Author: Alan L. Golden

ENTRY

James Wood Bouldin (ca. 1792–1854)

James Wood Bouldin was a member of the House of Delegates (1825–1826) and the U.S. House of Representatives (1834–1839). Born in Charlotte County, he practiced law there and served one term in the General Assembly. Then, in 1834, his brother died unexpectedly while serving in Congress and Bouldin was pressed into service as his replacement. A Democrat and ally of the Andrew Jackson administration, he won election against Beverley Tucker, finishing his brother’s term and serving two more after that. In Washington he sat on the Committee on the District of Columbia (1835–1839) and vigorously opposed the abolition of slavery in the District. He also supported the independence and eventual statehood of Texas. Bouldin died in 1854.

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R. L. T. Beale (1819–1893)

R. L. T. Beale was twice a member of the U.S. House of Representatives (1847–1849; 1879–1881), member of the Convention of 1850–1851, member of the Senate of Virginia (1857–1860), and a Confederate army officer during the American Civil War (1861–1865). After earning a law degree at the University of Virginia, Beale practiced law in his native Westmoreland County. He was first elected to Congress as a proslavery Democrat but did not seek reelection. Instead, he served as a delegate to the state constitutional convention in 1850, generally opposing proposals to make state government more democratic. After serving a term in the state senate, he joined the Confederate cavalry and fought with the Army of Northern Virginia throughout the war. In June 1862, a newspaper reporter accompanied Beale during J. E. B. Stuart‘s famous ride around the Union army, and in March 1864, Beale’s cavalry detachment killed Union colonel Ulric Dahlgren, ending the Kilpatrick-Dahlgren Raid. After the war, Beale wrote a history of the 9th Virginia, published posthumously, and served a second term in Congress.

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