Fitz Henry Warren was born on January 11, 1816, in Brimfield, Massachusetts, to Philamon and Hannah Warren. He moved to Burlington in the Iowa Territory in August 1844, and he worked as a journalist for the Burlington Hawkeye. He married Sophia Hannah Bartlett, and they had at least four children: William, born around 1844; Edward, born around 1847; Frank, born around 1853; and Lily, born around 1858.

 

Warren supported the Whig Party and served as a delegate to the Whig National Convention in 1848. He served as First Assistant Postmaster General during President Zachary Taylor’s administration. After Taylor’s death, he remained in office under President Millard Fillmore, but he resigned after Millmore endorsed the Fugitive Slave Law.

 

Warren returned to Burlington after resigning his position. He served as secretary of the Whig Party National Executive Committee, and he helped organize Iowa’s Republican Party in 1856. By 1860, he owned $21,500 of real estate and $10,000 of personal property. When the Civil War erupted, he helped organize the 1^st Iowa Cavalry, and he mustered in as the regiment’s colonel on June 13, 1861. President Abraham Lincoln promoted him to brigadier general on July 16, 1862, and he served in Missouri under Major General Samuel R. Curtis. He later received a brevet promotion to major general.

 

Warren was elected to the Iowa state senate in 1866. After serving one session, President Andrew Johnson appointed him minister to Guatemala. He remained there until 1869. He later served as a Democratic elector in the election of 1872. He returned to Brimfield in the 1870s, and he died there on June 21, 1878.

 

Image: Fitz Henry Warren (courtesy Wikicommons)

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