DeWitt Clinton Littlejohn

Littlejohn initially pursued an academic course at Geneva College.

He did not complete college, and instead engaged in several profitable mercantile pursuits, acting for a time as a forwarder of fresh produce on the lakes and canals of the region. He later engaged in the manufacturing of flour in Oswego, New York.

He was Mayor of Oswego, New York in 1849 and 1850. He was a member of the New York State Assembly (Oswego Co., 1st D.) in 1853, 1854, 1855, 1857, 1859, 1860, 1861, 1866, 1867, 1870, 1871, and 1884. He was speaker in 1855, 1857, 1859, 1860 and 1861; and was the chief lieutenant to Thurlow Weed.

In 1861, Littlejohn was influential in the backroom politics to select Ira Harris over Horace Greeley as the Republican Party's nominee to run for the U.S. Senate to succeed William H. Seward, who had not run for re-election, expecting to join President Abraham Lincoln's cabinet. In September, Littlejohn unsuccessfully sued Greeley and the New-York Tribune for libel.

{{Further|110th New York Infantry Regiment}}

When the Civil War began in 1861, Littlejohn worked actively to recruit troops in the Oswego area. Littlejohn used his political connections in July 1862 to secure a commission as Colonel of the 110th New York Infantry Regiment, a regiment he helped raise through his personal efforts. He trained his troops at Camp Patterson near Baltimore, where it was stationed until November, when it was ordered to be relocated to federal-occupied New Orleans.

Returning to politics, he successfully campaigned for the U.S. House of Representatives. He was elected as a Republican to the 38th United States Congress. He resigned from the Union Army on February 3, 1863, and served in Congress from March 4, 1863, to March 3, 1865. During that term, he was Chairman of the Committee on Revolutionary Pensions. Littlejohn was not a candidate for renomination in 1864.

On February 26, 1867, President Andrew Johnson nominated Littlejohn for appointment to the grade of brevet brigadier general of volunteers, to rank from March 13, 1865, and the U.S. Senate confirmed the appointment on March 2, 1867.Eicher, John H., and David J. Eicher, Civil War High Commands. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2001. {{ISBN|978-0-8047-3641-1}}. p. 741.

In 1870, the Republican state convention nominated Littlejohn for Lieutenant Governor of New York on the ticket with Stewart L. Woodford, but he declined to run.

In 1872, fed up with what he perceived to be the corruption of the Grant administration, Littlejohn joined the Liberal Republican Party and supported the candidacy of Horace Greeley for president in 1872, after resolving his previous legal issues with Greeley. He then became a Democrat, and was a delegate to several Democratic state conventions and was a political ally of New York governor and 1876 presidential candidate Samuel J. Tilden.

{{Further|New York, Ontario and Western Railway}}

He then moved to Buffalo, New York, but returned to Oswego in 1867. Littlejohn wanted to afford Oswego the growth possible by a rail connection to a major port.

In 1868, he organized and served as president of the New York and Oswego Midland Railroad (NY&OM), a route traversing much of New York state on its way to New York City. He also established a steamboat service connecting Long Island to his new railroad.

He died in Oswego, New York, and was interred at Riverside Cemetery in Oswego.

{{Portal|Biography|American Civil War}}

• List of American Civil War brevet generals (Union)

{{CongBio|L000357}} Retrieved on 2008-02-12

• [https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1892/10/28/104151217.pdf] Obit in NYT, October 28, 1892
• Brown, John Howard, ed., Lamb's Biographical Dictionary of the United States. Volume V. Boston: James H. Lamb Co., 1903.
• Eicher, John H., and David J. Eicher, Civil War High Commands. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2001. {{ISBN|978-0-8047-3641-1}}

{{Reflist}}

{{s-start}}

{{s-par|us-ny-hs}}

{{succession box | title = New York State Assembly
Oswego County, 1st District | before = Edwin C. Hart | years = 1853-1855 | after = Orville Robinson}}

{{succession box | title = New York State Assembly
Oswego County, 1st District | before = Orville Robinson | years = 1857 | after = William Baldwin}}

{{succession box | title = New York State Assembly
Oswego County, 1st District | before = William Baldwin | years = 1859-1861 | after = Elias Root}}

{{succession box | title = New York State Assembly
Oswego County, 1st District | before = Elias Root | years = 1866-1867 | after = John A. Place}}

{{succession box | title = New York State Assembly
Oswego County, 1st District | before = Benjamin Doolittle | years = 1870-1871 | after = Daniel G. Fort}}

{{succession box | title = New York State Assembly
Oswego County, 1st District | before = William A. Poucher | years = 1884 | after = Henry C. Howe}}

{{s-off}}

{{Succession box | before = Robert H. Pruyn | title = Speaker of the New York State Assembly | years = 1855 | after = Orville Robinson}}

{{Succession box | before = Orville Robinson | title = Speaker of the New York State Assembly | years = 1857 | after = Thomas G. Alvord}}

{{Succession box | before = Thomas G. Alvord | title = Speaker of the New York State Assembly | years = 1859–1861 | after = Henry Jarvis Raymond}}

{{s-end}}

{{SpeakerNYAssembly}}

{{s-start}}

{{s-par|us-hs}}

{{US House succession box | state = New York | district = 22 | before = William E. Lansing | after = Sidney T. Holmes | years = 1863-1865}}

{{s-end}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Littlejohn, Dewitt Clinton}}

Category:1818 births

Category:1892 deaths

Category:Politicians from Oneida County, New York

Category:Mayors of places in New York (state)

Category:Speakers of the New York State Assembly

Category:Republican Party members of the New York State Assembly

Category:Union army generals

Category:People of New York (state) in the American Civil War

Category:19th-century American railroad executives

Category:New York (state) Liberal Republicans

Category:New York (state) Democrats

Category:Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from New York (state)

Category:Politicians from Oswego, New York

Category:19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives

Category:19th-century members of the New York State Legislature