• Republican Party United States representatives from New York (state)
• 19th-century American lawyers
• Bacon Academy alumni
• American Civil War prisoners of war held by the Confederate States of America
• 19th-century New York (state) politicians
• 19th-century United States representatives

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• Wikipedia articles incorporating text from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress