Ridgely Ceylon Powers (
December 24,
1836 -
November 11,
1912) was a
Union officer and
Mississippi politican. He was born in Mecca,
Ohio on
Christmas Eve. Later in life, he graduated from the
University of Michigan and completed post-graduated work at Union College located in
Schenectady, New York, in 1862. At the outbreak of the
War Between the States he enlisted into the U.S. Army as a private and ended his service as a colonel upon the end of the conflict. In 1865, the Ohioan settled in
Noxubee County, Mississippi as a cotton planter, later becoming sheriff. During
Reconstruction, Powers was elected lieutenant governor and began his term in 1870. Governor
Adelbert Ames resigned the following year to accept a U.S.
Senate seat, thereby making Powers the acting governor; he finished the unexpired term ending in
1874.
Powers died in Los Angeles, California in 1912.
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