Robert Eden Scott

Robert Eden Scott (April 23, 1808 – May 3, 1862) was a prominent Virginia planter, lawyer and politician who served many terms in the Virginia General Assembly. He also represented Fauquier County at the Virginia Secession Convention of 1861 and the surrounding district in the Provisional Confederate Congress, until his death at the hands of Union Army deserters while defending his farm.

Robert Eden Scott
Member of the Virginia House of Delegates from the Fauquier County, Virginia district
In office December 2, 1839 – December 4, 1842 Serving with James K. Marshall James W. Foster
Preceded by	Elias Edmunds
Succeeded by	William R. Smith
Member of the Virginia House of Delegates from the Fauquier County, Virginia district
In office December 1, 1845 – December 3, 1849 Serving with Thomas Hall William R. Smith Alfred Rector
Preceded by	Elias Edmunds
Succeeded by	William M. Hume
Member of the Virginia House of Delegates from the Fauquier County, Virginia district
In office January 12, 1850 – June 7, 1852 Serving with William M. Hume Silas B. Hunton
Preceded by	Samuel J. Tabbs
Succeeded by	Wellington Gordon
Personal details
Born	April 23, 1808 Warrenton, Fauquier County, Virginia
Died	May 3, 1862 (aged 54) Warrenton, Virginia
Political party	Whig
Children	R. Taylor Scott
Profession	Lawyer, politician
Military service
Allegiance	Confederate States

Early and family life

Born in Fauquier County, Virginia in 1808 to "Judge" John Scott and his wife Elizabeth Pickett, Robert Eden Scott was the grandson of Episcopal priest Rev. John Scott, who supported independence in the American Revolutionary War. Robert E. Scott survived three wives. On March 10, 1831, he married Elizabeth Taylor, daughter of Alexandria lawyer Robert L. Taylor.[1] Their son R. Taylor Scott like his father would become a Virginia lawyer and served in the Virginia House of Delegates.

Career

Scott, a prominent Whig[2] served many times as one of two delegates representing Fauquier County (part-time) in the Virginia House of Delegates, winning election and re-election from 1835–1842 and again from 1845–1852.[3] He was also a delegate to the state constitutional convention of 1850–1851 and the Virginia Secession Convention of 1861, changing his vote between April 4 and 17th to support secession.[4] By 1860, Scott owned 34 slaves, about half children under 15 years of age.[5] Scott also represented the state in the Provisional Confederate Congress from 1861 to 1862.

The autobiography of noted abolitionist Moncure D. Conway (1904) mentions the prominent planter. Conway recalls Scott's pre-Civil War political orientation, "The Hon. Robert E. Scott charmed me by his fine personality and manners, but he was the leading Whig." Conway admired Scott for opposing the "fire eaters" as well as for publicly predicting that secession would end in ruin.[6]

Despite not personally fighting for the Confederacy, Scott was killed by Union deserters when he confronted them for abusing his land.[6][7]

His son R. Taylor Scott, likewise became a Virginia lawyer, serving in the Confederate army during the Civil War and later as Attorney General of Virginia.

References

1. Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography, 1915, available online
2. Eppa Hunton Autobiography p. 14, available at https://archive.org/stream/autobiographyofe00hunt/autobiographyofe00hunt_djvu.txt
3. Cynthia Miller Leonard, Virginia General Assembly 1619-1978 (Richmond: Virginia State Library 1978) pp. 392, 396, 400, 416, 421, 425, 431, 441, 443, 449, 475
4. "How Virginia Convention delegates voted on secession, April 4 and April 17…" (PDF). Union or Secession. Library of Virginia. Retrieved 15 December 2016.
5. slave schedule in 1860 U.S. Federal Census for Southwest Revenue District, Fauquier County Virginia
6. Conway, Moncure Daniel. Autobiography: Memories and Experiences of Moncure Daniel Conway; Volume 1. Cambridge University Press. pp. 66–67. ISBN 978-1-108-05060-9.
7. "Political Graveyard: Scott, O to R". PoliticalGraveyard.com. Lawrence Kestenbaum. Retrieved 7 April 2015.