Felix Kirk ZOLLICOFFER, Congress, TN (1812-1862)

ZOLLICOFFER, Felix Kirk, a Representative from Tennessee; born in Bigbyville, Maury County, Tenn., May 19, 1812; attended the “old field” schools and Jackson College, Columbia, Tenn.; became a printer; engaged in newspaper work in Paris, Tenn., 1828-1830, Knoxville, Tenn., in 1831 and 1832, and Huntsville, Ala., 1835-1843; elected State printer of Tennessee in 1835; served as a lieutenant in the war against the Seminoles in Florida in 1836; owner and editor of the Columbia Observer and the Southern Agriculturist in 1837; editor of the Republican Banner, the State organ of the Whig Party, in 1843; comptroller of the State treasury 1845-1849; served in the State senate 1849-1852; delegate to the Whig National Convention in 1852; elected as a Whig to the Thirty-third Congress and reelected as a candidate of the American Party to the Thirty-fourth and Thirty-fifth Congresses (March 4, 1853-March 3, 1859); declined to be a candidate for renomination in 1858; member of the peace convention of 1861 held in Washington, D.C., in an effort to devise means to prevent the impending war; during the Civil War served in the Confederate Army as brigadier general; died from wounds received near Mill Springs, Ky., January 19, 1862; interment in the Old City Cemetery, Nashville, Tenn.

Bibliography

Parks, Edd. Winfield. “Zollicoffer: Southern Whig.” Tennessee Historical Quarterly 11 (December 1952): 346-55; Stamper, James C. “Felix K. Zollicoffer: Tennessee Editor and Politician.” Tennessee Historical Quarterly 28 (Winter 1969): 356-76.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present