Alfred Ely

Alfred Ely ( * February 15, 1815 in Lyme, Connecticut; † May 18, 1892 in Rochester, New York ) was an American politician. Between 1859 and 1863 he represented the State of New York in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Career

Alfred Ely attended the common schools and Bacon Academy in Colchester. In 1835 he moved to Rochester, New York. After studying law and his 1841 was admitted as a lawyer, he started working there in this profession. In the 1850s he joined the Republican Party, founded at that time.

In the congressional elections of 1858 Ely was the 29th electoral district of New York in the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington DC chosen, where he became the successor of Samuel G. Andrews on March 4, 1859. After a re-election he was able to complete in Congress until March 3, 1863 two legislative sessions. These were minted until 1861 by the events immediately before the Civil War and in 1861 by the war itself. Since 1861, Ely was chairman of the Committee on Invalid Pensions. In July 1861, he watched the First Battle of Bull Run. He was captured by soldiers of the Confederacy. He spent six months in the notorious Libby Prison in Richmond, before he was released in December 1861 in a prisoner exchange.

After the end of his time in the U.S. House of Representatives Alfred Ely again practiced as a lawyer. He died on 18 May 1892 in Rochester.