Edmund Pettus | |
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![]() Pettus in 1899 | |
United States Senator from Alabama | |
In office March 4, 1897 – July 27, 1907 | |
Preceded by | James L. Pugh |
Succeeded by | Joseph F. Johnston |
Personal details | |
Born | Edmund Winston Pettus July 6, 1821 Limestone County, Alabama, U.S. |
Died | July 27, 1907 Hot Springs, North Carolina, U.S. | (aged 86)
Political party | Democratic |
Relations |
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Alma mater | Clinton College |
Military service | |
Allegiance | |
Branch/service | |
Years of service | |
Rank |
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Battles/wars | Mexican–American War American Civil War |
Edmund Winston Pettus (July 6, 1821 – July 27, 1907) was an American lawyer, politician and military officer who represented Alabama in the United States Senate from 1897 to 1907.[2] He served as a senior officer of the Confederate States Army, commanding infantry in the Western Theater of the American Civil War. After the war, he was Grand Dragon, or supreme leader of the Ku Klux Klan, that terrorized and often killed African-Americans.[3]
The Edmund Pettus Bridge across the Alabama River in Selma, built in 1940, was named after him. According to Smithsonian, "The bridge was named for him, in part, to memorialize his history, of restraining and imprisoning African-Americans in their quest for freedom after the Civil War".[4] In 1965, the bridge became a landmark of the civil rights movement.
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