View source for Jeremiah M. Rusk

{{short description|2nd U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, 15th Governor of Wisconsin (1830–93)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2021}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|name             = Jeremiah Rusk
|image            = Jeremiah McLain Rusk - Brady-Handy.jpg
|caption          = Rusk {{circa}} 1870–80
|order            = 2nd
|office           = United States Secretary of Agriculture
| president       = [[Benjamin Harrison]]<br/>[[Grover Cleveland]]
| term_start      = March 6, 1889
| term_end        = March 6, 1893
| predecessor     = [[Norman Jay Coleman|Norman Coleman]]
| successor       = [[Julius Sterling Morton|Julius Morton]]
|order1           = 15th 
|office1          = Governor of Wisconsin
| lieutenant1     = [[Sam Fifield]]<br/>[[George Washington Ryland|George Ryland]] 
| term_start1     = January 2, 1882
| term_end1       = January 7, 1889
| predecessor1    = [[William E. Smith (politician)|William E. Smith]]
| successor1      = [[William D. Hoard]]
|state2           = [[Wisconsin]]
|district2        = {{ushr|WI|7|7th}}
| term_start2     = March 4, 1873
| term_end2       = March 3, 1877
| predecessor2    = Constituency established
| successor2      = [[Herman L. Humphrey]]
|state3           = [[Wisconsin]]
|district3        = {{ushr|WI|6|6th}}
| term_start3     = March 4, 1871
| term_end3       = March 3, 1873
| predecessor3    = [[Cadwallader C. Washburn]]
| successor3      = [[Philetus Sawyer]]
|order4           = 6th
|title4           = [[Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions#History|Bank Comptroller of Wisconsin]]
| governor4       = [[Lucius Fairchild]]
| term_start4     = January 1, 1866 
| term_end4       = January 3, 1870
| predecessor4    = William Ramsey 
| successor4      = ''Position abolished''
|state5           = Wisconsin
|state_assembly5  = Wisconsin
|district5        = [[Vernon County, Wisconsin|Bad Ax]] 2nd
| term_start5     = January 6, 1862
| term_end5       = January 5, 1863
| predecessor5    = [[Daniel Harris Johnson]] {{nowrap|''(Bad Ax&ndash;Crawford)''}}
| successor5      = [[Daniel B. Priest]] {{nowrap|''(Vernon 2nd)''}}
|birth_name       = Jeremiah McLain Rusk
|birth_date       = {{birth date|1830|6|17}}
|birth_place      = [[Malta, Ohio|Malta]], [[Ohio]], U.S.
|death_date       = {{nowrap|{{death date and age|1893|11|21|1830|6|17}}}}
|death_place      = [[Viroqua, Wisconsin|Viroqua]], [[Wisconsin]], U.S.
|restingplace     = Viroqua Cemetery, {{nowrap|Viroqua, Wisconsin}}
|spouse           = {{unbulleted list
 | {{marriage|Mary Martin|1849|1856|end=died}}
 | {{marriage|Elizabeth Marie Johnson|1856|1893}}
}}
|children         = 6
|relatives        = [[Allen Rusk]] (brother)
|party            = [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]]
|branch           = [[United States Volunteers]]<br/>[[Union Army]]
|rank             = [[Lieutenant colonel (United States)|Lieutenant Colonel]]<br/>[[Brevet (military)|Brevet]] [[Brigadier general (United States)|Brig. General]]
|serviceyears     = 1862&ndash;1865
|unit             = [[25th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment|25th Reg. Wis. Vol. Infantry]]
|battles          = [[American Civil War]]
|signature        = Signature of Jeremiah McLain Rusk (1830–1893).png
}}

'''Jeremiah McLain Rusk''' (June 17, 1830{{spaced ndash}}November 21, 1893) was an [[Americans|American]] [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] politician. He was the second [[United States secretary of agriculture]] (1889&ndash;1893) and the 15th [[governor of Wisconsin]] (1882&ndash;1889), and served three terms in the [[United States House of Representatives]] (1871&ndash;1877), representing northwest [[Wisconsin]].  He also served as a [[Union Army]] officer during the [[American Civil War]], served one term in the [[Wisconsin State Assembly]] (1862), and was the last [[Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions#History|Bank Comptroller of Wisconsin]] (1866&ndash;1870) before the office was abolished.

==Biography==
[[File:JMRusk.jpg|thumb|left|Rusk {{circa}} 1860–75]]

Rusk was born in [[Malta, Ohio]],<ref name="congress">{{cite web|title=Rusk, Jeremiah McLain (1830–1893)|url=http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=R000517|work=Biographical Directory of the United States Congress|publisher=United States Congress|access-date=20 December 2010}}</ref> the younger brother of [[Allen Rusk]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Lively Times of Another Era Gone, Liberty Basks in Quiet|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/14466116/allen_rusk_18251904/|newspaper=The La Crosse Tribune |date=May 14, 1967|page=20|via = [[Newspapers.com]]|access-date = October 17, 2017}} {{Open access}}</ref> He was a member of the [[United States Republican Party|Republican Party]]. He began as a planter, then turned to innkeeping and finally to banking before the [[American Civil War]].

Rusk started his service with the [[Union Army]] during Civil War as major of the [[25th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment]] on August 14, 1862.<ref name="Eicher465">Eicher, John H., and [[David J. Eicher]], ''Civil War High Commands.'' Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2001. {{ISBN|0-8047-3641-3}}. p. 465.</ref> He was promoted to [[Lieutenant Colonel (United States)|lieutenant colonel]] on September 16, 1863.<ref name="Eicher465"/> He took command of the regiment on July 22, 1864, when Colonel [[Milton Montgomery]] was wounded and captured at [[Decatur, Georgia]] during the [[Battle of Atlanta]].<ref name="Eicher465"/><ref name="Eicher394">Eicher, 2001, pp. 393&ndash;394.</ref> He continued in command after Montgomery was exchanged because Montgomery was given command of the brigade to which the 25th Wisconsin Infantry was assigned.<ref name="Eicher465"/><ref name="Eicher394"/> Rusk was wounded at [[Salkehatchie River]], Georgia on January 20, 1865.<ref name="Eicher465"/> Rusk was mustered out of the volunteers on June 7, 1865.<ref name="Eicher465"/> He received an appointment as brevet [[Colonel (United States)|colonel]] to rank from March 13, 1865.<ref name="Eicher465"/> On February 24, 1866, [[President of the United States|President]] [[Andrew Johnson]] nominated Rusk for appointment to the grade of brevet brigadier general of volunteers to rank from March 13, 1865, and the [[United States Senate]] confirmed the appointment on April 10, 1866.<ref>Eicher, 2001, p. 756.</ref>

After the Civil War, he became a congressman in the [[United States House of Representatives]].<ref name="miller-center">{{cite web |last=Spetter |first=Allan |title=Jeremiah M. Rusk (1889–1893): Secretary of Agriculture |url=http://millercenter.org/president/bharrison/essays/cabinet/390 |work=American President: An Online Reference Resource |publisher=University of Virginia |access-date=20 December 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101217081922/http://millercenter.org/president/bharrison/essays/cabinet/390 |archive-date=17 December 2010 }} {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101217081922/http://millercenter.org/president/bharrison/essays/cabinet/390 |date=December 17, 2010 }}</ref> He was elected to the [[Forty-second United States Congress]] as the representative of [[Wisconsin's 6th congressional district]] serving from March 4, 1871, to March 3, 1873. For the [[Forty-third Congress]] he redistricted and was elected as representative of Wisconsin's newly created [[Wisconsin's 7th congressional district|7th District]]. He was reelected to the [[Forty-fourth Congress]] as well serving from March 4, 1873, to March 3, 1877. While in congress, he was chairman of [[United States House Committee on Invalid Pensions|Committee on Invalid Pensions]] (Forty-third congress). After his terms in congress he ran as a Republican for [[Governor of Wisconsin]], an election he won.<ref name="miller-center"/> His most noted act during his governorship was when he sent the [[United States National Guard|National Guard]] into [[Milwaukee]] to keep the peace during the May Day Labor Strikes of 1886. The strikers had shut down every business in the city except the North Chicago Rolling Mills in [[Bay View, Milwaukee|Bay View]]. The guardsmen's orders were that, if the strikers were to enter the Mills, they should shoot to kill. But when the captain received the order it had a different meaning: he ordered his men to pick out a man and shoot to kill when the order was given. This led to the [[Bay View Tragedy]], in which a number of workers were killed; Governor Rusk took most of the blame.

In 1889, after the end of his third term as governor, he accepted the new cabinet position of [[secretary of agriculture]] in the [[Benjamin Harrison]] administration.<ref name="miller-center"/> He lived, died and was buried in [[Viroqua, Wisconsin]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Article/CS2576 |title=Rusk, Gov. Jeremiah M. (1830–1893) |date=October 3, 2012 |publisher=[[Wisconsin Historical Society]] |access-date=2021-04-07}}</ref> [[Rusk County, Wisconsin]] was named after Rusk. It was originally Gates County but changed its name in 1905.

==Personal life and legacy==
Jeremiah McLain Rusk was the youngest of seven children born to Daniel Rusk and his wife Jane (''{{nee}}'' Faulkner). Rusk's elder brother [[Allen Rusk]] also served in the [[Wisconsin State Assembly]] and in the Union Army during the Civil War.<ref>{{Cite news|url= https://www.newspapers.com/article/vernon-county-censor-deaths/136648508/  |title= Fatality Among Aged People |newspaper= Vernon County Censor |date= March 16, 1904 |page= 1 |accessdate= December 11, 2023 |via= [[Newspapers.com]] }}</ref>

Jeremiah McLain Rusk married twice.  His first wife was Mary Martin, who he married in 1849.  They had two children together before her death in 1856.  Later that year, Rusk married Elizabeth Marie "Berthe" Johnson, with whom he had four more children, though one died young.  His second wife survived him.

His eldest son was [[Lycurgus J. Rusk|Lycurgus James Rusk]], was a lawyer and worked as private secretary to his father; he also went on to serve in the Wisconsin State Assembly and was a prominent member of the Wisconsin bar.<ref>{{cite news|url= https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-capital-times-lycurgus-rusk-obit/136659617/ |title= Son of Ex-Governor Rusk Dies, Aged 77 |newspaper= [[The Capital Times]] |date= November 2, 1928 |page= 1 |accessdate= December 11, 2023 |via= [[Newspapers.com]] }}</ref>

The house he bought and lived in while Governor of Wisconsin, now known as the [[Old Executive Mansion]], was used by the state as the official residence of the Governor for several decades and is listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=32459 |title=Old Governor's Mansion 1855–56 |publisher=[[Historical Marker Database]] |access-date=2021-04-07}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|American Civil War}}
*[[List of American Civil War brevet generals (Union)]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Jeremiah McLain Rusk}}
{{CongBio|R000517}} Retrieved on 2008-02-12
*{{Find a Grave|5995596|access-date=12 February 2008}}

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{{s-end}}

{{Governors of Wisconsin}}
{{Benjamin Harrison cabinet}}
{{USSecAg}}
{{United States presidential election, 1888}}
{{United States representatives from Wisconsin}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rusk, Jeremiah Maclain}}
[[Category:1830 births]]
[[Category:1893 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Malta, Ohio]]
[[Category:Union army officers]]
[[Category:Republican Party governors of Wisconsin]]
[[Category:Secretaries of agriculture of the United States]]
[[Category:People of Wisconsin in the American Civil War]]
[[Category:Farmers from Wisconsin]]
[[Category:Republican Party members of the Wisconsin State Assembly]]
[[Category:19th-century American planters]]
[[Category:People from Viroqua, Wisconsin]]
[[Category:Benjamin Harrison administration cabinet members]]
[[Category:Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Wisconsin]]
[[Category:19th-century United States representatives]]
[[Category:19th-century members of the Wisconsin Legislature]]