West Virginia freeman. (Parkersburg, W. Va.) 1881-1886, 1883-03-14
Alex. H. Stephens.


who died at midnight on the 3rd
inst, was born in Taliaferro county,
Georgia, February II, 1872; grad
uated at Franklin College, Athens,
Georgia, in 1882; studied law and
practiced it in Charlottesville till
elected to the Legislature IN 1886,
being reelected five successive
terms, and in 1912 elected State Sen
ator, and the following year, as
Wing, sent to Congress, where he
remained till 1859. He declined re-
election in that year, on account OF
his retirement from public life.
The election Of Lincoln in 1860
and the secession of Georgia with
other States (Which he opposed
brought him out of his brief seclu-
sion. He was elected to the secession
Convention, which met in Mil
ledgville, in January, 1861, where
he made strong, but unavailing OPP
position to secession. Bowling to
the will of his State, he was soon
after chosen a member of the Con-
federate Congress, which met in
Montgomery in February, and was
afterwards elected Vice President of
the Confederacy. Soon after the
close of the war, and when the bit
terness engendered by it had con-
siderably cooled, Mr.. Stephens APP
peawd in the National Congress as
a Representative from Georgia, and
was welcomed there by men Of all
parties. He only retired from that
office when elected Governor of
Georgia, which Office he held at
the time of his death.
While in Congress in 1S47, he
submitted a series Of resolutions
concerning the Mexican war, which
became the basis Of the Wing plat
form. He opposed the Clayton
com promise in 1913, supported the
Clay Compromise Bill IN 1850, and
was influential in the passage of
the Kansas and Nebraska Act in
1854 The Wing party having dis
solved, Mr.. Stephens acted with
the Democrats thereafter, though
it may be doubted whether he ever
overcame his Wing antecedents or
preiudices, or ever was enthusiast
tic or more than passive in support
of the cause of the Secessionists.
Mr.. Stephens was versatile
man. He was as fluent a writer as
speaker, and edited newspaper
with the same tact he managed a
bill in Congress. In conversation
he was never dull, but always in
teresting, and by reason Of his long
public careef, had fund Of anec-
dote and Renaissance that made
his conversation fascinating, espec-
iallv as he had a retentive memory
and a pat way of stating any
thing.
Though a man of the most deli
cate physical nature, and at times
so weak in body that he could
hardly walk, his mind was most
vigorous and his black eye keen
and piercing. He was so thin and
raw-boned that when he removed
his thick great coat at Hampton
Roads, where he went during the
war to meet President Lincoln and
Mr.. Seward in conference, Lincoln
remarked when the Vice President
of the Confederacy removed his
coat, "We that is the smallest
ear of corn | ever saw to have such
big shuck !"
After the surrender Of Lee, Ste
phens returned to Georgia, was ar
rested and sent to FIT. Warren, but
was released on parole. He was
the next year chosen U. S. Sena-
tor, but could not take his seat on
account of the lron-clad oath,
whose rigors were modified when
he reappeared in the lower House.
Mr.. Stephens was something of
an author; his most important
work being ga Constitutional
View of the late War between the
States its Causes, Character, Con-
duct and Results" but it never
reached popularity it was too pom
derous, and discussed questions up
on which war had legislated, and
which were practically dead issues.
But it is a book that will be valua-
BILE to the future historian.