Nelson Tift of Georgia and the CSS Mississippi-- Part 1

I first came across this man's name when I started writing about the Confederate ironclad under construction at New Orleans when the city fell in April1862 and was destroyed.  Nelson Tift and his brother Asa were in charge of the ship's construction.  I wrote a lot about this ship at the end of last month and earlier this month.

Before that, I had never heard of him, but it turns out he was quite the important man. 

From Find-A-Grave.

NELSON TIFT

BORN: 23 July 1810, Groton, Connecticut

DIED:    21 November 1891 (aged 81), Albany, Georgia

BURIED:  Oakview Cemetery,  Albany, Georgia

U.S. Congressman.  Served in the Confederate Navy during the Civil War.  Elected to represent Georgia's 2nd District in the United States House of Representatives, serving from 1868 to 1869.

Also served as a Georgia state judge in 1840 and a member of the Georgia  House of Representatives in  1841.

And, he did a lot more than that.

--Old B-R'er