Lovell Harrison ROUSSEAU, Congress, KY (1818-1869)

ROUSSEAU Lovell Harrison , a Representative from Kentucky; born near Stanford, Lincoln County, Ky., August 4, 1818; attended the common schools; studied law; admitted to the bar in 1841 and began practice in Bloomfield, Ind.; lawyer, private practice; member of the Indiana state house of representatives, 1844-1845; captain in the Mexican War; served in the Indiana state senate, 1847-1849; returned to Kentucky in 1849 and resumed the practice of law in Louisville; member of the Kentucky state senate, 1860-1861; served as a colonel, brigadier general, and major general in the Union Army during the Civil War and resigned November 17, 1865; elected as an Unconditional Unionist to the Thirty-ninth Congress and served until his resignation on July 21, 1866 ( March 4, 1865-July 21, 1866); censured by the U.S. House of Representatives on July 17, 1866, for his assault on U.S. Representative Justin Grinnell of Iowa, in the Capitol Building; subsequently reelected in a special election to fill the vacancy caused by his own resignation (December 3, 1866-March 3, 1867); appointed a brigadier general in the U.S. Army with the brevet rank of major general on March 27, 1867, and assigned to duty in Alaska; on July 28, 1868, was placed in command of the Department of Louisiana and served in that capacity until his death in New Orleans, La., January 7, 1869; interment in Arlington National Cemetery.

Bibliography

Dawson, Joseph G. ``General Lovell H. Rousseau and Louisiana Reconstruction.'' Louisiana History 20 (Fall 1979): 373-91.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present