Background
Edward Sparrow was born on December 29, 1810, in Dublin, Ireland. When he was quite young his family immigrated to the United States. His father was Samuel Sparrow.
103 College Rd, Gambier, OH 43022, United States
Edward Sparrow attended Kenyon College in Ohio where he studied law.
103 College Rd, Gambier, OH 43022, United States
Edward Sparrow attended Kenyon College in Ohio where he studied law.
congressman lawyer planter politician
Edward Sparrow was born on December 29, 1810, in Dublin, Ireland. When he was quite young his family immigrated to the United States. His father was Samuel Sparrow.
Edward Sparrow attended Kenyon College in Ohio where he studied law.
Edward Sparrow was admitted to the Ohio Bar, and came to Louisiana in 1831. He also was the owner of the "Arlington" plantation.
Sparrow was the clerk of court for Concordia Parish in 1833 and sheriff from 1834 to 1840.
During the Mexican War, he was a brigadier general in the state militia. He moved to Carroll Parish, Louisiana, in 1852. Sparrow was a political ally of Alexander DeClouet and a member of the Baton Rouge convention in 1860 and voted for secession at the Louisiana convention in 1861.
In the provisional Confederate Congress, he served on the Military Affairs, Indian Affairs, and Flag and Seal Committees, as well as the committee to draft a permanent Confederate Constitution. In the first and second Confederate Senates, he was chairman of the important Military Affairs Committee. Sparrow was an ally of Thomas Semmes and Augustus H. Garland in the Senate.
In 1862, he was alienated from the Davis administration, and, along with Robert Hunter of Virginia, moved into the General Joseph E. Johnston camp. A foe of Braxton Bragg, he was a close friend of P.G.T. Beauregard, for whose reinstatement to active command he worked in 1862.
In 1865, he dissented from the majority view in the Senate by proposing to let commissioners determine market and impressment prices. Toward the end of the war, he favored the surrender of the Trans-Mississippi Department at a time when such a sentiment was considered treasonable in his home district of northern and western Louisiana. After the war, he returned to private practice and never again held political office.
Sparrow was a delegate to the 1861 Louisiana Secession Convention, where he urged immediate secession.
As the war dragged on, Sparrow became critical of some President Jefferson Davis's selections for high military commands. On several occasions, Sparrow disparaged General Braxton Bragg's operations and sought a larger role for General Pierre Gustave Toutant-Beauregard.
Samuel Sparrow often stated his opinion that the Confederate Congress should play a more central role in military decision making. He believed that only the central government in Richmond should consolidate all of its resources, even if this meant endowing President Davis with dictatorial powers. Sparrow also urged the Confederate government to procure supplies by any means necessary, including the confiscation of private property.
Edward had several children by his marriage to Minerva Parker.
