Alexander Ramsey

Infobox US Cabinet official
name=Alexander Ramsey

---

order=34th
title=United States Secretary of War
president=Rutherford B. Hayes
term_start=December 10, 1879
term_end=March 4, 1881
predecessor=George W. McCrary
successor=Robert Todd Lincoln
order2=2nd
title2=Governor of Minnesota
term_start2=January 2, 1860
term_end2=July 10, 1863
lieutenant2=Ignatius L. Donnelly
predecessor2=Henry Hastings Sibley
successor2=Henry Adoniram Swift
order3=1st
title3= Territorial Governor of Minnesota
term_start3= June 1, 1849
term_end3= May 15, 1853
successor3= Willis A. Gorman
birth_date=birth date|1815|9|8|mf=y
birth_place=Hummelstown, Pennsylvania
death_date=death date and age|1903|4|22|1815|9|8
death_place=St. Paul, Minnesota
party=Whig, Republican
spouse=Anna Jenks
profession=Politician, Lawyer
religion=

Alexander Ramsey (September 8, 1815ndash April 22, 1903) was an American politician. He was born near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Ramsey was elected from Pennsylvania as a Whig to the U.S. House of Representatives and served in the 28th and 29th congresses from March 4, 1843 to March 3, 1847. He served as the first Territorial Governor of Minnesota June 1, 1849 to May 15, 1853 as a member of the Whig Party.

In 1855, he became the mayor of St. Paul, Minnesota. Ramsey was elected the second Governor of Minnesota after statehood and served from January 2, 1860 to July 10, 1863. Ramsey is credited with being the first Union governor to commit troops during the American Civil War (he happened to be in Washington, D.C. when fighting broke out). He resigned the governorship to become a U.S. Senator, having been elected to that post in 1863 as a Republican. He was re-elected in 1869 and held the office until March 3, 1875, serving in the 38th, 39th, 40th, 41st, 42nd, and 43rd congresses.

Ramsey served as Secretary of War from 1879 to 1881, under President Rutherford B. Hayes.

Legacy

The Minnesota Historical Society preserves his home as a museum. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1969. Alexander Ramsey Park, located in Redwood Falls, Minnesota, is the largest municipal park in Minnesota. Ramsey County, Minnesota, Ramsey County, North Dakota, the city of Ramsey, Minnesota, the city of Ramsey, Illinois, Allan H. Keith, [http://books.google.com/books?id=1gJ_RVeb5JYC&pg=PA2&dq=richard+bock+sculptor&ie=ISO-8859-1&sig=ngQRYGbj78gEH8yXNlEZrDnRlMU#PPA1,M1 "Historical Stories: About Greenville and Bond County, IL"] . Consulted on August 15, 2007. ] , Ramsey Park in Stillwater, Minnesota, and Alexander Ramsey Elementary School in Montevideo, Minnesota ,are also named for him.

References

* [http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/books/sw-sa/Ramsey.htm Alexander Ramsey U.S. Army biography]
* [http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/ramsay-randal.html The Political Graveyard]

External links

* [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=5969 Alexander Ramsey] at Find A Grave