Henry W. Blair
Henry William Blair | |
---|---|
Hosea Washington Parker | |
Succeeded by | Evarts Worcester Farr |
Constituency | 3rd district |
In office March 4, 1893 – March 3, 1895 | |
Preceded by | Luther F. McKinney |
Succeeded by | Cyrus A. Sulloway |
Constituency | 1st district |
Member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives | |
In office 1866 | |
Member of the New Hampshire Senate | |
In office 1867–1868 | |
Personal details | |
Born | United States of America | December 6, 1834
Branch/service | Union Army |
Rank | lieutenant colonel |
Unit | Fifteenth Regiment, New Hampshire Volunteer Infantry |
Battles/wars | Civil War |
Henry William Blair (December 6, 1834 – March 14, 1920) was a
, he was a Lieutenant Colonel in the Union Army.A
Early life
Born in Campton, New Hampshire, Blair lost his father at two and his mother at twelve. Raised by neighbors on a farm, he attended school when breaks from farm work permitted. Though he never went to college, in 1856, he began reading law with William Leverett at Plymouth, and was admitted to the bar in 1859 and became Leverett's partner.
Career
Blair was appointed
During the Civil War Blair was rejected by the fifth and twelfth regiments as physically unfit. In 1862, when the fifteenth regiment was formed, he raised a company, enlisted as a Private and was elected Captain. He was appointed Major by the Governor and his Council. After about a year at the front, he held the rank of lieutenant colonel of the Fifteenth Regiment, New Hampshire Volunteer Infantry. During his first battle service, the Siege of Port Hudson, he was wounded twice. After the discharge of his regiment in 1863, he was appointed deputy provost marshal and spent most of the remainder of the war at home as an invalid due to wounds and diseases contracted during the war.[6]
Blair was a member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives in 1866 and a member of the New Hampshire Senate from 1867 to 1868.
Elected as a
According to The New York Times:[1]
His record in Congress, both as an advocate of radical Republican principles, and of all the genuine moral reforms, particularly temperance reform, is highly spoken of. He is also recommended as an able, honest, and a courageous man; a faithful soldier in the war of the rebellion, and a faithful member of the national House.
— The New York Times, June 12, 1879
Similar to many Republicans at the time, Blair favored higher protective tariffs, the gold standard, and generous pensions for Union veterans of the Civil War.[7]
During late 1882 and early January 1883, Blair attached an amendment to the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act that prohibited hiring habitual drunkards to federal government positions, reflecting his effort to combat alcohol abuse.[8] However, he did not vote on the final passage of the Pendleton Act.[9]
He was chairman of the
It must, I think, have become evident to all that there must be a return to the fundamental issues which stir the heart and touch the life of the Republic or there is nothing except assured defeat for us next autumn.
— Blair in a letter to Douglass
Blair declined an appointment by President
Again elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1892, Blair served from March 4, 1893, to March 3, 1895, and was not a candidate for reelection in 1894. He engaged in the practice of law in Washington, D.C., until his death.
Personal life
Blair was the son of William Henry Blair and Lois (Baker) Blair. He married Eliza Nelson on December 20, 1859, and they had one son, Henry Patterson Blair.
Blair died in Washington, D.C., on March 14, 1920 (age 85 years, 99 days). He is interred at Campton Cemetery, Campton, New Hampshire.
Sources
- Gordon B. McKinney. Henry W. Blair's Campaign to Reform America: From the Civil War to the U.S. Senate (University Press of Kentucky; 2013) 246 pages
References
- ^ a b June 13, 1879. POLITICS AND POLITICIANS; THE NEW-HAMPSHIRE FIGHT ENDED THE HON. HENRY W. BLAIR NOMINATED TO BE UNITED STATES SENATOR BY THE REPUBLICAN CAUCUS MR. WADLEIGH BADLY BEATEN. The New York Times. Retrieved March 3, 2022.
- ^ Welch, Robert E., Jr. (1971). George Frisbie Hoar and the Half-Breed Republicans, pp. 91. Harvard University Press. Retrieved March 3, 2022.
- ^ McKinney, Gordon B. (2013). Henry W. Blair's Campaign to Reform America: From the Civil War to the U.S. Senate, p. 2. Google Books. Retrieved March 3, 2022.
- ^ Matthews, Dylan (July 20, 2016). Donald Trump and Chris Christie are reportedly planning to purge the civil service. Vox. Retrieved March 3, 2022.
- ^ Henry William Blair | American politician. Britannica. Retrieved March 3, 2022.
- ^ Willey, George Franklyn (1896). Willey's Semi-centennial Book of Manchester, 1846-1896, and Manchester Ed. of the Book of Nutfield: Historic Sketches of that Part of New Hampshire Comprised Within the Limits of the Old Tyng Township, Nutfield, Harrytown, Derryfield, and Manchester, from the Earliest Settlements to the Present Time. G. F. Willey, 1896 - Manchester (N.H.). p. 132 133. Retrieved July 19, 2014.
- ^ a b Wilder, Bert (October 10, 1891). “Blair, the White Elephant of the Administration”. HarpWeek. Retrieved March 3, 2022.
- ^ Henry W. Blair's Campaign to Reform America, p. 143.
- ^ TO PASS S. 133. GovTrack.us. Retrieved March 3, 2022.
- S2CID 225424792.
- ^ Miller Center Archived June 9, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
- ISBN 978-0199216857.
External links
- United States Congress. "Henry W. Blair (id: B000524)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved on February 14, 2008
- Media related to Henry William Blair at Wikimedia Commons