Francis Preston Blair Junior

Francis Preston Blair

Francis Preston Blair Jr. (born February 19, 1821 in Lexington , Kentucky , † July 9, 1875 in St. Louis , Missouri ) was an American politician and major general of the Union Army during the Civil War .

family

Blair's father was Francis Preston Blair , u. a. Editor of the Congressional Globe , and his mother, Eliza Violet Gist Blair . He was the brother of Montgomery Blair , the mayor of St. Louis . In 1847 Blair married Appoline Alexander, with whom he had eight children.

Francis Preston Blair

Blair graduated from Princeton University with a law degree and became a lawyer. He participated in the Mexican-American War as a volunteer and was subsequently Attorney General of the New Mexico Territory and from 1852 to 1856 Member of the House of Representatives from Missouri . At that time he was a supporter of the Free Soil Party . In 1856 he was elected a Republican to the House of Representatives of the United States , where he represented the first constituency of Missouri from March 4, 1857 to March 3, 1859 ; later he was a member of Congress three more times .

Blair joined the Northern Army in 1861 and was given command of a division under General Ulysses S. Grant that fought in the Battle of Vicksburg and the Battle of Chattanooga , among others . Under General William T. Sherman , he commanded a unit in the final battles for North Carolina , South Carolina and Georgia . After the war he ran unsuccessfully for the office of US Vice President in 1868 as a member of the Democrats at the side of Horatio Seymour . From January 20, 1871 to March 3, 1873 he was alongside Carl Schurz US Senator for Missouri. He then acted for a short time as the state's insurance commissioner before he died in July 1875.

Blair, Francis Preston . In: James Grant Wilson, John Fiske (Eds.): Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography . tape 1 : Aaron - Crandall . D. Appleton and Company, New York 1887, p. 280 (English, full text [ Wikisource ] - side entry at father).

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personal data
SURNAME	Blair, Francis Preston Jr.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Blair, Francis Preston Jr.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American politician and major general in the Union Army in the Civil War
DATE OF BIRTH	February 19, 1821
PLACE OF BIRTH	Lexington , Kentucky
DATE OF DEATH	July 9, 1875
Place of death	St. Louis , Missouri