Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1889-09-16
General Russell a. A1ger.

General Russell A. Alger of De-
troit, Mich, who has been elected
commander-in- chief of the G.. A. R.,
is strong man and man of nation
al reputation. Our attention was
first directed to him years ago on ac-
count of his benefactions to the poor
of his city. 1t had become a custom
of his to remember the newsboys,
aggregating scores if not hundreds,
on each return of Christmas with a
new suit of clothes and outfit through
out. But this was not all. The wild
ows and poor families of the city
came in for recognition on this ami
versary as recipients of barrels of
flour, coal and wood, by the hundreds,
amounting in the aggregate to tens
of thousands of dollars. This GUS
tom has been observed by Gen. Alger
ever since it was first inaugurated,
and is probably to be continued to
his death. 1t is not surprising, then,
that the generals admirers and
friends should be numerous. Gen.
Alger is a native of Ohio and is 53
years of age. His parents were Of
New England stock, and were among
the pioneers who went West at the
beginning of the century. Young
Alger was left an orphan at an early
age, and had to shift for himself by
working for farmers at the smallest
wages. He managed to attend the
common schools for a few months
in the year and thus pick up enough
to qualify him eventually for teach
ing district schools himself. When
of age he entered law Office at
Akron, and two years later, at the
age of %, was admitted to the bar.
Soon after, he went TO Michigan,
where he gradually worked into
lumber business, having given up the
practice of law on account of his
health. In the first year of the war
he entered the service as captain of
company in the Second Michigan
cavalry. General Sheridan became
colonel Of this regiment in the spring
of 1862, and while it was in the field
near Pennington, Missouri. This was
Sheridan's first regiment to command,
and the orders of the governor, con-
veying the appointment, were deliv-
cred by Capt. Alger. Sheridan, in
his memoirs, speaks of Alger in COM
plimentary terms. Alger had COM
mand of battalion doing independ-
ent work at the battle of Bonneville,
Mississippi, July 1, 1862, and exhib-
tied fine soldier qualities. For his
we'll earned victory in this battle,
Sheridan, who commanded brigade,
was made a brigadier general, and
thereafter, he kept constantly going
higher up. General Alger served
four years, and returned home with
the rank of brevet major general won
by gallant conduct and wounds re-
ceived in several of the sixty battles
in which he took part. After the
war he resumed the lumber business,
in which he has been very successful
and amassed large fortune. It is
said that among the thousands of men
in his employ, there has never been a
strike or disturbance, and that in all
his enormous dealings he has never
sued or been sued. He is a member
of the Presbyterian church, and of
his wide and open handed charity the
poor of Detroit bear ample witness.
In 1884 General Alger was elected
governor of Michigan, and after serv-
ing with signal ability for two years
he declined denomination. He was
Michigan's candidate for the presi-
dency before the last republican ma
tional convention in Chicago, and re-
ceived 81 votes on the first ballot,
running up to 142 on the fifth and
standing at 100 on the final ballot
which resulted in Harrison's nomina-
ton. Gen. Alger has the means,
leisure, devotion and ability to make
an excellent head officer of the great
soldier organization, and SO long as
this office was to be located in the
West, his selection was most fitting.
He is out of politics, for the present,
at least.