History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century/4/Samuel S. Burdett
SAMUEL S. BURDETT was born in England, in 1835, and emigrated to America in 1856. After graduating at Oberlin College he located at De Witt in Clinton County, where he engaged in the practice of law with Judge Graham. He was a radical Abolitionist and an active agent of the “underground railroad,” a warm friend of John Brown, assisting many fugitive slaves on their way to Canada. He was a prominent Republican speaker in the Lincoln campaign of 1860. When the Rebellion began he helped raise a company for the First Iowa Cavalry, was commissioned lieutenant of Company B, and was soon promoted to captain. He was appointed Provost Marshal at St. Louis and organized the plans for the arrest of Mulligan and his gang of so-called “Sons of Liberty” in Indiana. In 1868 he was one of the Presidential electors in Iowa, casting the vote of the State for General Grant. He removed to Osceola, Missouri, where he served two terms in Congress. In 1877 he was appointed by President Hayes Commissioner of the United States Land Department at Washington, where he served eight years. In 1885 he was chosen Grand Commander of the Grand Army of the Republic.