View source for Elliott M. Braxton

{{short description|American politician}}
{{More citations needed|date=January 2021}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Elliott M. Braxton
| image name          = Elliott Muse Braxton - Brady-Handy.jpg
| state               = [[Virginia]]
| district            = [[Virginia's 7th congressional district|7th]]
| party               = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]]
| term                = March 4, 1871 &ndash; March 3, 1873
| preceded            = [[Lewis McKenzie]]
| succeeded           = [[John T. Harris]]
| office1             = Member of the [[Virginia Senate]] from [[Richmond County, Virginia|Richmond]], [[Lancaster County, Virginia|Lancaster]], [[Northumberland County, Virginia|Northumberland]] and [[Westmoreland County, Virginia|Westmoreland]] Counties
| term1               = 1852–1857
| predecessor1        = ''District established''
| successor1          = [[Richard L. T. Beale]]
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1823|10|8|mf=y}}
| birth_place         = [[Mathews, Virginia]], U.S.
| death_date          = {{death date and age|1891|10|2|1823|10|8|mf=y}}
| death_place         = [[Fredericksburg, Virginia]], U.S.
| resting_place       = Confederate Cemetery<br />Fredericksburg, Virginia, U.S.
| spouse              =
| religion            =
| profession          = [[Politician]], [[Lawyer]]
| footnotes           =
}}
'''Elliott Muse Braxton''' (October 8, 1823 &ndash; October 2, 1891) was a nineteenth-century politician and lawyer from [[Virginia]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Goolrick|first=John T.|title=Historic Fredericksburg: The Story of an Old Town|publisher=Whittet & Shepperson|year=1922|pages=110}}</ref> He owned slaves, served in the Confederate Army, and was a Democrat. He was the great-grandson of [[Carter Braxton]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Kennedy|first=Lawrence F.|title=Biographical Directory of the American Congress 1774-1971: The Continental Congress, September 5, 1774, to October 21, 1788 and the Congress of the United States, from the First Through the Ninety-first Congress, March 4, 1789, to January 3, 1971, Inclusive Issue 92, Part 8 of Senate document|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|year=1971|pages=630}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia | first=Lyon Gardiner | last=Tyler | title=Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography | date=1915 | volume=3 | page=112}}</ref><ref>Donald W. Gunter, "Braxton, Elliott Muse (1823-1891)", in Dictionary of Virginia Biography, vol. 2, pp. 203-204</ref>
==Early life==
Born either in [[Mathews County, Virginia|Mathews County]]<ref>Gunter</ref> or [[Fredericksburg, Virginia]],<ref>Tyler</ref> to Carter Moore Braxton Sr., Elliott lost his mother as child. His father remarried and his younger half-brother was [[Carter Moore Braxton]].<ref>Lane, Martin S. (December 22, 2021). [https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/braxton-carter-m-1836-1898/ "Carter M. Braxton (1836–1898)"]. In ''Encyclopedia Virginia''. Virginia Humanities. Retrieved October 20, 2022.</ref> The Braxton family of merchants and planters had long been prominent in  [[King and Queen County, Virginia|King and Queen County]] which his great-great-grandfather [[George Braxton, Sr.]], great-grandfather [[George Braxton, Jr.]] and grandfather [[Carter Braxton]] had represented in the [[Virginia General Assembly]], and where the family owned large plantations. He received a private education appropriate to his class, although his father died when in 1847.
== Career ==
After reading law under his father's guidance until the elder C.M. Braxton died in 1847, E. M. Braxton was admitted to the bar in 1849, and began a legal practice in [[Richmond County, Virginia]], in the [[Northern Neck of Virginia]] where his extended family remained influential.
[[Richmond County, Virginia|Richmond]], [[Lancaster County, Virginia|Lancaster]], [[Northumberland County, Virginia|Northumberland]] and [[Westmoreland County, Virginia|Westmoreland County]] voters elected Braxton to the [[Virginia Senate]] in 1851 to replace Joseph Harvey in a district which before the census and Virginia Constitutional Convention redistricting previously had also included Stafford County and King George Counties and he served from 1852 to 1856 (succeeded by [[R.L.T. Beale]]).<ref>Leonard pp. 452. 457. 462</ref> He defeated [[Whig Party (United States)|Whig]] [[John T. Rice]] of Westmoreland county in 1853. While in the state senate, Braxton sat on the Committee for Courts of Justice and the Joint Committee to Examine the First Auditor's Office, but decided against seeking re-election in 1857.<ref>DVB</ref>
In the 1850 census, Braxton owned an enslaved woman in Richmond, as well as ten and three-year-old girls and a five year old and year old and boy.<ref>1850 U.S. Federal Census for Richmond, Henrico County p.101 of 120</ref> In the previous census, his late father had owned 20 slaves in King and Queen County. In the 1860 census, Braxton probably leased out his remaining slaves, including a 45 year old enslaved man in [[Northumberland County, Virginia]]<ref>1860 U.S. Federal Census for Northumberland County p.7 of 44</ref> and a 30-year-old man in Richmond County.<ref>1860 U.S. Federal Census for Richmond County p.15 of 28</ref>
In 1860, his legal practice not flourishing, Braxton moved to [[Fredericksburg, Virginia]], where his half brother Carter Moore Braxton, now a civil engineer, was overseeing the construction of the roadbed for the [[Fredericksburg and Gordonsville Railroad]]. Elliott Braxton continued practicing law and lived with his wife and three young daughters.<ref>1860 U.S. Federal Census for Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania County, dwelling 419, family 413 on p.57 of 94</ref>
As Virginians voted to secede from the Union at the outbreak of the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], Braxton enlisted as a private, then raised a company in Stafford County for the [[Confederate States Army|Confederate Army]]. On July 18, 1861, he was elected its [[captain (land and air)|captain]] and his company merged into the [[30th Virginia Infantry]] in September 1861. He was re-elected Captain on April 16, 1862. In August 1862 Braxton was promoted to a [[Major (United States)|major]] and assigned as brigade quartermaster on the staff of [[General officer|General]] [[John Rogers Cooke|John R. Cooke]], despite an attempt to obtain an army judicial post in the autumn of 1864.<ref>Gunter</ref>
Following the conflict, Braxton returned to Fredericksburg and opened a law office with C. WIstar Wallace, with whom he had served in the 30th Virginia. He had his legal disability removed and won election to Fredericksburg's common council in 1866; the state's government was reorganized in 1868 due to Congressional Reconstruction.
Braxton ran as a [[Conservative Party of Virginia (1867)|Conservative]] for Congress from the [[Virginia's 7th congressional district|7th district]] and defeated Republican incumbent [[Lewis McKenzie]] by a margin of 53-47%. McKenzie challenged the result on the ground of voter intimidation. Nonetheless, the Committee on Elections determined Braxton had won and seated him.<ref>Gunter</ref> Following redistricting, Braxton ran in the [[Virginia's 1st congressional district|1st district]] against Republican lawyer and newspaperman [[James B. Sener]], this time losing by a narrow margin of 49-51% (373 votes). While in Congress, Braxton served on no committees, but spoke in defense of states' rights and the Conservative Party. He moved unsuccessfully to compensate the Lee family for [[Arlington National Cemetery|Arlington plantation]] the federal government had seized during the Civil War.<ref>Gunter</ref>
Braxton resumed practicing law in Fredericksburg, despite suffering from heart disease beginning in the 1880s.
==Personal life==
On November 23, 1854, Braxton married Anna Maria Marshall, granddaughter of jurist John Marshall. They had four daughters and four sons.<ref>Gunter</ref>
== Death ==
Braxton died in his Fredericksburg home on October 2, 1891, and was interred there in the Confederate Cemetery.
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==External links==
{{Portal|Biography}}
{{CongBio|B000777}} Retrieved on 2008-02-13
*{{Find a Grave|6862448|access-date=2008-02-13}}
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{{succession box | title = [[Virginia Senate]]  | before = ''District established'' | years = 1852–1857 | after = [[Richard L. T. Beale]]}}
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{{US House succession box
| state=Virginia
| district=7
| before=[[Lewis McKenzie]]
| after=[[John T. Harris]]
| years=March 4, 1871 – March 3, 1873
}}
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[[Category:1823 births]]
[[Category:1891 deaths]]
[[Category:Democratic Party Virginia state senators]]
[[Category:Virginia lawyers]]
[[Category:Confederate States Army officers]]
[[Category:People of Virginia in the American Civil War]]
[[Category:Politicians from Fredericksburg, Virginia]]
[[Category:People from Mathews, Virginia]]
[[Category:Braxton family of Virginia]]
[[Category:Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Virginia]]
[[Category:19th-century American lawyers]]
[[Category:19th-century American legislators]]
[[Category:19th-century Virginia politicians]]