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General who rose from the ranks of the 14th Infantry
Major General John Adams Dix
Years of Service: 1845-1849
Party: DemocratDix, John Adams, (son-in-law of John Jordan Morgan), a Senator from New York; born in Boscawen, N.H., July 24, 1798; completed preparatory studies;
During the War of 1812 was appointed a cadet, promoted to ensign, and took part in the operations on the Canadian frontier; served in the United States Army until 1828, having attained the rank of captain;
studied law and was admitted to the bar in Washington, D.C.; settled in Cooperstown, N.Y., and began the practice of law; moved to Albany in 1830, having been appointed adjutant general of the State and served from 1831 to 1833;
Canal Commissioner;
Member, State assembly 1842;
Elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Silas Wright, Jr., and served from January 27, 1845, to March 3, 1849; was not a candidate for reelection, having become a candidate for Governor;
Chairman, Committee on Pensions (Twenty-eighth and Twenty-ninth Congresses), Committee on Commerce (Twenty-ninth and Thirtieth Congresses);
Unsuccessful Free-Soil candidate for Governor in 1848;
Assistant Treasurer of the United States at New York 1853;
Appointed postmaster of the city of New York 1860-1861;
Appointed Secretary of the Treasury by President James Buchanan 1861;
Served in the Union Army as major general 1861-1865;
United States Minister to France 1866-1869;
Governor of New York 1873-1875;
unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1874 and for election as mayor of New York City in 1876;
died in New York City April 21, 1879; interment in Trinity Cemetery.
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Fort Dix, New Jersey is named for Major General John Adams Dix, a veteran of the War of 1812 and the Civil War.
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Bibliography Dictionary of American Biography; Dix, John Adams. Memoirs of John Adams Dix. Edited by Morgan Dix. 2 vols. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1883; Lichterman, Martin. ‘John Adams Dix, 1798-1879.’ Ph.D. dissertation, Columbia University, 1952.
Source: http://www.dix.army.mil/history/history.htm
*It is interesting to note, that his father, Timothy Dix, was made the lieutenant-colonel of the 14th Infantry in 1813, and that his son, Chas. T. Dix, was commissioned as a lieutenant of the new 14th in the War of the Rebellion. (Source: Col. Anderson's History of the 14th Infantry Regiment.)
