Granville Henderson Oury

Granville Henderson Oury (March 12, 1825 – January 11, 1891) was a nineteenth-century American politician, lawyer, judge, soldier, and miner. A member of the Democratic Party, he became a prominent public figure in the Arizona Territory, serving in both Confederate and United States legislative bodies and holding a series of important territorial legal and political offices. Over the course of his career he contributed to the legislative process during two terms in the United States Congress, representing Arizona during a significant period in American history and advocating for the interests of his constituents.

Oury was born on March 12, 1825, in Abingdon, Washington County, Virginia. He received a basic education in Virginia before moving west as a young man, part of the broader mid-nineteenth-century migration into the frontier regions of the United States. He studied law, was admitted to the bar, and began practicing as an attorney. Drawn by opportunities in the Southwest, he eventually settled in the New Mexico and Arizona frontier, where he combined legal work with mining and other pursuits typical of the developing territories.

By the 1850s and early 1860s, Oury had established himself as a lawyer and public figure in what would become the Arizona Territory. At the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861, he was elected to the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States representing the Arizona Territory, reflecting the Confederate sympathies of many settlers in the region at that time. During this period, he also took part in local defense efforts. When hostile Apaches attacked the town of Tubac, south of Tucson, besieging the old presidio over several days, Oury led a small band of Confederate militia from Tucson to relieve the settlement. Although Tubac was ultimately destroyed and abandoned, the settlers were rescued due to the intervention of Oury and his men.

Oury resigned his seat in the Confederate Congress to enter active military service. He became a captain in Herbert’s Battalion of Arizona cavalry in the Confederate States Army and later served as a colonel on the staff of General Henry Hopkins Sibley in Texas and Louisiana from 1862 to 1864. His service placed him in the western theater of the war, where Confederate forces attempted to extend influence into the Southwest. Following the collapse of the Confederacy, Oury returned to Arizona and formally reconciled with the United States, taking the oath of allegiance at Fort Mason in Arizona on October 8, 1865.

After the Civil War, Oury resumed his law practice in Tucson and quickly reentered territorial politics. He was elected to the 3rd Arizona Territorial Legislature in 1866 and served as Speaker of the House that year, demonstrating his growing influence in territorial governance. In 1869 he was appointed Attorney General of the Arizona Territory, a position that placed him at the center of the territory’s legal affairs during a formative period. Seeking new opportunities as settlement expanded, he moved to Phoenix in 1871 and was appointed district attorney for Maricopa County, serving from 1871 to 1873. In 1873, his family came into public notice when his brother, William S. Oury, was involved in the Camp Grant Massacre, in which over 140 Apache men, women, and children were killed, an event that underscored the violent conflicts between settlers and Native peoples in the region.

Oury continued to play a leading role in territorial politics during the 1870s. He was elected to the 7th and 8th Arizona Territorial Legislature in 1873 and 1875, serving again as Speaker during the 1873 session. His legislative work during these years coincided with efforts to organize civil institutions, promote settlement, and address ongoing security concerns in the territory. In 1878 he ran unsuccessfully as a Democrat for the United States House of Representatives, seeking the position of territorial delegate. Despite this setback, he remained an influential Democratic leader and was appointed district attorney for Pinal County in 1879, further extending his legal and political reach across the territory.

In 1880 Oury was elected as a Democrat to the United States House of Representatives as the territorial delegate from Arizona, and he was reelected in 1882, serving two terms from 1881 to 1885. As a member of the Democratic Party representing Arizona, he contributed to the legislative process during these two terms in office, participating in debates over western development, infrastructure, Indian affairs, and territorial administration. His service in Congress occurred during a significant period in American history, as the nation continued to integrate its western territories and address the legacies of the Civil War and Reconstruction. Oury did not run for reelection in 1884, instead choosing to return to his legal practice and territorial affairs.

After leaving Congress, Oury served as a delegate to the 1884 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, reflecting his continued prominence within the party. He returned to Adamsville, Arizona, in 1885 and resumed the practice of law, remaining active in public life. He once again served as district attorney for Pinal County in 1889 and 1890, continuing his long-standing involvement in territorial legal administration. Oury died of throat cancer in Tucson, Arizona, on January 11, 1891. He was interred in the Adamsville Cemetery at Adamsville, Arizona, leaving a legacy as one of the notable legal and political figures of the Arizona Territory in the nineteenth century.