William Cogswell

Cogswell was born in Bradford, Massachusetts, to George Cogswell and Abigail (Parker) Cogswell. Cogswell's father was a well-respected surgeon and one of the founders of the Massachusetts Republican Party. His grandfather, William Cogswell, was a surgeon's mate in the Revolutionary War who practiced medicine in Atkinson, New Hampshire, and gave land for the Atkinson Academy. Abigail's{{clarify|date=June 2014}} mother died when he was about 7 years old.

Cogswell attended Atkinson Academy, Kimball Union Academy in Meriden, New Hampshire, Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, and Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire.

Cogswell entered Dartmouth in 1855, leaving it soon after. From 1856 to 1857 he went on a voyage around the world, spending two years as a sailor. When Cogswell returned from his voyage he entered Harvard Law School.

On September 8, 1860, Cogswell was admitted to the bar in Essex County, Massachusetts. He worked for a while in the office of Attorney William D. Northend, and in April 1861 Cogswell opened his own office in Salem, Massachusetts.

File:William Cogswell.jpg

Cogswell was a private in the Second Corps of Cadets, a militia organization of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Cogswell served in the Second Corps of Cadets during the winter of 1860–1861.

On April 19, 1861, word reached Salem that the Sixth Massachusetts had been attacked in Baltimore while on its way to defend Washington, D.C. Cogswell turned his office into a recruiting station and in 24 hours raised a full company, the first company in the country recruited for the war. This became Company C of the Second Massachusetts Volunteers, with Cogswell as captain in command.

Cogswell was commissioned a captain in the Second Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment, May 11, 1861. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel on October 23, 1862, and to colonel on June 25, 1863.

Colonel Cogswell was appointed brevet brigadier general of volunteers by appointment of President Abraham Lincoln on December 12, 1864, to rank from December 15, 1864, and the appointment was confirmed by the United States Senate on February 14, 1865.Eicher, John H. and Eicher, David J. Civil War High Commands. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2001. {{ISBN|978-0-8047-3641-1}}, p. 742. Colonel and Brevet Brigadier General Cogswell was mustered out of the U.S. Volunteers on July 24, 1865.Eicher and Eicher, 2001, p. 179

After the Civil War Cogswell resumed the practice of his profession.

He served as mayor of Salem 1867–1869, 1873, and 1874. He served as member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives 1870, 1871, and 1881–1883. He served in the Massachusetts State Senate in 1885 and 1886. He served as delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1892.

Cogswell was elected as a Republican to the 50th United States Congress and to the four succeeding Congresses and served from March 4, 1887, until his death in Washington, D.C., May 22, 1895.

He was interred in Harmony Grove Cemetery, Salem, Massachusetts.

Cogswell married Emma Thorndike Proctor on June 20, 1865. They had two children, William and Emma Silsby Cogswell. Emma died on April 1, 1877. Cogswell remarried to Eva M. Davis on December 12, 1881 and they remained married until his death, having no children.

{{Portal|American Civil War}}

• List of American Civil War brevet generals (Union)
• List of Massachusetts generals in the American Civil War
• Massachusetts in the American Civil War
• List of United States Congress members who died in office (1790–1899)

• Eicher, John H. and Eicher, David J. Civil War High Commands. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2001. {{ISBN|978-0-8047-3641-1}}.
• [https://books.google.com/books?id=Av0UAAAAYAAJ Memorial Addresses on the Life and Character of William Cogswell (late a Representative from Massachusetts)]: Delivered in the House of Representatives and Senate, Fifty-fourth Congress, First and Second Sessions (1897).

{{CongBio|C000595}} Retrieved on 2008-02-12

• [http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?ils:3:./temp/~pp_VdTD::@@@mdb=fsaall,app,brum,detr,swann,look,gottscho,pan,horyd,genthe,var,cai,cd,hh,yan,bbcards,lomax,ils,prok,brhc,nclc,matpc,iucpub,tgmi,lamb William Cogswell] as a member of the 50th Congress Massachusetts Delegation.

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{{succession box

| before=David Roberts

| title=Mayor of
Salem, Massachusetts

| years=September 26, 1867 – 1869

| after=Nathanial Brown

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{{succession box

| before=Samuel Calley

| title=Mayor of
Salem, Massachusetts

| years=1872 – 1872

| after=Henry Laurens Williams

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{{US House succession box

| state=Massachusetts

| district=7

| before=Eben F. Stone

| after= William Everett

| years=March 4, 1887 – March 3, 1893

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{{US House succession box

| state=Massachusetts

| district=6

| before=Henry Cabot Lodge

| after= William H. Moody

| years=March 4, 1893 – May 22, 1895

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Category:1838 births

Category:1895 deaths

Category:Phillips Academy alumni

Category:Republican Party members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives

Category:Union army generals

Category:People of Massachusetts in the American Civil War

Category:Dartmouth College alumni

Category:Harvard Law School alumni

Category:Mayors of Salem, Massachusetts

Category:Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Massachusetts

Category:People from Bradford, Massachusetts

Category:Burials at Harmony Grove Cemetery

Category:People from Atkinson, New Hampshire

Category:19th-century members of the Massachusetts General Court

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