Charles Anderson (Governor of Ohio)

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Charles Anderson (June 1, 1814 – September 2, 1895) was first a Whig and later a Republican politician from Ohio. He served briefly as the 27th Governor of Ohio.

Anderson was born in Louisville, Kentucky, to a prominent family; his father was an aide to the Marquis de Lafayette during the American Revolution. Anderson graduated from Miami University in 1833, studied law and was admitted to the Ohio bar. He moved to Dayton, Ohio, where he began a law practice and was later elected county prosecutor. In 1844, he was elected to the Ohio Senate and made a name for himself as an advocate for black rights.

He then moved to Texas for health reasons. He gave an impassioned speech in San Antonio in December 1860, strongly opposing secession and calling for the "perpetuity of the national Union." Angry local pro-Confederates threatened Anderson and then arrested him without charge, but Anderson escaped and returned with his family to Dayton.

President Abraham Lincoln sent Anderson on a pro-Union speaking tour of Europe, after which Anderson accepted command of the 93rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry regiment and was commissioned in the Union Army as a colonel. Badly wounded at the Battle of Stones River, Anderson resigned his commission and returned to Ohio to recuperate. He was elected Lieutenant Governor of Ohio in late 1863 and took office the following year.

He became Governor on August 29, 1865, upon the death of Governor John Brough. Anderson served less than five months, until January 8, 1866. Ohio historian Dwight L. Smith wrote that his brief term in office as "uneventful... [and] the services he performed were merely routine." After leaving the governorship, Anderson resumed his legal practice and moved back to Kentucky, where he died at the age of 81.

Anderson's brother, Major Robert Anderson, was also a United States Army officer, notable for his unsuccessful defense of Fort Sumter at the outset of the American Civil War. Another brother, the Rev. William C. Anderson, served as President of Miami University from 1849–1854.

[edit] External links

• Ohio History Central bio for Charles Anderson

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