Edmund Strother Dargan (April 15, 1805 – November 22, 1879) was a U.S. Representative from Alabama, and then a representative to the Confederate States Congress during the American Civil War. Son of William & Frances Dargan, he was born near Wadesboro, North Carolina, Dargan pursued preparatory studies at home. He then studied law and was admitted to the bar in Wadesboro in 1829. Later, he moved to

Washington, Alabama Washington is a ghost town located in Autauga County, Alabama on the north bank of the Alabama River, just west of the mouth of Autauga Creek. Washington was founded by European American settlers in 1817 on the site of the former Autauga Indian t ...

, where he commenced the practice of law and was for several years a

Justice of the Peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

. He moved to Montgomery in 1833 and to

Mobile Mobile may refer to: Places * Mobile, Alabama, a U.S. port city * Mobile County, Alabama * Mobile, Arizona, a small town near Phoenix, U.S. * Mobile, Newfoundland and Labrador Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Mobile ...

in 1841. He served as judge of the circuit court, Mobile district, in 1841 and 1842. He served in the Alabama State Senate in 1844 and was the mayor of Mobile in 1844. Dargan was elected as a Democrat to the Twenty-ninth Congress (March 4, 1845 – March 3, 1847). He did not seek renomination in 1846. He subsequently served as associate justice of the State supreme court in 1847, and in 1849 became chief justice. He resigned in December 1852 and resumed the practice of law. Dargan served as delegate to a called state convention in 1861, where he delivered a speech calling for Alabama to formally secede from the United States.Dargan, E. S. (January 11, 1861)
Speech of E. S. Dargan in the Convention of Alabama
- accessed January 11, 2016 During the Civil War, he served as member of the first Confederate States House of Representatives. After the war, he resumed the practice of law in Mobile, Alabama, and died there on November 22, 1879. He was interred in Magnolia Cemetery.

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1805 births 1879 deaths 19th-century American judges 19th-century American lawyers 19th-century American legislators Alabama lawyers Democratic Party Alabama state senators Alabama Secession Delegates of 1861 American justices of the peace Chief Justices of the Supreme Court of Alabama Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Alabama Justices of the Supreme Court of Alabama Lawyers from Mobile, Alabama Members of the Confederate House of Representatives from Alabama People from Wadesboro, North Carolina Politicians from Mobile, Alabama {{Alabama-state-judge-stub