After her death Carr returned to New York, where he married widow Susan M Walker (1820-1882), who also moved to Dinwiddie County with him, and with whom he had a daughter, Hannah (b.
[6][7] David Carr became active in the Republican party after the American Civil War, perhaps embittered by his elder son's conscription and death, or his daughter-in-law's move with the young grandchildren back to New York.
Petersburg and Dinwiddie County had become battlefields, especially late in the war, and Carr later filed documents for tools, grain and hogs (among other items) destroyed or taken by Union troops from his farm.
In January 1868 he introduced a resolution proposing to close the Virginia Military Institute and distribute the proceeds to fund public schools.
In the 1871 election, the Senatorial district's voters replaced Carr with William N. Stevens, a free-born black lawyer and Republican politician who would represent Sussex County and adjoining areas for much of two decades.