Alexander William Doniphan

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Alexander William Doniphan (July 9, 1808–August 8, 1887) was an American lawyer and soldier, born in Mason County, Kentucky. He graduated from Augusta College in 1824, was admitted to the bar in 1830, and began to practice in Lexington, Missouri. He soon moved further west to Liberty, Missouri and gained a reputation as one of the best lawyers in Missouri. He also served in the state legislature in 1836, 1840, and 1854, representing the Whig Party.

While excelling in law, he is chiefly remembered for his military career. By 1838, he had risen to the rank of brigadier general in the state militia. Leading a large force of state troops, he arrested the Mormon prophet Joseph Smith and other leaders and forced them to leave the state of Missouri. In so doing he refused to follow orders to execute Smith and prevented vigilante forces from inflicting greater harm to the Mormons.

At the beginning of the Mexican-American War in 1846, Doniphan entered the United States Army as colonel of the 1st Regiment of Missouri mounted volunteers, and served with honor in several campaigns, including the march of Stephen W. Kearny on Santa Fe and an expedition into Mexico. In that expedition, his men won at the Christmas Day 1846 Battle of El Brazito (outside modern day El Paso, Texas) and the Battle of the Sacramento, enabling the capture of Chihuahua, Mexico.

After the Mexican War was appointed by General Kearny to construct the code of civil laws known as the “Kearny code” in English and Spanish for the territory annexed from Mexico. He was a moderate in events leading up to the American Civil War, opposed secession and favored neutrality for Missouri. A slaveholder, Doniphan advocated the gradual elimination of slavery only after it became apparent that the Republican Party would make emancipation immediate. Although he was offered high command by the Union Army, he did not take an active part in the Civil War, instead relocating to St. Louis.

In the late 1860s, Doniphan re-established his law offices in Richmond, Missouri, where he died. He is buried in Fairview Cemetery in Liberty underneath an obelisk.

Doniphan married Elizabeth Jane Thornton in 1838 and had two sons, neither of whom lived past age 18.