Mitchel was born on September 19, 1815, in
Gallatin, Tennessee. He graduated from the
University of Nashville in 1833, and from the
Jefferson Medical College in 1836. He then moved to
Washington, Arkansas, and practiced medicine for 25 years. He owned slaves. He was a member of the
Arkansas House of Representatives in 1848; receiver of public monies from 1853 to 1856; unsuccessful candidate for election in 1860 to the
37th United States Congress. Mitchel was elected as a
Democrat to the United States Senate, and served from March 4, 1861, until July 11, 1861, when he was expelled for support of the Confederacy. He was then elected to the Confederate States Senate at the first session of the
Arkansas General Assembly and served until September 20, 1864, when he died the day after his forty-ninth birthday. He was interred in the Presbyterian Cemetery, Washington, Arkansas. ==See also==