Allen T. Caperton | |
|---|---|
 | |
| United States Senator from West Virginia | |
| In office March 4, 1875 – July 26, 1876 | |
| Preceded by | Arthur Boreman |
| Succeeded by | Samuel Price |
| Confederate States Senator from Virginia | |
| In office January 22, 1864 – May 10, 1865 | |
| Preceded by | William B. Preston |
| Succeeded by | Constituency abolished |
| Member of the Virginia House of Delegates from Monroe County | |
| In office December 7, 1857 – December 2, 1861 | |
| Preceded by | Alexander Clarke |
| Succeeded by | Wilson Lively |
| In office December 6, 1841 – December 5, 1842 | |
| Preceded by | Augustus A. Chapman |
| Succeeded by | William Adair |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Allen Taylor Caperton November 21, 1810 Union, Virginia, U.S. (now West Virginia) |
| Died | July 26, 1876 (aged 65) Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Alma mater | University of Virginia Yale University |
Allen Taylor Caperton (November 21, 1810 – July 26, 1876) 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 been in the Virginia House of Delegates and Virginia State Senate before the American Civil War. During the Civil War, he was a Confederate States senator.
Caperton, son of Hugh Caperton and Jane Erskine, was born near Union, Monroe County, West Virginia (now 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.
Caperton was a member of the Virginia House of Delegates in 1841–1842. He was elected a member of the Virginia Senate in 1844 and sat 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 sat 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, from March 4, 1875, until his death in Washington, D.C., on July 26, 1876. He was interred in Green Hill Cemetery in Union, West Virginia.
His residence near Union,, "Elmwood," was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.[1]
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