Robert B. Van Valkenburgh
Robert B. Van Valkenburgh | |
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United States Ambassador to Japan | |
In office May 4, 1867 – November 11, 1869 | |
President | Andrew Johnson Ulysses S. Grant |
Preceded by | Robert H. Pruyn |
Succeeded by | Charles E. DeLong |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York | |
In office March 4, 1861 – March 3, 1865 | |
Preceded by | William Irvine |
Succeeded by | Hamilton Ward |
Constituency | 28th district (1861–1863) 27th district (1863–1865) |
Personal details | |
Born | Prattsburgh, New York, U.S. | September 4, 1821
Died | August 1, 1888 Suwannee Springs, Floridia, U.S. | (aged 66)
Military service | |
Allegiance | ![]() |
Branch/service | Union Army |
Years of service | 1862 |
Rank | Colonel |
Commands | 107th New York Volunteer Infantry |
Battles/wars | American Civil War
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Robert Bruce Van Valkenburgh (September 4, 1821 – August 1, 1888) was a United States representative from New York, officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War, and subsequent US Minister Resident to Japan.
Biography
[edit]Born in Prattsburgh, Steuben County, New York, he attended Franklin Academy there. He studied law, was admitted to the bar, and commenced practice in Bath. He was a member of the New York State Assembly (Steuben Co., 1st D.) in 1852, 1857 and 1858. In 1858, he was the Republican candidate for Speaker, but was defeated by Democrat Thomas G. Alvord on the 53rd ballot.
Van Valkenburgh was in command of the recruiting depot in Elmira and organized seventeen regiments early in the Civil War. He was elected as a Republican to the 37th and 38th United States Congresses, holding office from March 4, 1861, to March 3, 1865. While in the House he was Chairman of the Committee on Militia (37th and 38th Congresses). He served as colonel of the 107th New York Volunteer Infantry, and was its commander at the Battle of Antietam.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/Bakushin.jpg/220px-Bakushin.jpg)
Following the war, he was Acting Commissioner of Indian Affairs in 1865. He was appointed Minister Resident to Japan on January 18, 1866, and remained on the post until November 11, 1869. It was in his role as Minister Resident in Japan that Van Valkenburgh prevented the delivery of the CSS Stonewall to the forces of the Tokugawa clan during the Boshin War.
After his return from Japan, Van Valkenburgh settled in Florida, and was appointed associate justice of the Florida Supreme Court on May 20, 1874. He remained on the bench until his death in Suwannee Springs, near Live Oak in 1888. He was buried at the same cemetery of his wife, Anna Van Aleknburg (née Simpson),[1] Old St. Nicholas Cemetery, on the south side of the St. Johns River, in Jacksonville.
References
[edit]- ^ "Anna Van Valkenburgh". geni_family_tree. 1827. Retrieved 2023-12-14.
- United States Congress. "Robert B. Van Valkenburgh (id: V000061)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
External links
[edit]- 1821 births
- 1888 deaths
- American people of Dutch descent
- People from Prattsburgh, New York
- Republican Party members of the New York State Assembly
- Union Army colonels
- Ambassadors of the United States to Japan
- Justices of the Florida Supreme Court
- People of New York (state) in the American Civil War
- People of the Boshin War
- Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from New York (state)
- 19th-century American legislators
- 19th-century American judges
- 19th-century American diplomats
- 19th-century New York (state) politicians