David Browning Culberson (September 29, 1830 – May 7, 1900) was a

Confederate A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a political union of sovereign states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...

soldier, a Democratic

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

from

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

and Chairman of the

House Judiciary Committee The U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary, also called the House Judiciary Committee, is a standing committee of the United States House of Representatives. It is charged with overseeing the administration of justice within the federal courts, f ...

Early years

Culberson was born in Troup County, Georgia, on September 29, 1830, the son of David B. and Lucy (Wilkerson) Culberson. After leaving Brownwood Institute in

La Grange, Georgia LaGrange is a city in and the county seat of Troup County, Georgia, United States. The population of the city was estimated to be 30,858 in 2020 by the U.S. Census Bureau. It is the principal city of the LaGrange, Georgia Micropolitan Statistic ...

, he

read law Reading law was the primary method used in common law countries, particularly the United States, for people to prepare for and enter the legal profession before the advent of law schools. It consisted of an extended internship or apprenticeship un ...

Tuskegee, Alabama Tuskegee ( ) is a city in Macon County, Alabama, Macon County, Alabama, United States. General Thomas Simpson Woodward, a Creek War veteran under Andrew Jackson, laid out the city and founded it in 1833. It became the county seat in the same y ...

, in the school of William P. Chilton, Chief Justice of Alabama. He was admitted to the bar in 1850 and began practice in Dadeville, Alabama. In 1856, he moved to Texas and settled in Upshur County, where he practiced law in partnership with Gen. Hinche P. Mabry until 1861, when he moved to nearby

Jefferson, Texas Jefferson is a city and county seat of Marion County, Texas, in Northeast Texas. It has a population of 1,875 as of the 2020 United States census. History Almost every commercial building and house on the main arterial road in Jefferson has a h ...

. Handbook of Texas Online
/ref> On December 8, 1852, he married Eugenia Kimball; they had two sons, one of whom, Charles A. Culberson, became

Governor of Texas The governor of Texas is the head of state of the U.S. state of Texas. The governor is the head of the executive branch of the government of Texas and is the commander-in-chief of the Texas Military Forces. Established in the Constit ...

and later U.S. Senator. Culberson was a Mason and an Odd Fellow.

Political career and military service

Culberson was a member of the

Texas Legislature The Texas State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Texas. It is a bicameral body composed of a 31-member Senate and a 150-member House of Representatives. The state legislature meets at the Capitol in Austin. It is a p ...

from Upshur County during the 1859-60 session. Because Culberson opposed

secession Secession is the formal withdrawal of a group from a Polity, political entity. The process begins once a group proclaims an act of secession (such as a declaration of independence). A secession attempt might be violent or peaceful, but the goal i ...

and his district favored it, he resigned his legislative seat. Despite his views on secession, when Texas did secede, Culberson raised the 18th Texas Infantry, and he became its commander with the rank of lieutenant colonel. The 18th Infantry saw combat at Vicksburg in 1862–63, but Culberson's health deteriorated and he was assigned to Austin as Adjutant General of Texas. In 1864, he was elected to the legislature from Cass, Titus, and Bowie counties and resigned his military position to rejoin the legislature. As a prominent Jefferson lawyer he was one of the defense attorneys in the Stockade Case of 1869, and he helped defend accused murderer Abe Rothschild in the Diamond Bessie murder trial. He worked to obtain the acquittal for

treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state (polity), state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to Coup d'état, overthrow its government, spy ...

of the then 16-year-old

William Jesse McDonald William Jesse McDonald (September 28, 1852 – January 15, 1918) was a captain of the Texas Rangers.Weiss, Jr.; Jaratt 2019. In later life, he served as a bodyguard to United States presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson Thoma ...

, then of Rusk County, the later Texas Ranger. Culberson attended the Democratic state convention in 1868 and served as a

presidential elector In the United States, the Electoral College is the group of presidential electors that is formed every four years for the sole purpose of voting for the president and vice president in the presidential election. This process is described in ...

in the Presidential Election of 1872 pledged to

Horace Greeley Horace Greeley (February 3, 1811 – November 29, 1872) was an American newspaper editor and publisher who was the founder and newspaper editor, editor of the ''New-York Tribune''. Long active in politics, he served briefly as a congres ...

(who died before Texas' electoral votes could be cast) but casting his ballot ultimately for Benjamin Gratz Brown. Culberson was elected to the State Senate in 1873 representing Marion, Cass and Bowie Counties. In 1874, he ran for Congress from the 2nd District of Texas, and won. The New Texas Handbook
/ref> He resigned his Senate seat to go to Washington.

In Congress

Culberson served in the United States House of Representatives from 1875 to 1897, supporting

prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic b ...

and opposing federal interference in state government. In 1876, he favored the repeal of the Specie Act, and in 1888 he introduced antitrust legislation in Congress. He represented both the 2nd and later the 4th district and served as Chairman of the Judiciary Committee. Though in many ways, a populist himself, Culberson campaigned against the Populist Party which was quite strong in Texas in the 1890s. Culberson viewed them as a divisive force in state politics.

Final years

He was appointed by President

William McKinley William McKinley (January 29, 1843September 14, 1901) was the 25th president of the United States, serving from 1897 until Assassination of William McKinley, his assassination in 1901. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Repub ...

on June 21, 1897, as one of the commissioners to codify the laws of the United States and served in this capacity until his death in Jefferson, Texas on May 7, 1900. He was interred in Jefferson.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Culberson, David B. 1830 births 1900 deaths People of Texas in the American Civil War Democratic Party Texas state senators Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Texas Confederate States Army officers American lawyers admitted to the practice of law by reading law People from Troup County, Georgia People from Dadeville, Alabama People from Upshur County, Texas People from Jefferson, Texas Deans of the United States House of Representatives Military personnel from Texas 19th-century members of the Texas Legislature 19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives