Francis Preston Blair (Union general)

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Francis Preston Blair

Francis Preston Blair 1821-75, American political leader and Union general in the Civil War, b. Lexington, Ky., son of Francis Preston Blair (1791-1876). A St. Louis lawyer, Blair led the Free-Soil party in Missouri in 1848, served as state legislator (1852-56), and as Congressman (1857-59; June, 1860; 1861-62). In Congress he attacked slavery as harmful to the interests of poor whites and became an energetic Lincoln supporter in 1860. Instrumental in keeping Missouri loyal to the Union by seizing, with Nathaniel Lyon , secessionist Camp Jackson and the U.S. arsenal early in 1861, he was appointed major general of volunteers (Nov., 1862) and served in the Vicksburg, Chattanooga, and Atlanta campaigns. After the Civil War, Blair was denied political preferment by the radical Republicans and in 1868 ran for Vice President on the unsuccessful Democratic ticket with Horatio Seymour. He helped overthrow the radicals in Missouri in 1870 and was elected to the state legislature, which, in turn, sent him to the U.S. Senate (1871-73).

Bibliography: See W. E. Smith, The Francis Preston Blair Family in Politics (1933); B. J. Hendrick, Lincoln's War Cabinet (1946).

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Blair, Francis Preston, Jr.

The Oxford Essential Dictionary of the U.S. Military | 2001 | Â© The Oxford Essential Dictionary of the U.S. Military 2001, originally published by Oxford University Press 2001. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

Blair, Francis Preston, Jr. (1821–75) Union army officer, U.S. congressman and senator, born in Lexington, Kentucky. A congressman from Missouri, the only Free Soiler from a slave state, he was appointed brigadier general in the U.S. Army, raised seven Missouri infantry regiments, and led a brigade in battle at Vicksburg (1863) under Gen. William T. Sherman. He was then promoted to major general and commanded an infantry corps through the remainder of the war.

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"Blair, Francis Preston, Jr." The Oxford Essential Dictionary of the U.S. Military. 2001. Retrieved November 29, 2009 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O63-BlairFrancisPrestonJr.html

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	Obama's temporary home full of history, comforts News Wire article from: AP Online; 1/14/2009
	Betonville: The Final Battle of Sherman and Johnston. Magazine article from: The Historian; 6/22/1998

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