Augustus Summerfield Merrimon

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Augustus Summerfield Merrimon (15 September 1830 - 14 November 1892) was a Democratic U.S. senator from the state of North Carolina between 1873 and 1879.

An attorney from Buncombe County, North Carolina, Merrimon served in the North Carolina House of Commons from 1860 to 1861. He briefly served in the Confederate Army when the American Civil War broke out, but resigned to become solicitor (prosecutor) for North Carolina's eighth judicial district. After the war, Merrimon served as a state superior court judge, then returned to the practice of law, and was an unsuccessful Democratic (at the time, officially called the Conservative Party) candidate for Governor of North Carolina in 1872. With 49.5 percent of the vote, Merrimon lost an extremely close race to incumbent Tod R. Caldwell. [1]

After serving one term in the U.S. Senate, Merrimon declined to be a candidate for renomination. He served as an Associate Justice (1883-1889) and then Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court (1889 until his death in 1892).