Powers, Ridgley Ceylon, 1836-1912

Ridgley C. Powers served as governor of Mississippi from 1871 to 1874. Born in Mecca, Ohio, on December 24, 1836, Powers was raised and educated in the north. In 1862, after receiving a degree from the University of Michigan, and conducting graduate work at Union College in New York, Powers enlisted in the Union Army for service during the Civil War. He was promoted to second lieutenant and then captain in the 125th Ohio Infantry Regiment and saw action in Tennessee and Georgia. By the time the Civil War ended in 1865, Powers had achieved the rank of colonel.

Upon separating from the military, Powers settled in Mississippi. He purchased land and began a cotton plantation. He soon became a public figure, serving as sheriff in Noxubee County. By 1868, Powers had gained status in Mississippi’s Republican Party, and was elected lieutenant governor in 1869. Although he was a “carpet bagger” (northerner who settled in the south during Reconstruction), Powers was generally respected by white Mississippians. This was in contrast to Governor James Alcorn, a northern by birth, but who was considered a “scalawag” since he had lived in Mississippi since the 1840s and had served in the Confederacy before joining the Republican Party. When Alcorn resigned the governor’s office in 1871 to take a seat in the U.S. Senate, Powers assumed the state’s executive office. He became active in promoting Mississippi’s economic development and independence, advocating crop variety and lesser dependence upon imported goods. Despite his efforts to maintain a stable political and economic environment in Mississippi, a rift grew among Republicans that led to competing party nominations for governor in 1873. Alcorn was nominated by the more conservative wing of Republicans against Adelbert Ames, former Union general and military governor, who was backed by the radicals. Ames won the election and took the governor’s seat in 1874.

In 1875, shortly after leaving office, Powers married Louisa Born. The couple had one child who died in infancy. They moved to Arizona, but Louisa suffered from a mysterious medical condition and began traveling across the United States and Europe for treatment. She passed away in New York in 1882 after undergoing surgery. Powers later remarried (to Mary Wilson) and moved to California. He spent the rest of his life as a rancher and businessman at Los Angeles. He died on November 11, 1912, and is buried in Angelus Rosedale Cemetery in Los Angeles, California. (Wikipedia; Mississippi Encyclopedia; FindaGrave)