19 Facts About Edward Scofield

Edward Scofield was an American lumberman and Republican politician.

Edward Scofield was the 19th governor of Wisconsin and served in the Wisconsin State Senate, representing Door, Marinette, and Oconto counties.

Edward Scofield became a printer's apprentice at a newspaper in Indiana, Pennsylvania, and worked in the newspaper business for a number of years.

At the outbreak of the American Civil War, Edward Scofield volunteered for service in the Union Army and was enrolled as a private in Company K of the 11th Pennsylvania Reserve Regiment.

Edward Scofield was promoted to corporal and then sergeant, and, on April 15,1863, after the Battle of South Mountain, he was commissioned as first lieutenant.

Edward Scofield was promoted to captain of his company.

Edward Scofield participated in all the battles and marches of his regiment up to the Battle of the Wilderness on May 5,1864, where he was taken prisoner and incorrectly reported as dead.

Edward Scofield was held as a prisoner of war for ten months, passing through 12 different prison camps in the South before being released at Wilmington, North Carolina, on March 1,1865.

Edward Scofield was granted an honorary brevet to major after his release and mustered out of federal service.

For months after his release from prison, Edward Scofield suffered due to the starvation and deprivation of his ten months in captivity.

Edward Scofield entered politics when he was elected to the Wisconsin State Senate in 1886 as a Republican, beating Democrat Amos Holgate.

Edward Scofield was appointed to the standing committees on engrossed bills and on railroads.

Edward Scofield ran for re-election in 1890 and the election was close enough to warrant a recount by the Senate Elections Committee.

The 1890 election gave Democrats the majority in the Senate for the first time since 1855, the Democratic majority on the Elections Committee ruled in favor of his Democratic opponent, John Fetzer, finding that Edward Scofield had been defeated by 15 votes.

In 1896 Edward Scofield was elected as the 19th Governor of Wisconsin.

Edward Scofield entered the gubernatorial race as a conservative against progressive Republican Robert M La Follette, winning the Republican nomination on the sixth ballot.

Edward Scofield did not run for a third term in 1900.

Edward Scofield married Agnes Potter and they had three children, Julia, Paul, and George.

Edward Scofield died in his home in Oconto on February 3,1925.