David B . Henderson David Bremner Henderson ( March 14 , 1840 – February 25 , 1906 ) , a ten - term Republican Congressman from Dubuque , Iowa , was the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1899 to 1903 . He was the first Congressman from west of the Mississippi River , the last Civil War veteran , the second foreign - born person ( after Charles Frederick Crisp ) , and so far the only Iowan to serve as Speaker . Personal background . Henderson was born in Old Deer , Scotland on March 14 , 1840 . He emigrated to the United States with his parents , who initially settled in Winnebago County , Illinois , in 1846 . His family soon moved to a farm near Clermont , in Fayette County , Iowa in 1849 . He attended the common schools , and the Upper Iowa University at Fayette , Iowa . Civil War service and wounds . He served in the Union Army during the Civil War and was wounded severely twice , once in the neck and later in the leg , which resulted in progressive amputations of that leg . He initially enlisted in the Union Army on September 15 , 1861 , as a private in Company C , 12th Iowa Volunteer Infantry Regiment . He was elected and commissioned first lieutenant of that company . In the Battle of Fort Donelson , he was shot in the neck in the final charge over the breastworks . After returning to the Regiment in April 1862 , he lost one foot and part of one leg at the Second Battle of Corinth in October 1862 . He was discharged on February 26 , 1863 due to his wounds , and returned to Iowa . After serving as commissioner of the board of enrollment of the third district of Iowa from May 1863 to June 1864 , he re - entered the Army as colonel of the new 46th Iowa Volunteer Infantry Regiment , one of the " Hundred Days Men " regiments , and commanded the Regiment until it was mustered out in September 1864 . Law practice . He was a successful lawyer prior to pursuing his political career . After studying law , he was admitted to the bar in 1865 and commenced practice in Dubuque . He was the collector of internal revenue for the third district of Iowa from November 1865 to June 1869 , when he resigned to accept a position as Assistant U . S . Attorney for the Northern District of Iowa , where he served until 1871 . He was in private practice in Dubuque until 1882 . Congressman and chairman . In 1882 , he was elected as a Republican to represent Iowa ' s 3rd congressional district in the U . S . House . He served in the Forty - eighth and the nine succeeding Congresses , from March 4 , 1883 to March 4 , 1903 . He first ran for Speaker following the 1888 elections , finishing well behind Thomas Brackett Reed and runner - up William McKinley . Prior to his election as speaker , he served as the chairman of the Committee on Militia ( in the Fifty - first Congress ) , and chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary ( in the Fifty - fourth and Fifty - fifth Congresses ) . He was also the ranking Republican on the House Committee on Appropriations during the period of Democratic control , but when Republicans returned to control of the House after the 1894 elections , Speaker Reed departed with tradition by returning the chairmanship to Joseph Gurney Cannon , who had served more nonconsecutive terms in the House and would have outranked Henderson had Cannon not lost his House seat for two years . Henderson was an aggressive debater and an intense Republican partisan . He seems to have loved a fight ; he got into enough of them from his very first term , exercising his power of personal vituperation and abuse against Democrats whenever he found grounds to do so . " I would rather spend an eternity in hell with a Confederate than an eternity in heaven with a northern Copperhead , " he told one crowd . ( It says something about the temper of Iowa politics that the Dubuque " Herald , " a Democratic organ , placed those words at the masthead of its editorial page throughout the 1886 cvampaign , not to emphasize Henderson ' s intolerance of political differences , but his use of profanity . ) His secret for political success came from combining mainstream Republican causes with those dear to the hearts of his farmland constituency . In the summer of 1886 , he led House forces in favor of levying a high tax on oleomargarine . At the same time he sponsored a bill to raise the benefits for veterans ' widows by fifty percent . ( On the final passage of another bill he favored , increasing the pensions of disabled veterans , Henderson withheld his vote , since he would stand among the beneficiaries ) . His commitment to pension legislation , general and individual , marked his whole career and took up most of his time . No member did more than he in that respect . Speaker of the House . Henderson was elected to succeed Reed as Speaker following Reed ' s resignation from the post in 1899 . Republicans were in control in the House , a majority of members of the House Republican Caucus were from what was then considered " the West , " and Henderson was the only serious candidate for Speaker among western members . When serving as Speaker in the Fifty - sixth and Fifty - seventh Congresses , by longstanding tradition Henderson also held the role as chairman of the Committee on Rules . During his four - year tenure as Speaker of the House , many of his peers lobbied him to run for the presidency even though the United States Constitution forbade it because he was foreign born . On September 16 , 1902 - with the next Congressional election less than two months away - Henderson surprised nearly everyone by announcing that he was withdrawing from the race for re - election ( and thus from Congress ) . Various explanations for his abrupt withdrawal have been offered . Henderson ' s letter announcing his decision referred to " a growing sentiment , among Republicans , that I do not truly represent their views on the tariff question . " Some attributed his decision to the lingering effects of his war injuries . In a letter to Henderson ’ s successor Joe Cannon dated three days after Henderson ' s announcement , former House Clerk Henry H . Smith stated that " there can be but one explanation of the reason for his action [ the resignation ] . . . they relate not alone to poker playing , but to his alleged intimacy with a certain ` lobbyess ' who is reported to have some written evidence that would greatly embarrass the Speaker . . . . He seemed to have lost all control of himself and become reckless . . . . This is not mere guesswork at all but private and reliable information which I am sure you will recognize when I tell you the name . " - Whatever the cause , Henderson ' s resignation ushered in the beginning of Cannon ' s famous tenure as Speaker . Death and honors . After leaving Congress , Henderson practiced law in New York City until health problems caused him to retire to Southern California . Henderson died in Dubuque on February 25 , 1906 , aged 65 . He is buried at Linwood Cemetery in Dubuque . His portrait hangs in the speakers ' room in the U . S . Capitol , and statues of Henderson by J . Massey Rhind are found the collections of the Iowa State Historical Society and in Clermont . " Allison - Henderson Park , " in Dubuque , shares his name with that of six - term U . S . Senator William B . Allison , another citizen of Dubuque .