West obtained Federal land grants in
Mississippi and moved to
Holmes County, Mississippi, in 1837, where he became a
planter. He won election to the
Mississippi State Senate as a
Whig in 1847. In 1853, he became an officer of the newly formed
Mississippi Central Railroad. Although initially an opponent of
secession, when the
American Civil War broke out, West became a
brigadier general in the
Mississippi Militia. He raised a
regiment, and later assumed various administrative offices for the state. Sometimes simultaneously, he served as quartermaster-general, paymaster-general, and commissary-general of the Mississippi State Troops. At the end of the war, West was the only officer of the state to make a final accounting. In 1864, West became president of the Mississippi Central Railroad. The railroad was sold to the
Illinois Central in 1875. In the years that followed, West established a branch of the
National Labor Union, and served as a
Democratic elector for president in the
election of 1876. Re-elected to the State Senate, West soon became disenchanted with the Democrats, and joined the
Greenback Party. For that party and for the
Anti-Monopoly Party, West was a candidate for vice president on the ticket of
Benjamin Butler in
1884. He initially declined his candidacy due to the Southern prejudice against Butler and fearing it would split the Democratic vote in Mississippi. He agreed to remain on the ticket if no Greenback electors were put out in Mississippi. ==Personal life and death==