Born in Alabama and a lawyer by profession, he moved to Texas in 1854 and was a state senator there at the start of the American Civil War.
After the war, he moved back to Alabama as he was not allowed to practice law in Texas, and died in Montgomery.
He served in the Texas State Senate for one term from between 1857 and 1859, as Attorney General from 1858 to 1860, and as a presidential elector for John C. Breckinridge in 1860.
[2] After the war, as he was not allowed to practice law in Texas without a pardon, he moved back to Alabama and settled in Montgomery.
He resumed his law practice, also serving as the president of the executive committee of the Conservative Democrat Party.