Page News & Courier

Heritage and Heraldry

Former Page Confederate Veteran served as U.S. Speaker of the House

Article of September 16, 1999

While the surname of Crisp defiantly isn’t among the long scroll of names from Page County, one family of Crisp did play a part in the county’s early history. Just prior to the secession of Virginia, the family of William H. Crisp moved to take up residence in Luray. Crisp, a native of Sheffield, England, had emigrated to the United States in 1845 and originally settled in Ellaville, Georgia. William and his wife were most noted for their roles as Shakespearean actors who started several theaters and toured throughout the South.

As the war opened, the father, and two sons; Harry and Charles, enlisted. Two of the three joined units organized in Page County. William served with the Dixie Artillery and was appointed 1st lieutenant. Harry joined with Company F (Muhlenburg Rifles of Shenandoah County), 10th Virginia Infantry, and deserted in the summer of 1862. He later died in Chicago, Illinois sometime after the war.

Perhaps the most famous of all three was Charles Frederick Crisp. Born January 29, 1845 in Sheffield, England, he enlisted in Company K (Page Volunteers), 10th Virginia Infantry as 4th corporal. Reduced to the rank of private at the company’s reorganization in April 1862, he also went absent without leave for over a month during that same summer. However, his reasons for the absence were apparently justified as he was elected as 3rd lieutenant on June 9, 1863. Eventually captured at the battle of the Wilderness, Charles became one of the “Immortal Six Hundred” Confederate officers who were incarcerated in the stockade on Morris Island, South Carolina, under fire from their own guns (unknowingly to the Confederates that fired on the stockade) that shelled the island. Released June 16, 1865 after taking an oath of allegiance, Crisp returned to Page County only briefly before setting out on a larger political venture.

Using the post-war to prepare for a career in law, Crisp was admitted to the Georgia bar in 1866 and beginning in 1872 served as that states solicitor general and then as a superior court judge. In 1882, he resigned from the bench to run as a Democrat for the U.S. House of Representatives, easily winning election to the 48th Congress. While in this capacity, Crisp participated in the most significant legislative battles at the time. According to one source, “his knowledge of parliamentary rules, his skill in disputation, and his commanding physical presence marked him as a leading Democrat. Playing a major role in the passage of the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887 and a strong supporter of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890, Crisp was remembered also for using his powers by bringing the Committee on Rules into the Speaker’s domain. This committee was especially important as it, being under Democratic direction, virtually dictated the legislative business of the House.

In 1896 Crisp announced his candidacy for the senate seat of the retiring John Brown Gordon (former famous Confederate General) the same seat which had been formerly held by Alexander Hamilton Stephens - more popularly remembered as the Vice President of the Confederate States. Crisp easily won the primaries during that fall because of the free-silver inflationists domination in Georgia. However, Crisp’s health soon failed and on October 23, 1896, one week before his confirmation to the post and the general assembly convened, he died in Atlanta, Georgia.

While much of the same information regarding Crisp’s political life is conveyed in The Encyclopedia of the united States Congress (1995), more information can be found on Crisp in Reminiscences of Famous Georgians (1908) and the 1954 Georgia Review article “Charles F. Crisp: Speaker of the House.

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