COLONEL HENRY A. MORROW
was one of those men who seemed to have a natural bent for soldiering and made
the transition from civil to military life as if he had been born to do so. He
was born at Warrenton, Virginia, in 1829. Ironically, he saw much action in and
around his native town, and on more than one occasion marched his regiment past
the house in which he was born and the cemetery in which his parents were
buried.
As a youth Morrow went
to Washington, where he attended the Rittenhouse Academy and won appointment as
a page in the United States Senate. There he attracted the favorable attention
of Michigan's senior senator, Lewis Cass, whose protégé he became.
When Morrow was seventeen, the Mexican War broke out and he enlisted in the Maryland-District of Columbia volunteer regiment. He was engaged at Monterey and in the Tampico campaign.
He returned safely to Washington and on advice of Cass he went to Detroit, where he studied law and was admitted to the bar. With the political backing of Cass he became city recorder, and in 1857, when the Recorder's Court was created, he was elected its first judge. In private practice he was associated with A. W. Buel and had offices in the Rotunda Building on Griswold Street. His home was at 161 Woodward Avenue.
Morrow's war record was impressive. He was appointed to command the 24th Michigan by Governor Blair, recognition of his civic and political prominence. He was three times wounded: at Gettysburg, at the Wilderness, May 5, 1864, and again at Petersburg, February 6, 1865.
On August 1, 1864, he was breveted brigadier general "for gallant and distinguished service during the present campaign before Richmond, Virginia.'' On March 13, 1865, he was breveted major general "for distinguished and conspicuous gallantry before Petersburg." During the latter campaign he was often in command of his brigade.
Mustered out of service July 19, 1865, he returned to Detroit and received appointment to the post of collector of the port. He resigned after a year to accept a commission as lieutenant colonel in the regular army. Assigned to the 36th U.S. Infantry, with the rank of brevet colonel, he spent several years in Louisiana and other parts of the South aiding in reconstruction. In 1872-73, he was stationed in Utah, at that time with the 13th U.S. Infantry. The year 1877 saw him in command of troops sent to Scranton, Pennsylvania, to preserve order during the railroad riots. Soon afterwards, in 1879, he was promoted to colonel and given command of the 21st U.S. Infantry, a post he held until his death at Hot Springs, Arkansas, January 31, 1891. He was buried at Niles, Michigan, February 6, 1891.
The above is taken directly from Father Abraham's Children, pages 270 & 271. The illustration is from the same source, page 84.
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