When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
William Sprague IV RI Senator 1863-75 RI Governor 1860-63 13th amendment signer.
William Sprague IV RI Senator 1863-1875 RI Civil War Governor 1860-1863 (In the First Battle of Bull Run during the American Civil War while as a sitting Governor) and 13th amendment signer with Wendell Phillips American abolitionist, advocate for Native Americans, orator, & attorney on the back side.
He became interested in politics and in 1860 he was elected as the Rhode Island Union Party candidate for Governor, and was re-elected each of the following two years. At the age of 29, he was the youngest governor of a state at that time.
After the outbreak of the American Civil War in April 1861, a brigade of volunteers from Rhode Island was formed that came under the command of Colonel (later major general) Ambrose Burnside, in the First Battle of Bull Run on July 21, 1861. During the battle, he acted as an aide to Burnside and had his horse shot from under him. The Confederate victory made it clear to him that the war would last for a long time and although he was offered a commission as a brigadier general of Volunteers in August 1861, he declined the appointment to focus on his duties as governor.
In 1862 he attended the Loyal War Governors\' Conference in Altoona, Pennsylvania, which ultimately backed President Abraham Lincoln\'s Emancipation Proclamation and the Union war effort. Retiring from the governor\'s office in 1863, he was elected to the US Senate from Rhode Island and served two six year terms from March 1863 until March 1875. While in office, he served as chairman of the committees on public lands and on manufactures and as a member of the committees on commerce and on military affairs.
Buyer pays shipping. See photos for more details.
