Sanderson, John P., 1818-1864.

Army officer in the Civil War.

John Phillip Sanderson was born in East Hanover, Pennsylvania on February 14, 1818. He was admitted to the bar in 1839, served in the legislature in 1845, and later in 1847, the state senate. He published the Philadelphia "Daily News" from 1848 to 1856. In 1861 he was appointed Assistant Secretary of War, but resigned that same year. He served as Lieutenant Colonel of the 15th U.S. Infantry, from fall of 1862 to spring of 1863, when he was promoted to Colonel of the 18th U.S. Infantry. In 1864 he was promoted to Provost Marshal General in the Department of Missouri. Here he uncovered the Order of American Knights, a secret society of Southern sympathizers planning a Northwestern Confederacy.