He entered the Confederate States Army as a private in Colonel Byrd's regiment, Alabama Volunteers, at Mobile, in 1862.

He was appointed by the Governor in July 1874 judge of the first judicial circuit to fill an unexpired term and was elected to this position on November 4, 1874, and served until 1880.

He successfully contested as a Republican the election of Charles M. Shelley to the Forty-eighth Congress and served from January 9, 1885, to March 3, 1885.

He was appointed United States attorney for the middle and northern districts of Alabama by President Arthur.

He was appointed by President Cleveland a member of the Board of Visitors to the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1894.