DeWitt Clinton Littlejohn DeWitt Clinton Littlejohn ( February 7 , 1818 Bridgewater , Oneida County - October 27 , 1892 Oswego , Oswego County , New York ) was a brevet brigadier general in the Union Army and a United States Representative from New York during the Civil War . Biography . He initially pursued an academic course . Deciding to not complete college , he instead engaged in several profitable mercantile pursuits , acting for a time as a forwarder of fresh produce on the lakes and canals of the region . He later engaged in the manufacture of flour at Oswego , New York . He was Mayor of Oswego in 1849 and 1850 . He was a member of the New York State Assembly ( Oswego Co . , 1st D . ) in 1853 , 1854 , 1855 , 1857 , 1859 , 1860 , 1861 , 1866 , 1867 , 1870 , 1871 and 1884 . He was Speaker in 1855 , 1857 , 1859 , 1860 and 1861 ; and was the chief lieutenant of political boss Thurlow Weed . Early in 1861 , Littlejohn was influential in the backroom politics to select Ira Harris over Horace Greeley as the Republican Party ' s nominee to run for the U . S . Senate to succeed William H . Seward , who had not run for re - election , expecting to join President Abraham Lincoln ' s Cabinet . In September , Littlejohn unsuccessfully sued Greeley and the " New York Tribune " for libel . With the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861 , Littlejohn worked actively to recruit troops in the Oswego area . Littlejohn used his political connections in July 1862 to secure a commission as Colonel of the 110th New York Volunteer Infantry , a regiment he helped raise through his personal efforts . He trained his troops at Camp Patterson near Baltimore , Maryland , where it was stationed until November , when it was ordered to Federal - occupied New Orleans , Louisiana . Returning to politics , he successfully campaigned for the United States House of Representatives . He was elected as a Republican to the 38th United States Congress . He resigned from the army on February 3 , 1863 , and served in Congress from March 4 , 1863 , to March 3 , 1865 . During that term , he was Chairman of the Committee on Revolutionary Pensions . Littlejohn was not a candidate for renomination in 1864 , and was brevet ted Brigadier General of Volunteers on March 13 , 1865 . He moved his residence to Buffalo , New York until 1867 , when he moved back to Oswego . Littlejohn wanted to afford Oswego the growth possible by a rail connection to a major port . In 1868 , he organized and served as president of the New York and Oswego Midland Railroad ( NY & OM ) , a route traversing much of New York State on its way to New York City . He also established a steamboat service connecting Long Island to his new railroad . In 1870 the Republican state convention nominated Littlejohn for Lieutenant Governor of New York on the ticket with Stewart L . Woodford , but he declined to run . Fed up with the corruption of the Grant Administration , in 1872 Littlejohn joined the Liberal Republican Party and supported the candidacy of Horace Greeley for president in 1872 , having set aside his previous legal issues with Greeley . He then became a Democrat , was a delegate to several Democratic state conventions , and was an ally of Samuel J . Tilden . He died in Oswego , and was buried at the Riverside Cemetery .