William Wade Dudley was born on August 27, 1842, in Weathersfield Bow, Vermont, to John and Abigail Dudley. His father was a well-known Congregational minister who owned $3,000 of personal property by 1860. He grew up and attended school in Danville, Vermont, and New Haven, Connecticut. By 1860, he was working as a clerk in New Haven. He moved to Richmond, Indiana, in the early 1860s, and he worked in the milling industry there.

 

In July 1861, he received a commission as captain of Company B of the 19^th Indiana Infantry. The regiment took part in the Second Battle of Manassas, the Battle of Antietam, the Battle of Fredericksburg, the Battle of Chancellorsville, and the Battle of Gettysburg. He was promoted to major in September 1862 and then to lieutenant colonel the following month.

 

He was wounded at Gettysburg on July 1, 1863, and surgeons amputated his right leg on the battlefield. He received a brevet promotion to brigadier general for “gallantry in action.” He later served as captain of Company D of the 4^th Veteran Reserve Corps and captain of the 93^rd Company of the 2^nd Veteran Reserve Corps Battalion. He mustered out on June 30, 1866.

 

He returned to Richmond after leaving the army. He married Theresa Fiske on October 18, 1864, and they had at least five children: John, born around 1865; George, born around 1868; William, born around 1869; Charles, born around 1878; and Theresa, born around 1880. He was elected circuit court clerk in 1866 and 1870. By 1870, he owned $3,000 of real estate and $2,500 of personal property. He was admitted to the bar in January 1875, but he stopped practicing law soon afterward to become cashier of the Richmond Savings Bank. Then, in 1879, he became a United States marshal.

 

He supported the Republican Party. In 1881, President James A. Garfield appointed him as United States Commissioner of Pensions, a position he held for the next three years. He resigned in November 1884 and worked as a lawyer in Washington, D.C. Later that decade, he became treasurer of the Republican National Committee. His wife died in 1897, and he married Nannie Robinson Finch on March 8, 1899. They remained in Washington, D.C., and he died there on December 15, 1909.

 

Image: William W. Dudley (courtesy Wikicommons)

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