Military and Government Service
Thistlewood enlisted in the Union Army in 1862 and served as captain of Company C, Ninety-eighth Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry. He served in the Army of the Cumberland, in Wilder's Brigade, and with Wilson's Cavalry Corps.
At the conclusion of his second mayoral term in Cairo, Thistlewood was named Department Commander of the Grand Army of the Republic for Illinois (1901).
Thistlewood was elected as a Republican to the Sixtieth Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the 1907 death of George W. Smith. He was elected to the Sixty-first and Sixty-second Congresses and served from February 1908 to March 1913. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1912 to the Sixty-third Congress. He retired and was a resident of Cairo, Illinois, until his death in that city on 15 September 1915.
Read more about this topic: Napoleon B. Thistlewood
Famous quotes containing the words military, government and/or service:
“War both needs and generates certain virtues; not the highest, but what may be called the preliminary virtues, as valour, veracity, the spirit of obedience, the habit of discipline. Any of these, and of others like them, when possessed by a nation, and no matter how generated, will give them a military advantage, and make them more likely to stay in the race of nations.”
—Walter Bagehot (1826–1877)
“The putting into force of laws which shall secure the conservation of our resources, as far as they may be within the jurisdiction of the Federal Government, including the more important work of saving and restoring our forests and the great improvement of waterways, are all proper government functions which must involve large expenditure if properly performed.”
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)
“The general who advances without coveting fame and retreats without fearing disgrace, whose only thought is to protect his country and do good service for his sovereign, is the jewel of the kingdom.”
—Sun Tzu (6th–5th century B.C.)