Brough, John [key], 1811–65, Civil War governor of Ohio (1864–65), b. Marietta, Ohio. In 1844, after publishing newspapers in Marietta and Lancaster, he became owner and editor of the Cincinnati Enquirer, which he made one of the leading Democratic organs in the West. Brough served in the state legislature, and as state auditor (1839–45) he thoroughly reorganized Ohio's financial system. Although a Democrat, Brough so vigorously supported the Union during the Civil War that the Republicans nominated him for governor in 1863, and he soundly defeated the Copperhead leader, Clement L. Vallandigham. He was one of the most effective state leaders of the period.
See W. B. Hesseltine, Lincoln and the War Governors (1948).
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