US Congressman. He was born in Gallatin, Tennessee and became an attorney in Covington in 1830. He later moved to Texas and joined its fight for independence from Mexico, receiving a commission as a First Lieutenant and taking part in the Battle of San Jacinto. When Texas became a republic he established a law practice in Clarksville, and he was Secretary of the Texas Senate until accepting appointment as District Attorney of the first judicial district. In January 1840 he was named Judge of the sixth judicial district, which also made him an Associate Justice of the republic's Supreme Court, posts he held until resigning in 1841 to become District Attorney of the fifth district. He served in the Texas House of Representatives from 1842 to 1844, and was Speaker in his second term. With Texas now part of the United States, in 1851 he was the successful Democratic candidate in the special election for a seat in the US House of Representatives left vacant when David S. Kaufman died. He served the remainder of Kaufman's term, August 1851 to March 1853, and did not run for reelection in 1852, but was a Delegate to that year's Democratic national convention, afterwards practicing law in Hempstead. In 1859 he accidentally shot himself in the leg while hunting. At the start of the Civil War in 1861 he was appointed Adjutant on the staff of General Albert Sidney Johnston. In 1862 he underwent an operation on his wounded leg, which had never healed. Doctors decided to amputate, but Scurry did not regain his health and died at his Hempstead home. His son Thomas Scurry (1859-1911) served as Adjutant General of the Texas National Guard, and Richardson Scurry was the brother of Confederate General William Read Scurry (1821-1864).