Bibliography

Dictionary of American Biography; Martin, John. ‘The Senatorial Career of Jeremiah Clemens,1849-1853.Alabama Historical Quarterly 43(Fall 1981):186-235.

Born in Iowa on 27 September 1838, Sul Ross moved with his family to Texas the following year. He attended Baylor University in 1856, then graduated from Wesleyan University at Florence, Alabama in 1859.

Ross earned early recognition as captain of a ranger company that attacked a large Comanche village in 1860 and recaptured the long lost Cynthia Ann Parker.

The following year Ross resigned ranger service and joined the Confederacy. In the war, he gained rapid promotions, advancing to the rank of Brigadier General. Soon after the war ended, he entered politics and advanced from the office of sheriff of McLennan County to that of State senator in 1880.

Ross was elected governor of Texas in 1887, and was the first governor to occupy the newly completed capitol building in 1888.

After serving two terms as governor, Ross became president of the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas in 1891. While at A&M, he was popular with the students and was responsible for numerous improvements.

Ross died on 3 January 1898 as the result of an illness acquired during a hunting trip.

David Peter Lewis was born in 1820 in Charlotte County, Virginia. When a child he moved with his parents to Madison County, Alabama, where he received an education and studied law. He built a successful law practice in Lawrence County and represented that county in the 1861 constitutional convention. Although Lewis opposed secession, he signed the ordinance of secession passed by the convention. He was elected to the Confederate Provisional Congress at Montgomery but resigned his seat. Governor John G. Shorter appointed him circuit court judge in 1863, a position he held for several months. Eventually Lewis crossed the Union lines and remained in Nashville until the end of the war. He then returned to his law practice in Huntsville.

After the 1868 presidential election, Lewis, a Unionist, left the Democrats and joined the Republican party. In 1872 he defeated Democrat Thomas H. Herndon of Mobile in the race for governor. In the same election the Democrats achieved a majority in both houses of the state legislature. To ensure the return of George Spencer to the US Senate, Lewis refused to recognize the Democratic legislature and instead recognized a Republican legislature. The Republicans met at the federal courthouse and thus became known as the "courthouse" legislature. When Lewis asked President Grant to intervene in the legislature dispute, the President responded by referring the matter to Attorney General George H. Williams. On December 17, 1872, the General Assembly was reorganized based on Williams' compromise instructions. The Republicans had a majority of two in the house while the Democrats had a majority of one in the senate.

Otherwise the Lewis administration was uneventful compared to the administration of Republican William H. Smith. The railroad bond issue continued to plague Lewis as it had his predecessor, Governor Lindsay. Lewis doubled taxes but the public debt grew despite the measure.

Other events of note occurred during Lewis' term as governor. The national Panic of 1873 resulted in an economic crisis over which Lewis had no control. In 1873 Anniston was incorporated as a city. The State Normal School (now the University of North Alabama) was established at Florence and at Huntsville, the State Colored Normal and Industrial School (now Alabama A and M University) was created.

In 1873, L.J. Williams, a black representative from Montgomery County, and Jeremiah Haralson, a black senator from Dallas County, attempted to push a civil rights bill through the legislature. Lewis remained distant from the bill which was defeated by both Democrats and white Republicans.

After serving as governor, Lewis, a bachelor, returned to his law practice in Huntsville. He died on July 3, 1884.

Edward Asbury O'Neal was born September 20, 1818, in Madison County and died November 20, 1890 in Florence, Lauderdale, County. He was the son of Edward and Rebecca Wheat O'Neal, the former a native of Ireland. When Edward was four years of age, his father died and his mother took over the family affairs and the education of her sons.

O'Neal was educated at Green Academy and at LaGrange College, from which he graduated in 1836. He studied law under James W. McClung of Huntsville, was admitted to the bar in 1840 and began his law practice in Florence. In 1841, he was appointed to the office of solicitor of the fourth circuit and served for four years. In 1848 he was unsuccessful in his candidacy for election to the Thirty-first Congress.

O'Neal was a leader in the secession movement. He joined the Confederate army on June 4, 1861 as a captain. In Richmond he was promoted to major in the Ninth Alabama Infantry Regiment. On October 21, he was promoted to lieutenant-colonel. This was followed by a promotion to colonel in March 1862 and reassignment to the Twenty-sixth Alabama Infantry Regiment at Richmond.

While commanding this regiment, he was wounded at the battle of Seven Pines. He led Rhodes' brigade in the Battle of Boonesboro, in which he was severely wounded. In 1864 O'Neal returned to Alabama where his regiment was strengthened and sent to fight Sherman near Dalton, GA. Although he never received the commission, O'Neal served as acting brigadier general at the close of the war.

After the war O'Neal returned to Florence and resumed his law practice. In 1875 he was elected to serve as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention. He served as the chairman of the Committee on Education.

O'Neal was elected governor in 1882 and reelected in 1884. The principle concerns of his administration were reduction of taxes, prison reform, and aid to education. The legislature created a Department of Agriculture and the Office of Examiners of Accounts. Reforms to improve the treatment of convicts began. Congress granted forty-six thousand and eighty acres of land to the University of Alabama. Jefferson Davis laid the cornerstone of the monument to the memory of Confederate soldiers on the capitol grounds in Montgomery.

Born January 20, 1958 in Clinton, South Carolina. Growing up the son of a career army officer, he moved often, attending ten different schools before graduating in 1976 from S. R. Butler High School in Huntsville, Alabama.

Served as editorial cartoonist for his college paper and managing editor of the alternative student newspaper while attending the University of North Alabama. Graduated in 1980 with degrees in Art and History.

Worked as a staff artist for both the Pittsburgh Post- Gazette and The Fayetteville (NC) Times before accepting the editorial cartooning position with the St. Petersburg Times in 1981.

Leaving the Times in 1994, he trained in computer graphics and animation to produce fully animated editorial cartoons for the internet while continuing to draw cartoons for distribution through King Features Syndicate.

In 1998 he joined the staff of The Christian Science Monitor where he produces five cartoons a week, all in full color.