William Vandever William Vandever ( March 31 , 1817 – July 23 , 1893 ) was a United States Representative from California and Iowa , and a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War . Biography . Early life . Vandever was born in Baltimore , Maryland , where he attended the common schools and pursued an academic course . He moved to Illinois in 1839 and to Iowa in 1851 . He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1852 and commenced practice in Dubuque , Iowa . In 1858 he was elected as a Republican to represent Iowa ' s 2nd congressional district in the Thirty - sixth Congress , and was re - elected in 1860 to represent it in the Thirty - seventh Congress . He was a member of the peace conference of 1861 held in Washington , D . C . , in an effort to devise means to prevent the impending war . Civil War . In 1861 , Vandever was mustered into the Union Army as colonel of the 9th Iowa Volunteer Infantry Regiment . He commanded the 2nd Brigade in Eugene A . Carr ' s 4th Division at the battle of Pea Ridge . He was promoted to brigadier general of Volunteers on November 29 , 1862 and sent to command a brigade in the XIII Corps of the Army of the Tennessee . He returned to the Trans - Mississippi Theater to command the 2nd Division in the Army of the Frontier at the Battle of Chalk Bluff . He reverted to brigade command under Francis J . Herron during the siege of Vicksburg . He returned to Iowa as a recruiting officer in January 1864 . He joined up with William T . Sherman ' s army in command of the 3rd Brigade , 2nd Division , XVI Corps and fought at the battles of Kennesaw Mountain , Atlanta and Ezra Church . He commanded the Post of Marietta during the fall of 1864 then rejoined Sherman ' s army in command of the 1st Brigade , 2nd Division , XIV Corps and fought at the battle of Bentonville . He was brevetted to major general in 1865 . Although his official congressional biography states that Vandever only served in Congress until September 24 , 1861 ( early in his second term ) , he never resigned his seat . Iowa ' s only other congressional seat ( in the First District ) was vacant from August 4 to October 8 , 1861 because Representative Samuel Curtis had resigned his seat after receiving command of the 2nd Iowa Infantry , so for a time Iowa was effectively unrepresented in the U . S . House . In May 1862 , Democratic Congressman George H . Browne of Rhode Island raised a challenge to the constitutionality of Vandever holding a military commission and commanding a regiment while remaining a member of Congress , but consideration by the House on that issue was deferred until December 1862 . On March 4 , 1863 , the day after Vandever ' s second House term ended , his appointment as a brigadier general was confirmed by the Senate . Later life . He resumed the practice of law in Dubuque and was appointed United States Indian inspector by President Ulysses S . Grant in 1873 , and served until 1877 . Vandever moved to San Buenaventura , California in 1884 . He was elected as a Republican to represent California ' s 6th congressional district in the House in the Fiftieth and Fifty - first Congresses ( March 4 , 1887 – March 3 , 1891 ) . At the time , the Sixth District included more than half of the area of the state , extending from San Diego County to Mono County . He was not a candidate for renomination in 1890 . He died in Ventura , California , in 1893 and was buried in Ventura Cemetery .