Joseph Warren Keifer

author

Joseph Warren Keifer

1836–1932

A Union officer, Speaker of the House, and later a general again during the Spanish-American War, he led a public life that stretched across some of the biggest chapters of 19th-century America. His long career linked battlefield service, law, politics, and writing in a way few figures of his era could match.

1 Audiobook

Slavery and four years of war : a political history of slavery in the United States, together with a narrative of the campaigns and battles of the Civil War in which the author took part, 1861-1865. Vols. 1-2

Slavery and four years of war : a political history of slavery in the United States, together with a narrative of the campaigns and battles of the Civil War in which the author took part, 1861-1865. Vols. 1-2

by Joseph Warren Keifer

About the author

Born in Springfield, Ohio, in 1836, Joseph Warren Keifer trained as a lawyer before the Civil War changed his path. He served in the Union Army, was wounded in action, and rose through the ranks during the war. Decades later, he returned to military service as a major general of volunteers in the Spanish-American War, making him unusual even among prominent veterans of his generation.

Keifer also built a major political career in Washington. A Republican from Ohio, he served in the U.S. House of Representatives in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and from 1881 to 1883 he was Speaker of the House. Contemporary House history notes him as a lawmaker who pushed rules changes meant to strengthen the majority party's control of the chamber.

He remained active in public life well into old age and also wrote about slavery, the Civil War, and his own experiences. Keifer died in Springfield in 1932, leaving behind a career that moved from courthouse to battlefield to Capitol Hill.