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Notable people · Military · Lawyer · Politician

Norton P. Chipman

Born in Milford Center, Chipman was a Union colonel who prosecuted Henry Wirz, the Andersonville commandant. As Adjutant General of the Grand Army of the Republic he is credited with the 1868 order for Decoration Day, a credit some historians dispute.

Norton P. Chipman
Mathew Benjamin Brady, Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

At a glance

Born
1834-03-07
Died
1924-02-01
Education
Cincinnati Law School, Cincinnati, OH, to 1859, law
Known as
Military, Lawyer, Politician
Organizations
Grand Army of the Republic

Life story

Norton Parker Chipman was born in Milford Center, Ohio, in 1834. His family moved to Iowa when he was a child, and he graduated from Cincinnati Law School in 1859.

He joined the 2nd Iowa Infantry and fought at Fort Donelson beside Ulysses S. Grant. He was reported dead after serious wounds but recovered and became a colonel in 1862. In 1864 he moved to Washington to work under War Secretary Edwin Stanton and prosecuted Captain Henry Wirz, commander at Andersonville, who was hanged in 1865. He wrote The Tragedy of Andersonville in 1911.

President Grant made him Secretary of the District of Columbia and he served two terms as its delegate to Congress (1871-1875). He moved to California in 1876 and became the first presiding justice of the Third District Court of Appeal (1906-1921). He died in 1924 at age 89.

Timeline

  • 1834-03-07: Born in Milford Center (Milford Center, OH) source
  • 1859: Graduates from Cincinnati Law School (Cincinnati, OH) source
  • 1862: Promoted to colonel after Fort Donelson source
  • 1865: Prosecutes Capt. Henry Wirz; Wirz hanged (Washington, DC) source
  • 1868-05-30: Decoration Day order credited to him as GAR adjutant general source
  • 1871: Delegate from DC (to 1875) (Washington, DC) source
  • 1876: Moves to Red Bluff, California (Red Bluff, CA) source
  • 1924-02-01: Dies in San Francisco (San Francisco, CA) source

What Norton is known for

  • Prosecuted Capt. Henry Wirz at the Andersonville trial (1865)
  • Delegate from the District of Columbia (1871-1875)
  • First presiding justice, California Third District Court of Appeal
  • The Tragedy of Andersonville (1911)

Family

  • wife: Mary Isabel Holmes Chipman

Ohio places

Where Norton P. Chipman was born, lived, worked and is remembered, with the ZIP code, town and county pages for each.

Myths and corrections

  • Disputed: Chipman is often credited with the 1868 GAR order that created Decoration Day, later Memorial Day. Historians Bellware and Gardiner dispute this and credit Mary Ann Williams and the Ladies Memorial Association of Columbus, Georgia as the true originators. Both views are stated in the Wikipedia article.

Further reading

Sources

Confidence. Medium: the main facts were confirmed, but some details (often an address or ZIP code) were not.

  • Wikipedia: Norton P. Chipman birth Milford Center; Iowa; Cincinnati Law School 1859; Fort Donelson; Andersonville trial; DC delegate; Memorial Day dispute; California; burial

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