Francis Preston Blair Jr.
Francis Preston Blair Jr. | |
---|---|
Luther M. Kennett | |
Succeeded by | John R. Barret |
In office June 8, 1860 – June 25, 1860 | |
Preceded by | John R. Barret |
Succeeded by | John R. Barret |
In office March 4, 1861 – June 10, 1864 | |
Preceded by | John R. Barret |
Succeeded by | Samuel Knox |
Personal details | |
Born | Lexington, Kentucky, U.S. | February 19, 1821
Died | July 8, 1875 St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. | (aged 54)
Resting place | Bellefontaine Cemetery |
Political party | Democratic (before 1848, 1866–75) Free Soil (1848–54) Republican (1854–61) Unconditional Union (1861-66) |
Spouse |
Benjamin Gratz Brown (cousin) |
Education | Yale University University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Princeton University (BA) Transylvania University |
Signature | |
Military service | |
Allegiance | United States |
Branch/service | U.S. Army (Union Army) |
Years of service | 1861–1865 |
Rank | Major general |
Commands | 1st Brigade, 4th Division, XV Corps 2nd Division, XV Corps XV Corps XVII Corps |
Battles/wars | Mexican- American War American Civil War |
Francis Preston Blair Jr. (February 19, 1821 – July 8, 1875) was a United States Senator, a United States Congressman and a Union Major General during the Civil War. He represented Missouri in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, and was active in preventing the State of Missouri from being absorbed into the Confederacy at the beginning of the Civil War.
Blair was instrumental in appointing
In 1868, he was Horatio Seymour's vice-presidential candidate, but his dramatic speeches about the dangers of black emancipation were believed by some to have cost the Democrats the election. Blair suffered a paralyzing stroke in 1872, but continued to be active in state politics until his death three years later.
Early life and career
Blair was born in
Mexican–American War
In fall 1845, Blair traveled to the West for
In the political arena
Being more interested in politics than law, Blair came back to St. Louis in the summer of 1847. A personal and political friend of
Towards the end of his first term, Blair was defeated in his bid for re-election in 1858 by
The Blairs were unwavering supporters of Abraham Lincoln during his rise to the presidency and years in office and in return enjoyed his political patronage. In December 1863, Lincoln said, "The Blairs have to an unusual degree the spirit of clan. Their family is a close corporation. Frank is their hope and pride. They have a way of going with a rush for anything they undertake, especially have Montgomery and the Old Gentleman."[9]
In the days following Lincoln's election as president, when it became evident that several Southern states were advocating secession, Blair was among the leaders of a new political movement in Missouri, the Unconditional Union Party, which advocated the use of its paramilitary Home Guard, if necessary, to prevent Missouri from seceding.
Civil War
Immediately after
Open warfare between Union forces and the followers of pro-Southern Missouri governor
Blair objected, and contacted Republican leaders in Washington. Within a few weeks, Harney was replaced by Lyon as temporary commander. Lyon drove Jackson and Price to the southwestern corner of Missouri before he was killed at the Battle of Wilson's Creek, while Blair helped organize a new all-Unionist state government, and John C. Frémont took over as the U.S. Army Western Department commander.
Frémont was himself a prominent Republican with Missouri connections. Blair soon came to regard Frémont as a political rival, and they clashed over many aspects of Frémont's operations in Missouri. Frémont as the regional Army commander was responsible for spending a lot of money in a great hurry for supplies and equipment. Blair expected most of this money to go to his allies in the St. Louis business community, but Frémont and his staff had their own ideas. Blair's bitter complaints, added to the waste and corruption, helped discredit Frémont, who was replaced on November 2.
Blair was appointed a colonel of Missouri volunteers in July 1862. He was promoted brigadier general of volunteers in August 1862 and then to major general in November.[10] After winning re-election to the House of Representatives, Blair resigned his commission, but he retracted it at a request/order from Lincoln dated in April 1864. In response to this, "the Senate passed a resolution that, thereafter, no officers whose resignations had been duly accepted should be restored to the service without a new appointment and confirmation by the Senate." [13]
In Missouri, Blair commanded a brigade consisting of the 13th Illinois Infantry, the
Blair subsequently commanded a division in the
Postbellum activities
At the close of the war, Blair, having spent much of his private fortune in support of the Union, was financially ruined. In 1866, like his father and brother he opposed the Congressional
In 1866 he ran for a seat on the Missouri General Assembly against Charles Branscomb.[14] The election was contested, but in the end, Blair was defeated after the Missouri Attorney General Robert Franklin Wingate ruled that votes cast after sundown were valid.[15]
In 1868, he was the unsuccessful Democratic candidate for vice president, running with Horatio Seymour.[10] Blair contributed to the Democratic defeat by going on a speaking tour in which he framed the contest with Ulysses S. Grant and the pro-Reconstruction Republicans in stark racial terms, warning of the rule of "a semi-barbarous race of blacks who are worshipers of fetishes and poligamists" and wanted to "subject the white women to their unbridled lust."[16] At least one Democratic Congressman saw Blair as the cause of Seymour's defeat, calling his behavior "stupid and indefensible."[16]
Blair had an odd minor notoriety, when on July 29, 1870, he was an accidental witness to an incident in a famous homicide case. Staying at the then famous Fifth Avenue Hotel, facing West 23rd Street off Fifth Avenue, Blair woke up to cries of help from across the street. He watched from his hotel window as two men ran out of a brownstone mansion across the street. They were two of the sons of Benjamin Nathan, the Vice President of the New York Stock Exchange. Benjamin Nathan was found in the mansion, bludgeoned to death. There was a series of hearings, and even suspicion towards several people, but the mystery was never solved.[17]
In 1871 Blair was chosen by the
Blair's consuming interest in politics kept him active and he served as Missouri's state superintendent of insurance until his death from head injuries after a fall on July 8, 1875, at the age of 54.[18] He is interred in Bellefontaine Cemetery.
Family
In 1847, Blair married Appoline Alexander; they had eight children.[19]
Recognition
William T. Sherman after hearing about Blair's death said, "I always regarded him as one of the truest patriots, most honest and honorable men, and one of the most courageous soldiers this country ever produced."[20] Ulysses S. Grant wrote about Frank Blair in his memoir that, "There was no man braver than he, nor was there any who obeyed all orders of his superior in rank with more unquestioning alacrity. He was one man as a soldier, another as a politician."[21]
In 1885, a statue to Senator Blair was erected at the entrance to Forest Park in St. Louis at the intersection of Kingshighway and Lindell Blvds.
In 1899, the state of
See also
- List of American Civil War generals (Union)
- 1st Missouri, US Reserve Corps Infantry (3 months, 1861)
References
- ^ Smith, William E. The Francis Preston Blair Family in Politics. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1933.
- ISBN 978-0-8061-1577-1
- ^ Francis Preston Blair Jr. (1821–1875) Archived March 9, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, Dictionary of Missouri Biography edited by Lawrence O. Christensen, William E. Foley, Gary R. Kremer, and Kenneth H. Winn, published by the University of Missouri Press.
- ^ "Francis P. Blair". Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved July 22, 2020.
- ^ Blair, Frank P. Speech of Hon. Frank P. Blair Jr., of Missouri: On the Acquisition of Territory in Central and South America, to Be Colonized with Free Blacks, and Held As a Dependency by the United States. Washington: Buell & Blanchard, printers, 1858.
- ^ May, Robert E. Slavery, Race and Conquest in the Tropics: Lincoln, Douglas, and the Future of Latin America. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2013, p. 184.
- ^ Blair, Frank P. The Destiny of the Races of This Continent: An Address Delivered Before the Mercantile Library Association of Boston, Massachusetts; on the 26th of January, 1859. Washington, D.C: Buell & Blanchard, 1859.
- ^ "BLAIR, Francis Preston, Jr.", US House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives.
- ^ "Frank P. Blair, Jr. (1821-1875)". Mr. Lincoln's White House. The Lehrman Institute. Archived from the original on March 7, 2016.
- ^ a b c d e Chisholm 1911.
- ^ Peckham, James. General Nathaniel Lyon, and Missouri in 1861: A Monograph of the Great Rebellion. New York: American News Company, 1866.
- ^ Phillips, Christopher. Damned Yankee: The Life of General Nathaniel Lyon. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1990.
- ^ Townsend, E.D. (Adjutant-General, US Army), Anecdotes of the Civil War in the United States. New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1884
- ^ "A Good Candidate". Daily Kansas Tribune. October 23, 1866. Retrieved August 7, 2018.
- ^ "St. Louis: Frank Blair Defeated—Radical Delegetes [sic] Receive their Certificates". Evansville Journal. November 20, 1866. Retrieved August 7, 2018.
- ^ a b Foner, Eric. A Short History of Reconstruction, 1863-1877. New York: Harper & Row, 1990, p. 145.
- Edmund Lester Pearson. Studies in Murder. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1924; Dolphin Books, 1963, pp. 95-126.
- ^ "Frank P. Blair". St. Louis Dispatch. July 9, 1875. p. 4. Retrieved July 1, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Francis Preston Blair Jr. Archived October 7, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, HarpWeek
- ^ Francis Preston Blair Jr., Ohio Civil War Central, 2016.
- ^ Grant, Ulysses S. The Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant. New York, Webster, 1885.
- ^ Statue of Francis Preston Blair, Architect of the Capitol
Further reading
- Smith, Elbert B. Francis Preston Blair (1980) online
- Smith, William Ernest. The Francis Preston Blair Family in Politics (2 Vol Macmillan, 1933) online.
External links
- Blair family papers from Princeton University Library. Special Collections
- Apolline Alexander Blair, Wife Of Union General And Senator Francis P. Blair, Jr.
- United States Congress. "Francis Preston Blair Jr. (id: B000523)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved on 2008-02-12
- "Francis Preston Blair Jr". Find a Grave. Retrieved February 12, 2008.
- Blair in Statuary Hall at the U.S. Capitol
- public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Blair, Francis Preston s.v. Francis Preston Blair, jun.". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 4 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 34. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the