George Emrick Harris (January 6, 1827 – March 19, 1911) was an American lawyer, Civil War veteran and politician who served two terms as 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 Mississippi from 1870 to 1873.

Early life

George Emrick Harris was born on January 6, 1827, in

Orange County, North Carolina Orange County is a county located in the Piedmont region of the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 148,696. Its county seat is Hillsborough. Orange County is included in the Durham–Chapel Hill, NC Metrop ...

. He moved to Tennessee and later Mississippi. He attended common schools and studied law. He was admitted to the bar in 1854.

Career

Harris practiced law. He entered the Confederate States Army and served as

lieutenant colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

until the close of the Civil War.

Political career

Harris was elected district attorney in 1865 and re-elected in 1866. Upon the readmission of the Mississippi to representation in the Union, he was elected as a Republican to the Forty-first and Forty-second Congresses and served from February 23, 1870, to March 3, 1873. He served as the first Republican Mississippi Attorney General from 1873 to 1877. He was Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi from 1877 to 1879. He wrote books on legal subjects.

Death and burial

Harris married Harriet Seton McAllister, daughter of Ward McAllister. They had seven children, including George McAllister. His wife predeceased him. Harris died on March 19, 1911, in Washington, D.C. At the time of his death, he lived at the Ruppert Home for the Aged and Indigent. He was interred in Oak Hill Cemetery in Washington, D.C.

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* 1827 births 1911 deaths People from Orange County, North Carolina Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Mississippi Lieutenant governors of Mississippi Mississippi attorneys general 19th-century American politicians District attorneys in Mississippi Mississippi lawyers Confederate States Army officers People of Mississippi in the American Civil War 19th-century American lawyers Burials at Oak Hill Cemetery (Washington, D.C.) {{Mississippi-politician-stub