John Adams Dix

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John Adams Dix

24th United States Secretary of the Treasury
In office January 15, 1861 – March 6, 1861
Preceded by	Philip Thomas
Succeeded by	Salmon Chase

Born	July 24, 1798 Boscawen, New Hampshire, USA
Died	April 21, 1879 (aged 80) New York City, New York, USA
Political party	Democratic, Republican
Spouse	Catherine Morgan Dix
Profession	Politician, Lawyer, Railroad President

For the governor of New York who served in the 1910s, see John Alden Dix.

John Adams Dix (July 24, 1798 – April 21, 1879) was an American politician from New York. He served as Secretary of the Treasury, U.S. Senator, and Governor. He was also a distinguished Civil War General.

General John Adams Dix

1 Biography
2 References
- 2.1 Secondary sources
- 2.2 Primary sources
3 Notes
4 External links

[edit] Biography

Dix was born in Boscawen, New Hampshire. He joined the Artillery as a military cadet at the age of 14. He served in the United States Army, having attained the rank of captain.

In 1826, Dix married Catherine Morgan, the adopted daughter of Congressman John J. Morgan, who gave Dix a job overseeing his upstate New York land holdings in Cooperstown. John and Catherine moved to Cooperstown in 1828, and John practiced law in addition to overseeing the land holdings. Dix was appointed Adjutant General of New York State by Governor Throop, he moved to Albany, New York in 1830, and he served as Secretary of State of New York from 1833 to 1839.

Dix was elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Silas Wright, Jr., and served from 1845 to 1849. He was not a candidate for reelection, having become a candidate for Governor. He was an unsuccessful Free-Soil candidate for Governor in 1848 losing to Hamilton Fish.

Later, he was appointed postmaster of the city of New York and served from 1860 to 1861. He was appointed United States Secretary of the Treasury by President James Buchanan in 1861. At the outbreak of the Civil War, he sent a telegram to the Treasury agents in New Orleans ordering that: "If any one attempts to haul down the American flag, shoot him on the spot." Although the telegram was intercepted by Confederates, and was never delivered to the Treasury agents, the text found its way to the press, and Dix became one of the first heroes of the North during the Civil War. The saying is found on many Civil War tokens minted during the war, although the wording is slightly modified.

At the start of the American Civil War, Dix was appointed a major general in the New York Militia. He joined the Union Army as the highest ranking major general of volunteers during the war, effective May 16, 1861.^[1] In the summer of 1861 he commanded the Department of Maryland and the Department of Pennsylvania. That winter, he commanded a regional organization known as "Dix's Command" within Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan's Department of the Potomac.^[2] Dix commanded the Department of Virginia from June 1862 until July 1863, and the Department of the East from July 1863 until April 1865. Considered too old for field command, his most distinguished contribution during the war was the suppression of the New York Draft Riots in July 1863.^[3]

Dix Token

Portrait of John Adams Dix

He was the United States Minister to France from 1866 to 1869.

He served as the Governor of New York in his seventies, as one of the oldest governors of New York, from January 1873 to December 1874; he was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in November 1874. He suffered another defeat when he ran for the mayor of New York City in 1876. He died in New York City and was interred in the Trinity Church Cemetery.

Fort Dix, New Jersey, a United States Army post, is named for Dix, as is Dix, Illinois, and several revenue cutters, John A. Dix.

In addition to his military and public duties, he was the president of the Union Pacific from 1863 to 1868 during construction of the First Transcontinental Railroad. In 1853 he had been president of the Mississippi and Missouri Railroad. In both cases he was the figurehead for rail baron Thomas C. Durant.^[4]

[edit] References

[edit] Secondary sources

Eicher, John H., and Eicher, David J., Civil War High Commands, Stanford University Press, 2001, ISBN 0-8047-3641-3.
StanKlos.com (2000), John Adams Dix. Retrieved June 8, 2005.
Union Pacific Railroad, UP - History of the UP logo. Retrieved June 8, 2005. Timeline that also includes UP presidency successions.
Warner, Ezra J., Generals in Blue: Lives of the Union Commanders, Louisiana State University Press, 1964, ISBN 0-8071-0822-7.

[edit] Primary sources

Dix, Morgan. Memoirs of John Adams Dix. Volume I (1883) online edition
Dix Morgan, comp. The Memoirs of John Adams Dix. 2 vols. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1883.
Dix, John Adams. Speeches and Occasional Addresses. Volume II (1864) online edition

[edit] Notes

^ Eicher, p. 773. Also appointed on that day were Nathaniel P. Banks and Benjamin Butler, but Dix's name appeared first on the promotion list, meaning that he had seniority over all major generals.
^ Eicher, pp. 210-11.
^ Warner, p. 126.
^ Famous Americans Biography. Retrieved December 18, 2006

[edit] External links

Preceded by Henry A. Foster	United States Senator (Class 3) from New York 1845–1849 Served alongside: Daniel S. Dickinson	Succeeded by William H. Seward
Preceded by Philip Thomas	United States Secretary of the Treasury 1861	Succeeded by Salmon P. Chase
Preceded by William Butler Ogden	President of Union Pacific Railroad 1863–1868	Succeeded by Thomas A. Scott
Preceded by John Bigelow	U.S. Minister to France 1866 – 1869	Succeeded by Elihu B. Washburne
Preceded by Jay Gould	President of Erie Railroad 1872	Succeeded by Peter H. Watson
Preceded by John T. Hoffman	Governor of New York 1873–1874	Succeeded by Samuel J. Tilden