Life span: 06/22/1814 to 07/11/1866TabsLife SummaryFull name: James Henry LanePlace of Birth: Lawrenceburg, INBurial Place: Lawrence, KSBirth Date Certainty: ExactDeath Date Certainty: ExactGender: MaleRace: WhiteSectional choice: NorthOrigins: Free StateNo. of Spouses: 1No. of Children: 4Family: Amos Lane (father), Mary Foote Howes (mother), Mary E. Baldridge (wife, 1841)Occupation: PoliticianMilitaryAttorney or JudgeRelation to Slavery: White non-slaveholderPolitical Parties: DemocraticRepublicanGovernment: US SenateUS House of RepresentativesState legislatureOther state governmentLocal governmentMilitary: US military (Pre-Civil War)Union Army Note Cards James Henry Lane (Congressional Biographical Directory) ReferenceLANE, James Henry, (son of Amos Lane), a Representative from Indiana and a Senator from Kansas; born in Lawrenceburg, Ind., June 22, 1814; attended the public schools; studied law; admitted to the bar in 1840 and commenced practice in Lawrenceburg; member of the city council; served in the Mexican War; lieutenant governor of Indiana 1849-1853; elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-third Congress (March 4, 1853-March 3, 1855); moved to the Territory of Kansas in 1855; member of the Topeka constitutional convention 1855; elected to the United States Senate by the legislature that convened under the Topeka constitution in 1856, but the election was not recognized by the United States Senate; president of the Leavenworth constitutional convention in 1857; elected as a Republican to the United States Senate in 1861; reelected in 1865 and served from April 4, 1861, until his death; chairman, Committee on Agriculture (Thirty-eighth Congress); appointed by President Abraham Lincoln brigadier general of volunteers and saw battle during the Civil War; deranged and charged with financial irregularities, Lane shot himself on July 1, 1866, but lingered ten days, dying on July 11, near Fort Leavenworth, Kans.; interment in the City Cemetery, Lawrence, Kans."Lane, James Henry," Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774 to Present, http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=L000061. James Henry Lane (American National Biography) ScholarshipWhen he arrived in Washington to present a memorial to Congress for admission of Kansas as a free state, [James] Lane was rebuffed by [Senator Stephen] Douglas and other Democrats. Lane responded by conducting a speaking tour in Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois on behalf of the Free State movement. Albert Richardson, a contemporary, wrote that Lane's oratory could make "men roar with laughter, or melt into tears, or clench their teeth in passion." During the tour the nation was polarized by reports of violence in "Bleeding Kansas." On 31 May 1856, in Chicago, Lane addressed ten thousand antislavery partisans, who subscribed thousands of dollars toward financing Free State immigration, settlement, and defense. He routed immigrants, arms, and ammunition along the "Lane Trail," which crossed Iowa, thus evading hostile Missourians. Back in Kansas, Lane and his "jayhawking" Free State armed parties terrorized proslavery settlements. Lane's break with Douglas and the Democratic party was complete when he advocated "Free Territory and Frémont [John C. Frémont]," in the presidential election of 1856. In 1857 Free State adherents boycotted an election of delegates to a constitutional convention at Lecompton, and proslavery forces won a large majority. At Lane's urging, however, the Free State proponents participated in the election for territorial legislators and won. The new legislators commissioned Lane as a major general of militia and ordered a referendum on the proslavery Lecompton constitution, which was rejected.Mark A. Plummer, "Lane, James Henry," American National Biography Online, February 2000, http://www.anb.org/articles/04/04-00612.html. Events Date span begin Life span End Event 06/14/1858 06/14/1858 James H. Lane goes on trial for murder in Kansas 12/12/1861 12/12/1861 Kansas Volunteers burn the western Missouri towns of Papinsville and Butler in Bates County 05/20/1863 05/20/1863 In Cleveland, Ohio, thousands hear speeches at a mass meeting of the National Union League 08/21/1863 08/21/1863 In Lawrence, Kansas, Confederate guerrillas destroy the town and murder hundreds of residents 05/01/1865 05/01/1865 Reaching his home state, President Lincoln's remains arrive in Chicago to a remarkable reception 01/06/1866 01/06/1866 As Chile and Peru face Spain, a large public meeting is held in New York in support of the Monroe Doctrine 07/01/1866 07/01/1866 Senator James Henry Lane shoots himself in the head near Leavenworth, Kansas. 07/11/1866 07/11/1866 Kansas Senator James Henry Lane dies from his self-inflicted wounds. 07/20/1866 07/20/1866 Governor Crawford of Kansas appoints Edmund Ross to succeed James H. Lane in the U.S. Senate. Major TopicsMexican WarBleeding KansasThirty-Seventh Congress of the United StatesThirty-Eighth Congress of the United StatesThirty-Ninth Congress of the United States Documents Subject Docs Date Title 02/20/1858 New York Herald, “The United States Senators From Kansas,” February 20, 1858 07/05/1858 Chicago (IL) Press and Tribune, “New Orleans Delta on the Illinois Republican Convention,” July 5, 1858 01/11/1859 Memphis (TN) Appeal, “Judge Douglas and the Duelling [Dueling] Code,” January 11, 1859 Images James Henry Lane James Henry Lane, detail Bibliography Chicago Style Entry Link Collins, Robert. Jim Lane: Scoundrel, Statesman, Kansan. Gretna: Pelican, 2007. View Record Bailes, Kendall. Rider on the Wind: Jim Lane and Kansas. Shawnee Mission, KS: Wagon Wheel Press, 1962. View Record Miner, Craig. “Lane and Lincoln: A Mysterious Connection.” Kansas History 24, no. 3 (2001): 186-199. View Record
James Henry Lane (Congressional Biographical Directory) ReferenceLANE, James Henry, (son of Amos Lane), a Representative from Indiana and a Senator from Kansas; born in Lawrenceburg, Ind., June 22, 1814; attended the public schools; studied law; admitted to the bar in 1840 and commenced practice in Lawrenceburg; member of the city council; served in the Mexican War; lieutenant governor of Indiana 1849-1853; elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-third Congress (March 4, 1853-March 3, 1855); moved to the Territory of Kansas in 1855; member of the Topeka constitutional convention 1855; elected to the United States Senate by the legislature that convened under the Topeka constitution in 1856, but the election was not recognized by the United States Senate; president of the Leavenworth constitutional convention in 1857; elected as a Republican to the United States Senate in 1861; reelected in 1865 and served from April 4, 1861, until his death; chairman, Committee on Agriculture (Thirty-eighth Congress); appointed by President Abraham Lincoln brigadier general of volunteers and saw battle during the Civil War; deranged and charged with financial irregularities, Lane shot himself on July 1, 1866, but lingered ten days, dying on July 11, near Fort Leavenworth, Kans.; interment in the City Cemetery, Lawrence, Kans."Lane, James Henry," Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774 to Present, http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=L000061.
James Henry Lane (American National Biography) ScholarshipWhen he arrived in Washington to present a memorial to Congress for admission of Kansas as a free state, [James] Lane was rebuffed by [Senator Stephen] Douglas and other Democrats. Lane responded by conducting a speaking tour in Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois on behalf of the Free State movement. Albert Richardson, a contemporary, wrote that Lane's oratory could make "men roar with laughter, or melt into tears, or clench their teeth in passion." During the tour the nation was polarized by reports of violence in "Bleeding Kansas." On 31 May 1856, in Chicago, Lane addressed ten thousand antislavery partisans, who subscribed thousands of dollars toward financing Free State immigration, settlement, and defense. He routed immigrants, arms, and ammunition along the "Lane Trail," which crossed Iowa, thus evading hostile Missourians. Back in Kansas, Lane and his "jayhawking" Free State armed parties terrorized proslavery settlements. Lane's break with Douglas and the Democratic party was complete when he advocated "Free Territory and Frémont [John C. Frémont]," in the presidential election of 1856. In 1857 Free State adherents boycotted an election of delegates to a constitutional convention at Lecompton, and proslavery forces won a large majority. At Lane's urging, however, the Free State proponents participated in the election for territorial legislators and won. The new legislators commissioned Lane as a major general of militia and ordered a referendum on the proslavery Lecompton constitution, which was rejected.Mark A. Plummer, "Lane, James Henry," American National Biography Online, February 2000, http://www.anb.org/articles/04/04-00612.html.
