Egbert Benson Brown

Egbert Benson Brown

BROWN, Egbert Benson, soldier, born in Brownsville, Jefferson County, New York, 24 October, 1816. He obtained the rudiments of education in a log schoolhouse in Tecumseh, Michigan ; but when he was thirteen years old he began work with such diligence and success that in twenty years (1849) he was chosen mayor of Toledo, Ohio. In the meanwhile he had been half round the world on a whaling voyage, spending nearly four years in the Pacific Ocean. From 1852 till 1861 he was a railway manager, but resigned his place when civil war was imminent, and organized a regiment of infantry at St. Louis in May, 1861. He was instrumental in saving that City from falling into the hands of the secessionists, and was appointed brigadier of Missouri volunteers in May, 1862. After the battle of Springfield, 8 January, 1863, where he was severely wounded, he was appointed brigadier-general of United States volunteers. He served through the civil war, mainly in Missouri, Arkansas, and Texas, and left the army with one shoulder almost wholly disabled and a bullet in his hip. The legislature of Missouri officially complimented the troops of his command for their conduct at the battle of Springfield. From 1866 till 1868 he was United States pension-agent at St. Louis. He retired to a farm at Hastings, Calhoun County, Illinois, in 1869, and has since resided there, serving, however, on the state board of equalization from 1881 till 1884.