Joseph Rodman West (Congressional Biographical Directory)

WEST, Joseph Rodman, a Senator from Louisiana; born in New Orleans, La., September 19, 1822; moved with his parents to Philadelphia in 1824; educated in private schools; attended the University of Pennsylvania 1836-1837; moved to New Orleans in 1841; captain attached to Maryland and District of Columbia Volunteers in the Mexican War 1847-1848; moved to California in 1849 and engaged in newspaper work in San Francisco; proprietor of the San Francisco Price Current; during the Civil War entered the Union Army as lieutenant of the First Regiment, California Volunteer Infantry, in 1861; promoted to the rank of colonel and brigadier general, and was brevetted major general in 1866; returned to New Orleans, La.; deputy United States marshal; auditor for customs 1867-1871; elected as a Republican to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1871, to March 3, 1877; was not a candidate for reelection; chairman, Committee on Railroads (Forty-fourth Congress); member of the Board of Commissioners of the District of Columbia 1882-1885; retired from public life in 1885; died in Washington, D.C., October 31, 1898; interment in Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Va.