John W. Daniel

John Warwick Daniel (September 5, 1842 – June 29, 1910) was an American lawyer, author, and Democratic politician from Lynchburg, Virginia. Daniel served in both houses of the Virginia General Assembly and both houses of the United States Congress. He represented Virginia the U.S. House from 1885 to 1887, and in the U.S. Senate from 1887 until his death in 1910.

Daniel was sometimes referred to as the "Lame Lion of Lynchburg", alluding to his permanent disability incurred during the Battle of the Wilderness, while serving as a major in the Confederate Army.

John W. Daniel was born in Lynchburg, Virginia, the son of Judge William Daniel (who served on what later would be called the Virginia Supreme Court) and his wife Sarah Ann Warwick Daniel, the daughter of a wealthy Lynchburg tobacco merchant. His mother died after the birth of his sister Sarah (1845-1918), when John was three years old. Judge Daniel soon announced the sale of all or part of the former estate, which is now the Daniel's Hill Historic District. Young John was raised by his maternal grandparents and attended private schools, including Dr. Gessner Harrison's University School. Judge Daniel remarried well (to Elizabeth Cabell) and built another mansion nearby, Rivermont, which is now the name of a city park, although much of that estate was subdivided after the legislature allowed the city to expand in 1870 and the Panic of 1873 affected.

In 1869, John W. Daniel married Julia Elizabeth Murrell, and they had two daughters and three sons.

After Virginia seceded from the Union during the American Civil War, Daniel enlisted in a Lynchburg cavalry troop, but by early May secured a commission as a second lieutenant in the 27th Virginia Infantry. He was wounded during the First Battle of Bull Run. While convalescing, Daniel was transferred to the 11th Virginia Infantry, and earned promotions to first lieutenant and later adjutant. Daniel served in the Confederate Army until 1864, eventually attaining the rank of major. On March 24, 1863, he became a staff officer for fellow Lynchburger and Major General Jubal A. Early, under whom he served in the Gettysburg campaign, among others. In May 1864, during the Battle of the Wilderness, a minie ball shattered Daniel's femur. He thereafter had to use a crutch to walk, and he resigned his commission.

Daniel studied law at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, and he was admitted to the bar in 1866. He joined his father's practice at Lynchburg.

Despite being crippled from his war injury, he enjoyed oratory, particularly memorializing the Confederate war effort and excoriating Congressional Reconstruction and Republicans. He entered politics and Campbell County voters elected him as a member of the Conservative Party to represent (part-time) them alongside Rufus Murrell and Robert C. Burkholder in the House of Delegates from 1869–72. He did not seek re-election.

Daniel unsuccessfully sought nomination to the U.S. House of Representatives for Virginia's 6th congressional district in 1872 and 1874, between which elections he canvassed for Conservative Party candidates in the state elections in 1873. The Funding Act which the legislature had passed in 1871 (although Daniel did not vote for it at the time) proved a major campaign issue in Virginia for the next decade. Daniel became one of its main supporters (known as "Funders"). Others, known as Readjusters advocated reducing payments on the bonds issued in 1871 which reaffirmed the debts Virginia had acquired before the Civil War to construct railroads, bridges, etc. Although the bonds traded at far below face value, they could be used at face value to pay state taxes, so they significantly cut state tax revenues. Also, the interest rate was kept at the prewar level, which was much higher than postwar interest rates.