William H. Bissell, 11th Governor of Illinois
William H. Bissell was a Mexican War United States Army Officer, U.S. Congressman, 11th Illinois Governor and colleague of Abraham Lincoln. He served as Colonel of the Second Illinois Volunteers in the Mexican War in 1847 and gained distinction at the Battle of Buena Vista. He became one of the few people in his day to be both a physician and an attorney. He served in Congress from 1840 to 1855. While there he was challenged to a duel by Jefferson Davis, a challenge he accepted, though eventually friends prevented the duel from taking place. After the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, Bissell left the Democratic party. In 1856 he became the first Republican Governor of Illinois, serving until his death in office in 1860. (Most of this material is from Source: Portrate and Biographical Album of DeKalb County, Illinois Published by Chapman Brothers, Chicago, 1885; http://www.onlinebiographies.info/gov/il/index.htm or from websites about governors of Illinois or about Mexican War history).
William H. Bissell was born April 25, 1811 in the State of New York, near Painted Post. Mr. Bissell received a respectable but not thorough academic education. By assiduous application he acquired knowledge of medicine, and came West to Monroe County, Illinois, where he engaged in the practice of medicine. However, he was not enamored of his calling and when he approached the age of 30 he sought to begin anew. It soon came to be understood that he desired to abandon his profession and take up that of the law. During terms of Court he would spend his time at the county seat among the members of the Bar, who extended to him a ready welcome.
In 1840 he was elected as a Democrat to the Legislature from Monroe County, and was an efficient member of that body. He was chosen to be Prosecuting Attorney for the Circuit in which he lived, and in that position he fully discharged his duty to the State, gained the esteem of the Bar, and seldom failed to convict the offender of the law.
When the war with Mexico was declared in 1846, Mr. Bissell volunteered. At the time of the Mexican War, volunteer units elected their own officers, and Bissell was elected captain and then colonel of the Second Illinois Regiment.
The Battle of Buena Vista on February 23, 1847, was perhaps the most dramatic fight of the U.S.-Mexican War. The First and Second Illinois regiments were among the 4,500 men who joined forces under General Zachary Taylor (soon to be President Taylor) in the Battle of Buena Vista.
This image is "FROM A SKETCH TAKEN ON THE SPOT BY MAJOR EATON, AID DE CAMP TO GENL TAYLOR. LITH. PUB. & PRINTED IN COLORS BY H.R. ROBINSON, 142 NASSAU ST N. YORK. BATTLE OF BUENA VISTA. VIEW OF THE BATTLE-GROUND AND BATTLE OF “THE ANGOSTURA” FOUGHT NEAR BUENA VISTA, MEXICO FEBRUARY 23RD 1847. (LOOKING S.WEST.)"
The troops successfully fought a bloody, two-day, defensive battle against 20,000 of Santa Anna's men. General Taylor said, "Colonel Bissell, the only surviving colonel of the three (Illinois) regiments, merits notice for his coolness and bravery on this occasion (Buena Vista)."
Mexican General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna and an army of 20,000 had hurried north to crush Taylor before turning south to deal with the other American troops. Taylor deployed his outnumbered command in a mountain pass near the Hacienda Buena Vista, where his small numbers might do the most good. Santa Anna demanded Taylor’s surrender but was refused. The Mexicans then skirmished with the Americans to ascertain their positions and numbers. Santa Anna ordered an all-out assault the following morning and had broken the U.S. line by mid-day. Taylor rushed forward his only reserves, the 1st Mississippi Rifles under Colonel Jefferson Davis (later to become President of the Confederate States of America during the Civil War). These troops stabilized the U.S. line by routing a Mexican cavalry breakthrough. Santa Anna’s attack stalled. Considering the limited opportunities he had in the War, Bissell evinced a high order of military talent. On the bloody field of Buena Vista he acquitted himself with ability.
After his return home, at the close of the war, he was elected to Congress and served two terms. In 1854 he opposed the repeal of the Missouri Compromise act and therefore the Kansas-Nebraska bill of Douglas, and thus became identified with the nascent Republican party.
-- challenged to a duel --
William Bissell was --
-- by Jefferson Davis
During his first Congressional term, while the Southern members were following their old practice of intimidating the North by bullying language, and claiming most of the credit for victories in the Mexican War, and Jefferson Davis [later to be the President of the Confederacy] claiming for the Mississippi troops all the credit for success at Buena Vista, Mr. Bissell bravely defended the Northern troops, whereupon Davis challenged Bissell to a duel, which was accepted. The man now U.S. President, Zachary Taylor (and also Davis’ father-in-law) soon learned about the duel and threatened Senator Davis with arrest. A peaceful settlement was quickly reached.
As a result of his Army service, Bissell eventually developed paraplegia which, while it left his body in comparative health, deprived him of locomotion except by the aid of crutches. While he was generally hopeful of ultimate recovery, this mysterious disease pursued him to the close of his life, March 18, 1860, more than nine months before the expiration of his gubernatorial term, at the early age of 48 years.
Bissell knew and corresponded with Abraham Lincoln, practicing law in the same part of Illinois and at the same time as Lincoln. Bissell had joined James Shields in a Belleville, Illinois law practice in the 1840’s. As Lt. Governor in 1853, Gustave Koerner was in line to become Governor. Koerner was a judge in Belleville and a close friend with whom Bissell corresponded while in the Mexican War. Members of the “Know Nothing” party in the Illinois legislature would not support Koerner, and Bissell was chosen as the candidate for Governer. Lincoln visited Belleville in October 1856 to support John Fremont for president and Bissell for Governor of Illinois. Bissell was the first Republican elected Governor. Bissell also wrote letters to Lincoln supporting his bid to become the Republican candidate for President in 1860. A letter from Lincoln:
This letter is a Petition to Governor William H. Bissell from Abraham Lincoln concerning a pardon for Samuel and James Jones. March 22, 1858. It is all written in Lincoln’s hand, with his signature. This and other letters from Lincoln to Bissell are in the Lincoln Documents in the Illinois State Archives. Further inquiries regarding these items should be made to: The Illinois State Archives, Margaret Cross Norton Building, Springfield, IL, 62756, telephone (217) 782-4866, facsimile (217) 524-3930.
The Bissell Connection to William H. Bissell, Governor
5th Cousin, five times removed from the Bissell “3G” Generation
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Joyce, Meredith, George, Gwen, Arthur, Roger, Eleanor, Chip, Carolyn, Betsy, Clyde
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Adelaide Lyon Boutelle --- Richard Meredith Bissell
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Mertie Ella Bisbee ----- Herbert Hunt Bissell
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Julie Ann Richardson ---- John Hatch Bissell
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Gov. William H. Bissell, b. 25 Apr 1811 Mercy Ann Searle ---- Benoni Bliss Bissell
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Luther Bissell, b. 1773 -- Hannah Potter Tirzah Pierce ---- Solomon Bissell
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Isaac Bissell, b. 1747 -- Alethea Way Eunice Olcott ---- Noah Bissell
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Isaac Bissell, b. 1709 -- Sarah Stone Silence Burt ---- Noah Bissell
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Lt. Isaac Bissell -- Elizabeth Olson Ruth Warner -- David Bissell
b. 1682 ]
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Thomas Bissell, b. Abt 1630 -- Abigail Moore Mindwell Moore ---- Nathaniel Bissell
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[------------------------- Capt. John Bissell & Mary --------------------------------]