In September 1869, Lewis E. Parsons, who had been a Whig, a Know-Nothing, and a Democrat earlier in his career, joined the Republicans after they gained the majority in Congress in 1868. Parsons was a leader of southern Republicans in the 1870s, serving from 1872-74 in the Alabama House of Representatives, where he opposed civil rights legislation.
Lewis E. Parsons
Courtesy of the Alabama Department of Archives and History
