Henry D. Washburn

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This article is about the U.S. Representative from Indiana. For the American explorer, see Bradford Washburn.

1869 Portrait of Henry D. Washburn

Henry Dana Washburn (March 28, 1832 – January 26, 1871) was a U.S. Representative from Indiana and a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War.

Born in Windsor, Vermont, Washburn attended the common schools. He became a tanner and a currier, and taught school for several years. He moved to Vermillion County, Indiana, in 1850. He graduated from the New York State and National Law Schools and was admitted to the bar in 1853. He commenced the practice of law in Newport, Indiana. Entering politics, he served as the county auditor from 1854-1861.

With the outbreak of the Civil War, he enlisted in the Union Army on August 16, 1861, serving as lieutenant colonel of the Eighteenth Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry. He was promoted to colonel of the regiment on July 15, 1862.

Washburn was brevetted as a brigadier general of volunteers on December 15, 1864, and then as a major general on July 26, 1865. He mustered out August 26, 1865.

Following the war, Washburn resumed his law practice and returned to politics. He successfully contested as a Republican the election of Daniel W. Voorhees to the Thirty-ninth Congress. He was reelected to the Fortieth Congress and served from February 23, 1866, to March 3, 1869. He was not a candidate for renomination in 1868 to the Forty-first Congress.

He was appointed surveyor general of Montana in 1869 and served until his death. In 1870 headed an expedition to find the headwaters of the Yellowstone River and discovered what is now known as Yellowstone Park. Mount Washburn, Montana, is named for him.

Washburn returned to Clinton, Indiana, where he died on January 26, 1871. He was interred in Riverside Cemetery.