Elihu B. Washburne

Common card · No. 459144

Elihu Benjamin Washburne (September 23, 1816 – October 22, 1887) was an American politician. A member of the Washburn family, which played a prominent role in the early formation of the United States Republican Party, he served as a congressman from Illinois before, during and after the American Civil War. He was a political ally of President Abraham Lincoln and General (later President) Ulysses S. Grant. During Grant's administration, Washburne was the 25th United States Secretary of State briefly in 1869, and was the United States Minister to France from 1869 to 1877. In his youth, when his family became destitute, Washburne left home in Maine at the age of 14, to support himself and further his education. After working for newspapers in Maine and studying law, Washburne passed the bar and moved to Galena, Illinois, where he became a partner in a successful law firm. Washburne was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1852 and served from 1853 to 1869, which included the...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Mathew Benjamin Brady / Levin Corbin Handy, Public domain