He entered the Union Army during the Civil War as a first lieutenant in the 1st Kentucky Cavalry Regiment.

He served two terms as county attorney and later was a member of the Kentucky House of Representatives from 1889 to 1892.

He led an unsuccessful campaign as a Republican candidate for the United States Senate in 1892.

He was an unsuccessful independent candidate for re-election in 1894 to the 54th U.S. Congress and thereafter returned to the practice of law.

He died in Liberty on May 5, 1896, and was buried in Brown Cemetery in Casey County.