Louis Charles Latham (September 11, 1840,

Plymouth, North Carolina Plymouth is the most populous town in Washington County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 3,320 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is the county seat of Washington County. Plymouth is located on the Roanoke River ...

– October 16, 1895

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) was a member of the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, 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 Artic ...

representing

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

Biography

Latham graduated from the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC, UNC–Chapel Hill, or simply Carolina) is a public university, public research university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1789, the university first began enrolli ...

in 1859 and later attended the

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...

. He entered the

Confederate Army The Confederate States Army (CSA), also called the Confederate army or the Southern army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fi ...

in 1861 where he was commissioned captain and afterward major of the First Regiment of North Carolina State troops, and served throughout the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

. Following the war he resumed the study of law, was admitted to the bar in 1868 and commenced practice in Plymouth, N.C. He was elected member of the

North Carolina House of Commons The North Carolina House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the North Carolina General Assembly. The House is a 120-member body led by a Speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives, Speaker of the House, who holds powers si ...

in 1864 and to the

North Carolina State Senate The North Carolina Senate is the Upper house, upper chamber of the North Carolina General Assembly, which along with the North Carolina House of Representatives—the lower chamber—comprises the state legislature of North Carolina. The Senate ...

in 1870. He was elected as a

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (Cyprus) (DCY) **Democratic Part ...

to the Forty-seventh Congress (March 4, 1881 – March 3, 1883); unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1882; elected to the Fiftieth Congress (March 4, 1887 – March 3, 1889); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1888 to the

Fifty-first United States Congress The 51st United States Congress, referred to by some critics as the Billion Dollar Congress, was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Rep ...

. He resumed the practice of law in

Greenville, North Carolina Greenville ( ; ) is the county seat of and the most populous city in Pitt County, North Carolina, United States. It is the principal city of the Greenville, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area, and the List of municipalities in North Carolina, 12t ...

and died at

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

Hospital in

on October 16, 1895. He was interred in Greenville's City Cemetery.

References

*Jerome Dowd
Sketches of Prominent Living North Carolinians
1888, page 53 *Thomas William Herringshaw
Herringshaw's Encyclopedia of American Biography of the Nineteenth Century
1904, page 572 {{DEFAULTSORT:Latham, Louis C. 1840 births 1895 deaths People from Plymouth, North Carolina People from Greenville, North Carolina Confederate States Army officers University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill alumni Harvard Law School alumni North Carolina lawyers Democratic Party members of the North Carolina House of Representatives Democratic Party North Carolina state senators Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from North Carolina 19th-century American lawyers 19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives 19th-century members of the North Carolina General Assembly