John Brooks HENDERSON, Congress, MO (1826-1913)

HENDERSON John Brooks , a Senator from Missouri; born near Danville, Pittsylvania County, Va., November 16, 1826; moved with his parents to Lincoln County, Mo.; studied on his own while a farm hand; taught school; admitted to the bar in 1844 and practiced; member, State house of representatives 1848-1850, 1856-1858; active in Democratic politics; commissioned a brigadier general in the State militia in 1861; appointed and subsequently elected to the United States Senate as a Unionist to fill the vacancy caused by the expulsion of Trusten Polk; reelected in 1863 and served from January 17, 1862, to March 3, 1869; was not a candidate for reelection; chairman, Committee to Audit and Control the Contingent Expense (Thirty-ninth Congress), Committee on Indian Affairs (Thirty-ninth and Fortieth Congresses); unsuccessful candidate for Governor and Senator; special United States attorney for prosecution of the Whiskey Ring at St. Louis in 1875; appointed a commissioner to treat with hostile tribes of Indians in 1877; moved to Washington, D.C., in 1888; writer; resided in the capital until his death, April 12, 1913; interment in Greenwood Cemetery, Brooklyn, N.Y.

Bibliography

American National Biography; Dictionary of American Biography; Mattingly, Arthur H. "Senator John Brooks Henderson, United States Senator from Missouri." Ph.D. dissertation, Kansas State University, 1971; Roske, Ralph J. "The Seven Martyrs?" American Historical Review 64 (January 1959): 323-30.

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