Samuel Mayes Arnell

Samuel Mayes Arnell (May 3, 1833 – July 20, 1903) was an American politician who represented the 6th congressional district of Tennessee in the United States House of Representatives.

He was born on May 3, 1833 at Zion Settlement, near Columbia, Tennessee in Maury County. He attended Amherst College in Amherst, Massachusetts, studied law, was admitted to the bar, and commenced practice in Columbia. He started a leather manufacturing business in 1859.During the Civil War, he supported the Union actively, suffering injury and property damage from Confederate forces.

He was a member of the Tennessee state constitutional convention in 1865. He served in the Tennessee House of Representatives in 1865 and 1866.

Upon the readmission of Tennessee to representation, he was elected as an Unconditional Unionist to the Thirty-ninth Congress. He was re-elected as a Republican to the Fortieth and Forty-first Congresses. He served from July 24, 1866 to March 3, 1871, but he was not a candidate for renomination in 1870. During the Forty-first Congress, he was the chairman of the Committee on Expenditures in the Department of State. He was chairman of the United States House Committee on Education and Labor during the Forty-first Congress.He also was a delegate to the Republican National Convention from Tennessee in 1868.

He resumed the practice of law in Washington, D.C., then later returned to Columbia, Tennessee. He was the postmaster of Columbia from 1879 to 1885. He was the superintendent of public schools from 1885 to 1888.He died on July 20, 1903 in Johnson City, Tennessee in Washington County. He was interred in Monte Visa Cemetery.