William Murrell, Jr.
Louisiana House of Representatives for Madison Parish
In office
1872 – 1876; 1879–1880
Personal details
Bornc. 1845
Georgia, U.S.
RelationsWilliam Murrell, Sr. (father)
OccupationNewspaper editor, politician

Col. William Murrell, Jr. (c. 1845–1932) also known simply as William Murrell, was an American newspaper editor, and politician.[1] He represented Madison Parish in the Louisiana House of Representatives from for two terms.[2]

Biography

William Murrell Jr. was born in about 1845 in Georgia, where he was enslaved from birth.[1]

During the start of the American Civil War, he served as valet to General James Longstreet of the Confederate States Army.[1] In 1862, Gen. Longstreet retreated from the war after family tragedy. Murrell joined as a soldier in the 44th Virginia Infantry Regiment of the Confederate States Army.[1] He later served in the Union Army.[3]

His father William Murrell, Sr. served as a politician in Lafourche Parish, Louisiana in the Reconstruction era.[3] Murrell Jr. became a state legislator in Louisiana.[4] He represented Madison Parish in the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1872 to 1876, and 1879 to 1880.[2] He opposed the exodus of African Americans to Kansas, known as the exodusters.[5]

Murrell Jr. attended the 1873 State Colored Men's Convention held in New Orleans.[6] During the Reconstruction era, Murrell Jr. edited the newspapers the Madison Vindicator, and the New Jersey Trumpet.[3][7][1]

Murrell Jr. was a major on the staff for Governor William Pitt Kellogg, he was prompted to colonel and oversaw the Louisiana State National Guard.[1] In 1891, he was appointed by secretary John Willock Noble to a role in the United States Department of the Interior.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Penn, Irvine Garland (1891). The Afro-American Press and Its Editors. Willey & Company. pp. 138–140. ISBN 978-0-598-58268-3.
  2. 1 2 Vincent, Charles (January 28, 2011). Black Legislators in Louisiana during Reconstruction. SIU Press. ISBN 9780809385812 – via Google Books.
  3. 1 2 3 Hogue, James K. (November 15, 2011). Uncivil War: Five New Orleans Street Battles and the Rise and Fall of Radical Reconstruction. LSU Press. ISBN 9780807143926 – via Google Books.
  4. ↑ Foner, Eric (September 18, 1993). Freedom's Lawmakers: A Directory of Black Officeholders During Reconstruction. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-507406-2 – via Google Books.
  5. ↑ Vincent, Charles (September 18, 1999). The African American Experience in Louisiana: From the Civil War to Jim Crow. Center for Louisiana Studies, University of Southwestern Louisiana. ISBN 9781887366373 – via Google Books.
  6. ↑ "State Colored Men's Convention". The New Orleans Republican November 18–20, 1873. 1873. Retrieved 2023-03-23.
  7. ↑ "Madison Vindicator (Delta, Madison Parish, La.) 1874-187?".
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