Edwards Pierrepont
Encyclopedia
Alternate meaning: Pierpont Edwards
Pierpont Edwards
Pierpont Edwards was a delegate to the American Continental Congress, and later a United States federal judge. He has been described as "a brilliant but erratic member of the Connecticut bar, tolerant in religious matters and bitterly hated by stern Calvinists, a man whose personal morality...


Edwards Pierrepont (March 4, 1817 – March 6, 1892) was an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 statesman, jurist and lawyer.

Biography

Born in North Haven, Connecticut
North Haven, Connecticut
North Haven is a town in New Haven County, Connecticut on the outskirts of New Haven, Connecticut.North Haven is less than ten miles from downtown New Haven and Yale University. It is near Sleeping Giant State Park and home the Quinnipiac University School of Health Sciences, the School of Nursing,...

, he graduated from Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...

 and New Haven Law School, was admitted to the bar in 1840 and practiced law in Columbus, Ohio
Columbus, Ohio
Columbus is the capital of and the largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio. The broader metropolitan area encompasses several counties and is the third largest in Ohio behind those of Cleveland and Cincinnati. Columbus is the third largest city in the American Midwest, and the fifteenth largest city...

, from 1840 to 1845. He moved to New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 and served as judge of the New York Supreme Court
New York Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the State of New York is the trial-level court of general jurisdiction in thestate court system of New York, United States. There is a supreme court in each of New York State's 62 counties, although some smaller counties share judges with neighboring counties...

 from 1857 to 1860.

In 1862, during the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

 Pierrepont was made a member of the military commission for the cases of state prisoners in the custody of the federal military authorities. In 1867 he conducted the case for the government against John H. Surratt
John Surratt
John Harrison Surratt, Jr. was accused of plotting with John Wilkes Booth to kidnap U.S. president Abraham Lincoln and suspected of involvement in the Abraham Lincoln assassination. His mother Mary Surratt was convicted of conspiracy and hanged by the United States Federal Government...

, indicted as an accomplice in the murder of Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...

 and in 1867 became a member of the New York constitutional convention. His estate at Garrison, New York
Garrison, New York
Garrison is a hamlet in Putnam County, New York, United States. It is part of the town of Philipstown and is on the east side of the Hudson River, across from the United States Military Academy at West Point...

 was designed by noted architect Alexander Jackson Davis
Alexander Jackson Davis
Alexander Jackson Davis, or A. J. Davis , was one of the most successful and influential American architects of his generation, in particular his association with the Gothic Revival style....

 in 1867; it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

 in 1982 as the Hurst-Pierrepont Estate
Hurst-Pierrepont Estate
Hurst-Pierrepont Estate is a historic estate located at Garrison in Putnam County, New York. It was designed by noted architect Alexander Jackson Davis for Edwards Pierrepont and built in 1867. It is a two story brick Gothic villa. It features a four story, flat roofed tower...

.

From 1869 to 1870 he served as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York
U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York
The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York is the chief federal law enforcement officer in eight New York counties: New York , Bronx, Westchester, Putnam, Rockland, Orange, Dutchess, and Sullivan. Preet Bharara, who was appointed by Barack Obama in 2009 is the U.S. Attorney for the...

. As U.S. Attorney, he prosecuted Cuban revolutionaries for violation of the Neutrality Act. President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....

 Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant was the 18th President of the United States as well as military commander during the Civil War and post-war Reconstruction periods. Under Grant's command, the Union Army defeated the Confederate military and ended the Confederate States of America...

 appointed Pierrepont Attorney General of the United States on April 26, 1875. He was an active member of the "Committee of Seventy
Committee of Seventy
The Committee of Seventy is a good government group in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, founded in 1904. It is a nonpartisan organization perhaps best known for monitoring elections in the city and its suburbs. Zack Stalberg is President and Chief Executive Officer and Daniel K...

." On May 22, 1876 he became Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States to Britain, serving until December 1, 1877. Pierrepont died in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

two days after his 75th birthday on March 6, 1892, where he had lived after his return from England. He is buried at St. Philip's Cemetery, in Garrison, New York.
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