Daniel B. Wright

Daniel Boone Wright (February 17, 1812 – December 27, 1887) was an American slaveholder, soldier, lawyer and politician who served two terms as a U.S. representative from Mississippi from 1853 to 1857. He join d the Confederate Army during the American Civil War.

Biography

Born near Mount Pleasant, Tennessee, Wright attended the common schools and graduated from Cumberland University in Lebanon, Tennessee, in 1837. He was admitted to the bar in 1840 and commenced practice in Ashland, Mississippi. He moved to Salem, Mississippi, in 1850, where he continued the practice of law.

Wright became a wealthy planter, holding thirty six people as slaves in 1860.

Congress

Wright was elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-third and Thirty-fourth Congresses (March 4, 1853 – March 3, 1857). He was not a candidate for renomination in 1856, and resumed the practice of law at Ashland.

Civil War

Wright was elected as a delegate to the Mississippi state secession convention in January, 1861, voting in favor of leaving the Union. He then enlisted in the Confederate Army during the Civil War, and on April 16, 1862, was elected lieutenant colonel of the Thirty-fourth Regiment of Mississippi Infantry. He was wounded at the Battle of Perryville in October 1862, and was taken prisoner. He was held at the Camp Chase POW camp in Ohio until he was exchanged and released. Wright was then appointed as a colonel of Cavalry on June 6, 1864, and served as a judge of military courts in Forrest's Cavalry Corps.

Later career and death

He resumed the practice of his profession in Ashland, Mississippi, and was also interested in agricultural pursuits in Benton County.

He died in Ashland, Mississippi, on December 27, 1887. He was interred in the McDonald (private) Cemetery, near Ashland, Mississippi.

External links

• United States Congress. . Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.