1. William Vandever was a United States representative from Iowa and later from California, and a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
17 Facts About William Vandever
1. 2.
William Vandever moved to Illinois in 1839 and to Iowa in 1851.
3.
William Vandever studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1852 and commenced practice in Dubuque, Iowa.
4.
William Vandever was a member of the peace conference of 1861 held in Washington, DC, in an effort to devise means to prevent the impending war.
5.
In 1861, William Vandever was mustered into the Union Army as colonel of the 9th Iowa Volunteer Infantry Regiment.
6.
William Vandever commanded the 2nd Brigade in Eugene A Carr's 4th Division at the battle of Pea Ridge.
7.
William Vandever was promoted to brigadier general of Volunteers on November 29,1862, and sent to command a brigade in the XIII Corps of the Army of the Tennessee.
8.
William Vandever returned to the Trans-Mississippi Theater to command the 2nd Division in the Army of the Frontier at the Battle of Chalk Bluff.
9.
William Vandever reverted to brigade command under Francis J Herron during the siege of Vicksburg.
10.
William Vandever returned to Iowa as a recruiting officer in January 1864.
11.
William Vandever joined up with William T Sherman's army in command of the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Division, XVI Corps and fought at the battles of Kennesaw Mountain, Atlanta and Ezra Church.
12.
William Vandever commanded the Post of Marietta during the fall of 1864 then rejoined Sherman's army in command of the 1st Brigade, 2nd Division, XIV Corps and fought at the battle of Bentonville.
13.
In May 1862, Democratic Congressman George H Browne of Rhode Island raised a challenge to the constitutionality of Vandever holding a military commission and commanding a regiment while remaining a member of Congress, but consideration by the House on that issue was deferred until December 1862.
14.
William Vandever resumed the practice of law in Dubuque and was appointed United States Indian inspector by President Ulysses S Grant in 1873, and served until 1877.
15.
William Vandever was elected as a Republican to represent California's 6th congressional district in the House in the Fiftieth and Fifty-first Congresses.
16.
William Vandever was not a candidate for renomination in 1890.
17.
William Vandever died in Ventura, California, in 1893 and was buried in Ventura Cemetery.