M BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OSES WISNER was born in Springport, New York, June 3, 1815. Agricultural labor and the frugality of his parents gave him a physical constitution of unusual strength and endurance. His early education was obtained in the common schools. About the time of Michigan's admission to the Union he emigrated to this State and purchased a farm in Lapeer County. It was new land and he at once set himself at work to clear it and plant crops. He labored diligently at his task for two years, when he gave up the idea of being a farmer, removed to Pontiac, and commenced the study of law in the office of his brother, George W. Wisner, and Rufus Hosmer, a law firm in very successful practice. Early in the 40's he was admitted to the bar and established himself at the village of Lapeer. He was appointed by Governor William Woodbridge prosecuting attorney for that county, in which capacity he acquitted himself well and gave promise of that eminence he afterwards attained in the profession. He however remained at Lapeer but a short time, returning to Pontiac where he became a member of the firm and entered fully upon practice. In politics, he was, like his talented brother, a Whig of the Henry Clay stamp, but with a decided antislavery bias. His practice became extensive however and he took little part in politics until after the election of Franklin Pierce to the presidency in 1852. In the great struggle respecting the freedom of the territories acquired by the Mexican war he freely employed his voice and purse in opposition to the schemes of the Democratic party-North as well as South-to introduce slavery into these territories. As a lawyer Mr. Wisner was a man of great ability, but he relied less upon book-learning than upon his native good sense. Liberal and courteous, he was devoted to the interests of his client, and no fact escaped his attention or his memory which bore upon the case. He was no friend of trickery and artifice in the conduct of a case, but disregarding every thing merely formal and trivial he always met the real merits of the controversy with an intrepidity, a richness of illustration, and a power of argument that rendered him a most formidable opponent. As an advocate he had few equals. When fully aroused and warmed by his subject, his eloquence was at once graceful and powerful. His fancy supplied the most original and pointed illustrations, and his logic bore keenly against an adversary. To one unacquainted with him, his temperament appeared to be cold and unexcitable, even taciturn and indifferent, but when inspired by his theme his feelings were vivid and his imagination active. High, pale brow and jet black hair, strong and manly form, solemnity of mien, were characteristics. Nature had bestowed upon him rare qualities and his powers as a popular orator were of a high order. On the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854 repealing the Missouri Compromise and opening the territories to slavery, he was among the foremost in Michigan to denounce the scheme. He actively participated in organizing and consolidating the elements opposed to it in this State, and was a member of the popular gathering at Jackson in July, 1854, which is believed to be the first formal Republican Convention held in the United States. At this meeting the name "Republican" was adopted as the designation of the new party, consisting of Antislavery Whigs, Liberty-men, Freesoil Democrats, and all others opposed to the extension of slavery and favorable to its expulsion from the territories and the District of Columbia. At this convention Mr. Wisner was urged to accept the nomination for Attorney General of the State, but declined; Hon. Jacob M. Howard, also a pioneer in the same cause, received the office. An entire state ticket was nominated, and at the annual election in November it was elected by a considerable majority. Mr. Wisner was enthusiastic in the cause and brought to its support all his personal influence and talents. In his political views Mr. Wisner was bold and radical. He saw clearly that the long struggle between the North and the South, between the free-labor and the slave-labor system, a struggle that had in many forms long disturbed the tranquility of the country, was now fast approaching a final crisis and probably a bloody close. He felt that one of the two must become extinct, and fully appreciating the magnitude of the issue, he did not shrink from any form in which it might present itself, nor hesitate to warn his countrymen to be prepared for the worst; he believed from the beginning that the political power of the slaveholders would have to be overthrown before quiet could be secured to the country, and to effect this he was willing to resort to any means within the reach of the party to which he belonged. In the presidential canvass of 1856 he supported the Fremont, or Republican ticket. At the session of the Legislature of 1857 he was a candidate for United States Senator, and as such received strong support. In 1858 he was nominated for Governor of the State by the Republican Convention that met in Detroit, and at the subsequent November election was chosen by a large majority. Before the day of election he had addressed the people of almost every county in the State, and his majority was even greater than that of his popular predecessor Kinsley S. Bingham. He served as Governor for two years, 1859-61. His first message to the Legislature was an able production and was received with unusual favor. It showed that he was awake to all the interests of the State and set forth an enlightened state policy that had in view the rapid settlement of our uncultivated lands and the development of Michigan's immense agricultural and mineral resources. During his term was passed the general registration law of the State requiring every elector to enter his name on the proper book of the township or ward. A system of roads extending into the unsettled parts of the State, to be constructed by means of the proceeds of the state swamp land was adopted and vigorously prosecuted. The St. Mary's Ship Canal, uniting the navigation of the lower lakes with that of Lake Superior and thus aiding to develop the rich copper and iron mines of the upper peninsula of Michigan, was saved from destruction and secured against accident from flood or frost. Many other measures of high public importance were adopted upon his recommendation. His term having expired January 1, 1861, he returned to his home in Pontiac and to the practice of his profession. The Civil War broke out. There were those in the State who counseled the sending of delegates to the "Peace Conference" at Washington. Mr. Wisner was opposed to this. His counsel was to send no delegates, but to prepare to fight. He spoke of Mr. Lincoln's first call for seventy-five thousand volunteers as timid, failing in comprehension of the realities of the crisis. After Congress had met and passed the necessary legislation, he resolved to take part in the war. He arranged his private business, and in the spring and summer of 1862 set to work to raise a regiment of infantry. His regiment-the 22d Michigan-was armed, equipped, and ready to march in September. It was made up of the substantial men of Oakland County, whose solid qualities were afterwards proved on many a battle field. Colonel Wisner's commission bore the date of September 8, 1862. His regiment was sent to Kentucky and quartered at Camp Wallace. He had at the breaking out of the war turned his attention to military studies and had become proficient in the ordinary rules of drill and discipline. His treatment of his men was kind though his discipline was rigid. He was impatient of delay and chafed at being kept in Kentucky where there was so little prospect of getting at the enemy. But life in camp and his incessant labors, coupled with that impatience which was so natural and so general among the volunteers in the early part of the war, soon made their influences felt upon his health. He was seized with typhoid fever, and removed to a private house near Lexington. Every care which medical skill or the hand of friendship could bestow was rendered him. In the delirious wanderings of his mind he was disciplining his men, and urging them to be prepared for an encounter with the enemy, enlarging upon the justice of their cause, and the necessity of crushing the rebellion. But the source of his most poignant grief was the prospect of not being able to come to a hand-to |