Horatio Washington Bruce was an American lawyer and politician. He was a Representative from Kentucky in the Confederate Congress from 1862 to 1866.
Background
Horatio Washington was born on February 22, 1830, in Lewis County, Kentucky, United States. He was the son of Alexander and Amanda Bragg Bruce. His father was born in Garrard County, Kentucky, and his mother in Lewis County, this state. John Bruce, his grandfather, emigrated in early pioneer days from Pittsylvania County, Virginia, to Garrard County, Kentucky, where he died, in 1827, at the age of seventy-nine years. John Bruce was the son of a Scotch merchant who came to Virginia prior to the Revolutionary war.
Education
Horatio Washington Bruce received his academic education at private schools in Lewis County, Kentucky, and in Manchester, Ohio. Without the advantages of a college or university course he, nevertheless, mastered not only the elementary English branches but mathematics, pure and applied, and the Latin language, chiefly by his unaided efforts, being blessed with strong natural powers of mind and that great zest for learning which made him a student from early boyhood.
Career
Bruce was a salesman and bookkeeper at a general store in Vanceburg, a postmaster, and a schoolteacher in 1849 before being admitted to the bar in 1851.
Horatio represented Fleming County in the Kentucky legislature in 1855-1856. In 1858, he moved to Louisville to practice law, where he spent the rest of his life. He was commonwealth attorney for the Tenth Judicial District from 1856 until his resignation in 1859.
In 1860, he supported John Bell for president and was a states' rights candidate for the United States House of Representatives. He was a delegate to the state convention in Russellville in October 1861 and to the Kentucky sovereignty convention, where he served on the legislative council and advocated secession. In 1862, he was elected to the Confederate House.
In Congress, he served on the Foreign Affairs, Patents, Commerce, Enrolled Bills, and Inauguration Committees.
After the war, he returned to Louisville to practice law. He was named circuit judge for the Ninth Judicial District in 1868, and from 1873 to 1880 he was chancellor of the University of Louisville.
In 1880, he was an attorney for the Louisville and Nashville Railroad in which position he remained until his death in 1903.
Achievements
Horatio Washington Bruce was an exalted figure in connection with public affairs and the legal profession in the state of Kentucky. He served in public offices of distinguished trust, and his life and labors constitute a lasting and valuable contribution to his native State.
Religion
Horatio was a Royal Arch Mason.
Politics
Originally a Whig, Bruce joined the American party. He supported the Davis administration.
Connections
Bruce married Elizabeth Barbour Helm on June 12, 1856. They had six children.
