Crawford, Samuel J., lawyer, soldier and third governor of the State of Kansas, was born in Lawrence county, Ind., April 15, 1835. While a student in the Bedford Academy he began the study of law, and in 1858 was admitted to the bar. The following year he removed to Kansas and began the practice of his profession at Garnett. On Dec. 6, 1859, he was elected a member of the first state legislature, which did not meet until March 26, 1861. At the end of six weeks' service as a legislator, he resigned his seat in the house to enter the army and raised a company, of which he was commissioned captain. His company was assigned to the Second Kansas infantry, with which regiment he served until in March, 1862, when he was assigned to the command of Troop A, Second Kansas cavalry. While in command of this troop he distinguished himself by leading a charge against and capturing a battery of four guns near old Fort Wayne. It is related that Maj. Van Antwerp, an old West Pointer, who was at that time inspector-general on the staff of Gen. James G. Blunt, saw the charge, and as the captured guns were being brought within the Union lines, rode over to Gen. Blunt and asked: "Who is the officer that led that charge?"

Gen. Blunt answered: "Captain Crawford of the Second Kansas cavalry."

"Do you know, General," said Van Antwerp, "that if that man had been with Napoleon at Lodi, and had done what he did here today, he would have been made a marshal on the field?"

Capt. Crawford was not promoted on the field at the time of his gallant charge, but his promotion was not long in coming. He was given command of a battalion of the Second Kansas cavalry, and on Dec. 5, 1863, he was made colonel of the Second Kansas, or Eighty-third U. S., colored infantry. On Nov. 8, 1864, while serving as colonel of this regiment, he was elected governor of Kansas, and on Dec. 2 he resigned his commission in the army to prepare for his gubernatorial duties. He was inaugurated at the opening of the legislative session the following January, and further military promotion came to him on March 13, 1865, when he received the rank of brevet brigadier-general "for gallant and meritorious services." In 1866 he was reëlected to the office of governor, and served until the autumn of 1868, when he resigned to assume the command of the Nineteenth Kansas regiment, which was then being organized for a campaign against the hostile Indians on the western frontier. The regiment, with Col. Crawford at the head, left Topeka on Nov. 6, and twenty days later joined Gen. Sheridan's army. Upon returning home from this expedition, Gov. Crawford located at Emporia, where he was engaged in the real estate business until 1876, when he removed to Topeka. In 1877 he was appointed agent at Washington for the State of Kansas, and he continued to serve in this capacity for several years, during which time he successfully adjusted a number of claims against the United States and collected a large amount of money for the state. He also recovered 276,000 acres of school lands, and nearly 850,000 acres in western Kansas claimed by railroad companies. At the conclusion of his services as state agent, Gov. Crawford opened a law office in Washington, D. C., practicing there during the fall and winter seasons and spending his summer on his farm near Baxter Springs. On Nov. 27, 1866, he married Miss Isabel M. Chase, of Topeka, and this union was blessed with two children—Florence and George. Gov. Crawford now (1911) lives in Topeka, practically retired from active business pursuits. He is the author of "Kansas in the Sixties," which was published in the summer of 1911.