Lawrence Davis TYSON, Congress, TN (1861-1929)

TYSON, Lawrence Davis, a Senator from Tennessee; born on a farm near Greenville, Pitt County, N.C., July 4, 1861; attended the county schools and Greenville Academy, and graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1883; took part in campaigns against the Apache Indians; professor of military science and tactics in the University of Tennessee at Knoxville 1891-1895, and graduated in law from that university in 1894; resigned his commission, was admitted to the bar in 1894, and commenced practice in Knoxville; volunteered in 1898 for service during the Spanish-American War, and was appointed colonel of the Sixth Regiment, United States Volunteer Infantry, which he recruited, trained, and took to Puerto Rico; was mustered out in 1899; engaged in the practice of law at Knoxville and later in manufacturing; brigadier general and inspector general of the National Guard of Tennessee 1902-1908; member, State house of representatives and served as speaker 1903-1905; was an unsuccessful candidate for election to the United States Senate in 1913; volunteered for service at the outbreak of the First World War and was commissioned brigadier general in command of all National Guard troops of Tennessee; later commissioned by President Woodrow Wilson as a brigadier general and assigned to the Fifty-ninth Brigade, Thirtieth Division; trained troops at Camp Sevier, Greenville, S.C.; fought in France and Belgium and was discharged in 1919; resumed newspaper pursuits; was an unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic nomination for Vice President in 1920; elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1925, until his death in a sanitarium at Strafford, Pa., on August 24, 1929; interment in Old Gray Cemetery, Knoxville, Tenn.

Bibliography

Dictionary of American Biography; U.S. Congress. Memorial Addresses. 71st Cong., 1st sess., 1929. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1930.

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