Simon Cameron

U. S. Senator, Pennsylvania, 1845-1849; 1857-1861
U. S. Secretary of War, 1861-1862
U. S. Minister to Russia, 1862
U. S. Senator, Pennsylvania, 1867-1877

Born: March 8, 1799, Maytown, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

• Apprenticed as a printer at the age of ten years.
  
• Successfully conducted and edited the Doylestown (Pennsylvania) Democrat.
  
• Purchased the Harrisburg Republican and rechristened it the Intelligencer, 1821.
  
• Cashier of a bank
  
• President of two railroad companies
  
• Adjutant General of Pennsylvania.
  
• Elected from Pennsylvania to the U. S. Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of James Buchanan, and acted with the Democratic Party, serving from March 13, 1845 - March 3, 1849.
  
• Left the Democratic Party, 1854, and assisted in the formation of the People's Party.
  
• Elected from Pennsylvania as a Republican to the U. S. Senate, serving from March 4, 1857 - March 4, 1861, when he resigned, having been appointed U. S. Secretary of War.
  
• Had strong support as a presidential candidate in 1860, but failed to secure the nomination for U. S. Vice President on the ticket with Abraham Lincoln.
  
• U. S. Secretary of War in the Cabinet of President Lincoln, March 11, 1861 - January 11, 1862, when he resigned and organized the Union forces for service in the field.
  
• Was immediately appointed U. S. Minister to Russia, resigning on November 8, 1862.
  
• Delegate to the Republican National Convention at Baltimore, Maryland, 1864, and to the Loyalists' Convention at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1866.
  
• Was again elected to the U. S. Senate, 1867, re-elected to U. S. Senate, 1873, serving from March 4, 1867, until his resignation, effective March 12, 1877.
  
• Retired from active business pursuits and traveled extensively in Europe and the West Indies.

Died: June 26, 1889, near Maytown, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
Buried: Harrisburg Cemetery, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

(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.)