Russell, Thomas; Nason, Elias. The Life and Public Services of Hon. Henry Wilson. Boston: B. B. Russell, 1872. [12162]
Dark green publisher's cloth with bright gilt titles, slight shelf-wear, 7 1/2 x 5 1/4 inches, tight. Steel-engraved frontispiece with printed signature & tissue guard, a little foxed, one additional wood-engraved plate. 419 clean pp., one margin with a pencil check mark. Very good. Hardcover.
Henry Wilson (1812-1875), vice president under president Ulysses S. Grant, US Senator from Massachusetts from 1855 to 1873. He began his political career as a Whig, was a founder of the Free Soil Party, and a founder of the Republican Party. He was considered to be a Radical in his abolitionist views and was credited with being a skilled organizer for his causes.
During the American Civil War, Wilson was Chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs and the Militia, and played a key role in overseeing Army and Navy Department nominations.
In 1861 he raised and equipped the 22nd Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, a force of 2,300 men. He briefly served as their commanding officer with the rank of colonel.
His service in the Senate was remarkable regarding military affairs, and his leadership and organizational skills were recognized by both Winfield Scott and the Secretary of War Simon Cameron. Wilson was almost captured by the Confederates at the Union disaster of the first battle of Bull Run.
After the war Wilson opposed the more lenient Reconstruction efforts of President Johnson, and joined with the Radical Republicans in opposing any person who had been disloyal to the Union from serving in Congress. He supported the impeachment of President Johnson because Johnson resisted or vetoed the Reconstruction measures of Congress.
He was vice president under Grant during Grant's second term.
