Josiah Patterson (April 14, 1837 – February 10, 1904) was a Confederate soldier, political figure, and a member of the

United States House of Representatives 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 ...

for the 10th District of

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

Biography

Patterson was born in Morgan County,

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County , LargestMetro = Greater Birmingham , area_total_km2 = 135,765 ...

. He attended local schools and the Somerville Academy in

Somerville, Alabama Somerville is a town in Morgan County, Alabama, United States. It is included in the Decatur Metropolitan Area and the Huntsville-Decatur Combined Statistical Area. As of the 2020 census, the population of the town was 796. History Somerville w ...

. He then studied law, and in 1859 was admitted to the bar. He began his practice in Morgan County. He married Josephine Rice on December 22, 1859 in Morgan County, Alabama. They had three children, Malcolm Rice, Mary Louisa, and Ann Eliza.

Career

In September 1861, early in the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

, Patterson enlisted in the Confederate Army. The following year, he was commissioned a

first lieutenant First lieutenant is a commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces; in some forces, it is an appointment. The rank of lieutenant has different meanings in different military formations, but in most forces it is sub-divided into a ...

in the 1st Alabama Cavalry Regiment. Patterson was promoted through the ranks until he became a

colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge o ...

and was assigned command of the 5th Alabama Cavalry Regiment. He served in Gen. Philip Dale Roddey's brigade for the remainder of the war, mostly in North Alabama. Surrendering with his regiment at the war's end in May 1865, Patterson returned home and resumed his law practice. In January 1867, Patterson relocated to Florence, Alabama, and five years later moved to

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

. He served in the Tennessee House of Representatives from 1883 to 1885. Patterson was elected as a

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

to the Fifty-second, Fifty-third, and Fifty-fourth Congresses. He served from March 4, 1891 to March 3, 1897. Patterson was an unsuccessful candidate for re-election to the

Fifty-fifth Congress The 55th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, DC from March 4, 1897, to M ...

as a

Gold Democrat The National Democratic Party, also known as Gold Democrats, was a short-lived political party of Bourbon Democrats who opposed the regular party nominee William Jennings Bryan in the 1896 presidential election. The party was then a "liberal" p ...

. He continued his law practice in Memphis until he died.

Death

On February 10, 1904, Patterson died in Memphis. He is

interred Burial, also known as interment or inhumation, is a method of final disposition whereby a dead body is placed into the ground, sometimes with objects. This is usually accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and objec ...

at Forest Hill Cemetery in Memphis. Patterson's son, Malcolm Rice Patterson (June 7, 1861 – March 8, 1935), served as governor of Tennessee from 1907 to 1911. His granddaughter,

Virginia Foster Durr Virginia Foster Durr (August 6, 1903 – February 24, 1999) was an American civil rights activist and lobbyist. She was born in Birmingham, Alabama in 1903 to Dr. Sterling Foster, an Alabama Presbyterian minister, and Ann Patterson Foster. At ...

(August 6, 1903 – February 24, 1999), was a friend of

Rosa Parks Rosa Louise McCauley Parks (February 4, 1913 – October 24, 2005) was an American activist in the civil rights movement best known for her pivotal role in the Montgomery bus boycott. The United States Congress has honored her as "th ...

and active in the

Civil Rights Movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement throughout the Unite ...

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Patterson, Josiah 1837 births 1904 deaths People from Morgan County, Alabama Democratic Party members of the Tennessee House of Representatives Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Tennessee 19th-century American politicians People of Alabama in the American Civil War