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History and Government—Congressional Biographies—Delawaredu PONT, Henry Algernon
(1838—1926)
Senate Years of Service:
1906-1917
Party:
Republican
du PONT, Henry Algernon, (cousin of Thomas Coleman du Pont), a Senator from Delaware; born at Eleutherean Mills, New Castle County, Del., July 30, 1838; attended private schools; attended the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia in 1855; graduated from the United States Military Academy, West Point, N.Y., in 1861; served in the United States Army until 1875; during the Civil War served in the Union Army, attaining the rank of lieutenant colonel; awarded a Congressional Medal of Honor for his handling of the retreat at the battle of Cedar Creek; was president and general manager of the Wilmington Northern Railroad Co. 1879-1899; retired from active business and engaged in agricultural pursuits; elected on June 13, 1906, as a Republican to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy in the term beginning March 4, 1905, caused by the failure of the legislature to elect; reelected in 1911 and served from June 13, 1906, until March 3, 1917; unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1916; chairman, Committee on Expenditures in the War Department (Sixty-first and Sixty-fourth Congresses), Committee on Military Affairs (Sixty-second Congress), Committee on Transportation and Sale of Meat Products (Sixty-third Congress); retired from public life and engaged in literary pursuits; died at Winterthur, near Wilmington, Del., December 31, 1926; interment in the du Pont Cemetery, Christiana Hundred, New Castle County, Del.
Bibliography
American National Biography
; Dictionary of American Biography
; Johnson, William G. “The Senatorial Career of Henry Algernon du Pont.” Delaware History
13 (April 1969): 234-51.
Ambrose, Stephen E., ed. “West Point in the Fifties: The Letters of Henry A. du Pont.” Civil War History
10 (September 1964): 291-308.
du Pont, Henry Algernon. The Campaign of 1864 in the Valley of Virginia and the Expedition to Lynchburg
. New York: National Americana Society, 1925.
___. The Early Generations of the du Pont and Allied Families
. 2 vols. New York: National Americana Society, 1923.
___. Rear-Admiral Samuel Francis du Pont, United States Navy: A Biography
. New York: National Americana Society, 1926.
___. The Story of the Huguenots, as Contained in Two Addresses Made Before the Huguenot Societies of South Carolina and Pennsylvania
. Cambridge: Riverside Press, 1920.
Johnson, William G. “The Senatorial Career of Henry Algernon du Pont.” Delaware History
13 (April 1969): 234-51.
Lake, Virginia T., ed. “A Crisis of Conscience: West Point Letters of Henry A. du Pont, October 1860-June 1861.” Civil War History
25 (March 1979): 55-65.
Mosley, Leonard. Blood Relations: The Rise Fall of the du Ponts of Delaware
. New York: Atheneum, 1980.
Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present
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