Benjamin Gratz Brown
Regiment & Brigade Commander, USA, 1861-1863
U. S. Senator, Missouri, 1863-1867
Governor, Missouri, 1871
Born: May 28, 1826, Lexington, Kentucky.
Died: December 13, 1885, Kirkwood, near St. Louis, Missouri.
- Completed preparatory studies.
- Transylvania University, Lexington, Kentucky, graduate, 1845.
- Yale College, graduate, 1847.
- Studied law in Louisville, Kentucky.
- Was admitted to the bar, 1849, and commenced practice in St. Louis, Missouri.
- Member of the Missouri State House of Representatives, 1852-1858.
- One of the founders of the Missouri Democrat and its chief editor, 1854.
- Unsuccessful Governor of Missouri candidate for election, 1857.
- Took an active part in preventing the secession of Missouri, 1861.
- During the Civil War enlisted in the Union Army.
- Raised a regiment and commanded it.
- Led a brigade against Confederate Generals Price and Van Dorn.
- Elected from Missouri as a Democrat to the U. S. Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the expulsion of Waldo P. Johnson, serving from November 13, 1863 - March 3, 1867.
- Governor of Missouri, 1871.
- Unsuccessful Democratic candidate for Vice President of the United States on the ticket with Horace Greeley, 1872.
- Resumed his law practice.
Buried: Oak Hill Cemetery, Kirkwood, Missouri.
(Source: U.S. Congress. House. Biographical Directory Of The American Congress 1774-1949, 85th Cong., 2nd sess., H. Doc. 607 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1950), pp. 759-2057.)