Powell CLAYTON, Congress, AR (1833-1914)

CLAYTON, Powell, a Senator from Arkansas; born in Bethel, Delaware County, Pa., August 7, 1833; attended the common schools and Partridge Military Academy, Bristol, Pa.; studied civil engineering in Wilmington, Del.; moved to Leavenworth, Kans., where he practiced his profession; appointed city engineer in 1857; at the outbreak of the Civil War entered the Union Army and served until 1865, attaining the rank of brigad ier general; moved to Arkansas and became a planter; elected Governor of Arkansas in 1868; elected as a Republican to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1871, to March 3, 1877; chairman, Committee on Enrolled Bills (Forty-third Congress), Committee on Civil Service Retrenchment (Forty-fourth Congress); moved to Little Rock, Ark.; member of the Republican National Committee; ambassador to Mexico 1897-1905; lived in retirement until his death in Washington, D.C., on August 25, 1914; interment in Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Va.

Bibliography

American National Biography; Dictionary of American Biography; Burnside, William H. The Honorable Powell Clayton. Conway, AR: UCA Press, 1991; Clayton, Powell. The Aftermath of the Civil War in Arkansas. 1915. Reprint. New York: Negro Universities Press, 1969.

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