
Alvin Peterson Hovey (6 September 1821-23 November 1891) was a member of the US House of Representatives (R-IN 1) from 4 March 1887 to 17 January 1889 (succeeding John J. Kleiner and preceding Francis B. Posey) and Governor of Indiana from 14 January 1889 to 23 November 1891 (succeeding Isaac P. Gray and preceding Ira Joy Chase).
Biography[]
Alvin Peterson Hovey was born in Mount Vernon, Indiana in 1821, and he was orphaned at a young age before studying law and moving to New Harmony, Indiana to oversee the estate of the late utopian idealist William Maclure. He served as a Democratic delegate to the state constitutional convention in 1850, and he served on the state supreme court from 1854 to 1855 and as US Attorney for Indiana from 1855 to 1858. He was expelled from the party by Jesse D. Bright for his anti-slavery views and joined the Republican Party, and he commanded the 24th Indiana Infantry Regiment at the Battle of Shiloh, a brigade at the Siege of Corinth, and a division at the Battle of Champion Hill, the Siege of Vicksburg, and the Atlanta campaign of the American Civil War. After the war, he served as Minister to Peru from 1866 to 1870, privately practiced law, served in the US House of Representatives from 1887 to 1889, and served as Governor from 1889 to 1891. He passed voter reform to crack down on voter fraud, while also cracking down on the vigilante Indiana White Caps in the southern part of the state. He died in 1891.