Edward Sparrow (December 29, 1810 – July 4, 1882) was an American politician who served as a Confederate States Senator from

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

from 1862 to 1865.

Biography

Sparrow was born in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

, Ireland. He married Minerva Parker of Natchez, served as sheriff of Concordia Parish, Louisiana, and during the Mexican War he raised a company of soldiers. In 1834 he began making land purchases from the federal government very near the Mississippi River across from Natchez with Edward Whittelsey. He represented

in the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1862. Sparrow was educated at

Kenyon College Kenyon College ( ) is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Gambier, Ohio, United States. It was founded in 1824 by Episcopal Bishop Philander Chase. It is the oldest private instituti ...

and trained in the law, being admitted to the Ohio bar.Davidson, Mary Anne, and Hilary Murphy. “Samuel Sparrow’s Repentance for His Rebel Rôle in ’98.” ''The Past: The Organ of the Uí Cinsealaigh Historical Society'', no. 28, 2007, pp. 78–86
JSTOR website
Retrieved 18 Apr. 2025. He was a Senator from Louisiana in both the First and the Second Confederate States congresses, serving from 1862 to 1865. He was one of just eight men to be members of the Confederate Congress from its beginning to its end. For the entire war he was chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs. He was the wealthiest man in the Confederate Government and one of the wealthiest in the entire South. The 1860 Census cites his wealth at $1.2 million, which would be comparable to being a billionaire today. In the 1860 census he is listed as having four land holdings, one in Concordia Parish, Louisiana and three in

East Carroll Parish, Louisiana East Carroll Parish () is a parish located in the Mississippi Delta in northeastern Louisiana. As of 2020, its population was 7,459. The parish seat is Lake Providence. An area of cotton plantations in the antebellum era, the parish in the e ...

, including the Arlington Plantation in

Lake Providence, Louisiana Lake Providence is a town in, and the parish seat of, East Carroll Parish, Louisiana, East Carroll Parish in northeastern Louisiana. The population was 5,104 at the 2000 United States Census, 2000 census and declined by 21.8 percent to 3,991 in 2 ...

. Even in 1880, after the war, East Carroll Parish was the most productive cotton-growing parish or county in the nation. He owned the Arlington Plantation from the 1850s until his death, and is buried in the family cemetery there. wit
four photos and two maps

References

External links

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at

The Political Graveyard The Political Graveyard is a website and database that catalogues information on more than 277,000 Politics of the United States, American political figures and List of United States political families, political families, along with other informa ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sparrow, Edward 1810 births 1882 deaths American slave owners Confederate States of America senators Deputies and delegates to the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States Irish emigrants to the United States People of Louisiana in the American Civil War People pardoned by Andrew Johnson Signers of the Confederate States Constitution Signers of the Provisional Constitution of the Confederate States