ated to California, one of the first adventurers on the wild
overland route. At the breaking out of the war with Mexico, he entered
the service of the United States as a private, and reached the rank of
Major. He was among the first who discovered gold on Feather River in
1848. In 1849 he was elected to the State Constitutional Convention,
and to the Senate of the first Legislature of California. In 1860 he
was a delegate to the Charleston Convention, and refused to sanction
the secession movement there made. In 1863 he was appointed Brigadier
General of California militia, when it was necessary to organize in
order to preserve the peace of the State. In 1864 he was a member of
the Baltimore Convention, which renominated Lincoln. The same year he
was elected a Representative from California to the Thirty-Ninth
Congress. He was not a candidate for re-election to Congress, since
nearly all the papers in the State had hoisted his name as candidate
for Governor. He failed, however, to receive the nomination for that
office by the Republican Convention. He was succeeded in the Fortieth
Congress by _James A. Johnson_.--31.

JOHN A. BINGHAM was born in Pennsylvania in 1815. Having received an
academical education, and spending two years in a printing-office, he
entered Franklin College, in Ohio, but owing to ill-health, did not
prosecute his studies to graduation. He was admitted to the bar in
1840, and from 1845 to 1849 he was Prosecuting Attorney for the county
of Tuscarawas. In 1854 he was elected a Representative from Ohio to
the Thirty-Fourth Congress, and was re-elected to the Thirty-Fifth,
Thirty-Sixth, and Thirty-Seventh Congresses. In 1864 he was appointed
a Judge-Advocate in the Army, and Solicitor of the Court of Claims. He
was Assistant Judge-Advocate in the trial of the Assassination
Conspirators, in May, 1865. In 1865 he took his seat for his fifth
term of service in Congress and was re-elected to the Fortieth
Congress--25, 67, 237, 285, 319, 357, 434, 448, 474, 475, 505, 520,
526, 537.

JAMES G. BLAINE was born in Washington County, Pennsylvania, in 1830.
After graduating at Washington College, 1847, he removed to Maine and
became editor of the "Kennebec Journal," and "Portland Advertiser". He
was four years a member of the Maine Legislature, and served two years
as Speaker of the House. In 1862 he was elected a Representative from
Maine to the Thirty-Eighth Congress, and was successively re-elected
to the Thi