Andrew L. Harris

Harris was born in Milford Township, Butler County, Ohio, and was educated in the local schools. After graduating from Miami University in 1860, Harris enlisted as a private in the Union Army. Harris was married at West Florence, Ohio, to Caroline Conger{{cite web|title=Andrew L. Harris |url=http://ww2.ohiohistory.org/onlinedoc/ohgovernment/governors/harris.html |publisher=Ohio Fundamental Documents |access-date=August 30, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131205013353/http://ww2.ohiohistory.org/onlinedoc/ohgovernment/governors/harris.html |archive-date=December 5, 2013 }} of Preble County, Ohio, on October 17, 1865. They had one son.{{cite book |title=Centennial history of Columbus and Franklin County, Ohio |volume=2 |last=Taylor |first=William Alexander |publisher=S J Clarke Publishing Company |location=Chicago |year=1909 |pages=322–324 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RzoVAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA322}}{{cite book |title=The National cyclopaedia of American biography: being the history ... |volume=Supplement I |year=1910 |publisher=James T. White and Company | page=226 |location=New York |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i-cDAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA226 }}

He quickly rose to the rank of colonel of the 75th Ohio Infantry, seeing action in many of the Army of the Potomac's engagements. At Gettysburg on July 1, 1863, he led his men in a successful withdrawal through the hotly contested streets to Cemetery Hill, where they entrenched on the northeastern slope. Assuming command of a brigade, Harris played a key role in delaying repeated attacks the next day by Harry T. Hays's famed Louisiana Tigers, helping secure the critical hill for George G. Meade. Harris continued to lead troops through the war, although he suffered an embarrassing defeat in August 1864 at the Battle of Gainesville in Florida. When the war ended he was brevetted a brigadier general of volunteers.

An attorney, Harris began practicing law in 1865 and then served in the Ohio State Senate from 1866 to 1870 and as Preble County Probate Judge from 1875 to 1882. Harris served as the 23rd and 29th lieutenant governor of Ohio having been elected in 1891 and 1893 as the running mate of William McKinley, and again in 1905 when Democrat John M. Pattison was elected governor. An early temperance activist and Republican politician, Harris succeeded Pattison (upon the latter's death in June 1906) as governor, serving from 1906 to 1909. He was nominated in 1908 but lost narrowly to Judson Harmon in the gubernatorial election. While in office, Harris signed legislation banning corporate political donations. Harris also served on the U.S. Industrial Commission on Trusts under President McKinley. His official residence was at the Hartman Hotel in Downtown Columbus.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0atpCgAAQBAJ|isbn = 9781626198968|title = Historic Hotels of Columbus, Ohio|year = 2015|publisher = Arcadia}}

Per state law, U.S. 127 between Hamilton and Eaton was renamed the Gov. Andrew L. Harris Bicentennial Roadway. At the Milford Township Bicentennial in 2005, the Gov. Andrew L. Harris Bicentennial Roadway was dedicated by the Governor's relative, James Brodbelt Harris, president of the family reunion association and whose family continues to own an Ohio Century Farm in the township.

Harris died of heart trouble on September 13, 1915, and is interred in Mound Hill Union Cemetery, Eaton, Preble County, Ohio US.{{cite book|last1=Spencer|first1=Thomas E.|title=Where they're buried : a directory containing more than twenty thousand names of notable persons buried in American cemeteries, with listings of many prominent people who were cremated|date=1998|publisher=Clearfield Co.|isbn=9780806348230|page=[https://archive.org/details/wheretheyreburie00spen/page/429 429]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/wheretheyreburie00spen/page/429}}

{{reflist}}

• Baumgartner, Richard A., Buckeye Blood: Ohio at Gettysburg. Huntington, West Virginia: Blue Acorn Press, 2003. {{ISBN|1-885033-29-X}}.
• Bissland, James "Blood, Tears, and Glory: How Ohioans Won the Civil War." Wilmington, Ohio: Orange Frazer Press, 2007. {{ISBN|1-933197-05-6}}.
• {{cite book|ref=ohiowar1|title=Ohio in the War Her Statesmen Generals and Soldiers |page=968 |first=Whitelaw |last=Reid |author-link=Whitelaw Reid|publisher=The Robert Clarke Company |year=1868 |volume=1 |location=Cincinnati |chapter=Andrew L. Harris |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EJ94AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA968}}
• {{find a Grave|5995075}}

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{{Succession box|title=Lieutenant Governor of Ohio|before=William V. Marquis|after=Asa W. Jones|years=1892–1896}}

{{Succession box|title=Lieutenant Governor of Ohio|before=Warren G. Harding|after=Francis W. Treadway|years=1906}}

{{Succession box|title=Governor of Ohio|before=John M. Pattison|after=Judson Harmon|years=1906–1909}}

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{{s-bef|before=Myron T. Herrick}}

{{s-ttl|title=Republican Party nominee for Governor of Ohio|years=1908}}

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{{Governors of Ohio}}

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Category:1835 births

Category:1915 deaths

Category:Republican Party governors of Ohio

Category:Republican Party Ohio state senators

Category:Union army colonels

Category:Miami University alumni

Category:People from Butler County, Ohio

Category:Lieutenant governors of Ohio

Category:People of Ohio in the American Civil War

Category:People from Preble County, Ohio

Category:19th-century members of the Ohio General Assembly

Category:20th-century Ohio politicians