Oscar Hugh La Grange

Oscar Hugh La Grange (April 3, 1837 – January 5, 1915) was an American lawyer and abolitionist activist. He served as a Union Army cavalry officer in the American Civil War, and received an honorary brevet to brigadier general.

Early life and activism Oscar Hugh La Grange was born on April 3, 1837, in Fulton, Oswego County, New York. In 1845, he and his family moved to Ripon, Wisconsin. He attended Ripon College and the University of Wisconsin in Madison.

As a teenager, La Grange became an active abolitionist, participating in the Bleeding Kansas conflicts. In 1860, he helped free abolitionist Sherman Booth from a Milwaukee jail and was on the run for several weeks hiding from law enforcement. On January 13, 1866, President Andrew Johnson nominated La Grange for appointment to the grade of brevet brigadier general of volunteers to rank from March 13, 1865, and the United States Senate confirmed the appointment on March 12, 1866.