Biography
Whaley was born in Utica, New York on May 6, 1821. He worked in Point Pleasant, Virginia (now West Virginia) in the lumber business until the Civil War when he became a recruiter for the Union Army and was major of the 9th West Virginia Volunteer Infantry Regiment. He was captured by Confederate forces on November 10, 1861 when the town of Guyandotte, West Virginia was overrun by Confederate troops, but he escaped from his captors.
Whaley served on the Congressional committee that accompanied the body of President Abraham Lincoln on the funeral train as it was returned from Washington to Springfield.
Whaley was elected an Unconditional Unionist to the United States House of Representatives in 1860, representing a Virginia district, serving one term from 1861 to 1863. He lost his seat due to Virginia's secession from the Union, but was elected back as one of the first three representatives from West Virginia, serving again from 1863 to 1867, not being candidate for reelection in 1866.
He was chairman of the Committee on Invalid Pensions from 1863 to 1865 and of the Committee on Revolutionary Claims from 1865 to 1867. Whaley was a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1864 and served as collector of customs at Brazos de Santiago, Texas in 1868. He died in Point Pleasant, West Virginia on May 20, 1876 and was interred in Lone Oak Cemetery in Point Pleasant.
Read more about this topic: Kellian Whaley
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