Edward Salomon



Edward Salomon (August 11, 1828 – April 21, 1909) was the eighth Governor of Wisconsin during the American Civil War after the accidental drowning of his predecessor, Louis P. Harvey.

Salomon was born in Ströbeck, Prussian Saxony. He was lieutenant governor of Wisconsin from 1860 to 1862 before becoming governor after Harvey drowned in the Tennessee River while visiting Wisconsin troops after the Battle of Shiloh. He moved to New York City in 1869 and in 1894 moved back to Prussia where he died and was buried.

In 1862 Governor Salomon responded to a request from the War Department for more troops by asking for volunteers and setting up a draft. He was able to raise 14 regiments. Salomon had to call up federal troops to quell the Port Washington Draft Riot. Suppression of the rioters with use of federal troops cost him the 1864 Republican nomination.

His brothers, Frederick C. Salomon and Charles Eberhard Salomon, served as officers in the Union Army. On July 18, 1862, Frederick was appointed by President Abraham Lincoln as a brigadier general of volunteers to rank from July 16, 1862. President Lincoln submitted the nomination to the U.S. Senate on May 17, 1862 and the Senate confirmed the appointment on July 16, 1862. Charles served as colonel of the 5th Missouri Volunteer Infantry (3 months, 1861) and on September 26, 1862 rejoined the army and succeeded Frederick as colonel of the 9th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment. On January 13, 1866, President Andrew Johnson nominated Charles Eberhard Salomon for appointment to the grade of brevet brigadier general of volunteers to rank from March 13, 1865, and the Senate confirmed the appointment on March 12, 1866.