Thomas Spight (October 25, 1841 – January 5, 1924) 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

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

. Born near

Ripley, Mississippi Ripley is a city in Tippah County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 5,395 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Tippah County. Colonel William Clark Falkner, great-grandfather of authors William Faulkner and John Faulkner, w ...

, Spight attended the common schools, Ripley Academy, Purdy (Tennessee) College, and the La Grange (Tennessee) Synodical College where he was a member of the Sigma (original) chapter of the Sigma Chi Fraternity. He enlisted in the

Confederate States Army The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighting ...

as a private in 1861. He was promoted to the rank of lieutenant the same year. In 1862, he became captain of Company B, Thirty-fourth Regiment, Mississippi Volunteer Infantry, and served until the close of the war. He taught school and also engaged in agricultural pursuits. He studied law. He was admitted to the bar in 1875 and commenced practice in Ripley, Mississippi. He served as member of the

Mississippi House of Representatives The Mississippi House of Representatives is the lower house of the Mississippi Legislature, the lawmaking body of the U.S. state of Mississippi. According to the state constitution of 1890, it is to comprise no more than 122 members elected fo ...

from 1874–1880. He established the Southern Sentinel in 1879, retiring from the newspaper business five years later. He served as prosecuting attorney of the third judicial district 1884–1892. Spight 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-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 ...

to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of

William V. Sullivan William Van Amberg Sullivan (December 18, 1857March 21, 1918) was a United States representative and United States Senate, Senator from Mississippi. Biography Born near Winona, Mississippi, he attended the common schools in Panola County, Missi ...

. He was reelected to the Fifty-sixth and to the five succeeding Congresses and served from July 5, 1898, to March 3, 1911. He was an unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1910. He again resumed the practice of his profession and also engaged in religious work until his death in

, January 5, 1924. He was interred in Ripley Cemetery.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Spight, Thomas 1841 births 1924 deaths Confederate States Army officers Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Mississippi Democratic Party members of the Mississippi House of Representatives People from Ripley, Mississippi