Wager Swayne
Template:Infobox military person Wager Swayne (November 10, 1834Template:Spaced ndashDecember 18, 1902) was a Union Army colonel during the American Civil War and was appointed as the last major general of volunteers of the Union Army. Swayne received America's highest military decoration the Medal of Honor for his actions at the Second Battle of Corinth. He also was effectively the military governor of Alabama from March 2, 1867, to July 14, 1868, after the passage of the first Reconstruction Act by the U.S. Congress until Alabama was readmitted to the Union. Robert M. Patton remained the nominal governor during this period but as the local army commander, Swayne controlled the State government. During the Reconstruction era, Swayne oversaw the Freedmen's Bureau in Alabama and helped establish schools for African Americans in the state.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He was the first person born after Alabama statehood, to govern the state.
BiographyEdit
Born in Columbus, Ohio, on November 10, 1834, Swayne was the son of Noah Haynes Swayne, associate justice of the United States Supreme Court.<ref name="Warner490">Warner, Ezra J. Generals in Blue: Lives of the Union Commanders. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1964. Template:ISBN. pp. 490–491.</ref> He graduated from Yale University in 1856, was a member of the Scroll & Key Secret Society, and became a lawyer in Ohio.<ref name="Warner490"/>
He served in the Union Army during the Civil War as a field officer in one of Ohio's three-year infantry regiments. In August 1861, Governor William Dennison appointed Swayne as major of the 43rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiment, which was being organized in Mount Vernon, Ohio. He fought at the battles of Iuka and Corinth, and was promoted to fill the vacancy caused by the death of the regiment's colonel.<ref name="Warner490"/>
Swayne led the 43rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry with distinction during the Atlanta Campaign and in the Carolinas Campaign until February 2, 1865, when he suffered a severe wound at the Battle of Rivers' Bridge (site now part of Rivers Bridge State Historic Site) in South Carolina by the Salkehatchie River, which resulted in the amputation of his right leg.<ref name="Warner490"/><ref name="Eicher519">Eicher, 2001, p. 519</ref>
On March 13, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln appointed Swayne brigadier general of volunteers to rank from March 8, 1865.<ref name="Eicher729">Eicher, John H., and David J. Eicher, Civil War High Commands. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2001. Template:ISBN. p. 729.</ref> President Lincoln submitted the nomination to the U.S. Senate on that date and the Senate confirmed the appointment on March 10, 1865.<ref name="Eicher729"/>
On May 1, 1866, President Andrew Johnson appointed Swayne as major general of volunteers to rank from June 20, 1865.<ref name="Eicher705">Eicher, 2001, p. 705</ref> The President nominated Swayne for the promotion on March 21, 1866, and the U.S. Senate confirmed the appointment on April 26, 1866.<ref name="Eicher705"/> This appointment took precedence over his appointment as a brevet major general of volunteers to which grade he had been appointed by President Johnson on January 13, 1866, to rank from October 13, 1865.<ref name="Eicher715">Eicher, 2001, p. 715.</ref> The U.S. Senate confirmed this appointment on March 12, 1866.<ref name="Eicher715"/> He was the last major general of volunteers appointed during the American Civil War period.<ref name="Warner490"/> He also was commissioned colonel of the 45th United States Infantry Regiment. Later, on April 10, 1867, President Johnson appointed Swayne to the grade of brevet major general in the Regular Army to rank from March 2, 1867.<ref name="Eicher709">Eicher, 2001, p. 709.</ref> The Senate approved this nomination on April 15, 1867.<ref name="Eicher709"/> Swayne was mustered out of the volunteer army on September 1, 1867, but stayed in the Regular Army.<ref name="Eicher519"/>
After the war, he served as head of the Freedmen's Bureau for Alabama from July 26, 1865, to January 14, 1868.<ref name="Eicher519"/> From March 2, 1867, to July 14, 1868, as local army commander, Swayne effectively controlled the State government although Robert M. Patton remained the nominal governor during this period.<ref name="Warner490"/>
Swayne was unassigned as of March 15, 1869, when the army was reorganized and his regiment was consolidated with the 14th U.S. Infantry Regiment.<ref name="Warner490"/> Swayne retired from the army on July 1, 1870.<ref name="Eicher519"/> He then moved to Toledo, Ohio, where he established a law practice.<ref name="Warner490"/><ref name="Eicher519"/> He moved in 1881 to New York City, where he set up another law practice, specializing in representing telegraph and railroad companies.<ref name="Warner490"/>
In 1893, he was awarded a Medal of Honor for "conspicuous gallantry in restoring order at a critical moment and leading his regiment in a charge" at Corinth.
By May 1899, the North American Trust Company had directors such as John G. Carlisle, Adlai E. Stevenson, and Wager Swayne.<ref name=nyt-trowbridge1>Template:Cite news</ref>
He died in New York City on December 18, 1902, and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery Arlington County, Virginia, Plot: Section 3, Lot 1406.<ref name="Warner490"/><ref name="Eicher519"/>
Medal of Honor citationEdit
Rank and Organization:
- Rank and organization: Lieutenant Colonel, 43d Ohio Infantry. Place and date: At Corinth, Miss., October 4, 1862. Entered service at: Columbus, Ohio. Born: November 10, 1834, Columbus, Ohio. Date of issue: August 19, 1893.
Citation: Conspicuous gallantry in restoring order at a critical moment and leading his regiment in a charge.<ref name=AMOHW1> {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=AMOHW2> {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
See alsoEdit
- List of American Civil War Medal of Honor recipients: Q–S
- List of American Civil War generals (Union)
- List of Ohio's American Civil War generals
- Bibliography of the American Civil War
NotesEdit
ReferencesEdit
- Eicher, John H., and David J. Eicher, Civil War High Commands. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2001. Template:ISBN.
- Warner, Ezra J. Generals in Blue: Lives of the Union Commanders. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1964. Template:ISBN.
Further readingEdit
Template:S-start Template:S-off Template:Succession box Template:S-end