Thomas Jenkins Semmes

Thomas Jenkins Semmes ( born December 16, 1824 in Washington DC; † 23 July 1899, at New Orleans, Louisiana ) was an American lawyer and politician from Louisiana.

Career

Semmes studied law, was admitted to the bar and opened a practice in New Orleans. Later he decided to pursue a political career. He was from 1857 to 1859 United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana. He was also a member of the Louisiana State Legislature and Attorney General of Louisiana. He represented his native country in 1861 as a delegate to the Secession Convention. After the outbreak of the Civil War, he was from 1862 to 1865 worked as a Senator of the Confederate States of America. During the war his house was converted in occupied New Orleans by Major General Benjamin Franklin Butler to a quarters for Union troops. Semmes was a strong supporter of Louisiana's troops, including the famous Louisiana Tigers, in which his brother Andrew worked as a regimental surgeon.

Thomas died in 1899 in New Orleans and was buried at the Metairie Cemetery.