James L. Alcorn

Who was James L. Alcorn?

James Lusk Alcorn was a prominent American political figure in Mississippi during the 19th century. He was a leading southern white Republican during Reconstruction in Mississippi, where he served as governor and U.S. Senator. A moderate Republican, he had a bitter rivalry with Radical Republican carpetbagger Adelbert Ames, who defeated him in the 1873 Mississippi gubernatorial race. He briefly served as a brigadier general of Mississippi state troops at times in Confederate States Army service during the early part of the American Civil War. Only James Longstreet had been a higher-ranking Confederate general among those who joined in the post-Civil War Republican Party.