Ross Guffin was born on October 28, 1836, in Rush County, Indiana. He attended Antioch College and Harvard University, graduating from Harvard in 1861.

 

In October 1861, he received a commission as a 1^st lieutenant in Company G of the 52^nd Indiana Infantry. The regiment took part in the siege of Corinth and the Red River campaign. He was wounded in the chest near Durhamville, Tennessee, in 1862, but he ultimately recovered and rejoined the regiment. He was promoted to captain in September 1862, and he served as provost marshal for Fort Pillow in 1863. According to an early biographer, his “soldierly qualities, his kindly disposition, and his scholarly attainments made him a favorite with the men of his command, and with his associate and superior officers.” He resigned on November 18, 1864.

 

After leaving the army, he moved to Memphis, Tennessee, and then Kansas City, Missouri. He married a woman named Lucy, and they had at least two children: George, born around 1868; and Lucy, born around 1877. He worked as a lawyer, and by 1870, he owned $400 of personal property. His wartime gunshot wound continued to plague him, and he applied for a federal pension in October 1879.

 

He supported the Republican Party, and he served as United States Attorney for western Missouri. He served as Kansas City’s customs collector under President Benjamin Harrison and as a special agent of the Department of the Interior under President William McKinley. In the early 1900s, he received an appointment as an Indian agent. He died in Oklahoma on September 24, 1903.

 

Image: Ross Guffin (Western Veteran, 1 October 1903)

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