Sanborn, John B. (John Benjamin), 1826-1904

American lawyer and soldier.

From the description of Autograph letter signed : Washington, to the President, 1869 Dec. 2. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 270634500

John B. Sanborn was born in Epsom, New Hampshire, December 5, 1826, the youngest of five children. Interested in the law, he attended one quarter at Dartmouth College (1851-1852) but left to join the law office of Asa Fowler in Concord. He was admitted to the bar in 1854, and moved West, settling in St. Paul, Minnesota, where he and his partners began the firm of Sanborn, French and Lund on January 1, 1855. He maintained an active role with the firm until ca. 1880.

Sanborn's political career began with service as a state representative (1859-1860), followed by election to the state senate in early 1861. In April 1861 he was appointed as State Adjutant General, organizing and equipping three infantry regiments. Sanborn would later serve additional legislative terms as a representative (1872) and as a state senator (1891-1893).

His most notable accomplishments, however, came during his service as an officer in the U.S. Army during and immediately after the Civil War: first as colonel of the Fourth Minnesota Regiment (December 1861), and then as a brigade commander in the Army of the Mississippi, fighting in the battles of Iuka and Corinth and serving in the Vicksburg Campaign. In October 1863 he became commander of the District of Southwestern Missouri during which time he helped defeat Price's invasion in October 1864. In February 1865 he was promoted to brevet major general.

In June 1865 Sanborn was ordered to report to General John Pope to pursue hostile Indians in the West. In September he, along with Kit Carson and William Bent, was appointed a commissioner to negotiate a treaty with several tribes. In February 1867 he was appointed a member of the Indian Peace Commission and was active in this capacity to 1869.

After leaving active military service Sanborn returned to his law practice in Minnesota, remained deeply involved in state politics and veterans' organizations, was elected president of the Minnesota Historical Society in May 1903, and died one year later.

Biographical data was taken from Collections of the Minnesota Historical Society (CMHS), vol. 10, part 2, p. 831-56 and 873-74; CMHS, vol. 14, p. 667; and T. M. Newson, Pen Pictures of St. Paul, Minnesota, and Biographical Sketches of Old Settlers, From the Earliest Settlement of the City, Up to and Including the Year 1857 (St. Paul, 1886), p. 439-42.

From the guide to the John B. Sanborn papers., 1854-1898., (Minnesota Historical Society)