Martin Jenkins Crawford (March 17, 1820 – July 23, 1883) was an antebellum U.S. Representative and a representative to the Provisional Confederate Congress during the American Civil War from the state of Georgia.
Biography[]
Crawford was born in 1820 in Jasper County, Georgia. He attended Brownwood Institute and Mercer University in Macon, Georgia. After studying law, he was admitted to the bar in 1839 and became a practicing attorney in Hamilton, Georgia in addition to farming.
From 1845 to 1847, Crawford served in the Georgia House of Representatives. After moving to Columbus, Georgia, in 1849, he served as a delegate to the Southern convention at Nashville in May 1850. From February 1, 1854, to November 1854, Crawford was a judge of the superior courts of the Chattahoochee circuit.
In 1854, Crawford was elected as a Democrat to the 34th United States Congress to represent Georgia's 2nd congressional district. He was reelected to two additional terms in the seat (35th and 36th Congresses), and his congressional service spanned from March 4, 1855, until his resignation in January 23, 1861, with the impending secession of his home state.
After leaving the U.S. Congress, Crawford was elected to the Confederate Provisional Congress, serving from January 1861 to February 22, 1862. Confederate President Jefferson Davis appointed Crawford as a special commissioner to the United States in Washington, D.C.. Crawford also organized the 3rd Georgia Cavalry Regiment in the Confederate States Army in May 1862 and served in that unit for one year before joining the staff of Major General Howell Cobb. Crawford remained on that staff until the end of the war.
After the war, Crawford became judge of the superior court of the Chattahoochee circuit on October 1, 1875 to fill a vacancy. He was reappointed in 1877 and served on that bench until he resigned on February 9, 1880. The next day, he was appointed to a vacant position on the Supreme Court of Georgia and served on that court until his death in Columbus on July 23, 1883. He was buried in that city's Linwood Cemetery.
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! colspan="3" style="background: #cccccc" | United States House of Representatives
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|width="30%" align="center" rowspan="1"|Preceded by
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|width="40%" style="text-align: center;" rowspan="1"|Representative to the Provisional Confederate Congress from Georgia
January 1861 - February 22, 1862
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References[]
- Martin Jenkins Crawford at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress Retrieved on 2008-02-13
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