James Patton Anderson (Congressional Biographical Directory)

ANDERSON, James Patton, a Delegate from the Territory of Washington; born near Winchester, Franklin County, Tenn., February 16, 1822; was graduated from Jefferson College, Canonsburg, Pa., in 1842; moved to Kentucky; studied law at Montrose Law School, Frankfort, Ky.; was admitted to the bar and practiced in Hernando, Miss., from 1842 to 1846; raised a company of volunteers for the Mexican War; elected lieutenant colonel of the Second Battalion, Mississippi Rifles, and served in that capacity until the close of the war; member of the State house of representatives in 1850; appointed United States marshal for the Territory of Washington in 1853 and settled in Olympia; elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-fourth Congress (March 4, 1855-March 3, 1857); was not a candidate for renomination in 1856; appointed Governor of the Territory of Washington by President Buchanan in 1857, but declined the office; moved to his plantation, “Casabianca,” near Monticello, Fla., the same year; served in the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States; during the Civil War entered the Confederate Army as colonel of the First Regiment, Florida Infantry; appointed brigadier general February 10, 1862; promoted to major general February 17, 1864, and assigned to the command of the district of Florida; after the close of the war settled in Memphis, Tenn., and conducted a publication devoted to agriculture; collector of delinquent State taxes for Shelby County; died in Memphis, Tenn., September 20, 1872; interment in Elmwood Cemetery.