Courtesy of the Congress of the United States:
Representative from Louisiana; born near Millerstown, Perry County, Pennsylvania, June 22, 1837; received a liberal education, and was graduated from Alfred (New York) University in 1859; taught school in Cleveland, Ohio; entered the Union Army as a Private in Company A, First Ohio Light Artillery, and later served as Colonel of the Eleventh United States Colored Heavy Artillery; after the war he bought a plantation in northern Louisiana, but about two years later commenced the study of law; was admitted to the bar and practiced in New Orleans, Louisiana; delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1868; upon readmission of the State of Louisiana to representation was elected as a Republican to the Fortieth Congress and served from July 18, 1868, to March 3, 1869; contested the election of Louis St. Martin to the Forty-first Congress, but the House decided that neither was entitled to the seat; subsequently elected to the Forty-first Congress to fill the vacancy thus created; reelected to the Forty-second Congress and served from November 7, 1870, to March 3, 1873; presented credentials as a Member-elect to the Forty-third Congress and served from March 4, 1873, to March 3, 1875, when he was succeeded by Effingham Lawrence, who contested the election; chairman, Committee on Expenditures in the Department of the Treasury (Forty-third Congress); unsuccessful candidate for election in 1874 to the Forty-fourth Congress; resumed the practice of law in Washington, D.C.; died in Baltimore, Maryland, May 9, 1905; interment in the Arlington National Cemetery (Section 3). His wife, Mary Sypher, who died 23 June 1903, is buried with him.
Michael Robert Patterson was born in Arlington and is the son of a former officer of the US Army. So it was no wonder that sooner or later his interests drew him to American history and especially to American military history. Many of his articles can be found on renowned portals like the New York Times, Washingtonpost or Wikipedia.
Reviewed by: Michael Howard