History of Culpeper, (Culpeper County) Virginia United States of America

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John Minor Botts, statesman, was born at Dumfries, Prince William county, Va., Sept. 16, 1802. Both his parents perished at the burning of the theatre at Richmond, where they were residing, leaving him orphaned at the age of nine years. He began the study of law when very young, was admitted to the bar in 1820, and practised successfully until 1826, when he abandoned the profession to engage in agricultural pursuits. From 1833 to 1839 he served in the state legislature, and from 1839 to 1843 as representative in the 26th and 27th congresses, and from 1847 to 1849 in the 30th Congress. He was a stanch supporter of Henry Clay, and labored for his election in the presidential campaign of 1844. In 1852 he resumed his law practice at Richmond, and in 1856 joined the Native American party. He retired to his farm, near Culpeper Court House, upon the beginning of the civil war. He remained faithful to the government, and opposed secession with fervid earnestness. In 1862 he was arrested, by order of the Confederate government, on suspicion of being engaged in preparing a secret history of the rebellion. A rigid search failing to disclose the suspected manuscript he was released after eight weeks' solitary confinement in prison. The suspicions had been well founded, however, for at that time he had in preparation "The Great Rebellion, its Secret History, Rise, Progress and Disastrous Failure," published in 1866. Mr. Botts was a delegate to the southern loyalists' convention at Philadelphia, in 1866, and he was one of the signers of the bail-bond of Jefferson Davis in 1867. He died at Culpeper, Va., Jan. 7, 1869.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

History of Culpeper, (Culpeper County) Virginia

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