US Senator, Governor of New Mexico Territory. He was a 19th century American politician, who was a newspaper publisher of the "Kansas Tribune" from 1856 to 1858 and the "Kansas State Record" from 1859 to 1861, or the start of the American Civil War. Starting as an eleven-year-old printer's apprentice, he learned the trade from the bottom up and was very successful. He served in the United States Army during the war, entering as a private but was a major by the end in 1865. He served in the 11th Kansas Volunteer Cavalry Regiment, seeing action at several battles in the Southwest. Politically, he was a Democrat who did not believe in slavery and for this reason, joined early the new Republican Party, but was affiliated with the Democratic party after 1872. After the war, he was appointed as a Republican, and subsequently elected, as the junior US Senator for the State of Kansas, serving July 19, 1866 to March 3, 1871. With the Senate needing the required two-thirds vote for impeachment, he is credited by most as having cast the single vote that saved President Andrew Johnson from impeachment. There have been many opinions on why Ross voted as he did. Knowing his vote would cause him a political death, Ross lost his bid for re-election two years later. In 1880, he was an unsuccessful gubernatorial candidate in Kansas. After relocating for his health to New Mexico in 1882, he was appointed by President Grover Cleveland as Territorial Governor of New Mexico, serving from May of 1885 to 1889. Later, he became the secretary of the Bureau of Immigration from 1894 to 1896. He published his book "History of the Impeachment of Andrew Johnson" in 1896. He married in 1849 and had seven children. Gaining him fame a hundred years later, chapter six in United States President John F. Kennedy's Pulitzer Prize book "Profiles in Courage," which discusses Senator Ross's courageous vote against the impeachment of President Johnson, begins in Kennedy's words, "In a lonely grave, forgotten and unknown, lies 'the man who saved a President,' and who as a result may well have preserved for ourselves and our posterity Constitutional government in the United States..."
US Senator, Governor of New Mexico Territory. He was a 19th century American politician, who was a newspaper publisher of the "Kansas Tribune" from 1856 to 1858 and the "Kansas State Record" from 1859 to 1861, or the start of the American Civil War. Starting as an eleven-year-old printer's apprentice, he learned the trade from the bottom up and was very successful. He served in the United States Army during the war, entering as a private but was a major by the end in 1865. He served in the 11th Kansas Volunteer Cavalry Regiment, seeing action at several battles in the Southwest. Politically, he was a Democrat who did not believe in slavery and for this reason, joined early the new Republican Party, but was affiliated with the Democratic party after 1872. After the war, he was appointed as a Republican, and subsequently elected, as the junior US Senator for the State of Kansas, serving July 19, 1866 to March 3, 1871. With the Senate needing the required two-thirds vote for impeachment, he is credited by most as having cast the single vote that saved President Andrew Johnson from impeachment. There have been many opinions on why Ross voted as he did. Knowing his vote would cause him a political death, Ross lost his bid for re-election two years later. In 1880, he was an unsuccessful gubernatorial candidate in Kansas. After relocating for his health to New Mexico in 1882, he was appointed by President Grover Cleveland as Territorial Governor of New Mexico, serving from May of 1885 to 1889. Later, he became the secretary of the Bureau of Immigration from 1894 to 1896. He published his book "History of the Impeachment of Andrew Johnson" in 1896. He married in 1849 and had seven children. Gaining him fame a hundred years later, chapter six in United States President John F. Kennedy's Pulitzer Prize book "Profiles in Courage," which discusses Senator Ross's courageous vote against the impeachment of President Johnson, begins in Kennedy's words, "In a lonely grave, forgotten and unknown, lies 'the man who saved a President,' and who as a result may well have preserved for ourselves and our posterity Constitutional government in the United States..."
Bio by: Linda Davis
Inscription
Father
Pioneer Soldier Statesman
Gravesite Details
Grave located in the historical part of the cemetery.
Family Members
Siblings
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