Curtis Hooks Brogden
Curtis Hooks Brogden | |
---|---|
North Carolina House of Commons | |
In office 1839–1851 | |
Personal details | |
Born | Curtis Hooks Brogden November 6, 1816 Wayne County, North Carolina, U.S. |
Died | January 5, 1901 Goldsboro, North Carolina, U.S. | (aged 84)
Political party | Republican (from 1867) |
Other political affiliations | Democratic (until 1867) |
Residence(s) | Goldsboro, North Carolina, US |
Profession | Farmer, Lawyer, Politician |
Military service | |
Allegiance | |
Branch/service | North Carolina State Militia |
Rank | Major general |
Battles/wars | American Civil War |
Curtis Hooks Brogden (November 6, 1816 – January 5, 1901) was an American farmer, attorney and politician who served as the
Brogden had a long political career, first elected to state office in 1838 at the age of 22. Building a close friendship with editor William Woods Holden of the North Carolina Standard, he served nearly without a break in various state offices and lastly as US Congressman, until essentially retiring from politics in 1878. He was elected to one more term in the state legislature in 1886.
Early life and education
He was born on November 6, 1816, in the Brogden family home ten miles southwest of
Military service
His father Pierce Brogden was a veteran of the War of 1812, and his grandfather, Thomas Brogden, served in the Continental Army during the American Revolution. Brogden continued the family tradition of military service and joined the North Carolina state militia at the age of 18. He was elected captain at his second muster, and eventually rose to the rank of major general. During the Civil War he served the Confederate cause although he never held a field command due to his position in the North Carolina state government that kept him in Raleigh for the duration of the conflict.
Political career
First elected to the
In 1852, Brogden was elected to the North Carolina Senate, where he served until 1857. That year he was elected by the General Assembly[3] as State Comptroller, a post he held for ten years.[1] He continued in office through the crises of secession, Civil War, and emancipation. During these decades he formed a political alliance with Holden who as the Civil War dragged on became a quiet critic of the Confederate government, a leader of the North Carolina peace movement, and was ultimately appointed governor of North Carolina by President Andrew Johnson in 1865 for a brief term and then elected in 1868.[3]
Support of Black suffrage
After the Civil War,
These measures were opposed by most whites in the South, although North Carolina had extended the franchise to
Switch to the Republican Party
Brogden followed Holden into the
He briefly left the Senate in 1867 after being elected to represent Wayne County at a state constitutional convention. In 1868 he was elected to the State Senate as a Republican, serving for three terms. He also was a member of the
In 1872, he was elected on the Republican ticket as
Governorship
During his term as governor, Brogden made a stronger attempt to work with the Democrats who controlled the legislature than his Republican predecessors, and focused on railroad construction and higher education. He worked diligently to re-open the
While serving as governor, Brogden was elected in 1876 as a Republican to the United States House of Representatives from North Carolina's 2nd congressional district, which was a predominately black Republican stronghold in the Piedmont area. In Congress. he worked to gain internal improvements for his state and reduced internal revenue taxes. He also advocated direct presidential elections and pensions for Mexican War veterans. His vote with the Democratic majority for the U.S. Army reorganization bill was unpopular with his Republican constituents.
Brogden served one term and was not re-nominated in 1878, a year of intense rivalry among second district Republicans. Amid charges of fraud, the Democrats narrowly elected their nominee, William H. Kitchin. Two years later, Brogden tried to regain his seat in Congress. After many Republicans disputed the outcome of the turbulent convention, he issued a broadside declaring himself an independent candidate against the convention nominee, Northern immigrant Orlando Hubbs. Brogden called for reduction in the tariff and other taxes and accused Hubbs of not representing the interests of the South. But his efforts collapsed when Republicans closed ranks in response to the entry of a third Democratic candidate into the race. Wayne County was redistricted to the Third Congressional District before Brogden’s next campaign for Congress. In 1884, Brogden was nominated, only to be defeated in the general election by Wharton J. Green, a Democrat.
Later political career
After losing the congressional election in 1884, Brogden essentially retired from public life with the exception of a single term, in 1887, representing Wayne County in the North Carolina House of Representatives. In a House controlled by Republicans and independents, he spoke in favor of changing the centralized, indirect system of county government the Democrats had instituted ten years before in order to “save” Eastern North Carolina from “Negro rule.” The House passed a bill changing the system, but the Senate rejected it. Brogden was not re-elected in 1888. By then one of the largest landowners in Wayne County, Brogden devoted himself to farming.[6]
Brogden's goal of establishing a college for blacks was finally realized more than a decade after he left the governor's office. On March 7, 1887, The North Carolina General Assembly founded
Brogden, a lifelong bachelor, died on January 5, 1901, in his hometown of Goldsboro, North Carolina and is buried there in Willowdale Cemetery.[1]
Family
Brogden's younger brother Willis H. Brogden (1839-1922) was convicted of murder in 1892 following a dispute over the shooting of one of Willis's cows that led to the death of one of his neighbors. Willis claimed he struck the man, who died of his injuries weeks later, in the head with a
Brogden's nephew
Another of Brogden's nephews, L. Cramner Brogden, was superintendent of public schools in Kinston in the early 1900s and later served as state supervisor of rural education for North Carolina.[9]
Legacy and Honors
Brogden Middle School in Wayne County is named for Governor Brogden.[10]
A North Carolina historical marker marks the site of Brogden's home along US 13 southwest of Goldsboro.[11]
References
- ^ a b c d e "Ex-Gov. Curtis H. Brogden". The New York Times. January 6, 1901. Retrieved 2014-12-02.
Ex-Gov. Curtis H. Brogden is dead. He was born on a farm in Wayne County, N.C., in 1815. His early days were spent farming, but he found time to attend the district schools with fair regularity and to devote some of his leisure to rehearsing in the militia.
- ^ Claude Moore. "Governor Curtis H. Brogden of Wayne". Wayne County, NC - Heritage Series. usgwarchives.net. Archived from the original on 2014-11-11. Retrieved 2022-05-29.
- ^ a b c d "Curtis Hooks Brogden" Archived 2014-11-14 at the Wayback Machine, North Carolina History Project online, accessed 4 December 2014
- ^ "Archived copy". files.usgwarchives.net. Archived from the original on 11 November 2014. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "Currituck Beach Lighthouse". NCpedia. Retrieved 2022-05-29.
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-09-07. Retrieved 2016-01-30.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "Brogden Sentenced to 6 yrs - Newspapers.com". Img.newspapers.com. 2015-01-08. Retrieved 2022-05-29.
- ^ http://files.usgwarchives.net/nc/wayne/newspapers/willishb21nnw.txt [bare URL plain text file]
- ^ "Lenoir County, NCGenWeb: Bio of Lantrec Crammer Brodgen". Ncgenweb.us. 2020-06-08. Retrieved 2022-05-29.
- ^ "Brogden Middle School". waynecountyschools.org.
- ^ "Marker: F-18". Ncmarkers.com. Retrieved 2022-05-29.
- United States Congress. "Curtis Hooks Brogden (id: B000863)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.