page_title: John A. Bridgland
section_title: Mexico and Indiana
hierarchical_section_title: John A. Bridgland / Mexico and Indiana
caption_attribution_description: English: Photograph of the Bridgland-Gaar Mansion in Richmond, Indiana 1906
context_page_description: Colonel John Alexander Bridgland was an American diplomat, businessman and soldier.
context_section_description: Bridgland began his military career through business when the Thornton family instructed him to deliver horses from Virginia to relations serving under General Winfield Scott in Vera Cruz during the Mexican–American War.  Bridgland was shipwrecked off the coast of Mexico but managed to meet up with the U.S. Army as Scott marched into Mexico City. He remained in Mexico with the army until they reached New Orleans where he contracted Yellow Fever. Upon recovery he obtained passage by steamer to Cincinnati where he took employment in the wholesale of tobacco with the expectation of returning to Virginia. Finding great success in the mid-west he eventually set up a mercantile trade business in Richmond, Indiana. His newfound wealth afforded him to build a large home, marry and provide his family with the life they had lost on the death of his father. He took great interest in Indiana politics starting as a Whig and by 1860 becoming an active supporter of the Republican party and its Presidential candidate, Abraham Lincoln.
caption: John A. Bridgland Mansion, built 1858, Richmond, Indiana
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