 From 1911 to 1918, he was Mayor of Blackstone, resigning in 1918 to enter the United States Army, from which he was honorably discharged on December 5, 1918.In 1919, he was elected to the Virginia State Senate from Nottoway, Lunenburg, Prince Edward, Cumberland and Amelia Counties and served two terms.Epes served on the State Corporation Commission from November 1925 to November 1929, when the governor appointed him to the Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia.