Civil War Union Brevet Brigadier General, US Congressman. He left his law practice in Iowa at the outbreak of the Civil War, entered the Union Army and was commissioned Major of the 2nd Iowa Volunteer Infantry on September 23, 1861. Promoted Colonel on April 17, 1862, he was seriously injured and reported as dead at Fort Donelson later that year. After he recuperated, he was assigned to special duty in Washington DC, and was on President Abraham Lincoln's staff at Gettysburg, as judge advocate. For his service and merit he was brevetted Brigadier General of Volunteers on March 13, 1865. He settled in Washington, D.C. after the war, upon the establishment of a Territorial form of government was appointed Secretary of the District of Columbia. He was subsequently elected as a Republican Delegate to the Forty-second and Forty-third Congresses serving from April 21, 1871 to March 3, 1875. He was one of the founders of the Grand Army of the Republic and authored the order creating Memorial Day. In 1876, he moved to California, engaged in the lumber business, became a member of the California State Board of Trade and its president 1895 to 1906. He was appointed a commissioner of the supreme court of California in April 1897, appointed presiding justice of the district court of appeals for the third district in 1905, re-elected in November 1906 and served until his resignation on December 18, 1922.
Civil War Union Brevet Brigadier General, US Congressman. He left his law practice in Iowa at the outbreak of the Civil War, entered the Union Army and was commissioned Major of the 2nd Iowa Volunteer Infantry on September 23, 1861. Promoted Colonel on April 17, 1862, he was seriously injured and reported as dead at Fort Donelson later that year. After he recuperated, he was assigned to special duty in Washington DC, and was on President Abraham Lincoln's staff at Gettysburg, as judge advocate. For his service and merit he was brevetted Brigadier General of Volunteers on March 13, 1865. He settled in Washington, D.C. after the war, upon the establishment of a Territorial form of government was appointed Secretary of the District of Columbia. He was subsequently elected as a Republican Delegate to the Forty-second and Forty-third Congresses serving from April 21, 1871 to March 3, 1875. He was one of the founders of the Grand Army of the Republic and authored the order creating Memorial Day. In 1876, he moved to California, engaged in the lumber business, became a member of the California State Board of Trade and its president 1895 to 1906. He was appointed a commissioner of the supreme court of California in April 1897, appointed presiding justice of the district court of appeals for the third district in 1905, re-elected in November 1906 and served until his resignation on December 18, 1922.
Bio by: John "J-Cat" Griffith
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