Russell A. Alger
Russell Alger | |
---|---|
United States Senator from Michigan | |
In office September 27, 1902 – January 24, 1907 | |
Preceded by | James McMillan |
Succeeded by | William Smith |
40th United States Secretary of War | |
In office March 5, 1897 – August 1, 1899 | |
President | William McKinley |
Preceded by | Daniel S. Lamont |
Succeeded by | Elihu Root |
20th Governor of Michigan | |
In office January 1, 1885 – January 1, 1887 | |
Lieutenant | Archibald Buttars |
Preceded by | Josiah Begole |
Succeeded by | Cyrus G. Luce |
Personal details | |
Born | Russell Alexander Alger February 27, 1836 Lafayette Township, Ohio, U.S. |
Died | January 24, 1907 Washington, D.C., U.S. | (aged 70)
Political party | Republican |
Spouse |
Annette Huldana Squire Henry
(m. 1861) |
Children | 6 |
Signature | |
Military service | |
Allegiance | United States • Union |
Branch/service | United States Army • Union Army |
Years of service | 1861–1864 |
Rank | Colonel Brevet Major General |
Commands | 5th Michigan Cavalry Regiment |
Battles/wars | |
Russell Alexander Alger (
He was supposedly a distant relation of author
Early life and career
Russell Alexander Alger was born on February 27, 1836, in Lafayette Township, Medina County, Ohio.[2] His parents were Russell and Caroline Alger (née Moulton).[3] Hailing from a New England family, his ancestors came from England to Massachusetts in 1759.[4]
His parents died in 1848, leaving Russell the oldest of three orphan children, without money and with a brother and sister to care for and support.[2] He had been accustomed to working for the neighbors for a small quantity of provisions or a few pennies a day even before the death of his parents, who were very poor.[2]
He now found homes for his brother and sister and secured work for himself on a farm, his remuneration being his board, clothes and the privilege of attending school three months out of the year.[2] He attended Richfield Academy in Summit County, Ohio, and taught country school for two winters.[3]
He studied law in
Civil War
Alger enlisted as a private soldier in the American Civil War on September 2, 1861.[5] He was commissioned and served as a captain and major in the 2nd Michigan Cavalry Regiment.[5] In three years, he served in 66 different battles and skirmishes.
On July 1, 1862, at the Battle of Booneville, Alger attacked the enemy's rear with ninety men. He was wounded and taken prisoner, but escaped the same day. The Confederate forces were soundly defeated.
On October 16, he was made
On February 28, 1863, he was promoted to
Alger was considered a military strategist and surveyed Union supplies with President Lincoln.[citation needed]
Alger participated in General Sheridan's
On July 8, 1864, Alger was severely wounded pursuing the enemy at Boonesborough, Maryland.
Alger resigned from the army on September 20, 1864.[6] On January 13, 1866, President Andrew Johnson nominated Alger for the award of the grade of brevet brigadier general of volunteers to rank from June 11, 1865, and the U.S. Senate confirmed the award on March 12, 1866.[7] On February 28, 1867, President Johnson nominated Alger for the award of the grade of brevet major general of volunteers to rank from June 11, 1865, and the U.S. Senate confirmed the award on March 2, 1867.[8]
In 1868, he was elected the first commander of the Michigan department of the Grand Army of the Republic. In 1889, he became the Grand Army's National Commander-in-Chief.[1] He was also a member of the Michigan Commandery of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States.
Lumber baron
After the Civil War, Alger settled in
In order to transport the lumber, Alger led his company to create the
After clear cutting forests in the lower peninsula, his lumber companies acquired land in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan including Kingston Plains, just south of the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. These bleak stump plains have resisted 90 years of reforestation efforts.[12] Alger made a fortune logging the area which he used to propel himself to governor of Michigan.[13]
At the turn of the 20th century, he and Florida landowner Martin Sullivan established the Alger-Sullivan Lumber Company, which milled lumber in Foshee, Alabama and Century, Florida.[14]
Political activism
Alger was active in politics as a Republican.[15] In 1866, he was a delegate to the party's Wayne County convention and its state convention.[15] In the late 1860s, Alger was a leader of the Boys in Blue, an organization of Union veterans formed to support Republican Party policies and candidates.[16] In October 1872, Alger was a vice president of the committee that organized a Republican campaign event which featured a speech by James G. Blaine, then serving as Speaker of the United States House of Representatives.[17]
In June 1876, Alger was a vice president of the committee which sponsored a Republican rally in Detroit that began that year's presidential campaign.[18] In early October 1876, Alger was a vice president of the committee that organized a mass Republican rally in Detroit which featured a speech by former governor Edward Follansbee Noyes of Ohio.[19] In late October 1876, he was one of the vice presidents of the committee that organized a Republican rally in Detroit which included a keynote address by U.S. Senator James G. Blaine of Maine.[20]
In early June 1880, Alger was a delegate to a mass interstate meeting of Union veterans which met in Chicago to devise a plan for supporting Republican candidates in that year's elections.[21] In mid-June, he presided over the Republican meeting in Detroit which was organized to ratify the results of the 1880 Republican National Convention, which had been held earlier in the month.[22]
Governor of Michigan
In 1884, Alger was elected Governor of Michigan and served from January 1, 1885, to January 1, 1887.[23] Highlights of his term included creation of the state board of pardons, the founding of a veterans home in Grand Rapids, the creation of two new counties (Alger and Iron), and establishment of the Michigan College of Mines.[23] Alger declined renomination in 1886.[23]
Alger's name was placed in nomination for president at the
Secretary of War
On March 5, 1897, Alger was appointed
As Secretary, Alger recommended pay increases for military personnel serving at foreign
He was criticized for the inadequate preparation and inefficient operation of the department during the
Alger resigned at President McKinley's request on August 1, 1899. He published a personal history of the war titled The Spanish–American War in 1901.[26]
Vendetta against John S. Mosby
Mosby supported William McKinley for president in 1896, and was assured by members of Congress close to McKinley that he could expect appointment to a consulship in Asia or South America.[28] When no appointment was forthcoming, Mosby concluded that Alger was blocking his return to the consular service and claimed that Alger was pursuing a vendetta.[28] According to Mosby, because during the war Mosby had ordered the execution of soldiers under Alger's command who were accused of looting and destroying the property of supporters of the Confederacy in 1864.[27] Historians and authors have concluded that it is more probable that the official preventing Mosby from receiving an appointment under McKinley was Secretary of State John Sherman.[28] When Mosby began serving in Hong Kong, he concluded that his predecessor, David H. Bailey, had been involved in embezzlement and fraud.[28] Bailey was forced to resign as U.S. Consul in Shanghai.[28] Bailey was from Sherman's home state of Ohio, and Sherman had authority over diplomatic appointments, so Sherman is more likely than Alger to have taken revenge on Mosby.[28]
U.S. Senator
On September 27, 1902, Alger was appointed by Michigan Governor
Alger was chairman of the
Personal life
Alger was the founder of a prominent family, many of whom became involved in 20th century Michigan politics and active in the Republican Party.[31]
The Algers had a home in Black River, Alcona Township, Michigan, from which Alger oversaw his lumbering operations.
On April 2, 1861, he married Annette Huldana Squire Henry of Grand Rapids.[3] They had six children; Henrietta, Caroline, Frances, Russell Jr., Frederick, and Allan.
Frederick graduated from Harvard in 1899, served as a lieutenant colonel with the American Expeditionary Force in France during the
Russell Jr. was instrumental in persuading the
Death
He died in Washington, D.C., in 1907. He is interred in Elmwood Cemetery in Detroit, Michigan.
Legacy
In a memorial address, Senator John Spooner of Wisconsin said of Alger, "No man without noble purpose, well-justified ambitions, strong fiber, and splendid qualities in abundance could have carved out and left behind him such a career."[33]
An early movie entitled General Wheeler and Secretary of War Alger at Camp Wikoff documents an official visit to Camp Wikoff, New York as Secretary of War.[34] The visit and film were produced to garner support from the New York newspapers.[35]
In May 1898, the War Department established Camp Russell A. Alger on a farm near Falls Church and Dunn Loring, Virginia. Faced with a typhoid fever epidemic, it was abandoned the month at the war's end in August 1898 and sold the following month. In its brief existence, 23,000 men trained there for service. It is commemorated by an official Virginia historical marker.[36]
Named for Alger
- Alger, Michigan (1882)
- Alger County, Michigan (1885)
- Russell A. Alger Street and Alger Street in Black River, Michigan[37]
- Alger Street in Lincoln, Michigan
- Alger Heights, a neighborhood of Grand Rapids, Michigan[38]
- A United States Liberty ship named the SS Russell A. Alger was planned but cancelled in 1942 before construction.
Monuments
In 1909, a monument to Alger was erected on the William G. Mather Building in Munising, Michigan. It consists of a bronze bust of Alger on a stone pedestal, and was sculpted by Detroit sculptor Carlo Romanelli with funds provided by the heirs of Alger and by the Board of Education of the Munising Township Schools.
In 1921, a memorial fountain was dedicated to Alger in
See also
- List of United States Congress members who died in office (1900–1949)
- Russell Alger Memorial Fountain
Bibliography
- Russell Alexander Alger (1901). The Spanish–American War. Kessinger Publishing.
The Spanish American War Russell A. Alger.
- Dictionary of American Biography
- Bell, Rodney E. "A Life of Russell Alexander Alger." Ph.D. dissertation, University of Michigan, 1975'
- Eicher, John H., and ISBN 0-8047-3641-3.
- U.S. Congress. Memorial Addresses for Russell Alexander Alger. 59th Cong., 2nd sess. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1907.
- Michigan Historical Commission. 1924. Michigan Biographies: Russell Alger, Lansing.
- Michigan Commandery of the Military of the Loyal Legion of the United States.
- Final Journal of the Grand Army of the Republic, 1957. Compiled by Cora Gillis, Jamestown, New York, Past National President, Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War from 1861 to 1865, Inc. and last National Secretary of the Grand Army of the Republic.
- United States Congress. "Russell A. Alger (id: A000107)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved on 2008-02-11
References
- ^ a b Bourasaw, Noel V., "Russell A. Alger, logging capitalist, Michigan governor, Secretary of War," Skagit River Journal of History & Folklore, 2004.
- ^ a b c d e Johnson 1906, p. 78
- ^ a b c Moulton, Henry William (1906). Moulton Annals, pp. 84, 114–17. Chicago: Edward A. Clayhill.
- ^ https://www.google.com/books/edition/Legislative_Souvenir_and_Political_Histo/_Y9MOqysKfsC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Russell+A.+Alger+ancestry&pg=PA48&printsec=frontcover
- ^ ISBN 0837932017.
- ISBN 0-8047-3641-3. p. 101.
- ^ Eicher, 2001, p. 739. A typographical error shows the confirmation date as March 12, 1865.
- ^ Eicher, 2001, p. 739.
- ^ Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography, edited by James Grant Wilson, John Fiske Six volumes, New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1887-1889.
- ^ Berry, Dale. "Railroad History Story: Railroad Origins in Alpena, Michigan". RRHX: Michigan's Internet Railroad History Museum. Archived from the original on July 24, 2013. Retrieved December 15, 2013.
- ^ The Official Railway List. Railway Purchasing Agent Company. 1888. p. 71.
- ^ Geology and Landscape of Michigan’s Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore and Vicinity William L. Blewett, Wayne State University Press, 2012
- ^ Murphy, Donovan (2022) "On the Altar of Industry: A History of the Kingston Plains," Upper Country: A Journal of the Lake Superior Region: Vol. 10, Article 2. Available at: https://commons.nmu.edu/upper_country/vol10/iss1/2https://commons.nmu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1075&context=upper_country[permanent dead link]
- ^ "Century, Florida - 100 years and still counting". The Alger-Sullivan Historical Society. Retrieved July 10, 2010.
- ^ Newspapers.com.
- Newspapers.com.
- GenealogyBank.com.
- GenealogyBank.com.
- GenealogyBank.com.
- GenealogyBank.com.
- Newspapers.com.
- GenealogyBank.com.
- ^ a b c d "Biography, Michigan Governor Russell Alexander Alger". NGA.org. Washington, DC: National Governors Association. May 29, 2010. Retrieved December 21, 2021.
- ^ Folsom, Dr Burton W. (December 7, 1998). "Russell Alger and the Spanish–American War".
- ^ "Russell Alexander Alger - The World of 1898: The Spanish–American War (Hispanic Division, Library of Congress)". Library of Congress.
- ^ Russell Alexander Alger (1901). The Spanish–American War. Kessinger Publishing.
- ^ Newspapers.com.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-8131-9253-6 – via Google Books.
- ^ "S. Doc. 58-1 - Fifty-eighth Congress. (Extraordinary session -- beginning November 9, 1903.) Official Congressional Directory for the use of the United States Congress. Compiled under the direction of the Joint Committee on Printing by A.J. Halford. Special edition. Corrections made to November 5, 1903". GovInfo.gov. U.S. Government Printing Office. November 9, 1903. p. 52. Retrieved July 2, 2023.
- ^ "Chairmen of Senate Standing Committees 1789-Present" (PDF). Senate Historical Office. June 2008. p. 35. Retrieved May 7, 2009.
- ^ Kestenbaum, Lawrence. "The Political Graveyard: Index to Politicians: Alexandre to Alleman".
- ^ "The Alger Family".
- ^ Moore, Charles (1915). History of Michigan. Vol. II. Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Co. p. 687.
- IMDb
- ^ McSherry, Patrick. "Camp Wikoff".
- ^ "Camp Russell A. Alger Historical Marker".
- ^ "Gazateer of Obscure Michigan Place Names". Herbarium, University of Michigan. Archived from the original on September 9, 2015. Retrieved July 28, 2015.
- ^ "Welcome to the Alger Neighborhood - Alger Heights".
- ^ "Russell Alexander Alger Memorial Fountain". Retrieved May 8, 2012.
Attribution
- Johnson, Rossiter, ed. (1906). "Alger, Russell Alexander". The Biographical Dictionary of America. Vol. 1. Boston, Mass.: American Biographical Society. p. 78. Retrieved November 25, 2020 – via en.wikisource.org. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
External links
- Russell Alexander Alger in Library of Congress's The World of 1898: The Spanish–American War
- Bell, William Gardner (1992). "Russell Alexander Alger". Secretaries of War and Secretaries of the Army: Portraits & Biographical Sketches. United States Army Center of Military History. CMH Pub 70-12. Archived from the original on December 14, 2007. Retrieved July 19, 2010.
- Biography of Alger through 1891 from "Chapter LIII: Grand Rapids and Kent County in the War for the Union," Baxter, Albert, History of the City of Grand Rapids, New York and Grand Rapids: Munsell & Company, Publishers, 1891.
- Image of Russell Alger from "1888 Presidential Possibilities" card set t207.com
- "Russell A. Alger". Find a Grave. Retrieved August 13, 2008.
- Grosse Pointe War Memorial - Russell Alger, Jr. Mansion
- Memorial Library Archived July 14, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
- Public Arts and Sculpture, Russell A. Alger Fountain.
- Russell A Alger Biography at Elmwood Cemetery Archived February 18, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
- Russell A. Alger Family Papers at the William L. Clements Library
- Russell Alexander Alger, late a senator from Michigan, Memorial addresses delivered in the House of Representatives and Senate frontispiece 1907