Member of Tennessee House, 28th General Assembly, 1849-51; representing Hawkins County; Democrat. Born in Hawkins County on September 27, 1821; son of Judge Samuel and Mary Caidwell (Rutledge) Powel. Educated for the law; practiced at Rogereville, Hawkins County. Attorney-general, 1854-60; Presidential elector, 1856. In Civil War: enlisted as captain of 29th Regiment, C.S.A.; elected colonel on September 31,1861; severely wounded and forced to resign, November 5, 1962. Married to Mary Elizabeth Armstrong; children–Robert Rathbone, Margaret Virginia, Sarah Armstrong, Samuel Franklin, Bessie, and Annie Powel. Later removed to Hernando, Mississippi. Member Presbyterian Church. Died on July 10, 1902, place not stated; buried in Old Presbyterian Cemetery, Rogersville. Son of Samuel Powel, Supreme Court judge and member of Congress; grandson of General George Rutledge, member of Constitutional Convention of 1796 and member Tennessee General Assembly; brother of George Rutledge Powel, sometime members Tennessee General Assembly.

Sources: East Tennessee Historical Society’s Publications, No. 24, p. 103; Tennessee Confederate Records, Reel #240; Miller’s Manual, 192; Ray, Tennessee Cousins, 91; Tennessee Reports of Cases in the Supreme Court of Tennessee; Vol. 176, p. 869; Green, Bench and Bar, 54; Rogersville Review, January 5,1950; May 27, 1943; U.S. Census, 1860, Hawkins County.

From Biographical Directory: Tennessee General Assembly, 1796-1967, Issue 3