James H. Lane (Senator)
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| James Henry Lane | |
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Junior Senator, Kansas
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| In office April 4, 1861 – July 11, 1866 |
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| Preceded by | (none) |
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| Succeeded by | Edmund G. Ross |
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| Born | June 22, 1814 Lawrenceburg, Indiana, U.S. |
| Died | July 11, 1866 (aged 52) Leavenworth, Kansas, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse | Mary E. Lane |
James Henry Lane also known as Jim Lane (June 22, 1814 – July 11, 1866) was a United States Senator, a Union general and partisan in the American Civil War. Lane was born in Lawrenceburg, Indiana, where he practiced law when he was admitted to the bar in 1840. He moved to the Kansas Territory in 1855. He immediately became involved in the abolitionist movement in Kansas. He was often called the leader of "Jayhawkers" abolitionist movement in Kansas.
He was a U.S. congressman from Indiana (1853-1855) where he voted for the Kansas-Nebraska Act. But he abandoned that stance when he moved to the Kansas Territory in 1855. He was elected to the Senate from the state of Kansas in 1861, and reelected in 1865. During that time he presided over the Topeka convention.
Lane was to lead Jayhawkers in a battle against pro-Southern general Sterling Price in the Battle of Dry Wood Creek as Price began an offensive to clear out abolitionists in Kansas at the beginning of the Civil War. Lane lost the battle but stayed behind and attacked pro-South pockets in Missouri behind Price. Lane's raids culminated in the Sacking of Osceola, in which Lane's forces killed at least nine men, then pillaged, looted, and then burned the town; events which inspired the novel Gone to Texas by Forrest Carter (which was the basis for the 1976 Clint Eastwood movie The Outlaw Josey Wales).
During the Civil War, he also led the "Kansas brigade" in western Missouri and raised one of the first black regiments in the Union Army.
In a bid to put down the Confederate raiders operating in Kansas, General Thomas Ewing, Jr. issued General Order No. 10 (1863), ordering the arrest of anyone giving aid or comfort to Quantrill's Raiders. This meant chiefly women and children. Ewing confined those arrested in a make-shift prison in Kansas City. This building collapsed, killing four women. There was debate as to the nature of this collapse, with some claiming it was a deliberate attack on women and children, and others claiming it was merely a tragic accident. These deaths enraged Missourians, resulting in the August 21, 1863 Lawrence Massacre. Quantrill and his men killed over 180 men and boys in Lawrence; Lane, however, managed to escape by racing through a cornfield in his nightshirt.
Lane had survived many hardships in his life, including fighting in the Mexican-American War and the Civil War. But he shot himself on July 1, 1866 in Leavenworth, Kansas. Lane was allegedly deranged, depressed, had been charged with abandoning his fellow Radical Republicans and had been accused of financial irregularities. He died ten days later near Leavenworth, Kansas, a result of the self-inflicted gunshot.
[edit] Legacy
The following places were named in honor of the late senator:
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- James H. Lane (Senator) at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress Retrieved on 2008-02-19
- James H. Lane (Senator) at Find A Grave Retrieved on 2008-02-19
- James H. Lane at Territorial Kansas Online
- James H. Lane at PBS: New Prespectives on The West
- James H. Lane at NNDB
- James H. Lane at Mr. Lincoln's White House
- Senator Jim at Bull Run
| Preceded by Samuel W. Parker |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Indiana's 4th congressional district March 4, 1853 – March 3, 1855 |
Succeeded by William Cumback |
| Preceded by (none) |
United States Senator (Class 2) from Kansas March 4, 1861 – July 11, 1866 Served alongside: Samuel C. Pomeroy |
Succeeded by Edmund G. Ross |
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