JOHN J JENKINS TO SEC WAR RUSSELL ALGER !! -- SEE BIOS OF BOTH MEN BELOW !!! -- John James Jenkins (August 24, 1843 – June 10, 1911) was an English American immigrant, lawyer, judge, and Republican politician. He served seven terms as a member of the United States House of Representatives, representing northwest Wisconsin, and served one year as United States district judge for the District of Puerto Rico.[1][2]
Early life
John Jenkins was born in Weymouth, Dorsetshire, England. He emigrated with his parents at age 8, first settling in Sauk County, Wisconsin, then relocating in 1852 to Baraboo, Wisconsin.[3]
Civil War service
At outbreak of the American Civil War, Jenkins, then seventeen years old, volunteered for service with the Union Army against his parents' wishes.[4][3] He was enrolled as a private in Company A of the 6th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment. The 6th Wisconsin Infantry was a component of the Iron Brigade of the Army of the Potomac throughout the war, and Jenkins participated in nearly all the regiment's marches and battles, including Gainesville, Antietam, Gettysburg, and Ulysses S. Grant's Overland Campaign.[3] His three-year enlistment was due to expire in May 1864, but he re-enlisted as a veteran in January. He was discharged due to disability on February 27, 1865.[3]
Postbellum career
After the war, Jenkins returned to Baraboo and was employed as a raftsman on the Wisconsin River, running timber from Germantown and Grand Rapids to St. Louis. In 1867, he was elected as Sauk County court clerk for the Wisconsin circuit court, and was re-elected in 1869. He read law in his spare time, without the assistance of a teacher, and was admitted to the State Bar of Wisconsin in July 1870. He resigned as court clerk in October 1870 and moved to Chippewa Falls. There, he became the junior partner in a law partnership with James M. Bingham, known as Bingham & Jenkins, and was elected city attorney of Chippewa Falls in 1871.[5]
Later that year, he stood as the Republican candidate for Wisconsin State Assembly in the new Chippewa County district (Chippewa had previously shared a district with Dunn County). In the Fall election, he won with 56% of the vote.[5] In the Assembly, he served on the committee on incorporations.[5]
The 1872 session ended in March, and later that year, Jenkins was appointed County Judge of Chippewa County by Governor Cadwallader C. Washburn. He was elected to a full term in 1873, but resigned in 1876 after he was appointed United States Attorney for the Wyoming Territory by U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant.[6] He served a four-year term as U.S. Attorney, returning to Chippewa Falls in 1880 and resuming his law practice.[1]
Congress and judiciary
Sketch of a younger John J. Jenkins.
In 1894, four-term incumbent congressman Nils P. Haugen announced he would not seek another term. The Republican district convention nominated Jenkins on the first ballot as their candidate in Wisconsin's 10th congressional district.[7] He won the Fall general election with 58% of the vote.[8]
He served as a Representative from that district for the 54th through the 57th congresses. In the 1900 United States census, Wisconsin gained another congressional seat, and in the subsequent redistricting, Jenkins was drawn into the new 11th Congressional District. In that district, Jenkins was elected to another three terms, serving in the 58th, 59th, and 60th congresses.[9] He also served as Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee during those three terms.
In 1908, he was defeated in the Republican primary by Irvine Lenroot. Jenkins was a casualty of the Republican internecine conflict between conservatives and progressives. Lenroot was a progressive and a close friend of Robert M. La Follette, the leader of the Progressive Republicans in Wisconsin and an unsuccessful candidate for the Republican nomination for President in 1908. Lenroot accused Jenkins of being a tool of the reactionary old guard Republicans, due to his close association with House Speaker Joseph Gurney Cannon.[10] Lenroot was also assisted in his campaign by an alliance with the Prohibition Party.[11] Lenroot ultimately carried the primary by about 6,000 votes and went on to win the general election, succeeding Jenkins.
Jenkins returned for one final public service in 1910, when President William Howard Taft appointed him to serve a four-year term as United States district judge for Puerto Rico. Jenkins assumed that post in May 1910 but became ill and was unable to perform much judicial work. In April 1911 he requested a two month leave-of-absence to return to Wisconsin and recuperate. He died on June 10, 1911, at his home in Chippewa Falls,[4][12] and was succeeded by Paul Charlton. -----------------------------------------------------------\
Russell Alexander Alger (/ˌældʒər/ AL-jər; February 27, 1836 – January 24, 1907) was an American politician and businessman. He served as the 20th governor of Michigan, U.S. Senator, and U.S. Secretary of War. Alger's life was a "rags-to-riches" success tale. He became an army officer, financier, lumber baron, railroad owner, and government official in several high offices.[1] He was supposedly a distant relation of author Horatio Alger.
Early life and career
Annette Huldana Squire Henry
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 Akron, Ohio, and was admitted to the bar in March 1859. He first began to practice law in Cleveland.[2] In 1860, he moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan, and engaged in the lumber business.
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 lieutenant colonel of the 6th Michigan Cavalry.
On February 28, 1863, he was promoted to colonel of the 5th Michigan Cavalry. His command was the first to enter Gettysburg on June 28. Alger was personally mentioned in the report of General George Armstrong Custer on cavalry operations there.
Alger was considered a military strategist and surveyed Union supplies with President Lincoln.[citation needed]
Alger participated in General Sheridan's Valley Campaigns of 1864 in Virginia. On June 11, 1864, at Trevilian Station, he captured a large force of Confederates with a brilliant cavalry charge.
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 Detroit as head of Alger, Smith & Company and the Manistique Lumbering Company. His holdings included a great pine forest on Lake Huron covering over 100 square miles (260 km2) and producing more than 75,000,000 board feet (180,000 m3) of lumber per annum.[9]
In order to transport the lumber, Alger led his company to create the Detroit, Bay City and Alpena Railroad,[10] of which Alger served as president.[11]
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
Alger in 1900, in a portrait by Percy Ives
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 1888 Republican National Convention. He rose in balloting to 142 votes, with 416 necessary to win, but Benjamin Harrison ultimately obtained the nomination and went on to win the general election. After the election, Alger served as a presidential elector for Harrison.[23]
Secretary of War
On March 5, 1897, Alger was appointed Secretary of War in the Cabinet of U.S. President William McKinley.
As Secretary, Alger recommended pay increases for military personnel serving at foreign embassies and legations, legislation to authorize a Second Assistant Secretary of War, and a constabulary force for Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines.
He was criticized for the inadequate preparation and inefficient operation of the department during the Spanish–American War, especially for his appointment of William R. Shafter as leader of the Cuban expedition and the United States Army beef scandal, in which poor-quality canned beef was supplied to the Army.[24] "Algerism" became an epithet to describe the claimed incompetence of the Army, especially as compared to the more stellar performance of the Navy.[25]
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
John Singleton Mosby accused Alger of pursuing a vendetta against him during Alger's tenure as War Secretary.[27] Mosby had been a Confederate partisan during the Civil War.[27] Afterwards, he became a Republican and supported the presidential candidacies of Ulysses S. Grant and Rutherford B. Hayes.[28] In 1878, Hayes appointed Mosby as U.S. Consul in Hong Kong, where Mosby served until 1885.[28]
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, this was 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 Aaron T. Bliss to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of James McMillan. He was elected to the seat by the Michigan State Legislature in January 1903.[29]
Alger was chairman of the Senate Committee on Pacific Railroads during the 59th Congress.[30]
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 First World War, and was awarded the French Legion of Honor.
Russell Jr. was instrumental in persuading the Packard Motor Car Company to move to Michigan from Ohio. He built a palatial Italian Renaissance style estate, "The Moorings," in Grosse Pointe. It was donated in 1949 and became the Grosse Pointe War Memorial.[32]
Death
He died in Washington, D.C., in 1907. He is interred in Elmwood Cemetery in Detroit, Michigan ---
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