William McKee Dunn

William McKee Dunn

William McKee Dunn (born December 12, 1814 in Hanover , Indiana , †  July 24, 1887 in Fairfax County , Virginia ) was an American officer and politician . Between 1859 and 1863 he represented the state of Indiana in the US House of Representatives ; later he served as Judge Advocate General in the US Army .

Career

William Dunn attended elementary school in his hometown Hanover and then studied until 1832 at Indiana College and until 1835 at Yale College . After studying law and being admitted to the bar in 1837, he began to work in this profession. At the same time he embarked on a political career. In 1848 he was elected to the Indiana House of Representatives. In 1850 he was a delegate to a meeting to revise the state constitution.

Dunn became a member of the Republican Party, founded in 1854 . In the congressional elections of 1858 he was elected to the US House of Representatives in Washington, DC in the third constituency of Indiana , where he succeeded James Hughes on March 4, 1859 . After being re-elected, he was able to complete two legislative terms in Congress until March 3, 1863 . These were shaped by the events of the civil war . From 1861 Dunn was chairman of the patent committee. In 1862 he was not re-elected.

Despite his membership in Congress, William Dunn took an active part in the Civil War. Between June and August 1861 he was a staff officer with General George B. McClellan . From 1863 he was a military lawyer. He rose to brigadier general. Even after the end of the war, Dunn remained a lawyer in the service of the US Army; in December 1875 he rose to the chief military judge ( Judge Advocate General ). He retired on January 22, 1881. He died on July 24, 1887 at his country estate "Maplewood" in Virginia. With his wife Elizabeth Francis Lanier (1822-1910) he had six children.

Web links

• William McKee Dunn in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)
• William McKee Dunn in the database of Find a Grave (English)