Cassius McDonald Barnes Cassius McDonald Barnes ( August 25 , 1845 – February 18 , 1925 ) was an American Civil War soldier , lawyer and Republican politician who served as the 4th Governor of Oklahoma Territory . Biography . The son of Henry Hogan and Semantha Barnes , Cassius McDonald Barnes was born in Livingston County , New York on August 25 , 1845 . Barnes spent the first few years of his life in New York , but his parents later moved to Michigan . He attended both public school and the Wesleyan Church Seminary in Albion , Michigan . In 1861 , the American Civil War broke out , and Barnes , just 16 years old , joined the Union army as a volunteer soldier . His experience in telegraphy earned him a position in the Military Telegraph and Engineering Corps of the Union army . Barnes served for the duration of the war , spending a portion of his enlistment as the secretary to Brigadier General Nathaniel Lyon . Barnes left the army at the age of 20 and moved to Little Rock , ArkansasDuring his time in Arkansas , he married Elizabeth Mary Bartlett of North Adams , Massachusetts , in Little Rock on June 4 , 1868 . His second marriage was to divorcee , Rebecca Cagle Forney , in Chicago in 1910 . Career . In 1876 Barnes , a Republican , moved to Ft . Smith , Arkansas where he accepted a position as Chief Deputy United States Marshal over the United States District Court for the Western District of Arkansas where , the year before , US President Ulysses S . Grant had appointed Isaac Parker as District Judge over that court . Barnes gained a friendship with the powerful Clayton family , most notably former Governor of Arkansas and ( then ) Senator Powell Clayton . Through his friendship with Clayton , Barnes was appointed , by President Benjamin Harrison , Receiver of the United States Land Office at Guthrie in 1890 with the opening of Oklahoma Territory . He held that position for four years . During his tenure as Receiver , Barnes studied law and passed the bar exam in 1893 . He served as a member of the 3rd and 4th sessions of the Oklahoma Territorial Legislature from 1895 to 1897 . During the 3rd session , he was the Legislature ’ s speaker . When President William McKinley , a Republican , took office in 1897 , he appointed Barnes to replace the outgoing Democratic William Cary Renfrow as Governor of Oklahoma Territory . Barnes formally took the oath of office on May 24 , 1897 . During his four - year term , Barnes defeated the attempts of the 6th Legislature to create numerous additional territorial institutions justified by the growing idea for the formation of the State of Oklahoma . Barnes promptly vetoed this legislation . His term in office ended on April 15 , 1901 when William Miller Jenkins took the oath of office as his successor . Governor Barnes continued to live in Guthrie for where he served as the President of the Logan County Bank . He was elected to and served as mayor of Guthrie in 1903 – 1905 and again in 1907 – 1909 . During his second term as mayor of Guthrie his wife , Elizabeth , died on May 27 , 1908 . After their marriage in 1910 , Barns and his second wife , Rebecca moved to Leavenworth , Kansas , where she served as an instructor in a girl ' s seminary and he become a postal telegraph operator in Leavenworth . Death and legacy . In his late years , his health began to fail . This caused him to move to New Mexico , where he died at Albuquerque on February 18 , 1925 . His body was returned to Guthrie and interred at the Summit View Cemetery . Barnes was a member of the Episcopal Church , serving as a senior warden of the Guthrie church for many years . He was an active affiliate of both the Scottish and York rites of the Masonic fraternity .