James Craig (General)

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James Craig (1859)

James Craig (born February 28, 1818 in Washington County , Pennsylvania , †  October 22, 1888 in Saint Joseph , Missouri ) was an American officer and politician . Between 1857 and 1861 he represented the state of Missouri in the US House of Representatives . He then took part in the civil war with the rank of brigadier general in the Union army .

Career

In 1821, James Craig came to Mansfield , Ohio , where he later attended public schools. After studying law and being admitted to the bar in 1839, he began to work in this profession in Saint Joseph in 1844. During the Mexican-American War he was captain of a volunteer unit. Between 1852 and 1856, Craig served as the district attorney in the Twelfth Judicial District of Missouri. Politically, he was a member of the Democratic Party . He was a member of the Missouri House of Representatives in 1856 and 1857 .

In the congressional election of 1856 , Craig was elected to the United States House of Representatives in Washington, DC in the fourth constituency of Missouri , where he succeeded Mordecai Oliver on March 4, 1857 . After two re-elections, he was able to complete two legislative terms in Congress by March 3, 1861 . These were shaped by the events in the immediate run-up to the civil war.

In 1860, James Craig was no longer nominated for re-election by his party. After that he worked as a lawyer again. During the Civil War he was named Brigadier General of a Volunteer Unit in the Union Army on March 21, 1862 by President Abraham Lincoln . He commanded the troops that had to protect the postal and telegraph network from the Missouri River to the Utah Territory ; later he took command of the Nebraska Military District . On May 5, 1863, he resigned from the military and returned to Saint Joseph. When Governor Willard Preble Hall approached him in 1864 with a plea to protect the state from Confederate and Bushwhackers raids, he joined the Missouri militia with the rank of brigadier general . His troops were responsible for the killing of partisan leader "Bloody Bill" Anderson .

In January 1865, Craig finally left the militia. He later became the first president of the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad . He also became the first Comptroller of Saint Joseph. He also died in this city on October 22, 1888.

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personal data
SURNAME Craig, James
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American officer and politician
DATE OF BIRTH February 28, 1818
PLACE OF BIRTH Washington County , Pennsylvania
DATE OF DEATH October 22, 1888
Place of death Saint Joseph , Missouri