Charles Fenton Collier
Quick Facts
Biography
Charles Fenton Collier (1828 – June 29, 1899) was an American politician. He served in the Confederate States House of Representatives and the Virginia House of Delegates, and as mayor of Petersburg, Virginia.
Biography
Collier was born in Petersburg, and became a lawyer. Before the American Civil War, he was a delegate to five sessions of the House of Delegates, representing Prince George and Surry Counties in 1852 and 1854–1855, and Petersburg in 1860–1861.
He was elected to replace Roger Atkinson Pryor in the First Confederate Congress. He took his seat August 18, 1862 and served until 1864.
After the war, Collier served six terms as mayor of Petersburg, from 1866 to 1868 and 1888 to 1892. In the spring of 1899 he ran for mayor once more, losing by six votes.
Collier committed suicide in the morning of June 28, 1899 by shooting himself in the head. The New York Times reported the cause as "insomnia, melancholia, and nervous prostration." He was buried in Blandford Cemetery, Petersburg.