William Starke Rosecrans (Congressional Biographical Directory)

ROSECRANS, William Starke, a Representative from California; born in Kingston, Ross County, Ohio, September 6, 1819; completed preparatory studies; was appointed to the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1838 and graduated in 1842; brevetted second lieutenant, United States Corps of Engineers, July 1, 1842; second lieutenant April 3, 1843; assistant professor of engineering at the United States Military Academy 1843-1847; in charge of various Government surveys and improvements 1843-1853; resigned from the Army April 1, 1854; engaged as an architect and civil engineer, with residence in Cincinnati; president of the Coal River Navigation Co., Kanawha County, Va. (now West Virginia), in 1856; organized the Preston Coal Oil Co. in 1857 and engaged in the manufacture of kerosene; during the Civil War reentered the service on June 7, 1861, as colonel of the Twenty-third Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry; commissioned brigadier general, United States Army, May 16, 1861; major general, United States Volunteers, March 21, 1862; resigned from the United States Army March 28, 1867; moved to California and settled in Los Angeles; United States Minister to Mexico in 1868 and 1869; again engaged in civil engineering; president of the Safety Powder Co., Los Angeles, Calif., in 1875; elected as a Democrat to the Forty-seventh and Forty-eighth Congresses (March 4, 1881-March 3, 1885); chairman, Committee on Military Affairs (Forty-eighth Congress); was not a candidate for renomination in 1884; regent of the State university in 1884 and 1885; Register of the Treasury 1885-1893; reappointed brigadier general on the retired list, United States Army (act of Congress, February 27, 1889), and retired March 1, 1889; died near Redondo, Los Angeles County, Calif., March 11, 1898; interment in Rosedale Cemetery; reinterment in the Arlington National Cemetery, May 17, 1902.