Harrison Holt Riddleberger (4 October 1843-24 January 1890) was a Readjuster US Senator from Virginia from 4 March 1883 to 4 March 1889, succeeding John W. Johnston and preceding John S. Barbour, Jr..
Biography[]
Harrison Holt Riddleberger was born in Edinburg, Virginia in 1843, and he served as a Confederate States Army cavalry captain during the American Civil War, serving under Turner Ashby during the 1862 Valley Campaign and later at the Second Battle of Bull Run. After the war, he became a clerk, teacher, and the owner of the Tenth Legion Banner newspaper in Woodstock, and he practiced law in Woodstock while editing the Shenandoah Herald. He served in the House of Delegates from 1871 to 1875 as a member of the Conservative Party of Virginia, in the State Senate from 1879 to 1883, and as a Readjuster US Senator from 1883 to 1889 (as part of a fusion arrangement with the Republican Party). He served as a Readjuster presidential elector in 1880, but he pledged to support the Democratic candidate. As Senator, he supported debt reduction and free education, but he became known as a hard drinker and an eccentric. He returned to the Democratic Party in 1889, and he died a year later.