Harrison H. Riddleberger

Harrison Holt Riddleberger (October 4, 1844– January 24, 1890) was an American lawyer and politician from Woodstock, Virginia. He served in the Virginia State Senate and House of Delegates, before representing Virginia in the United States Senate for one term from 1883-1889.

Riddleberger was born in Edinburg, Virginia in Shenandoah County. He was a second and first lieutenant of Infantry and captain of Cavalry for the Confederate Army for three years during the American Civil War. Following the war he became a practicing attorney in Woodstock. He held a number of public offices: a member of the state house of delegates from 1871–75; a Commonwealth attorney of Shenandoah County from 1876–1880; and a member of the State senate from 1879–82. He was editor of the "Shenandoah Democrat" and the "Virginian at Woodstock.

In the late 1870s, Riddleberger joined former Confederate General and railroad builder William Mahone in forming a coalition of blacks, Republicans, and Conservative Democrats which became known as the Readjuster Party. The Readjusters dominated Virginia's politics for about 10 years, until another political machine composed of Conservative Democrats initially led by John S. Barbour, Jr. took power in the late 1880s, a legacy which led to the Byrd Organization, a domination of Virginia politics until the late 1960s, when Virginia elected A. Linwood Holton Jr. as the its first non-Democrat governor in 80 years in 1969. Riddleberger was elected to the U.S. Senate as a Readjuster, serving from March 4, 1883, to March 3, 1889. He served as chairman of the Committee on Manufactures (which later became the Committee on Commerce, Scinece and Transportation). After his term, he was not a candidate for reelection. He died the year after leaving the senate, on January 24, 1890. He was interred at Cedarwood Cemetery in Edinburg.

External links

* [http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=R000241 biographic sketch at U.S. Congress website]
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