John Houston Savage as an American politician and a member of the United States House of Representatives for the 4th congressional district of Tennessee. He was born in McMinnville, Tennessee on October 9, 1815. He attended the common schools and served as a private in the Seminole War. He studied law, was admitted to the bar, and commenced practice in Smithville, Tennessee. He served as a colonel of the state militia. From 1841 to 1847, he was the attorney general of the fourth district of Tennessee. He was a major of the Fourteenth United States Infantry during the Mexican War, and he was subsequently promoted to lieutenant colonel. He was elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-first and Thirty-second Congresses, but he declined to be a candidate for re-election. He served from March 4, 1849 to March 3, 1853. He was again elected to the Thirty-fourth and the Thirty-fifth United States Congress, serving from March 4, 1855 to March 3, 1859. He was a colonel of the Sixteenth Regiment Tennessee Infantry in the Confederate Army during the Civil War. He was a member of the Tennessee House of Representatives from 1877 to 1879 and from 1887 to 1891. He served in the Tennessee Senate from 1879 to 1881. He died in McMinnville, Tennessee on April 5, 1904 and was interred in Riverside Cemetery.
This article incorporates facts obtained from the public domain Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
