Manuscript Letter to the President [Ulysses S. Grant]; Recommendation of Orsamus Cole to District Judge
House of Representatives: July 1, 1870. 8"x 20", folded, 4 pp., with manuscript on two pages. Fade to 1/4" of right margin, one fox spot on p1, two mail folds, otherwise a fine document. Included is an unresearched name and address insert. Four Congressman from Wisconsin sign a letter to President Ulysses S. Grant to appoint one of their collegues to a newly created Judgeship. This letter is not only signed by four Congressman, three of them were Generals in the Civil War.
Cadwallader Colden Washburn (1818 – 1882) was a businessman, politician, and soldier who founded a mill that later became General Mills. A member of the Washburn family of Maine, he was a U.S. Congressman and governor of Wisconsin, and served as a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
Halbert Eleazer Paine (1826 – 1905) was also a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War. After the war, he was elected to three terms as U.S. Congressman from Wisconsin. After deciding not to run again, he stayed in Washington, where he had a law practice. He wrote a text on contested elections, as he had represented men in two such Congressional cases. He also wrote a memoir of his service in Louisiana during the Civil War, reflecting on its complexities as a man from the North.
Amasa Cobb (1823 – 1905) was a politician and judgeand general of the Union Army during the Civil War. He was the 6th and 9th Chief Justice of the Nebraska Supreme Court and the 5th Mayor of Lincoln, Nebraska. Earlier in his life, he was a United States Congressman from Wisconsin for 8 years and served as the 13th Speaker of the Wisconsin State Assembly.
Philetus Sawyer (1816 – 1900) was an American politician of the Republican Party who represented Wisconsin in both houses of Congress. Sawyer County, Wisconsin, is named for him.
Orsamus R. Cole (1819 – May 5, 1903) was a lawyer and judge. He served as the 6th Chief Justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, and, until 2013, was the longest-serving justice in the Court's history, with nearly 37 years on the high court. He also represented Wisconsin's 2nd congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives for the 31st Congress (1849–1850). Item #2424
"To the President; The subcribers beign four out of five of the Republican Members from Wisconsin beg leave to recommend for appointment as District Judge in the new district lately creatd in Wisconsin Hon.ble Orsamus Cole at present one of the Judges of theSupreme Court of said State. Judge Cole is a gentleman of high character and has been three times elected by the people of the State to the position he now holds. The new district created is composed of the three Congressional Disctricts now presented by Messrs. Atwood, Cob and Washburn, two of whom sign this recommendation. Neither Senator resides in that Disctrict." (p 1) "This Judicial District being entirely outside of the distrcit I represent I will only say that I most heartily indorse (sp) all tht my colleagues say in regard to Judge Cole" /s/ Philetus Sawyer.
Price: $250.00