Burgess Sidney Gaither (March 16, 1807 – February 23, 1892) was aNorth Carolina politician and attorney who served in theConfederate States Congress during theAmerican Civil War.
Gaither was born inIredell County, North Carolina, the son of Burgess Gaither (a longtime member of theNorth Carolina House of Commons) and Milly Martin. B.S. Gaither attended theUniversity of Georgia, where classmates includedAlexander Stephens andRobert Toombs.
Admitted to the bar in 1829, Gaither practiced law and served as clerk of court inBurke County. He was also elected to represent the county in the 1835 convention to revise theConstitution of North Carolina.
AWhig and a supporter ofHenry Clay, Gaither was appointed superintendent of themint atCharlotte in 1841 by PresidentJohn Tyler.
He was a member of theNorth Carolina Senate in 1840-41 and again in 1844–45, when he served asPresident pro tempore. The legislature then elected Gaither to serve as solicitor (district attorney) for the state's seventh judicial district. In 1851 and 1853, he was an unsuccessful candidate for Congress against maverick WhigThomas L. Clingman. Gaither supported theConstitutional Union Party in the 1860 presidential election but was a defender of the Southern cause after Abraham Lincoln's inauguration.
He represented the state in theFirst Confederate Congress and theSecond Confederate Congress from 1862 to 1865. After the war, Gaither resumed his law practice and ran two more unsuccessful races for Congress. He died inMorganton shortly before what would have been his 85th birthday.
His home known as theGaither House at Morganton, North Carolina, was listed on theNational Register of Historic Places in 1976.[1]
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
 | This article about a member of the North Carolina State Senate is astub. You can help Wikipedia byadding missing information. |
