serviceyears branch death_date allegiance term alt birth_date term_end alma_mater commands death_place imagesize profession preceded battles term_start spouse rank name caption succeeded birth_place jr/sr party state district article_title
1862 -- 1865 united states army union army 8 july 1875 united states union january , 1873 20 , 1871 & ndash ; march 4 seated man with beard in uniform 19 february 1821 march 10 , 1864 3 , 1859 june 25 , 1860 june university transylvania university of north carolina at chapel hill princeton university xvii corps st. louis , missouri 250px politician , lawyer daniel john r. barret t. jewett luther m. kennett john r. barret mexican-american war american civil war march 4 , 1861 4 , 1857 june 8 , 1860 march appoline alexander blair 35px major general francis preston blair , jr. . general in the civil war lewis samuel knox v. bogy john r. barret john r. barret lexington , kentucky united states senator free 1854 -- 1866 -rrb- democratic -lrb- 1866 -- 1875 -rrb- soiler unconditional unionist -lrb- 1848 -- 1854 -rrb- republican -lrb- missouri missouri missouri 1 1st francis preston blair , jr. .

francis preston blair , jr. .

francis preston blair , jr. -lrb- february 19 , 1821july 8 , 1875 -rrb- was an american politician and soldier .
he represented missouri in both the house of representatives and the senate , and was active in preventing that neutral state from being absorbed into the confederacy in the civil war .
after recruiting a unionist home guard , blair helped the new local military commander nathaniel lyon to move weapons from the st. louis arsenal to safety in illinois -lrb- camp jackson affair -rrb- , breaking an informal truce with the confederates .
this set the scene for continuing guerrilla activity by outraged pro-slavery elements .
in 1862 , blair joined the missouri volunteers , being promoted major general , commanding a division at vicksburg , and ending the war as a corps commander under sherman .
in 1868 , he was horatio seymour 's vice-presidential candidate , but his dramatic speeches about the dangers of black emancipation were believed by some to have cost the democrats the election .
he suffered a paralysing stroke in 1872 , but continued to be active in politics till his death .
