★ ★  Oglesby, Richard J.

Richard James Oglesby

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Born: July 25, 1824

Birthplace: Floydsburg, Kentucky

Father: Jacob Oglesby 1791 – 1833

Mother:
Isabel Watson 1792 – 1833

1st Wife: Anna Elizabeth White 1835 – 1868
(Buried: Greenwood Cemetery, Decatur, Illinois)​

2nd Wife: Emma Susan Gillett 1845 – 1928
(Buried: Elkhart Cemetery, Elkhart, Illinois)​

Signature:
Richard_James_Oglesby_Signature.svg.png


Children:

Richard “Dickey” Oglesby 1859 – 1865​
(Buried: Greenwood Cemetery, Decatur, Illinois)​
Anna “Little Sissie” Oglesby 1861 – 1862​
(Buried: Greenwood Cemetery, Decatur, Illinois)​
Olive Olga Oglesby Snider 1863 – 1950​
(Buried: Greenwood Cemetery, Decatur, Illinois)​
Robert Oglesby 1865 – 1928​
(Buried: Greenwood Cemetery, Decatur, Illinois)​
Richard James Oglesby Jr. 1874 – 1913
Oglesby.jpg
(Buried: Elkhart Cemetery, Elkhart, Illinois)​
Felicite Louise Oglesby Bolognetti 1874 – 1954​
(Buried: Campo Cestio, Rome, Italy)​
John Dean Gillett Oglesby 1878 – 1939​
(Buried: Elkhart Cemetery, Elkhart, Illinois)​
Jasper Ernest “Jap” Oglesby 1882 – 1935​
(Buried: Latham Cemetery, Elkhart, Illinois)​

Occupation before War:

Farmer, rope – maker and carpenter in Decatur, Illinois​
1846 – 1847: 1st Lt. Company C, 4th Illinois Volunteers​
1847: Served in the Battle of Vera Cruz, Mexico​
1847: Helped Captured Santa Anna’s Cork Leg at Battle of Cerro Gordo​
1849: Participated in the California Gold Rush​
1858: Unsuccessful Candidate for United States Congressman​
1860: Illinois State Senator​

Civil War Career:

1861 – 1862: Colonel of 8th Illinois Infantry Regiment​
Known to his troops as “Uncle Dick”​
1862: Served under Grant at the Battle of Fort Henry, Tennessee​
1862: Served under Grant at the Battle of Fort Donelson, Tennessee​
1862: Brigadier General, Union Army Volunteers​
1862: Wounded in the chest and back at Siege of Corinth, Mississippi​
1862 – 1864: Major General of Union Army Volunteers​
1863: Left Wing Commander in Western Tennessee & North Mississippi​
1864: Resigned from the Union Army to run for Governor of Illinois​
1865 – 1869: Governor of Illinois​
1865: Present in the room when President Lincoln died
Oglesby 2.jpg

Occupation after War:

1865 – 1869: Governor of Illinois​
Advocate for improving quality care of mentally ill and disabled​
1869 – 1872: Attorney in Decatur, Illinois​
1873: Governor of Illinois​
1873 – 1879: United States Senator from Illinois​
1875 – 1879: Senate Chairman of Committee on Public Lands​
1879 – 1885: Attorney in Decatur, Illinois​
1885 – 1889: Governor of Illinois​
1889 – 1899: Lived at his farm called Oglehurst in Elkhart, Illinois​

Died: April 24, 1899

Place of Death: Oglehurst Farm in Elkhart, Illinois

Cause of Death: Bad health

Age at time of Death: 74 years old

Burial Place: Elkhart Cemetery, Elkhart, Illinois
 
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An original member of the Republican Party.He returned from the Gold Rush and joined the fledgling Party. He failed in the run for U S congressman but did get elected to the Illinois State Legislature. It was this seat he resigned from to join the Union Army.,

His 8th Illinois was a 3 month unit and when it expired Oglesby got the unit to re-enlist.

That left wing he commanded was in the 16th Corps of the Army of the Tennessee.

His resignation from the Army to run for governor was on May 26, 1864. He was inaugurated on Jan. 16, 1865. His administration oversaw the ratification of several amendments and the repeal of some "anti-black''legislation.
 
Oglesby's second wife was a Gillett whose father was a large land owner and cattle raiser in Logan county,IL This helped put him on the map and keep him there. Elkhart Hill is a very prominent hill on otherwise flat ground along the Chicago & Alton or GM&O or Union Pacific tracks one county away from Sangamon County and Springfield.
 
He was both Governor and Senator in 1873, he served as Governor for just a few days (January 13 to January 23) before resigning to take a seat in the U.S. Senate. He was Governor for a third time from January 30,1885 to January 14, 1889. He then tried to take his old Senate seat back. After failing at that , he retired from politics.

One biography has him being present in the room where Lincoln died at the Peterson house on April 15, 1865.

I'm still trying to find an explanation as to why the Governor of Illinois was in Washington DC at that particular time (April 1865) He had just been sworn in as governor the previous January.
 
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