Education
He attended the common schools. He studied law.
United States representative lawyer politician
He attended the common schools. He studied law.
Born in Orange County, North Carolina, Harris moved to Tennessee and thence to Mississippi. He was admitted to the bar in 1854 and practiced. He entered the Confederate States Army and served as lieutenant colonel until the close of the Civil War.
Harris was elected district attorney in 1865 and reelected in 1866.
Upon the readmission of the State of Mississippi to representation he was elected as a Republican to the Forty-first and Forty-second Congresses and served from February 23, 1870, to March 3, 1873. He served as the only Republican Attorney General of the State of Mississippi 1873-1877.
Harris was Lieutenant Governor 1877-1879. He engaged as an author of books on legal subjects.
He died in Washington, District of Columbia, March 19, 1911.
He was interred in Oak Hill Cemetery. He was the 1st and only Republican elected to the office of Template:Mississippi Attorney General.