William A . Barstow William Augustus Barstow ( September 13 , 1813December 13 , 1865 ) was the third Governor of Wisconsin and a Union Army General during the American Civil War . Early life . Barstow was born in Plainfield , Connecticut . He worked with his brothers in business in Norwich , Connecticut and Cleveland , Ohio , but moved to Waukesha , outside of Milwaukee , after the Panic of 1837 , where he started a mill . He was active in local politics , serving on the Milwaukee County Board , and in 1846 led a movement to separate Waukesha County . Barstow served as the Wisconsin Secretary of State from 1850 until 1852 . He was elected the governor of Wisconsin as a Democrat , taking office on January 2 , 1854 . As governor , Barstow supported the railroad to the Pacific and stood against the attempts of the Know - Nothing movement to undermine the citizenship of the foreign - born . He opposed prohibition of alcohol sales , and vetoed a ban passed by the Legislature despite strong public support . However , allegations that his administration had misused public school funds and favored personal friends in state funded loans proved to have greater impact than his positions on issues . Although he was renominated by the Democrats , Barstow lost support within his party as well as in Wisconsin generally . Disputed election . When Barstow ran for reelection in 1855 , he was initially declared the winner against his Republican opponent , Coles Bashford , by a mere 157 votes . However , Bashford claimed the result was fraudulent , and it was soon substantiated that Barstow ' s win was due to forged election returns from nonexistent precincts in the sparsely populated northern part of the state , in addition to other irregularities such as two separate canvassing boards claiming legitimacy in Waupaca County and attempting to submit conflicting certifications . As rival militia units converged on the state capital in Madison , threatening to start a civil war within the state , Barstow was inaugurated in a full , public ceremony on January 7 , 1856 . On the same day , Bashford was also sworn in quietly as governor in the chambers of the Wisconsin Supreme Court by Chief Justice Whiton . The Wisconsin attorney general filed quo warranto proceedings in the Wisconsin Supreme Court to remove Barstow , who threatened that he would not " give up his office alive . " After challenging the court ' s jurisdiction without success and noting that the tide of public opinion had turned against him , Barstow declined to contest the fraud allegations and sent his resignation to the legislature on March 21 , 1856 , leaving the lieutenant governor , Arthur MacArthur , as acting governor . On March 24 , the court unanimously awarded the governorship to Bashford by a count of 1 , 009 votes . Later life . Barstow moved to Janesville , Wisconsin , where he opened a bank and promoted various railroad construction schemes . He remained in politics following the election scandal , serving as a Wisconsin delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1860 . After the start of the Civil War , however , he joined the Union war effort and under the authority of the War Department in 1861 , he organized the 3rd Wisconsin Cavalry regiment at Camp Barstow , near Janesville . He commanded the regiment as a colonel and was appointed Provost Marshal General of Kansas , operating out of Fort Leavenworth . Due to failing health , however , Barstow was reassigned in the summer of 1863 to preside over courts - martial in St . Louis , Missouri , and he never rejoined his regiment . He was promoted to brigadier general of volunteers on March 13 , 1865 , nine months before his death in Leavenworth , Kansas .