Representative Chester Bidwell Darrall

Chester Bidwell Darrall (June 24, 1842 – January 1, 1908) was an American Republican politician and physician who served as a U.S. Representative from Louisiana during the latter half of the nineteenth century. A member of the Republican Party, he represented Louisiana in the United States House of Representatives for six terms between 1869 and 1883, contributing to the legislative process during a significant period in American history marked by Reconstruction and its aftermath.

Darrall was born in Addison, Somerset County, Pennsylvania. He attended the common schools and studied medicine, qualifying as a physician before the outbreak of the Civil War. During the war he entered the Union Army as an assistant surgeon and later served as a surgeon, gaining extensive experience in military and combat medicine. His wartime service brought him to the Gulf region, and after the close of hostilities he chose to settle in Louisiana, where he resumed the practice of medicine and became involved in business and public affairs.

After the Civil War, Darrall established himself in Morgan City, St. Mary Parish, Louisiana, where he practiced medicine and engaged in mercantile pursuits. As Reconstruction reshaped the political landscape of the South, he aligned with the Republican Party and quickly emerged as a local leader. In 1868 he was elected to the Louisiana State Senate, marking his formal entry into public office. His service in the state legislature coincided with efforts to reorganize civil government and extend political rights in the postwar South.

In 1868 Darrall was elected as a Republican to the Forty-first Congress and to the three succeeding Congresses, serving from March 4, 1869, to March 4, 1877. As a member of the House of Representatives, he participated in the democratic process and represented the interests of his Louisiana constituents during the critical Reconstruction era. He presented credentials as a member-elect to the Forty-fifth Congress and served from March 4, 1877, until February 20, 1878, when he was succeeded by Democrat Joseph H. Acklen, who successfully contested the election of 1876. Following this contested-election defeat, Darrall returned to Morgan City and did not seek renomination in the subsequent election cycle.

Darrall reentered national politics in 1880, when he was again elected to Congress. He served in the Forty-seventh Congress from March 4, 1881, to March 4, 1883, marking his final term in the House of Representatives. Over the course of his six terms, he served during the transition from Reconstruction to the era of “Redemption” in the South, participating in debates over federal authority, Southern readjustment, and economic development. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1882 to the Forty-eighth Congress, losing to fellow Republican William Pitt Kellogg, a former governor and U.S. senator from Louisiana.

After his congressional service, Darrall continued in federal public service. President Chester A. Arthur appointed him Registrar of the United States Land Office in New Orleans, a position he held from 1883 to 1885. In this capacity he oversaw federal land records and transactions at a time when land policy and development remained central to the economic growth of the Gulf South. He made one final attempt to return to Congress in 1888 but was again unsuccessful, effectively ending his electoral career.

In his later years, Darrall moved to Washington, D.C., where he drew on his medical training and Civil War experience to write a series of books on combat medicine and surgery. These works reflected both his professional background as a physician and his firsthand knowledge of military medical practice. Chester Bidwell Darrall died in Washington, D.C., on January 1, 1908. He was interred in Glenwood Cemetery in the District of Columbia, closing a life that spanned service as a Civil War surgeon, Reconstruction-era legislator, and long-serving Republican congressman from Louisiana.