At one time he was a member of the State Executive Committee of the Democratic Party, but he afterwards identified himself with the Republicans and in 1882 was their candidate for US Congress in the Fifth District of Virginia.
In 1883, he was the Republican candidate for the Virginia State Senate, and such strong feeling was excited in connection with his campaign on that occasion and the deadly race-related riot which occurred at Danville,[1][2][3] that he was compelled to take his family out of the State.
In June 1886, he returned to Chatham, Va., but spent most of his time in Washington, where he found temporary employment of various kinds, though incapacitated by excessive deafness.
In August 1890, he was appointed United States Consul at Colón in what was then part of the Republic of Colombia, He continued in that office until his death there, after two weeks' illness, on July 26, 1891, in his 50th year.
This article incorporates public domain material from the 1892 Yale Obituary Record.