Campbell Slemp (December 2, 1839 – October 13, 1907) was a farmer and Confederate officer in southwest Virginia who became a Readjuster Democrat after Congressional Reconstruction and served in the Virginia House of Delegates. He eventually joined the Republican Party and won election to the United States House of Representatives from Virginia's 9th congressional district and controlled federal patronage in the Commonwealth from 1903 to 1907. Slemp died unexpectedly at home while in office, after which his son C. Bascom Slemp succeeded to the seat for more than a decade, until being ousted by the rising Byrd Organization. Early and family life Born near Turkey Cove in Lee County, Virginia, to Sebastian Smyth Slemp (1810–1859; whose grandfather had emigrated from Germany) and his wife, the former Margaret Reasor (1811–1871), both of families long prominent in the region, Campbell Slemp had an older brother, Henderson Clinton Slemp (1831–1901), and two elder sisters, Nervesta Overton Slemp Flanary (1834–1914) and Alpha Slemp Habern (1836-1893). He attended Emory and Henry College in Emory, Washington County, Virginia. He left when his father Sebastian Slemp died in 1859. Before the American Civil War, Campbell Slemp farmed and tended to real estate investments. Campbell Slemp married Nancy Brittain Cawood (nicknamed "Namie" 1840–1908) on July 25, 1861. Her ancestors had fought in the American Revolutionary War (Stephen Cawood of Washington County, Virginia was a drummer in Col. Byrd's regiment, and his son Berry Cawood served under George Rogers Clark in the expedition which captured Kaskaskia and Vincennes, and received a land grant because of that service). They had three sons and three daughters: Emma M. Slemp (1865–1889), Henry C.M. Slemp (b./d. 1868), Susan Jane Slemp Newman (1869–1935), C. Bascom Slemp (1870–1943), William Moses Slemp (1873–1912) and Laura Alpha Drucilla Slemp (1877–1900). Military career During the Civil War, Slemp volunteered for the Confederate States Army and joined Company A of the 21st Virginia Infantry Battalion, becoming the laters commanding officer. By November 1862 the unit had been consolidated with another company into the 64th Virginia Mounted Infantry. Slemp rose in rank from captain to lieutenant colonel and finally colonel on December 14, 1862. The unit defended the border between Virginia and both Tennessee and Kentucky, particularly the strategic Cumberland Gap and the strategic resources of lead mines and salt works at Saltville, Virginia. The Cumberland Gap was initially fortified by Confederate General Felix Zollicoffer (a former Tennessee Congressman), and