Charles Frederick Crisp (January 29, 1845 – October 23, 1896) was a United States political figure. A Democrat, he was elected as a congressman from Georgia in 1882, and served until his death in 1896. From 1890 until his death, he led the Democratic Party in the House, as either the speaker of the House or House minority leader. He was the father of Charles R. Crisp who also served in Congress. Biography Crisp was born in Sheffield, England on January 29, 1845. Later that year, his parents immigrated to the United States and settled in Georgia where he attended the common schools of Savannah and Macon, Georgia. At the outbreak of the American Civil War, he was temporarily residing in Luray, Virginia, with his parents, who were in the middle of a Shakespearean play tour. He enlisted in a local unit, the "Page Volunteers" of Company K, 10th Virginia Infantry, and was commissioned lieutenant. He served with that regiment until May 12, 1864, when he became a prisoner of war at the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House. He was held as one of the Immortal Six Hundred at Fort Pulaski, Georgia, and later transferred to Fort Delaware. After his release in June 1865, he joined his parents at Ellaville, Georgia. Crisp studied law at Americus, Georgia. He was admitted to the bar in 1866 and commenced practice in Ellaville. He was appointed solicitor general of the southwestern judicial circuit in 1872 and reappointed in 1873 for a term of four years. In June 1877, he was appointed judge of the superior court of the same circuit. Crisp was elected by the general assembly to the same office in 1878 and reelected judge for a term of four years in 1880 when he resigned that office in September 1882 to accept the Democratic nomination for the United States Congress. Crisp courted Clara Bell Burton, born in Ellaville, a small town in southwest Georgia, of wealthy and religious parentage. Her father, Robert Burton, was a slave-owning cotton planter before the war. Both he and her mother held high ambitions for their two daughters' future, and they were chagrined when Crisp, then a poor lawyer from a theatrical family, desired to marry their youngest daughter, Clara Bell. They were greatly disappointed when they discovered that her affections had been won. Mrs. Burton, especially, felt that her beautiful daughter ought to be more