James Lane was born on June 22, 1814, on the Ohio River, either in Boone County, Kentucky, or Lawrenceburg, Indiana. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1840. He joined the army when the Mexican-American War began, and led troops at the Battle of Buena Vista in February 1847.

Lane served as Indiana lieutenant governor from 1849 to 1853, and then was elected to Congress as a Democrat. He voted for the Kansas-Nebraska Act, and moved to the Kansas Territory in April 1855. Lane became active in territorial politics, repeatedly being elected president of free-state conventions. In 1856, he was elected U.S. senator under the Topeka Constitution, but after the Senate failed to admit Kansas into the Union, he could not fill the position.

When Kansas entered the Union in 1861, Lane became a U. S. senator and acquaintance of President Abraham Lincoln. In the first weeks of the Civil War, Lane formed a “Frontier Guard” of Kansas men to protect the White House. President Lincoln appointed Lane a brigadier general of volunteers in 1861. Through various means, Lane managed to hold both his military appointment and his Senate seat simultaneously.

Lane began recruiting African-Americans for service in the Union Army in the summer of 1862. On August 6, he issued General Order Number 2, offering freedom to any slave owned by a rebel master. Although Lane’s activities were not sanctioned by President Lincoln, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton did not order Lane to stop his recruiting activities, only warning him that he had no authorization to do so.

Although Lane saw African-American soldiers as a means to relieve the sacrifices of white troops, he also came to genuinely appreciate their valor on the battlefield and service to the nation. He did not favor universal black suffrage, but did support granting the vote to former black soldiers.

Lane narrowly escaped capture when Confederate guerrilla leader William Quantrill raided Lawrence, Kansas on August 21, 1863. In 1864, he campaigned for Abraham Lincoln and served as an aide to General Samuel R. Curtis during Sterling Price’s raid through Missouri. Most likely suffering from psychological stress, Lane committed suicide in July 1866.

Salt Print by Unknown Photographer

Image Courtesy Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield-WICR 30806