American politician
John Benjamin Sanborn
(December 5, 1826 ? May 6, 1904) was a lawyer, politician, and soldier from the state of
New Hampshire
who served as a
general
in the
Union Army
during the
American Civil War
. He was also a key member of the
reconstruction era
Congressional-appointed
Indian Peace Commission
, which negotiated and signed several important treaties with native American tribes.
Early life and career
[
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]
John B. Sanborn was born on a farm in
Epsom, New Hampshire
, on December 5, 1826. He was the youngest of five children of Deacon Frederick and Lucy L. (Sargent) Sanborn. He was educated at the
Thetford Academy
and the
Pembroke Academy
.
[1]
He briefly attended
Dartmouth College
in 1851?52, but left after only one quarter to join the law office of
Asa Fowler
in
Concord
. He passed his bar exam in 1854 and subsequently moved to
St. Paul, Minnesota
, in December of that year. In partnership with two other men, he established a law firm in January 1855.
[2]
In March 1857, Sanborn married Catherine Hall. 1859, Sanborn was elected as a
Republican
to the
Minnesota House of Representatives
for a term, and then was elected to the
Minnesota State Senate
in 1861. His wife died in 1860.
Civil War
[
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In April 1861 Sanborn was appointed as the state's
Adjutant General
. His duties included overseeing the organization and equipping of three
regiments
of volunteer
infantry
for the fledgling Union army. He became the
colonel
of the
4th Minnesota Infantry
in December 1861. The regiment had been mustered into Federal service by companies at
Fort Snelling
between October 4 and December 23. Sanborn and his men moved to Benton Barracks in
St. Louis, Missouri
, on April 23, 1862. Sanborn led the 1st Brigade, 7th Division of the
Army of the Mississippi
in
Maj. Gen.
Henry Wager Halleck
's
Siege of Corinth
,
Mississippi
, from May 18 to May 30, the
Battle of Iuka
, September 19 and then in the
Second Battle of Corinth
, Oct 3-4 of that year.
[3]
Sanborn's brigade fought in
Ulysses S. Grant
's Central Mississippi Campaign from November 1862 to January 1863. That was followed by Grant's
Vicksburg Campaign
, with the
Battle of Port Gibson
on May 1, the
Battle of Raymond
eleven days later, and the
Battle of Jackson
on May 14. Sanborn also participated in the subsequent
Battle of Champion's Hill
, the
Battle of Big Black River
, and the
Siege of Vicksburg
from May 18 to July 4. During part of the time, he commanded a
division
. Sanborn's men performed garrison duty at Vicksburg following the surrender.
On August 4, 1863,
President
Abraham Lincoln
appointed Sanborn to the grade of
brigadier general
of volunteers to rank from that date.
[4]
[5]
In October of that year the
U.S. War Department
named him as the commander of the District of Southwestern Missouri. He played a key role in helping defeat the forces of
Confederate
Maj. Gen.
Sterling Price
during his
Missouri Raid
.
On February 10, 1865, President Lincoln appointed Sanborn to the grade of
brevet
major general of volunteers, to rank from that date, and the United States Senate confirmed the appointment on February 20, 1865.
[6]
Sanborn was mustered out of the volunteers on April 30, 1866.
[7]
Reconstruction era career
[
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]
Following the collapse of the Confederacy in the spring of 1865, Sanborn was ordered in June to report to Maj. Gen.
John Pope
in the
Western frontier
to help subdue hostile Indians. In September he,
William Bent
, and famed explorer
Kit Carson
were appointed as commissioners to negotiate a peace treaty with several tribes. Sanborn remarried in November 1865 to Anna Elmer Nixon. From February 1867 until 1869, Sanborn was a member of the Indian Peace Commission, an appointment confirmed by the U.S. Congress. Among his accomplishments was the negotiation of the
Medicine Lodge Treaty
.
Sanborn commanded the District of the Upper Arkansas. He mustered out of the army in 1869 and returned to Minnesota. He resumed his partnership in the law firm of Sanborn, French and Lund. In 1872, he was elected to another term as a state representative and remained heavily involved in state politics and in various veterans organizations on both a state and national level. In 1874, he was involved in the
Sanborn Contract
scandal. He was again a state senator from 1891 until 1893. He married a third time, to Rachel Rice.
In May 1903, Sanborn was elected as the president of the
Minnesota Historical Society
. He died in St. Paul a year later.
His son,
John B. Sanborn, Jr.
, also served in the Minnesota legislature and as a federal judge on the
Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals
.
See also
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]
Notes
[
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]
- ^
Minnesota Legislative Reference Library
Retrieved October 21, 2008.
- ^
Minnesota Historical Society
Retrieved March 11, 2021.
- ^
The Civil War Archive
Retrieved October 21, 2008.
- ^
Eicher, John H.;
Eicher, David J.
(June 2002),
Civil War High Commands
, Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press (published 2001), p. 727,
ISBN
978-0-8047-3641-1
- ^
Lincoln nominated Sanborn to the grade on December 31, 1863 and the United States Senate confirmed the appointment on April 1, 1864. Eicher, 2001, p. 727.
- ^
Eicher, 2001, p. 714.
- ^
Eicher, 2001, p. 468.
References
[
edit
]
- Eicher, John H., and
Eicher, David J.
,
Civil War High Commands
, Palo Alto, California: Stanford University Press, 2001,
ISBN
0-8047-3641-3
.
- Heidler, David S., and Heidler, Jeanne T., eds.,
Encyclopedia of the American Civil War: A Political, Social, and Military History
, W. W. Norton & Company, 2000,
ISBN
0-393-04758-X
.
- U.S. War Department,
The War of the Rebellion
:
a Compilation of the
Official Records
of the Union and Confederate Armies
, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1880?1901.
External links
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