SAMUEL DOUGLAS McENERY
McENERY, SAMUEL DOUGLAS, United States senator, was born in Monroe, Louisianna, May 28, 1837. His parents were Henry O'Neil and Caroline H. (Douglas) McEnery. His father was a merchant and planter, a man of high character and strong personality, a register of the United States land office.
Until he was fourteen years of age Samuel Douglas McEnery lived in the small town in which he was born. His health was delicate, but he was fond of out-of-door sports—especially of hunting and fishing. He was not obliged to perform tasks requiring manual labor and there were no especial difficulties in the way of his obtaining an education. He attended Spring Hill college, Mobile Alabama; the United States naval academy; and the University of Virginia. He then took a course of study at the law school of Poughkeepsie, New York, from which institution he was graduated in 1858. After completing his law course he lived for a year in Missouri, and then commenced the practice of his profession in Monroe, Louisiana.
At the opening of the Civil war he joined the Confederate army, serving in a volunteer company of which he was chosen lieutenant. In 1862 he was commissioned lieutenant in the regular Confederate army. He served in Virginia under General Magruder, and later was instructor at a military camp in Louisiana. He remained in the army until the close of the war when he resumed the practice of law in which he was remarkably successful.
At various times he declined judicial and political honors, but in 1879 he became a candidate for lieutenant-governor. He was elected; and the governor (Louis A. Wiltz) dying before the term expired, he succeeded to the governorship in October, 1881. At the election, in 1884, he was chosen governor; but he was defeated for the same office four years later. He was promptly appointed by his successful opponent an associate justice of the state supreme court for twelve years. In 1892 he was again defeated for the governorship—the opposition securing the votes of many persons who were opposed to the lottery system then tolerated by the state laws. In
