Constantine B. Kilgore

Constantine Buckley Kilgore (February 20, 1835 – September 23, 1897) was a U.S. Representative from Texas.

Kilgore, depicted in 1896

Born in Newnan, Georgia, Kilgore moved with his parents to Rusk County, Texas, in 1846. He received a common-school and academic training. He studied law. During the Civil War Kilgore entered the Confederate States Army as a private and by 1862 had attained the rank of adjutant general of Ector's brigade, Army of the Tennessee. He was admitted to the bar and practiced in Rusk County, Texas.

Kilgore was elected Justice of the Peace in 1869. He served as a member of the State constitutional convention in 1875.

Kilgore was elected to the State senate in 1884 for a term of four years. He was chosen president of that body in 1885 for two years. He resigned from the State senate in 1886, having been elected to Congress.

Kilgore was elected as a Democrat to the Fiftieth and to the three succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1887 – March 3, 1895). At one point he kicked his way through a locked door of the House of Representatives in order to escape a quorum call[1] (see Thomas Brackett Reed#Rules for context). He was appointed by President Cleveland United States judge for the southern district of Indian Territory March 20, 1895, and served until his death in Ardmore, Indian Territory (now Oklahoma), September 23, 1897. He was interred in White Rose Cemetery, Wills Point, Texas.