Arno Voss (April 16, 1821 – March 23, 1888) was a

German American German Americans (german: Deutschamerikaner, ) are Americans who have full or partial German ancestry. With an estimated size of approximately 43 million in 2019, German Americans are the largest of the self-reported ancestry groups by the Unit ...

military commander, lawyer, and politician. After studying law in

Ohio Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...

, Voss came to

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

to edit a newspaper. He later established a law practice there. In 1862, he was named colonel of the 12th Illinois Cavalry, leading the brigade until 1864. After the war, Voss re-opened his practice and served one term in the

Illinois House of Representatives The Illinois House of Representatives is the lower house of the Illinois General Assembly. The body was created by the first Illinois Constitution adopted in 1818. The House under the current constitution as amended in 1980 consists of 118 re ...

Early life and education

Voss was born in Rahden,

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an ...

on April 16, 1821. Voss married in Germany but he and his wife had no children. Early in his adulthood, he immigrated to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

. He settled in

Lancaster, Ohio Lancaster ( ) is a city in Fairfield County, Ohio, in the south-central part of the state. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the city population was 40,552. The city is near the Hocking River, about southeast of Columbus, Ohio, Co ...

, where he was admitted to the bar.

Career

Voss moved to

in 1848 to take a position as the editor of the '' Illinois Staats-Zeitung'', a German-language newspaper. The next year, Hermann Kriege assumed the editorship and Voss opened a law practice. He became involved with the Chicago German Off Battalion, a citizen soldier group that was attached to the 60th Regiment, Illinois State Militia. Voss was elected Chicago City Attorney in 1852 and was re-elected the next year. In 1854, Voss was named an

adjutant Adjutant is a military appointment given to an officer who assists the commanding officer with unit administration, mostly the management of human resources in an army unit. The term is used in French-speaking armed forces as a non-commission ...

of the newly formed Washington Independent Regiment. Voss was still serving in this role upon the outbreak of the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polic ...

. On September 4, 1861, Voss was named major of the 6th Regiment Illinois Volunteer Cavalry. On February 1, 1862, he assisted in the creation of the 12th Illinois Cavalry, closing his law firm so that he could focus on the regiment. It was then deployed to

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the East Coast of the United States, Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography an ...

as part of the Peninsula Campaign. The regiment was attached to VIII Corps and was present for the disastrous

Battle of Harpers Ferry {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Battle of Harpers Ferry , partof = the American Civil War , image = NWDNS-165-SB-26 Harpers Ferry Virginia.jpg , image_size = 300px , caption = Harpers ...

. Voss took two thousand cavalry to the enemy lines, creating an opening to let the regiment retreat. They regrouped in

Greencastle, Pennsylvania Greencastle is a borough in Franklin County in south-central Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 3,996 at the 2010 census. Greencastle lies within the Cumberland Valley of Pennsylvania. History James Patton, who came to America at a ...

and were attached to

Army of the Potomac The Army of the Potomac was the principal Union Army in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War. It was created in July 1861 shortly after the First Battle of Bull Run and was disbanded in June 1865 following the surrender of the Confede ...

in time for the Battle of Antietam. The regiment also witnessed the

Battle of Gettysburg The Battle of Gettysburg () was fought July 1–3, 1863, in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, by Union and Confederate forces during the American Civil War. In the battle, Union Major General George Meade's Army of th ...

and Stoneman's 1863 Raid. In early 1864, Colonel Voss was forced to resign due to poor health.

Later life and death

Voss recuperated over the next couple of years on his farm in

Will County, Illinois Will County is a county in the northeastern part of the state of Illinois. According to the 2020 census, it had a population of 696,355, an increase of 2.8% from 677,560 in 2010, making it Illinois's fourth-most populous county. The county seat ...

. In 1869, he returned to Chicago to re-establish his law practice. In 1876, he was elected to the

as a Democrat, where he served one two-year term. On December 1, 1880, he was named a master of chancery of the Circuit Court of Cook County. Voss died at his home following a stroke he suffered in his office earlier in the day on March 23, 1888. He was buried in Waldheim Cemetery (now part of Forest Home Cemetery). President

Grover Cleveland Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837June 24, 1908) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 22nd and 24th president of the United States from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897. Cleveland is the only president in American ...

signed a bill appropriating a grant to Voss' widow over the loss of a

trunk Trunk may refer to: Biology * Trunk (anatomy), synonym for torso * Trunk (botany), a tree's central superstructure * Trunk of corpus callosum, in neuroanatomy * Elephant trunk, the proboscis of an elephant Computing * Trunk (software), in rev ...

during the war.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Voss, Amos 1821 births 1888 deaths Democratic Party members of the Illinois House of Representatives People from Rahden Politicians from Chicago People of Illinois in the American Civil War Union Army colonels 19th-century American politicians