Anson G. Henry

Last updated
Anson G. Henry
Dr. Anson G. Henry.jpg
Born(1804-10-03)October 3, 1804
Richfield, New York
DiedJuly 30, 1865(1865-07-30) (aged 60)
Ocean off of Crescent City, California
NationalityAmerican
Occupation(s)Physician, politician
Years active1827-1865
Known forfriend to President Abraham Lincoln, Indian agent to Oregon tribes

Anson G. Henry (October 3, 1804 - July 30, 1865) was a physician and politician, who is best known for his friendship with eventual President Abraham Lincoln. Henry received patronage appointments to Oregon Territory through Lincoln from 1852 onwards, first as an Indian agent and then as Surveyor General of Washington Territory. He died when the steamer Brother Jonathan ran aground near Crescent City, California and sank.

Contents

Life

Anson G. Henry was born on October 3, 1804, in Richfield, New York. [1] He was the oldest son of the five sons and three daughters of Gordon Henry (1777-1857), a farmer of Protestant Irish descent, and his wife, Phebe (Cheeseman) Henry. [2] Henry gained his medical degree in 1827 from Cincinnati College and the Medical College of Ohio. After a series of failed business ventures in Michigan and Louisville, Kentucky, Henry married Eliza Broadstreet and moved to Springfield, Illinois in October 1832. In 1832 and 1833, Henry assisted with the cholera outbreaks in St. Louis and Jacksonville, Illinois, gaining recognition as an expert in treatment of cholera. [3] Henry met Abraham Lincoln in Springfield, quickly becoming friends, though Henry was five years older. [4]

Henry became heavily involved in politics. He was one of three commissioners responsible for overseeing the construction of the State Capitol in 1837. Accused of allowing cost overruns, he was exonerated by an investigating committee suggested by Lincoln. [5] After Mary Todd broke the engagement with Lincoln on January 1, 1841, he regularly sought out Henry's company. [6] A fellow state senator later recounted, "Mr. Lincoln boarded at William Butler’s, near to Dr. Henry’s, where I boarded. The missing days, from January 13th to 19th, Mr. Lincoln spent several hours each day at Dr. Henry’s; a part of these days I remained with Mr. Lincoln. His most intimate friends had no fears of his injuring himself. He was very sad and melancholy, but being subject to these spells, nothing serious was apprehended." [7] In 1850, Henry assisted in the formation of the Illinois State Medical Society and was appointed Vice-President. [8]

Oregon

In 1850, Lincoln wrote a letter to Thomas Ewing, the first Secretary of the Interior, urging Henry's appointment as a patronage appointment as an Indian agent. [9] Later than year on June 24, 1850, Henry received an appointment as an Indian agent for the Oregon Territory, however he did not leave until April 6, 1852, taking his wife and five children. [8] The family arrived in Lafayette, Oregon in October, where he began practicing medicine and accepted an appointment as deputy surveyor of Yamhill County. [10] In 1853, he successfully ran for a seat representing Yamhill in the Oregon Territorial Legislature, serving in the 6th Legislative Session from December 1854 to February 1855. In 1855, he participated in the Rogue River Wars. [11] As a member of the Oregon Volunteer militia, he served as commissary, and reportedly favored the genocide of Native Americans. [12]

"I found that very little preparation had been made for the comfort or successful treatment of the large number of naked diseased Indians, who had been collected together suddenly from all parts of the territory. I found them sick & dying under circumstances which appealed most strongly to the sympathies of the human heart."

Anson G. Henry,Letter to Absalom F. Hedges, Oregon Superintendent of Indian Affairs, dated January 5, 1857 [12]

In 1856, Henry was appointed physician to the Grand Ronde Indian Reservation, receiving an annual salary of $2000, more than could be achieved by farming. He arrived at the reservation in May 1856, later providing among the most detailed accounts of the health situation in Oregon's early reservations. His reports indicate that up to two-thirds of the population of the settlement were sick, all of which were under his care as the sole doctor. [12]

Henry and Lincoln corresponded regularly by mail even after Henry moved to Oregon. On July 4, 1860, Lincoln wrote, "Long before this you have learned who was nominated at Chicago. We know not what a day may bring forth; but, to-day, it looks as if the Chicago ticket will be elected." [13] In May, Lincoln had received the nomination of the Republican Party as its presidential candidate and would go on to win the presidential election. One of Lincoln's first presidential appointments was to name Henry as Surveyor-General of Washington Territory, succeeding James Tilton, and serving from 1861 to 1865. [14] Henry visited Washington, DC in the spring of 1863 where Lincoln insisted that he stay and accompany him in a visit of the Army of the Potomac. [15] Henry's daughter had married Washington territory prosecuting attorney Aleck C. Smith, for whom Henry successfully sought an appointment to the territorial supreme court at this time. [16]

Following the 1864 United States presidential election, Henry returned to Washington, DC in anticipation of a high political appointment in the Interior Department. Mary Todd Lincoln and Noah Brooks considered him an ally and sought his appointment as Commissioner of Indian Affairs. [15] However, the President eventually informed Henry that he did not want to remove William P. Dole in favor of another friend. [17] Disappointed, Henry traveled to Richmond, Virginia, where he was during the assassination of the president on April 14, 1865. In a letter to his wife, Henry recounted his reaction to seeing Lincoln's corpse and his attempts to comfort Mary Todd. [18] Henry stayed in the White House for the next six weeks, acting as physician to care for the distraught Mary Todd, eventually accompanying her back to Chicago. [19]

After leaving Mary Todd Lincoln, he began making his way back to his family in Oregon. On July 28, 1865, Henry boarded Brother Jonathan in San Francisco for a voyage to Portland, Oregon. After running aground on the 30th, the vessel sank; killing over 200 passengers and crew, including Henry. On August 30, Mary Todd wrote Henry's widow, "We have both been called upon to resign, to our Heavenly Father, two of the best men & the most devoted husbands, that two unhappy women, ever possessed." [20]

Bibliography

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abraham Lincoln</span> President of the United States from 1861 to 1865

Abraham Lincoln was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the Union through the American Civil War to defend the nation as a constitutional union and succeeded in defeating the insurgent Confederacy, abolishing slavery, expanding the power of the federal government, and modernizing the U.S. economy.

<i>Abe Lincoln in Illinois</i> (film) 1940 film by John Cromwell

Abe Lincoln in Illinois is a 1940 biographical-drama film that depicts the life of Abraham Lincoln from his departure from Kentucky until his election as president of the United States. In the UK, the film is known by the alternate title Spirit of the People. The film was adapted by Grover Jones and Robert E. Sherwood from Sherwood's 1938 Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name. It was directed by John Cromwell.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Todd Lincoln</span> American lawyer and politician (1843–1926)

Robert Todd Lincoln was an American lawyer, military officer, businessman and politician. The eldest son of President Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd Lincoln, he was the only one of their four children to outlive his parents. Robert Lincoln became a business lawyer and company president, and served as both United States Secretary of War and the U.S. ambassador to Great Britain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Todd Lincoln</span> First Lady of the United States (1861-1865)

Mary Ann Todd Lincoln served as the first lady of the United States from 1861 until the assassination of her husband, President Abraham Lincoln, in 1865.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Harlan (Iowa politician)</span> American politician and lawyer

James Harlan was an attorney and politician, a member of the United States Senate, a U.S. Cabinet Secretary at the United States Department of Interior under President Andrew Johnson, and a Federal Judge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abraham Lincoln and slavery</span> Involvement of Abraham Lincoln and his views and stance on slavery

Abraham Lincoln's position on slavery in the United States is one of the most discussed aspects of his life. Lincoln frequently expressed his moral opposition to slavery in public and private. "I am naturally anti-slavery. If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong," he stated. "I can not remember when I did not so think, and feel." However, the question of what to do about it and how to end it, given that it was so firmly embedded in the nation's constitutional framework and in the economy of much of the country, was complex and politically challenging. In addition, there was the unanswered question, which Lincoln had to deal with, of what would become of the four million slaves if liberated: how they would earn a living in a society that had almost always rejected them or looked down on their very presence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Funeral and burial of Abraham Lincoln</span>

After Abraham Lincoln was assassinated on April 14, 1865, a three-week series of events was held to mourn the death and memorialize the life of the 16th president of the United States. Funeral services, a procession, and a lying in state were first held in Washington, D.C., then a funeral train transported Lincoln's remains 1,654 miles (2,662 km) through seven states for burial in Springfield, Illinois. Never exceeding 20 mph, the train made several stops in principal cities and state capitals for processions, orations, and additional lyings in state. Millions of Americans viewed the train along the route and participated in associated ceremonies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edwin Vose Sumner</span> U.S. Union Army general

Edwin Vose Sumner was a career United States Army officer who became a Union Army general and the oldest field commander of any Army Corps on either side during the American Civil War. His nicknames "Bull" or "Bull Head" came both from his great booming voice and a legend that a musket ball once bounced off his head.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Blair Smith Todd</span> American general

John Blair Smith Todd was a Delegate from Dakota Territory to the United States House of Representatives and a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Assassination of Abraham Lincoln</span> 1865 murder in Washington, D.C., US

On April 14, 1865, Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, was assassinated by well-known stage actor John Wilkes Booth while attending the play Our American Cousin at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. Shot in the head as he watched the play, Lincoln died of his wounds the following day at 7:22 am in the Petersen House opposite the theater. He was the first U.S. president to be assassinated. His funeral and burial were marked by an extended period of national mourning.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Religious views of Abraham Lincoln</span>

Abraham Lincoln grew up in a highly religious Baptist family. He never joined any Church, and was a skeptic as a young man and sometimes ridiculed revivalists. He frequently referred to God and had a deep knowledge of the Bible, often quoting it. Lincoln attended Protestant church services with his wife and children. "Especially after the death of his young son Willie in 1862, Lincoln moved away from his earlier religious skepticism." Some argue that Lincoln was neither a Christian believer nor a secular freethinker.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elizabeth Keckley</span> American seamstress, activist, and writer (1818–1907

Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley was an American seamstress, activist, and writer who lived in Washington, D.C. She was the personal dressmaker and confidante of Mary Todd Lincoln. She wrote an autobiography.

Abraham Lincoln's Peoria speech was made in Peoria, Illinois on October 16, 1854. The speech, with its specific arguments against slavery, was an important step in Abraham Lincoln's political ascension.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Archibald Williams (judge)</span> American judge

Archibald Williams was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Kansas. Williams was a friend and political ally of President Abraham Lincoln.

Abraham Lincoln's health has been the subject of both contemporaneous commentary and subsequent hypotheses by historians and scholars. Until middle age, his health was fairly good for the time. He contracted malaria in 1830 and 1835; the latter was the worse of the two cases. He contracted smallpox in 1863 during an 1863 to 1864 epidemic in Washington, D.C.

Events from the year 1865 in the United States. The American Civil War ends with the surrender of the Confederate States, beginning the Reconstruction era of U.S. history.

William F. Turner was the first Chief Justice of the Territory of Arizona, serving in that capacity for about seven years. Born in Pennsylvania, he attended college in Ohio and practiced law there after graduation. When the Arizona territory was created, he sought to be appointed its first governor but was instead made Chief Justice of the Territorial Supreme Court of Arizona. Renominated to a second four-year term, he was later removed under a cloud of scandal and political opposition while having an unblemished legal record. Turner then formed a successful law practice in Kansas, but his final years were impoverished.

John Hanks was Abraham Lincoln's first cousin, once removed, his mother's cousin. He was the son of William, Nancy Hanks Lincoln's uncle and grandson of Joseph Hanks.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Abraham Lincoln:

Alexander C. "Aleck" Smith was a justice of the Idaho Territorial Supreme Court from 1863 to 1866.

References

  1. ↑ Lincoln, Abraham (2008). The Papers of Abraham Lincoln: Legal Documents and Cases. University of Virginia Press. p. 355. ISBN   978-0-8139-2606-3.
  2. ↑ Adams, William (1893). Historical Gazetteer and Biographical Memorial of Cattaraugus County, N.Y. Lyman, Horton. pp. 613–614.
  3. ↑ Pratt, 1944, pp. 5-6
  4. ↑ Pratt, 1944, p. 6
  5. ↑ Pratt, 1944, p. 7
  6. ↑ Pratt, 1944, pp. 7-8
  7. ↑ Ida M. Tarbell, The Life of Abraham Lincoln, Volume I, p. 180. in "The Politicians: Anson G. Henry (1804-1865)". Mr. Lincoln & Friends. The Lehrman Institute. Retrieved 13 September 2019.
  8. 1 2 Pratt, 1944, p. 8
  9. ↑ Roy P. Basler, editor, The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, Volume II, p. 78 (Letter to Thomas Ewing, March 22, 1850). in "The Politicians: Anson G. Henry (1804-1865)". Mr. Lincoln & Friends. The Lehrman Institute. Retrieved 13 September 2019.
  10. ↑ Pratt, 1944, pp. 14-15
  11. ↑ Pratt, 1944, p. 15
  12. 1 2 3 Lewis, David G. (23 February 2018). "A Hotbed of Disease and Death, Anson G. Henry Physician at Grande Ronde". NDNHistory Research. Retrieved 13 September 2019.
  13. ↑ Roy P. Basler, editor, The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, Volume IV, p. 81-82 (Letter to Anson G. Henry, July 4, 1860). in "The Politicians: Anson G. Henry (1804-1865)". Mr. Lincoln & Friends. The Lehrman Institute. Retrieved 13 September 2019.
  14. ↑ "A Brief History of the General Land Office in Washington" (PDF). www.olsonengr.com. Olson Engineering. p. 15. Retrieved 14 September 2019.
  15. 1 2 "The Politicians: Anson G. Henry (1804-1865)". Mr. Lincoln & Friends. The Lehrman Institute. Retrieved 13 September 2019.
  16. ↑ Debora K. Kristensen, "The First 50 Men In Idaho Law, The Advocate (October 2010), p. 54.
  17. ↑ Pratt, 1944, p. 18
  18. ↑ "A Letter from Dr. Anson G. Henry to his wife". Remembering Lincoln. Ford's Theatre. April 19, 1865. Retrieved 13 September 2019.
  19. ↑ Pratt, 1944, p. 19
  20. ↑ "A Letter from Mary Todd Lincoln to Mrs. Anson G. Henry". Remembering Lincoln. Ford's Theatre. August 31, 1865. Retrieved 13 September 2019.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.