Albert G. Riddle

Albert G. Riddle
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Ohio's 19th district
In office March 4, 1861 – March 3, 1863
Preceded by	Edward Wade
Succeeded by	James A. Garfield
Member of the Ohio House of Representatives from the Geauga & Trumbull Counties district
In office December 4, 1848 – December 1, 1850 Serving with Isaac Lee John Hutchins
Preceded by	Anson Matthews
Succeeded by	M. C. Bradley G. H. Kent
Personal details
Born	Albert Gallatin Riddle (1816-05-28)May 28, 1816 Monson, Massachusetts, U.S.
Died	May 15, 1902(1902-05-15) (aged 85) Washington, D.C., U.S.
Resting place	Rock Creek Cemetery Washington, D.C., U.S.
Political party	Republican
Signature

Albert Gallatin Riddle (May 28, 1816 – May 15, 1902) was a 19th Century American lawyer and politician who served one term as a U.S. Representative from Ohio from 1861 to 1863.

Early life

Born in Monson, Massachusetts, Riddle moved with his parents to Newbury, in the Western Reserve of Ohio, in 1817. He completed preparatory studies, and then studied law.

Career

Riddle was admitted to the bar in 1840 and began practice in Geauga County, serving as prosecuting attorney of that county from 1840 to 1846.

Early political career

He served as member of the Ohio House of Representatives from 1848 to 1850, and in 1848 called the first Free Soil convention in Ohio.

Riddle moved to Cleveland, Ohio, in 1850. He was elected prosecuting attorney in 1856, and in 1859 he defended the Oberlin slave rescuers.

Congress

He served as a Republican in the Thirty-seventh Congress (March 4, 1861 – March 3, 1863), making speeches in favor of arming slaves, the first on this subject that were delivered in Congress, and others on emancipation in the District of Columbia and in vindication of President Lincoln. He was not a candidate for renomination in 1862.

Later career

After his term in Congress, Riddle served as consul at Matanzas, Cuba, in 1863 and 1864. He then returned to Washington, D.C., and again engaged in the practice of law. He was retained by the State Department to aid in the prosecution of John H. Surratt as one of the accomplices in the murder of President Abraham Lincoln.

He also served as law officer of the District of Columbia 1877-1889. He was in charge of the law department at Howard University for several years after its establishment.

Death and legacy

Riddle died at his home in Washington, D.C., on May 15, 1902. He was interred in Rock Creek Cemetery.

His papers are at the Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio. They include the unpublished manuscript Accounts of experiences in Cuba (1862–1864).

Works

• Students and Lawyers, lectures (Washington, 1873)
• Bart Ridgeley, a Story of Northern Ohio (Boston, 1873)
• The Portrait, a Romance of Cuyahoga Valley (1874)
• Alice Brand, a Tale of the Capitol (New York, 1875)
• Life, Character, and Public Services of James A. Garfield (Cleveland, 1880)
• The House of Ross (Boston, 1881)
• Castle Gregory (Cleveland, 1882)
• Hart and his Bear (Washington, 1883)
• The Young Sugar Makers of the West Woods (Cleveland, 1885)
• The Hunter of the Chagrin (1882)
• Mark Loan, a Tale of the Western Reserve (1883)
• Old Newberry and the Pioneers (1884)
• Speeches and Arguments (Washington, 1886)
• Life of Benjamin F. Wade (Cleveland, 1886)
• Recollections of War Times, 1860–1865
• Ansel's Cave: A Story of Early Life in the Western Reserve (Cleveland, 1893)

References

• United States Congress. "Albert G. Riddle (id: R000238)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• Rines, George Edwin, ed. (1920). "Riddle, Albert Gallatin" . Encyclopedia Americana.
• Wilson, J. G.; Fiske, J., eds. (1900). "Riddle, Albert Gallatin" . Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. New York: D. Appleton.

External links

• Works by Albert G. Riddle at Project Gutenberg
• Works by or about Albert G. Riddle at the Internet Archive

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress