James Laird

U.S. Congressperson

1849 – 1889

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Who was James Laird?

James Laird was a Nebraska Republican politician.

Laird was born in Fowlerville, New York and moved with his parents to Hillsdale County, Michigan. He attended Adrian College and enlisted at thirteen in the Sixteenth Regiment of the Michigan Volunteer Infantry in the Army of the Potomac during the American Civil War. At Gaines' Mill, a musket ball struck him in the breast; he was taken prisoner and held for six weeks at Libby Prison before being exchanged. Later he served at Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, and, after re-enlisting in 1864, took part in the Petersburg campaign. Over three years, from 1862 to 1865, he was wounded five times, and rose to the rank of major by the time he was seventeen. His two brothers both died in the war. . He graduated from the law department of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and was admitted to the bar.

He set up practice in Hastings, Nebraska in 1872 and was a member of the Nebraska constitutional convention of 1875. He was elected as a Republican to fill the newly created 2nd district seat to the U.S. House of Representatives to the Forty-eighth United States Congress.

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Born
Jun 20, 1849
Nationality
  • United States of America
Profession
Education
  • University of Michigan
  • Adrian College
Died
Aug 17, 1889
Hastings

Submitted
on July 23, 2013

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