in Scottsville (once the Albemarle County seat) and surrounding counties. He became known for his expertise with land records, as well as ability to settle problems out of court. In the early 1880s, he became the district counsel for the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, which had bought several of the railroads destroyed in the Civil War, and which were being rebuilt. Martin became a protege of John S. Barbour Jr., a veteran lawyer who had been president of the Orange and Alexandria Railroad before the war and a politician and U.S. Congressman like his father (John S. Barbour). Barbour had become affiliated with the C&O Railroad after it bought the Orange and Alexandria after the war. As well as expanding the C&O, he (with Martin's behind the scenes help) also orchestrated the rise of the state's Democratic Party at the expense of the Readjuster Party, a coalition of Republicans and African Americans. In 1885, Martin secured a spot on the state Democratic state central committee, the year that the Democrats secured election of former Confederate general Fitzhugh Lee as governor. Two years later, Martin successfully promoted the Senate candidacy of John W. Daniel of Lynchburg, to replace Readjuster William Mahone (another former Confederate general), although Barbour wanted the seat. In 1889, when the Readjuster Party's other leader, Senator Harrison H. Riddleberger chose not to run for re-election (he would die the following year), Barbour won the seat and became a U.S. Senator. Democrats again controlled both Virginia Senate seats, as well as the governorship, as they had before the war. When Barbour died in office in 1892, after just 3 years as a U.S. Senator, the organization that he and Martin had nurtured initially allowed former CSA General (and Virginia lawyer and Congressman) Eppa Hunton to succeed him. However, Hunton became embroiled in scandal, and the Panic of 1893 led to a recession. Assisted by campaign contributions from the C&O and other railroads (made more important because of the economic recession, as would be revealed during the 1911 campaign), and with the assistance of Congressmen Henry D. Flood and Claude Swanson (who later became Governor) as well as elected officials in many of Virginia's counties, Martin secured 66 votes in the Democratic legislative caucus (compared to 55 votes for Fitzhugh Lee, who gave speeches throughout the Commonwealth but proved lethargic in securing legislative support). Thus, despite relatively poor oratorical skills,