Politics and Military Career
In 1854, Washburn ran for Congress as a Republican, later serving three terms as part of the 34th, 35th and 36th United States Congresses representing Wisconsin's 2nd congressional district, from March 4, 1855 to March 3, 1861. In his last term Washburn served as chairman of the Committee on Private Land Claims. He declined to run again in 1860.
The Washburn family had always been strongly opposed to slavery. Washburn moved to La Crosse, Wisconsin in 1861 but returned to Washington, D.C. later that year as a delegate in the peace convention that was held in an attempt to prevent the American Civil War. He served in the Union Army during the Civil War, becoming colonel of the 2nd Wisconsin Volunteer Cavalry, on February 6, 1862; brigadier general of Volunteers on July 16, 1862; and major general on November 29, 1862. Washburn had the honor of having his appointment document signed by President Abraham Lincoln. At one point Ulysses S. Grant called Washburn "one of the best administrative officers we have." He commanded the cavalry of the XIII Corps in the opening stages of Ulysses S. Grant's Vicksburg Campaign. Once siege operations had begun against the city of Vicksburg and Grant called for all available forces, Washburn led a detachment of the XVI Corps during the siege of Vicksburg. He commanded the 1st Division in the XIII Corps in Nathanial P. Banks' operations along the Texas Coast.
For the rest of the war he served in administrative capacities in Mississippi and Tennessee. When Nathan B. Forrest led a raid against Memphis, Tennessee in 1864, Washburn was forced to flee his headquarters in his nightshirt to avoid capture, finding refuge in Fort Pickering. He left the Union Army on May 25, 1865.
After the conclusion of the war, Washburn returned to his home in La Crosse, where he was elected again for two terms in the House of Representatives. This time representing Wisconsin's 6th congressional district at the 40th and 41st Congresses from March 4, 1867 to March 3, 1871, where he was chairman of the Committee on Expenditures on Public Buildings in the first term. He declined to run in 1870.
In 1871, he was urged to run for Governor of Wisconsin against James R. Doolittle. Washburn won the election and was inaugurated governor of Wisconsin on the first Monday in January, 1872 and served from 1872 to 1874. He ran unsuccessfully for reelection in 1873.
A year later, he purchased the Edgewood Villa estate from Samuel Marshall, where Edgewood College sits today.
Read more about this topic: Cadwallader C. Washburn
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