Mahlon Dickerson Manson
Mahlon Dickerson Manson was a druggist, Indiana politician, and a Union general in the American Civil War.Biography
Manson was born in Piqua, Ohio, to David Manson, Jr., and Sarah Cornwall. He was a descendant of David Manson, an aide to Revolutionary War General George Washington. His family moved to Crawfordsville, Indiana. He was a school teacher in Montgomery County, Indiana. He studied medicine in Cincinnati, Ohio, and gave medical lectures in New Orleans. During the Mexican–American War he served with the 5th Indiana Volunteers as a captain. He was a druggist in Crawfordsville, Indiana, and a member of the Indiana Legislature.
At the beginning of the Civil War he was appointed a captain in the 10th Indiana Infantry and was promoted to colonel in less than a month. He commanded a brigade in the Army of the Ohio at the Battle of Mill Springs in 1862 and was promoted to brigadier general on March 24, 1862, based on his actions there. General Manson was wounded in the thigh and captured by Confederate forces at the Battle of Richmond, Kentucky. He was exchanged two months later and fought Morgan on his raid into Ohio. In the span of two months Manson advanced from brigade, to division and then to command the XXIII Corps. He led the corps during the Knoxville Campaign seeing action at Campbell's Station and Knoxville. General Manson returned to brigade command, in the Army of the Ohio, during the Atlanta Campaign and was seriously wounded in the Battle of Resaca, Georgia.
After the war he served in the United States House of Representatives as a Democrat from 1871 to 1873, was state auditor, and the 20th Lieutenant Governor of Indiana from 1885–1886.
Manson died in Frankfort, Indiana, and is buried in Oak Hill Cemetery, Crawfordsville.
