Born on August 12, 1802 in
Harrisonburg, Virginia, Cravens studied law. He was
admitted to the bar in 1823 and commenced practice in Harrisonburg. He moved to
Franklin, Pennsylvania, in 1823 and resumed the practice of law. Later, he moved to
Madison, Indiana, in 1829 and engaged in agricultural pursuits. He served as a member of the State House of Representatives in 1831 and 1832. He moved to
Ripley County, Indiana, in 1833, where he practiced law and managed a farm. He served as a member of the State Senate in 1839. Cravens was elected as a
Whig to the
Twenty-seventh Congress (March 4, 1841 – March 4, 1843). He was an unsuccessful candidate of the
Free-Soil Party for Governor of Indiana in 1849, and a member of the State House of Representatives in 1856. He was an unsuccessful candidate for election to the attorney generalship of the State in 1856. He served as
lieutenant colonel of the Eighty-third Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry, in the
Civil War. During Morgan's raid in Indiana, he and his soldiers were taken captive. He died in
Osgood, Indiana, December 4, 1876, and was interred in Versailles Cemetery,
Versailles, Indiana. ==References==