James L. Mitchell

{{short description|American politician}}

James L. Mitchell (29 September 1834 in Shelby County, Kentucky – 22 February 1894) was an American lawyer, army officer and 11th mayor of the city of Indianapolis, Indiana.{{cite book|author1=David J. Bodenhamer |author2=Robert Graham Barrows |author3=David Gordon Vanderstel |title=The Encyclopedia of Indianapolis|publisher=Indiana University Press|year=1994|pages=1012|isbn=978-0-253-31222-8|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bg13QcMSsq8C}}{{cite book|last=Nowland|first=John H.B.|title=Early reminiscences of Indianapolis: with short biographical sketches of its early citizens, and a few of the prominent business men of the present day|publisher=Sentinel Book and Job Printing House|location=Indianapolis|year=1870|pages=243–244|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v0XWAAAAMAAJ}} Mitchell was born in Kentucky and settled in Indianapolis in 1859 where he read law. During the American Civil War, Mitchell was an officer in the 70th Regiment Indiana Infantry and, near the end of the war, a major on the staff of General Lovell Rousseau. He returned to his law practice following the war (a notable partner at his firm was William A. Ketcham, who later served as Indiana Attorney General{{cite web |title=Grand Army of the Republic William Alexander Ketcham Commander-in-Chief 1920 / 1921 |url=https://suvcw.org/garcinc/waketcham.htm |website=Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War |access-date=2022-06-19 |archive-date=2022-05-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220519093709/https://suvcw.org/garcinc/waketcham.htm |url-status=dead }}) and in 1873 became the first Democratic Party mayor of Indianapolis since Charles G. Coulon twenty-seven years earlier. In fact from 1856 to 1890, Mitchell's two-year term (1873–1875) is the only one not served by a Republican.