Josiah Patterson

Josiah Patterson was an American politician and a member of the United States House of Representatives for the 10th district of Tennessee. He was born in Morgan County, Alabama on April 14, 1837. He attended the common schools and Somerville (Alabama) Academy. He studied law, was admitted to the bar, and commenced the practice of law in Morgan County in 1859.

He entered the Confederate Army in September 1861. He was commissioned a first lieutenant in the First Regiment of the Alabama Cavalry in 1852. He was promoted to the rank of captain, then to colonel, and subsequently assigned to the command of the Fifth Regiment of Alabama Cavalry. He resumed the practice of law and settled in Florence, Alabama in January 1867. He moved to Memphis, Tennessee in 1872 and continued the practice of his profession.

He served in the Tennessee House of Representatives from 1883 to 1885. He was elected as a Democrat to the Fifty-second, Fifty-third, and Fifty-fourth Congresses. He served from March 4, 1891 to March 3, 1897. He was an unsuccessful candidate for re-election to the Fifty-fifth Congress as a Gold Democrat. He again resumed the practice of his profession and died in Memphis, Tennessee in Shelby County on February 10, 1904. He was interred in Forest Hill Cemetery.