Alcorn, James Lusk
lawyer, general, governor of Mississippi, United States senator, was born Nov. 4, 1816, near Golconda, Ill. He settled in Kentucky; was educated at Cumberland college; was appointed deputy sheriff of Livingston county, and held the office for five years. In 1843 he was elected to the legislature; removed in 1844 to Mississippi; entered upon the practice of law, and served sixteen years in the legislature of that state in the house and senate. 1852 he was chosen elector, and was nominated for governor in 1857, but declined. He was founder of the levee system in his state, and in 1858 was chosen president of the levee board of the Mississippi- Yazoo delta. He was elected to the state convention of 1851, and again to that of 1861, the latter body electing him a brigadier-general. In 1865 he was elected to the senate of the United States, but not allowed to take his seat. In 1869 he was elected governor of Mississippi, and was elected to the senate of the United States in 1871 for six years.