Russell Alexander Alger

Russell Alexander Alger ( ; February 27, 1836 – January 24, 1907) was an American politician and businessman. He served as the 20th governor of Michigan, U.S. Senator, and U.S. Secretary of War. Impoverished as a child, Alger accumulated wealth throughout his life and died a respected businessman. He was at various points an army officer, a financier, lumber baron, and railroad owner. He was supposedly a distant relation of author Horatio Alger, who often wrote about such "rags to riches" tales.

Early life and career

Russell Alexander Alger was born on February 27, 1836, in Lafayette Township, Medina County, Ohio. Hailing from a New England family, his ancestors came from England to Massachusetts in 1759.

His parents died in 1848, leaving Russell the oldest of three orphaned children, without money and with a brother and sister to care for and support. He was commissioned and served as a captain and major in the 2nd Michigan Cavalry Regiment. On January 13, 1866, President Andrew Johnson nominated Alger for the award of the grade of brevet brigadier general of volunteers to rank from June 11, 1865, and the U.S. Senate confirmed the award on March 12, 1866. On February 28, 1867, President Johnson nominated Alger for the award of the grade of brevet major general of volunteers to rank from June 11, 1865, and the U.S. Senate confirmed the award on March 2, 1867.

In 1868, he was elected the first commander of the Michigan department of the Grand Army of the Republic. In 1889, he became the Grand Army's National Commander-in-Chief.

In order to transport the lumber, Alger led his company to create the Detroit, Bay City and Alpena Railroad, of which Alger served as president.

After clear cutting forests in the lower peninsula, his lumber companies acquired land in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan including Kingston Plains, just south of the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. These bleak stump plains have resisted 90 years of reforestation efforts. Alger made a fortune logging the area which he used to propel himself to governor of Michigan.

At the turn of the 20th century, he and Florida landowner Martin Sullivan established the Alger-Sullivan Lumber Company, which milled lumber in Foshee, Alabama, and Century, Florida.

Political activism Alger was active in politics as a Republican. In 1866, he was a delegate to the party's Wayne County convention and its state convention. In October 1872, Alger was a vice president of the committee that organized a Republican campaign event which featured a speech by James G. Blaine, then serving as Speaker of the United States House of Representatives.

In June 1876, Alger was a vice president of the committee which sponsored a Republican rally in Detroit that began that year's presidential campaign. In early October 1876, Alger was a vice president of the committee that organized a mass Republican rally in Detroit which featured a speech by former governor Edward Follansbee Noyes of Ohio. In late October 1876, he was one of the vice presidents of the committee that organized a Republican rally in Detroit which included a keynote address by U.S. Senator James G. Blaine of Maine.

In early June 1880, Alger was a delegate to a mass interstate meeting of Union veterans which met in Chicago to devise a plan for supporting Republican candidates in that year's elections. In mid-June, he presided over the Republican meeting in Detroit which was organized to ratify the results of the 1880 Republican National Convention, which had been held earlier in the month.

Governor of Michigan

In 1884, Alger was elected Governor of Michigan and served from January 1, 1885, to January 1, 1887. Highlights of his term included creation of the state board of pardons, the founding of a veterans home in Grand Rapids, the creation of two new counties (Alger and Iron), and establishment of the Michigan College of Mines. "Algerism" became an epithet to describe the claimed incompetence of the Army, especially as compared to the more stellar performance of the Navy.

Alger resigned at President McKinley's request on August 1, 1899. He published a personal history of the war titled The Spanish–American War in 1901.

Vendetta against John S. Mosby John Singleton Mosby accused Alger of pursuing a vendetta against him during Alger's tenure as War Secretary. Mosby had been a Confederate partisan during the Civil War. In 1878, Hayes appointed Mosby as U.S. Consul in Hong Kong, where Mosby served until 1885.

Alger was chairman of the Senate Committee on Pacific Railroads during the 59th Congress.

Personal life Alger was the founder of a prominent family, many of whom became involved in 20th century Michigan politics and active in the Republican Party.

The Algers had a home in Black River, Alcona Township, Michigan, from which Alger oversaw his lumbering operations.

On April 2, 1861, he married Annette Huldana Squire Henry of Grand Rapids.

Death He died in Washington, D.C., in 1907. He is interred in Elmwood Cemetery in Detroit, Michigan.

Legacy

In a memorial address, Senator John Spooner of Wisconsin said of Alger, "No man without noble purpose, well-justified ambitions, strong fiber, and splendid qualities in abundance could have carved out and left behind him such a career."

An early movie entitled General Wheeler and Secretary of War Alger at Camp Wikoff documents an official visit to Camp Wikoff, New York, as Secretary of War. The visit and film were produced to garner support from the New York newspapers.

In May 1898, the War Department established Camp Russell A. Alger on a farm near Falls Church and Dunn Loring, Virginia. Faced with a typhoid fever epidemic, it was abandoned the month at the war's end in August 1898 and sold the following month. In its brief existence, 23,000 men trained there for service. It is commemorated by an official Virginia historical marker.

Named for Alger

Alger, Michigan (1882) Alger County, Michigan (1885) Russell A. Alger Street and Alger Street in Black River, Michigan Alger Street in Lincoln, Michigan Alger Heights, a neighborhood of Grand Rapids, Michigan A United States Liberty ship named the was planned but cancelled in 1942 before construction. Alger Road in Richfield, Ohio.

Monuments In 1909, a monument to Alger was erected on the William G. Mather Building in Munising, Michigan. It consists of a bronze bust of Alger on a stone pedestal, and was sculpted by Detroit sculptor Carlo Romanelli with funds provided by the heirs of Alger and by the Board of Education of the Munising Township Schools.

In 1921, a memorial fountain was dedicated to Alger in Grand Circus Park, Detroit by sculptor Daniel Chester French and architect Henry Bacon.