Lovell Rousseau

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Lovell Rousseau
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Kentucky's 5th district
In office
December 3, 1866 – March 3, 1867
Preceded byIncumbent
Succeeded byAsa Grover
In office
March 4, 1865 – July 21, 1866
Preceded byRobert Mallory
Succeeded byHimself
Personal details
Born
Lovell Harrison Rousseau

(1818-08-04)August 4, 1818
near
Tullahoma Campaign
 • Third Battle of Murfreesboro

Lovell Harrison Rousseau (August 4, 1818 – January 7, 1869) was a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War, as well as a lawyer and politician in Kentucky and Indiana.

Rousseau was a member of the Whig Party early in his political career and later became a member of the Unconditional Union Party. He was a member of the Indiana State Senate from 1847 to 1849 and was a member of the Kentucky State Senate from 1860 to 1861. During the Civil War, Rousseau served in the Union Army as a colonel, a brigadier general, and a major general. He served in the Thirty-ninth Congress, resigned, and was re-elected to Congress. Rousseau was censured by the House of Representatives in 1866 for assaulting Rep. Justin Grinnell on the House floor.

Rousseau was made a brigadier general in the U.S. Army in 1867 and given the brevet rank of major general. Thereafter, he served in Alaska and Louisiana.[1]

Early life and career

Born near Stanford, Kentucky, on August 4, 1818, Rousseau attended the common schools as a child. His father, David Rousseau, brought his family across the Appalachians from Virginia, but he had a difficult time regaining economic equilibrium (despite extensive holdings in undeveloped land and slaves). Lovell's elder brother had already left home, so when their father died of cholera attempting to move the family to a new home in 1833, it fell to Lovell and his younger brothers to dig their father's roadside grave. At age fifteen, he had become his family's primary breadwinner. Soon afterwards, he was forced to sell his family's slaves in an effort to cover the family's debts.

Eager to earn a wage, he began working on a road-building crew, traveling around the

read law in Louisville, Kentucky, for several months. In 1841, he passed the Indiana bar examination and began practicing law with his brother, Richard Hillaire Rousseau, as junior partners in a firm led by James I. Dozier, in Bloomfield, Indiana.[2] Both brothers married Dozier's daughters. Richard married Mary E. Dozier in 1839, while Lovell married Maria A. Dozier in 1843. (Mary Dozier Rousseau died young, and Richard remarried.)[3]

Lovell successfully ran for the Indiana House of Representatives as a Whig candidate in 1844, and in 1846 he was commissioned as a captain in the Mexican–American War and charged with raising a company of volunteers. He led them at the Battle of Buena Vista, where he helped rally the Indiana troops at a key point in the battle.

When he returned from the war, he gained a seat in the Indiana Senate and continued to run a successful law practice.

After relocating to Louisville, Kentucky, he served in the Kentucky Senate from 1860 to 1861.

Civil War

As the

5th Kentucky Volunteer Regiment in September 1861 and was later promoted to brigadier general of Volunteers attached to the army of General Ormsby M. Mitchel
.

Recapture of guns at Pittsburg Landing, April 7, 1862

Later, Rousseau was once again promoted to

Tullahoma Campaign and movements around Chattanooga, Tennessee. Although from November 1863 until his resignation in November 1865, Rousseau had command of Nashville, Tennessee, he had also, on Sherman's orders, carried out a very successful raid on the Montgomery and West Point Railroad in July 1864.[4]

House of Representatives and assault on Josiah B. Grinnell

Rousseau was elected an

Freedman's Bureau. Rousseau opposed it having seen and heard about rebellious and illegal actions by agents working for the bureau, whereas Grinnell strongly supported the bill as a former active abolitionist and aide to runaway slaves. The debates eventually turned into mudslinging, Grinnell questioning Rousseau's military record and insulting his performance in battle as well as a few comments on the state of Kentucky
.

On June 14, 1866, Rousseau approached Grinnell in the east

Nathaniel P. Banks, Henry J. Raymond, Rufus P. Spalding, M. Russell Thayer and John Hogan
.

Rousseau was censured by the House of Representatives on July 17, 1866, for his assault on Grinnell. He resigned from Congress on July 21, 1866, but later won a special election to fill the vacancy caused by his resignation and continued to serve in Congress until 1867.[5]

Personal life

Rousseau's daughter, Mary E. Rousseau, married Louis Douglas Watkins, USV, in Jefferson County, Kentucky, on August 4, 1864.[1]

Later life and death

After leaving the

Arlington, Virginia
. His monument at Cave Hill remains.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b "Louis Douglas Watkins". Civil War Governors of Kentucky. Retrieved 2022-05-29.
  2. ^ Lee, Dan (April 6, 2010). Kentuckian in Blue: A Biography of Major General Lovell Harrison Rousseau. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland. pp. 12–13.
  3. ^ Lee, Dan (April 6, 2010). Kentuckian in Blue: A Biography of Major General Lovell Harrison Rousseau. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland. p. 14.
  4. ^ pp. 178-179, Cavalry Raids of the Civil War, Col. Robert W. Black, 2004.
  5. ^ "ROUSSEAU, Lovell Harrison 1818 – 1869". bioguide.congress.gov. Retrieved January 12, 2024.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lovell Harrison Rousseau.
U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by Member of the
U.S. House of Representatives
from Kentucky's 5th congressional district

1865–1866 		Succeeded by
Himself
Preceded by
Himself
 Member of the
U.S. House of Representatives
from Kentucky's 5th congressional district

1866–1867 		Succeeded by

Public Domain This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress

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