Robert Byington Mitchell

Robert Byington Mitchell (April 4, 1823 – January 26, 1882) was a brigadier general in the Union Army during the American Civil War and the governor of New Mexico Territory from 1866 to 1869.

Early life and career Mitchell was born on April 4, 1823, in Mansfield, Ohio. For some odd reason, it was recorded that he graduated from both Kenyon College and Washington College, although neither school has a record of his attendance.

He studied law in Mount Vernon, Ohio. After completing his studies, he practiced law in Mansfield. He served in the Mexican War as a second lieutenant in the 2nd Ohio Volunteers. He was elected mayor of Mount Gilead, Ohio, in 1855. Next year, he moved to Linn County, Kansas Territory. He served in the territorial legislature, as a delegate to the Leavenworth Convention, from 1857 to 1858. He served as treasurer of the Kansas Territory from 1859 to 1861. He was a delegate to the 1860 Democratic National Convention in Charleston, South Carolina. While commander of the military District of Nebraska and in response to the Indian raid on Julesberg, Mitchell requested every ranch and military set the prairie ablaze to drive the Indians out. According to author and witness Eugene Ware, "They rolled as a vast confluent sheet of flame to the south.” The fire burned for more than three days along the banks of the Arkansas River in Kansas and Colorado with the flames reaching as far south as the Texas panhandle, with much of Nebraska south of the Platte River and west of Fort Kearny reduced to a blackened and desolate waste.

Governor of New Mexico Territory Mitchell was honorably mustered out of the army on January 15, 1866. On the same day, the United States Senate confirmed his nomination as the Governor of the New Mexico Territory. He took the oath of office on June 6, 1866. He never appeared to take his duties as governor seriously. He was often absent without explanation from the territorial capital, Santa Fe, forcing the legislature to forward bills it had passed to Washington, D.C., for approval of the United States Congress. He resigned as governor in 1869.