Allen T. Caperton


Allen Taylor Caperton was an American politician who was a United States Senator from the State of West Virginia in 1875-1876. He was a member of the Democratic Party. He had served in the Virginia House of Delegates and Virginia State Senate before the American Civil War. During the Civil War, he served as a Confederate States Senator.

Early life

Caperton, son of Hugh Caperton and Jane Erskine, was born near Union, Monroe County, West Virginia on November 21, 1810. At the age of 14, he traveled by horseback to Huntsville, Alabama, to attend school. He later graduated from the University of Virginia at Charlottesville, then graduated from Yale College in 1832. He studied law in Staunton, Virginia, was admitted to the bar and practiced law. He was married to Harriett Echols.

Political career

Caperton served as a member of the Virginia House of Delegates in 1841–1842. He was elected a member of the Virginia Senate in 1844, and served until 1848. He was a member of the Virginia House of Delegates again from 1857 to 1861. In 1850 he was a delegate to the State constitutional convention. In 1861, he was a member of the Virginia Secession Convention.
During the Civil War, he was elected by the legislature of Virginia to be a member of the Confederate States Senate in which he served until 1865.
After the war, he was the first ex-Confederate elected to the United States Senate, entering office as a Democrat from West Virginia and served from March 4, 1875, until his death in Washington, D.C., July 26, 1876. He was interred in Green Hill Cemetery, Union, West Virginia.
His residence near Union, West Virginia, "Elmwood," was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.