John Milton Thayer John Milton Thayer ( January 24 , 1820March 19 , 1906 ) was a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War and a postbellum United States Senator from Nebraska . Thayer served as Governor of Wyoming Territory and Governor of Nebraska . Thayer was born in Bellingham , Norfolk County , Massachusetts . He attended and taught in rural schools . He graduated from Brown University in 1841 , and established a practice in Worcester , Massachusetts . Thayer was the editor of the Worcester Magazine and the Historical Journal . Thayer served as a lieutenant in the local militia company before deciding to move with his family to the West . He was married to Mary Torrey Allen on December 27 , 1842 , and they had six children . Career . Arriving in Nebraska in 1854 , he quickly affiliated himself with the Republican Party and actively participated in politics , as well as owning a large farm near Omaha . He became the major general of the Territorial Militia and gained a reputation as an Indian fighter in his encounters with the local Pawnee . Thayer served as delegate to the 1860 State Constitution Convention which organized the Republican Party in the Nebraska Territory . He was elected to the Nebraska Territorial Legislature in 1860 . Civil War . With the outbreak of the Civil War , Thayer wrote a letter to Secretary of War Simon Cameron asking that he be allowed to raise a Nebraska regiment in response to President Abraham Lincoln ' s call for volunteers . He resigned his legislative seat in June 1861 to become Colonel of the 1st Nebraska Infantry Regiment , and spent the entire war fighting in the Western Theater . He commanded a brigade under Lew Wallace in the battles of Fort Donelson and Shiloh . Promoted to brigadier general in October 1862 , he led a brigade in the XV Corps . He saw action at the battles of Chickasaw Bayou and Fort Hindman and the siege of Vicksburg . Thayer was then assigned to the cavalry and commanded the District of the Frontier with his headquarters in Fort Smith , Arkansas . He participated in the Camden Expedition and other actions in the region , seeing considerable action at the Battle of Prairie D ' Ane . He commanded the rearguard of Frederick Steele ' s force at the Battle of Jenkins ' Ferry , battling Confederate troops under Sterling Price for over four hours before forcing Price to disengage . His delaying action enabled Steele to successfully extricate his army to safety . In February 1865 , Thayer was relieved of command of Fort Smith and sent to the smaller post at St . Charles , Arkansas , with a regiment of Kansas cavalry and a single artillery battery . However , with the omnibus promotions of leading generals at the close of the war , Thayer was brevetted major general of volunteers in 1865 . Postbellum career . After the Civil War , Thayer served as a member of the 1866 State Constitutional Convention . Upon the admission of Nebraska into the Union as a state , he was elected as one of its first two United States senators . He served as a member of the Senate from 1867 to 1871 , when he was unsuccessful in winning reelection . President Ulysses S . Grant appointed Thayer Governor of the Territory of Wyoming in February 1875 and he took the oath of office March 1 , 1875 . His service ended on May 29 , 1878 , and he returned to Nebraska to resume his law practice . In 1886 , Thayer secured the Republican gubernatorial nomination and was elected Governor of Nebraska by popular vote . He served two full terms as Governor of Nebraska , from 1886 to 1888 . He was the seventh governor of Nebraska . Thayer served part of a third term , ( May 5 , 1891February 8 , 1892 ) . He contested the results of the 1890 election , in which he lost to James E . Boyd ; Boyd was initially installed as Governor , but Thayer again became Governor until the election was ruled in favor of Boyd . He then retired from public life to follow literary pursuits . Death and legacy . John M . Thayer died in Lincoln , Nebraska , and was buried in Wyuka Cemetery in Lincoln , Nebraska . Thayer County , Nebraska , is named for Thayer . A bust of Thayer is located on the grounds of the Vicksburg National Military Park in Mississippi . The bust was erected in May 1915 and was sculpted by T . A . R . Kitson .