sentences:  He graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1850; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1853 and commenced practice in Pittsboro.Manning was a delegate to the state convention in 1861 which seceded from the union, and then served in the North Carolina Volunteers throughout the American Civil War.He was elected over Joseph W. Holden on November 26, 1870 as a Democrat (then called "Conservative" in North Carolina) to the Forty-first Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of John T. Deweese.