Absolom M. West
| Absolom Madden West | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1818 Alabama |
| Died | September 30, 1894 (aged 75–76) Holly Springs, Mississippi |
| Place of burial | Hillcrest Cemetery |
| Allegiance |
 United States of America Confederate States of America
|
| Service/branch |
 Mississippi State Militia
|
| Rank |
 Brigadier General
|
| Battles/wars | American Civil War |
Absolom Madden West (1818 – September 30, 1894) was an American planter, Confederate militia general, state politician, railroad president and labor organizer. Born in Alabama, he became a plantation owner in Holmes County, Mississippi and President of the Mississippi Central Railroad. He served in the American Civil War. After the war, he served in the Mississippi State Senate and ran for Vice President of the United States, unsuccessfully.
Absolom Madden West was born in 1818 in Alabama. His father, Anderson West, was a county sheriff.
West obtained Federal land grants in Mississippi and moved to Holmes County, Mississippi in 1837, where he became a planter. He won election to the State Senate of that state as a Whig in 1847. In 1853, he became an officer of the newly formed Mississippi Central Railroad.
Although initially an opponent of secession, when the American Civil War broke out, West became a brigadier general in the Mississippi State Militia. He raised a regiment, and later assumed various administrative offices for the state. Sometimes simultaneously, he served as quartermaster-general, paymaster-general, and commissary-general of the Mississippi militia. At his direction, the legislature established a commission consisting of one lawyer and two businessmen to examine and audit the books and papers of his several offices. At the end of the war, West was the only officer of the state to make a final accounting. After 1864, West also served as president of the Mississippi Central Railroad. After the war, the railroad was sold to the Illinois Central, and West was returned to the State Senate.
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