Algernon Sidney Badger

Algernon Sidney Badger (October 28, 1839 – May 9, 1905) was a colonel in the Union Army who became an important Republican carpetbagger government official in New Orleans, Louisiana, during and after Reconstruction.

Early years
Sharing the name of the English politician, Algernon Sidney, who was executed for treason against Charles II, Badger was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to John Baton Badger and the former Sarah Payne Sprague. He was educated at Milton Academy in Milton, Massachusetts, the birthplace of U.S. President George Herbert Walker Bush.

Badger volunteered for service in the American Civil War with the Sixth Massachusetts Infantry, later the 26th Infantry. He was sent to New Orleans as an infantry lieutenant. In 1863, he enlisted in the First Louisiana Union Cavalry in command of Company D. He rose to lieutenant colonel and then colonel for "faithful and meritorious service" in the 1864 Battle of Mobile Bay in Mobile, Alabama. That same year, he was wounded in battle at False River in southern Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana.

Political offices
After the war, Badger became a clerk in Fourth District Recorders Court in New Orleans. About 1868, he joined the New Orleans Metropolitan Police and was elevated to the superintendency in 1870. On September 14, 1874, Badger was seriously wounded at the Battle of Liberty Place, an insurrection by the Crescent City White League. Badger left the police force in 1875 to serve as state tax collector in New Orleans. In 1878, during the administration of Republican President Rutherford B. Hayes of Ohio, Badger was named postmaster at New Orleans. After a year, he took another patronage position, special deputy in the New Orleans Customs House, a position that he filled until 1885, when the Democratic administration of Grover Cleveland of New York replaced him. In 1889, with the return of a Republican administration under Benjamin Harrison of Indiana, Badger was named special deputy of the customs service, and then in 1890 the appraiser of merchandise at New Orleans, a post which again ended in 1893 with the return of Cleveland to the presidency. Badger returned to the appraiser position about 1900, with the Republican William McKinley administration, and held that final position until his death in 1905 at the age of sixty-five.

Family and civic life
Badger was twice married. On April 30, 1872, he wed the former Elizabeth Florence Parmele, daughter of Frederick F. and Jane Parmele. The couple had four children, Sidney (born ca. 1873), Frederick Parmele (born ca. 1874), John Algernon (born 1876), and Harry (born 1877). Elizabeth died in 1880, and on September 9, 1882, Badger married the former Blanche B. Blineau, the daughter of John Blineau and the former Amelia Dechamps. From the second marriage, he had two other children, George Chester Badger (born 1883) and Marion (born 1885; later Mrs. C. E. Benton Wells).

Badger on more than one occasion led the New Orleans Mardi Gras procession of the Krewe of Rex in his capacity as police superintendent. In one appearance, some in the crowd lampooned him as a "sleuthing bloodhound with a large protruding nose." Badger was a member and officer of the Grand Army of the Republic veterans organization. He was a grand commander of Knights Templar and a member of the Masonic lodge. He was Episcopalian. Badger died in New Orleans and is interred there at Metairie Cemetery.