Representative Auburn Lorenzo Pridemore

Auburn Lorenzo Pridemore (June 27, 1837 – May 17, 1900) was a nineteenth-century Virginia lawyer, Confederate Army officer, and Democratic politician who served in the Virginia Senate and in the United States House of Representatives representing Virginia’s 9th congressional district. He served as a Representative from Virginia in the United States Congress from 1877 to 1879, completing one term in office during a significant period in American history, and contributed to the legislative process as a member of the Democratic Party.

Pridemore was born in Scott County, Virginia, on June 27, 1837, to mountain farmer Daniel Pridemore and his wife Mary Ann Ingram. He grew up in a rural setting and assisted on the family farm, receiving only a limited formal education in his youth. He was one of several children, including an older brother, Hiram Demothensese Pridemore (1833–1892), and a sister, Sarah Eleanor Pridemore (1842–1859). Despite the classical name given to his brother, the family’s circumstances were modest, and Auburn Pridemore’s early life was shaped by the demands of agricultural work in the mountainous region of southwestern Virginia.

During the American Civil War, Pridemore aligned with the Confederacy and quickly assumed a leadership role. He raised a company of volunteer infantry for the Pound Gap battalion of the Confederate Army and was commissioned as its captain on October 17, 1861. In June 1862 he was promoted to major. Following a reorganization after the Battle of the Cumberland Gap, his unit was reconstituted as Company S of the 64th Virginia Mounted Infantry under Colonel Campbell Slemp. Pridemore was promoted to lieutenant colonel on December 14, 1862, and later to full colonel on February 5, 1864. He commanded the 64th Virginia Cavalry until the end of the war, emerging as a prominent Confederate officer from his region.

With the close of the war and the onset of Congressional Reconstruction, Pridemore turned to civil and political life. In 1865 he was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates, but his Confederate record under Reconstruction policies prevented him from taking his seat. He then pursued legal studies and was admitted to the bar in 1867. Pridemore established a law practice in Jonesville, the county seat of Lee County, Virginia, where he would remain professionally active for the rest of his life. On February 24, 1869, he married Caladonia Justine Hill, the daughter of a land agent in Jonesville. She died in childbirth that same year, leaving one daughter, Mary Ingram Pridemore Sewell (1869–1931). Pridemore continued to reside with his Hill in-laws for a time, and on June 27, 1875, he married Lucy E. Crockett, with whom he had a son, Hiram Hagan Pridemore (1876–1926).

Pridemore’s political career advanced at the state level before his election to Congress. Voters elected him to the Virginia Senate in 1871, where he served until 1875. In that body he succeeded George H. Kendrick. During his tenure, district boundaries were altered after the 1871 session, with his native Scott County removed from his district and added to Russell County, where John H. A. Smith was elected. When Pridemore left the Senate, he was succeeded by his former Confederate subordinate, Captain Henry C. Slemp, who ran as a member of the Readjuster movement. These changes reflected the shifting political landscape of postwar Virginia, in which former Confederates, Democrats, and Readjusters competed for influence.

At the federal level, Lee County voters elected Pridemore, as a Democrat, to the United States House of Representatives in 1876. He replaced William Terry and represented Virginia’s 9th congressional district in the Forty-fifth Congress, serving from 1877 to 1879. His service in Congress took place during the closing phase of Reconstruction and the beginning of the post-Reconstruction era, a time marked by debates over federal authority, Southern readjustment, and economic development. As a member of the House of Representatives, Pridemore participated in the democratic process and represented the interests of his constituents in southwestern Virginia. Although some accounts describe him as having been re-elected once, he ultimately served a single term; he was defeated for re-election in 1878 and was succeeded by another former Confederate and former subordinate, James Buchanan Richmond.

After leaving Congress, Pridemore returned to Jonesville and resumed his legal practice, remaining an active figure in local affairs. He continued to practice law there until his death. Among his local legacies was his role in naming the unincorporated community of Ben Hur, Virginia, which he named after the popular novel “Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ” by Lew Wallace, reflecting both his cultural awareness and his influence in the region’s civic life.

Auburn Lorenzo Pridemore died in Jonesville, Virginia, on May 17, 1900. He was interred in Hill Cemetery in Jonesville. His life spanned the antebellum, Civil War, Reconstruction, and post-Reconstruction eras, and his career as a Confederate officer, lawyer, state senator, and member of Congress illustrates the trajectory of many Southern political figures who navigated the profound transformations of nineteenth-century American history.