Albert Gallatin Riddle (May 28, 1816 – May 15, 1902) was a

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...

from

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

Early life

Born in

Monson, Massachusetts Monson is a town in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 8,150 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The census-designated place of Monson Center lies at the ...

, Riddle moved with his parents to Newbury, in the Western Reserve of Ohio, in 1817. He completed preparatory studies, and then studied law.

Career

Riddle was admitted to the bar in 1840 and began practice in Geauga County, serving as prosecuting attorney of that county 1840-1846. He served as member of the Ohio House of Representatives 1848-1850, and in 1848 called the first

Free Soil The Free Soil Party was a short-lived coalition political party in the United States active from 1848 to 1854, when it merged into the Republican Party. The party was largely focused on the single issue of opposing the expansion of slavery into ...

convention in Ohio. Riddle moved to

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

, in 1850. He was elected prosecuting attorney in 1856, and in 1859 he defended the Oberlin slave rescuers. He served as a Republican in the

Thirty-seventh Congress The 37th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1861, ...

(March 4, 1861 – March 3, 1863), making speeches in favor of arming

slave Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

s, the first on this subject that were delivered in Congress, and others on emancipation in the

District of Columbia ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

and in vindication of

President Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation throu ...

. He was not a candidate for renomination in 1862. After his term in Congress, Riddle served as

consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states throug ...

at Matanzas, Cuba, in 1863 and 1864. He then returned to

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, and again engaged in the practice of law. He was retained by the

State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government responsible for the country's fore ...

to aid in the prosecution of John H. Surratt as one of the accomplices in the murder of President

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...

. He also served as law officer of the District of Columbia 1877-1889. He was in charge of the law department at Howard University for several years after its establishment.

Death and legacy

Riddle died at his home in

on May 15, 1902. He was interred in Rock Creek Cemetery. His papers are at the Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio. They include the unpublished manuscript ''Accounts of experiences in Cuba'' (1862-1864).

Works

* ''Students and Lawyers'', lectures (Washington, 1873) * ''Bart Ridgeley, a Story of Northern Ohio'' (Boston, 1873) * ''The Portrait, a Romance of Cuyahoga Valley'' (1874) * ''Alice Brand, a Tale of the Capitol'' (New York, 1875) * ''Life, Character, and Public Services of James A. Garfield'' (Cleveland, 1880) * ''The House of Ross'' (Boston, 1881) * ''Castle Gregory'' (Cleveland, 1882) * ''Hart and his Bear'' (Washington, 1883) * ''The Young Sugar Makers of the West Woods'' (Cleveland, 1885) * ''The Hunter of the Chagrin'' (1882) * ''Mark Loan, a Tale of the Western Reserve'' (1883) * ''Old Newberry and the Pioneers'' (1884) * ''Speeches and Arguments'' (Washington, 1886) * ''Life of Benjamin F. Wade'' (Cleveland, 1886) * ''Recollections of War Times, 1860-65'' * ''Ansel's Cave: A Story of Early Life in the Western Reserve'' (Cleveland, 1893)

References

* *

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Riddle, Albert Gallatin 1816 births 1902 deaths Ohio lawyers People from Monson, Massachusetts People from Geauga County, Ohio Politicians from Cleveland People associated with the assassination of Abraham Lincoln Republican Party members of the Ohio House of Representatives County district attorneys in Ohio 19th-century American diplomats Writers from Massachusetts Writers from Cleveland American consuls 19th-century American politicians Burials at Rock Creek Cemetery Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Ohio