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Civil War Soldiers - Blair
| Blair, Francis P., Jr., major-general, U.S. Army, was
born in Lexington, Ky., Feb. 19, 1821, son of Francis Preston Blair,
statesman. He was graduated from Princeton in 1841, admitted to the
bar in 1843, practiced two years in St. Louis, and then spent two
years in the Rocky mountains for his health. He served as a private in
the Mexican war, then returned to St. Louis, where he took an active
part in politics as a Free Soil Democrat, and represented his district
in the state legislature from 1852 to 1856, after which he spent
several terms in Congress. In 1861, at a meeting of Republican leaders
in St. Louis, Mr. Blair urged the necessity of saving from the state
authorities the St. Louis arsenal, containing 65,000 stands of arms
belonging to the government, and he became the head of the military
organization then formed, which guarded the arsenal from that time.
Under his direction, the state troops under Gen. Frost were captured
in May, 1861, and it is claimed that this act, done though it was
without authority from Washington, saved Missouri and Kentucky to the
Union. He then joined the Union army as colonel of volunteers and was
promoted to brigadier-general, and, on Nov. 29, 1862, was made
major-general of volunteers. He commanded a division in the Vicksburg
campaign, led his men at Lookout mountain and Missionary ridge, and
was at the head of his troops, the 17th corps, during Sherman's
campaigns in 1864-65, including the march to the sea. His opposition
to reconstruction policies after the war led to his rejection by the
senate, when nominated by President Johnson as revenue collector at
St. Louis, and also as United States minister to Austria. He returned
to the Democratic party and was its candidate for the vice-presidency
in 1868. In Jan., 1871, he again entered the Missouri state
legislature, was elected to the United States senate to fill an
unexpired term, but failed at re-election in 1873. At the time of his
death, which occurred in St. Louis in 1875, he was state
superintendent of insurance.
Source: The Union Army: A History of Military Affairs in the Loyal
States 1861-1865, Volume 8 Biographical, 1908
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