Alexander Hugh Holmes Stuart

From Freepedia

Alexander Hugh Holmes Stuart (April 2, 1807–February 13, 1891) was a U.S. political figure. He served as the Secretary of the Interior between 1850 and 1853.

Born in Staunton, Virginia, he attended the College of William and Mary and graduated from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. He then studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1828.

He was a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses from 1836 to 1839 and then elected as a Whig to the 27th Congress. Not re-elected to the 28th Congress he served as Secretary of the Interior under Millard Fillmore for three years.

He then served in the Virginia Senate from 1857 through 1861 and was a member of the Virginia state secession convention in 1861. He was a delegate to the National Convention of Conservatives at Philadelphia in 1866, and he presented credentials as a Member-elect to the 39th Congress in 1865 but was not admitted.

He was chairman of the Committee of Nine, which was instrumental in restoring Virginia to the Union in 1870, and was again a member of the Virginia General Assembly from 1874 to 1877.

He served as rector of the University of Virginia from 1874 to 1882 and also as president of the Virginia Historical Society, as well as continuing with the practice of law. He died in his hometown of Staunton in 1891 and is buried there at Thornrose Cemetery.