OSBORN, Thomas Ward, a Senator from Florida; born in Scotch Plains, Union County, N.J., March 9, 1833; moved to New York in 1842 with his parents, who settled in North Wilna; attended the common schools and graduated from Madison (now Colgate) University, Hamilton, N.Y., in 1860; studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1861; during the Civil War entered the Union Army in 1861 as lieutenant and became captain, major, and colonel of Battery D, First Regiment, New York Light Artillery; appointed assistant commissioner of the Bureau of Refugees and Freedmen for Florida 1865-1866; settled in Tallahassee, Fla., and commenced the practice of law; appointed register in bankruptcy in 1867; member of the State constitutional convention in 1868; moved to Pensacola, Fla.; member, State senate; upon the readmission of Florida to representation was elected as a Republican to the United States Senate and served from June 25, 1868, to March 3, 1873; was not a candidate for reelection; served as United States commissioner at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, Pa., in 1876; moved to New York City and resumed the practice of law; also engaged in literary pursuits; died in New York City, December 18, 1898; interment in Hillside Cemetery, North Adams, Berkshire County, Mass [www.bioguide.congress.gov]
BUT WE KNOW "THE REST OF THE STORY!"
[Left photo from Florida State Archives/ right from Library of Congress]
More biographical information about T.W. Osborn:
GENERAL THOMAS W. OSBORN, son of Jonathan and Amelia Osborn ....After graduation he entered the law-office of Starbuck & Sawyer, at Watertown, being admitted to practice law in 1861. It was not until after the battle of First Bull Run that he determined to do what hecould to sustain the government. He raised a company for light artilleryservice, afterwards known as Company D, First New York Light Artillery. Ofthis command he was commissioned captain. The battery served continuouslywith the Army of the Potomac and engaged in more than 30 pitched battles,from the Peninsula to Gettysburg, proving itself one of the best artilleryforces in the army, only equaled by the battery of Mink and Spratt, also raised in Jefferson, St. Lawrence and Lewis counties. After this generaland entirely truthful statement it is not necessary to go into details, for Osborn's battery has a record that can be found in the history of the Army ofthe Potomac. The services of Captain Osborn were so meritorious that he was rapidly promoted from one grade to another, having been chief of artillery ofthe second division of the second corps, under General Berry, with the rankof major; in 1863 he was promoted to the command of the second brigade of thevolunteer artillery of the Army of the Potomac; and in June, 1863, was madechief of artillery of the second corps, under General Howard, in whichcapacity he went through with the battle of Chancellorsville. In 1864 he was transferred to the Army of the Cumberland, and was chief of artillery of thefourth corps of that army; and while thus employed was seriously wounded.While in command of the recruiting barracks at Louisville, Ky., he organizedthe 106th, 107th and 108th regiments of colored troops. Returning to thefront as soon as convalescent, on the 28th of July, 1864, he was assigned, byGeneral Sherman, as chief of artillery of the Army and Department of theTennessee, commanded by General Howard. This assignment gave Major Osbornthe largest artillery command held by any officer during the war, with theone exception of Major-General Barry, who was General Sherman's chief of artillery. November 1, 1865, upon the organization of Sherman's army for the Savannah campaign, Major Osborn was relieved from the command of theartillery of the department, and retained that of the moving army. December 21, 1864, in addition to his other duties, he was put in command and hadcharge of all the artillery, light and heavy, captured at Savannah; January 9, 1865, he received his previous command of the artillery only with themoving army and entered upon the Carolina campaign. This he retained untilMay 10, 1865, when he was relieved by the Secretary of War and assigned to other duty.
From: The Growth of a Century: As Illustrated in the History of Jefferson, County, New York, from 1793 to 1894, John A. Haddock, Philadelphia, Sherman & Co., 1894. Page 822.
Found at http://home.att.net/~osborne-origins/biograph/bio25.htm
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