Edwards Pierrepont

:"Alternate meaning: Pierpont Edwards"

Infobox US Cabinet official
name=Edwards Pierrepont


order=34th
title=United States Attorney General
term_start=April 26, 1875
term_end=May 21, 1876
predecessor=George H. Williams
successor=Alphonso Taft
birth_date=birth date|1817|3|4|mf=y
birth_place=North Haven, Connecticut, U.S.
death_date=death date and age|1892|3|6|1817|3|4
death_place=New York City, New York, U.S.
party=Republican
spouse=
profession=Lawyer, Politician

Edwards Pierrepont (March 4, 1817 – March 6, 1892) was an American statesman, jurist and lawyer.

Born in North Haven, Connecticut, he graduated from Yale University and New Haven Law School, was admitted to the bar in 1840 and practiced law in Columbus, Ohio, from 1840 to 1845. He moved to New York and served as judge of the New York Supreme Court from 1857 to 1860.

In 1862, during the American Civil War Pierrepont was made a member of the military commission for the cases of state prisoners in the custody of the federal military authorities. In 1867 he conducted the case for the government against John H. Surratt, indicted as an accomplice in the murder of Lincoln and in 1867 became a member of the New York constitutional convention.fact|date=January 2008 From 1869 to 1870 he served as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. President Ulysses S. Grant appointed Pierrepont Attorney General of the United States on April 26, 1875. He was an active member of the "Committee of Seventy." In May 22, 1876 he became Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States to Britain, serving until December 1, 1877. Pierrepont died in New York City two days after his 75th birthday on March 6, 1892, where he had lived after his return from England. He is buried at St. Philip's Cemetery, in Garrison, New York.

References

* [http://www.usdoj.gov/jmd/ls/agbiographies.htm Department of Justice biography]