Charles Devens

Charles Devens (* 4. April 1820 in Charlestown , Massachusetts , † 7. January 1891 in Boston , Massachusetts) was an American lawyer , Major General of the Northern states and politicians , of the cabinet of US President Rutherford B. Hayes as justice minister belonged .

Studies and professional career

Devens completed a general education course at Harvard College , which he finished in 1838 with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) . He then studied law at Harvard Law School , where he graduated in 1840 with a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.). After admission to the bar, he served as a lawyer in Franklin County from 1841 to 1849 .

He was appointed US Marshal for Massachusetts by President Zachary Taylor in 1849 and held that office until 1853. During this time in 1851 he had to bring the escaped slave Thomas Sims back to his "owner". This and other cases sparked protests among anti- slavery opponents against the Fugitive Slave Law passed in 1850 .

From 1853 to 1861 he was again a lawyer in Worcester and from 1856 to 1858 as a prosecutor of Worcester. After the end of the Civil War he resumed his practice as a lawyer.

Military career and general in the Civil War

Union soldiers escape through the Potomac during the Balls Bluff battle

After the outbreak of the Civil War on April 12, 1861, he was first major in the 3rd Battalion of the Massachusetts Rifles. Just three months later he became a colonel in the 15th Infantry Regiment of Massachusetts. As such, he was wounded on October 12, 1861 in the battle at Balls Bluff .

In April 1862 he was promoted to brigadier general and commander of the 1st Volunteer Brigade of the IV Corps. In this capacity he was wounded again at the Battle of Seven Pines on May 31, 1862. After the Maryland campaign , his brigade was assigned to the VI. Corps of the Union Army of Major General William Farrar Smith assumed. As the commander of the 2nd Brigade of this corps, he took part in the Battle of Fredericksburg in December . Subsequently, he was given command of a division of the XI. Corps transferred under Major General Oliver Otis Howard . He was wounded again in the Battle of Chancellorsville in May 1863.

Battle of Cold Harbor (painting from 1888)

In the Battle of Cold Harbor in May 1864 , he distinguished himself by his bravery and took as commander of the 3rd Division of the XVIII. Corps under Major General Edward Otho Cresap Ord participated in the overland campaign of Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant . During the siege of Petersburg from June 1864 to 1865 he was in command of the 3rd Division of XXIV Corps.

After the fall of Richmond in April 1865, his troops were the first to capture the city abandoned by General Robert E. Lee's units . After the end of the war, he was awarded the rank of major general. As such, he remained in military service as the commander of the Charleston Military District for one year .

From 1873 to 1875 Devens was fifth in command of the Grand Army of the Republic , a veterans' association of the Northern Army .

Political career and Minister of Justice under President Hayes

Devens began his political career as Whig in 1848, when he was elected a member of the Massachusetts Senate , which he served until 1849. He later joined the Republican Party .

In 1867 he became a judge in the Superior Court of Massachusetts. He was then from 1873 to 1877 for the first time a judge at the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts.

On March 12, 1877, US President Rutherford B. Hayes appointed him as Attorney General in his cabinet . He held this office until the end of the presidency of Hayes on March 4, 1881. After retiring from the Justice Department, he again held the post of judge on the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts from 1881 until his death on January 7, 1891.

In 1876 he was awarded the honorary title of LL.D. from Columbia University and in 1877 from Harvard University .

literature

Anthony Gaughan: The Last Battle of the Civil War (pdf): United States Versus Lee, 1861-1883 (2011)

Web links

personal data
SURNAME	Devens, Charles
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American lawyer, general, and attorney general
DATE OF BIRTH	April 4, 1820
PLACE OF BIRTH	Charlestown , Massachusetts
DATE OF DEATH	January 7, 1891
Place of death	Boston , Massachusetts