James Edmund BAILEY, Congress, TN (1822-1885)

BAILEY, James Edmund, a Senator from Tennessee; born in Montgomery County, Tenn., August 15, 1822; attended the Clarksville Academy and the University of Nashville; studied law; admitted to the Tennessee bar in 1843 and commenced practice in Clarksville, Montgomery County; elected as a Whig to the Tennessee house of representatives in 1853; during the Civil War served in the Confederate Army as colonel of the Forty-ninth Tennessee Regiment; appointed a member of the court of arbitration by the Governor of Tennessee in 1874; elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Andrew Johnson and served from January 19, 1877, to March 3, 1881; an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1880; chairman, Committee on Education and Labor (Forty-sixth Congress); resumed the practice of law; died in Clarksville, Tenn., December 29, 1885; interment in Greenwood Cemetery.

Bibliography

McCord, Franklin. “J. E. Bailey: A Gentleman of Clarksville.” Tennessee Historical Quarterly 23 (September 1964): 246-68; McKellar, Kenneth. “James Edmund Bailey,” in Tennessee Senators as Seen by One of their Successors. Kingsport, Tenn.: Southern Publishers, Inc., 1942: 372-385.

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