Adelbert Ames | |
---|---|
![]() | |
27th and 30th Governor of Mississippi | |
In office January 4, 1874 – March 29, 1876 | |
Lieutenant | Alexander K. Davis |
Preceded by | Ridgley C. Powers |
Succeeded by | John M. Stone |
In office June 15, 1868 – March 10, 1870 | |
Preceded by | Benjamin G. Humphreys |
Succeeded by | James L. Alcorn |
United States Senator from Mississippi | |
In office February 23, 1870 – January 10, 1874 | |
Preceded by | Jefferson Davis Secession (vacant until 1870) |
Succeeded by | Henry R. Pease |
Personal details | |
Born | East Thomaston (now Rockland), Maine, U.S. | October 31, 1835
Died | April 13, 1933 Ormond Beach, Florida, U.S. | (aged 97)
Resting place | Hildreth Family Cemetery in Lowell, Massachusetts 42°39′39″N 71°18′36″W / 42.660798°N 71.309928°W |
Political party | Republican |
Spouse | |
Relations | Benjamin Franklin Butler (father-in-law) |
Children | Butler, Edith, Sarah, Blanche, Adelbert Jr., Jessie |
Alma mater | United States Military Academy |
Profession | Military |
Awards | Medal of Honor |
Military service | |
Allegiance | United States |
Branch/service | U.S. Army (Union Army) |
Years of service | 1861–1870 1898–1899 |
Rank | ![]() ![]() |
Unit | 5th United States Artillery |
Commands | 20th Maine Volunteer Infantry 2nd Brigade, 1st Division, XI Corps 2nd Division, X Corps 2nd Division, XXIV Corps Fourth Military District 3rd Brigade, 1st Division, Fifth Army Corps 1st Division, Fifth Army Corps |
Battles/wars | |
Adelbert Ames (October 31, 1835 – April 13, 1933) was an American sailor, soldier, businessman and politician who served with distinction as a Union Army general during the American Civil War. A Radical Republican, he was military governor, U.S. Senator, and civilian governor in Reconstruction-era Mississippi. In 1898, he served as a United States Army general during the Spanish–American War. He was the last Republican to serve as the state governor of Mississippi until the election of Kirk Fordice, who took office in January 1992, 116 years after Ames vacated the office.
A staunch supporter of political equality for African Americans, Ames' tenure as governor of Mississippi was a longstanding point of controversy in the historiography around Reconstruction, with Dunning School and other "Lost Cause" historians casting him as a villain in American history. Conversely, his cause was championed by Black historians and, from the 1950s onward, other neo-abolitionist writers.
Ames was the penultimate surviving general officer of the Civil War, dying at the age of 97 in 1933.[1] He was outlived only by Aaron Daggett, who died in 1938 at the age of 100. However, because Daggett was a brevet rank brigadier general of volunteers, Ames was the last surviving Civil War general who had held his rank in the regular U.S. or Confederate States army and was also the last surviving general of the conflict who had begun his career in the regular U.S. Army.