History of Philadelphia, (Jefferson County) New York United States of America

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Judson Newell Cross, soldier, was born at Philadelphia, Jefferson county, N.Y., Jan. 16, 1838; son of the Rev. Gorham and Sophia (Murdock) Cross, and great-grandson of three Revolutionary soldiers.. He entered Oberlin college in 1855, and studied and taught until April 20, 1861, when he enlisted with the one hundred Oberlin students who formed Company C, 7th Ohio Infantry. He was elected 1st lieutenant, and served through the western Virginia campaign of 1861 under Generals McClellan, Rosecrans, and Cox. While serving in this capacity he was editor of The Ohio Seventh, the first Union paper published by Union soldiers, with a press captured from the enemy. He was severely wounded and was captured at the battle of Cross Lanes, but was recaptured at the battle of Carnifex Ferry, by Major Rutherford B. Hayes. He was promoted to a captaincy in November, 1861, but on account of his wound was chiefly on special duty until the end of the war. He was subsequently commandant of the post at Madison, Ind.: was adjutant-general of the military district of Indiana; assistant provost-marshal, and on the staff of the military governor of the department at Washington, D.C. His last service was by appointment of Secretary Stanton to muster the 18,000 returned Andersonville prisoners at Annapolis, Md., in 1864-65. He was graduated at the Albany law school in 1866, and practised law at Lyons, Iowa, where in 1871 he was elected mayor. He removed to Minneapolis, Minn., in 1875, where he was city attorney, 1883-87, and while holding the office, instituted many important reforms, reducing the number and territory of saloons, and compelling the railroads to abolish grade crossings. In 1883 lie was a member of the Minneapolis board of park commissioners, and in 1891 a member of the board of immigration commissioners sent to Europe by the U.S. government.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

History of Philadelphia, (Jefferson County) New York

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