author
William Horatio Barnes
1832–1879
A 19th-century historian and political writer, he focused on the people and power structures shaping the United States after the Civil War. His books combine congressional history with biographical sketches of leading public figures of the era.
1 Audiobook
History of the Thirty-Ninth Congress of the United States
by William Horatio Barnes
About the author
William Horatio Barnes was an American historian and writer who lived from 1832 to 1879. The most reliable sources available here identify him chiefly for his work on U.S. government and politics in the Civil War and Reconstruction period.
He is best known for History of the Thirty-Ninth Congress of the United States and for The American Government, a large biographical reference work covering the president, cabinet officers, Supreme Court justices, senators, and representatives. Library and catalog records also show that he wrote campaign-era political biography, including a volume on Ulysses S. Grant and Henry Wilson.
Barnes's work suggests a strong interest in documenting how American government functioned through a turbulent moment in national history. While detailed personal information is scarce in the sources reviewed, his published books leave a clear record of a writer devoted to chronicling public life and national leadership in 19th-century America.