Sanford "Sant" Kirkpatrick (February 11, 1842 – February 13, 1932) was a revenue agent and a one-term Democratic

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

from

Iowa's 6th congressional district Iowa's 6th congressional district is a former List of United States congressional districts, U.S. congressional district in the Iowa, State of Iowa. It existed in elections from 1862 to 1992, when it was lost due to Iowa's population growth rate ...

. He was the last

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, 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 policies.J ...

veteran elected to represent Iowa in Congress. Elected in 1912 to an historically Republican district in a year in which

Bull Moose Party The Progressive Party, popularly nicknamed the Bull Moose Party, was a Third party (U.S. politics), third party in the United States formed in 1912 by former president Theodore Roosevelt after he lost the 1912 Republican Party presidential prim ...

and Republican Party supporters split the Republican vote, Kirkpatrick failed to win renomination two years later. Born near

London, Ohio London is a city in and the county seat of Madison County, Ohio, United States. Located about southwest of the Ohio capital of Columbus, Ohio, Columbus, London was established in 1811 to serve as the county seat. The population was 10,279 at t ...

, at age seven Kirkpatrick moved to Iowa in 1849 with his parents, who settled on a farm in Highland Township, Wapello County."Sanford Kirkpatrick at Antietam," The Iowa Recorder, 1913-03-04 at p. 6. He attended the common schools until 1858. During the

, Kirkpatrick entered the Union Army as a private in the Second Regiment, Iowa Volunteer Infantry, and was promoted to first lieutenant. He served four years and four months, and fought at the

Battle of Fort Donelson The Battle of Fort Donelson was fought from February 11–16, 1862, in the Western Theater of the American Civil War. The Union capture of the Confederate fort near the Tennessee–Kentucky border opened the Cumberland River, an important ave ...

Battle of Shiloh The Battle of Shiloh, also known as the Battle of Pittsburg Landing, was a major battle in the American Civil War fought on April 6–7, 1862. The fighting took place in southwestern Tennessee, which was part of the war's Western Theater of the ...

and

Second Battle of Corinth The Second Battle of Corinth (which, in the context of the American Civil War, is usually referred to as the Battle of Corinth, to differentiate it from the siege of Corinth earlier the same year) was fought October 3–4, 1862, in Corinth, M ...

. Following the war, he returned to Wapello County to farm. Kirkpatrick moved to

Ottumwa, Iowa Ottumwa ( ) is a List of cities in Iowa, city in and the county seat of Wapello County, Iowa, United States. The population was 25,529 at the time of the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. Census. Located in the state's southeastern section, th ...

, in 1876 and engaged in mercantile pursuits until 1887. He also served as deputy recorder of Wapello County between 1876 and 1880, and as a member of the Ottumwa City Council from 1884 to 1887. Kirkpatrick was the Greenback Party's nominee for Lieutenant Governor of Iowa in 1883. He finished a distant third, behind Republican and Democratic candidates. From 1887 to 1913, he served as an agent of the Internal Revenue Service, primarily in North Carolina and adjoining states."Sant Kirkpatrick,' The Glenwood Opinion, 1912-11-18 at p. 1. In his first few years as a revenue agent, he was "rendered blind" by a gunshot, as stated in a special bill passed by the U.S. Congress in 1890 to increase his Civil War pension. Newspaper reports from 1912 stated that he carried in his body more than twenty bullets and parts of bullets from the guns of moonshiners. His last four years with the agency were spent auditing banks and other corporations. In 1912, the congressman for Iowa's 6th congressional district, Republican Nathan E. Kendall, declined to run for re-election. Kirkpatrick was nominated by the Democratic Party to run for the vacancy. Republicans complained that Kirkpatrick was a resident of North Carolina, rather than Iowa. His supporters responded that while he worked in the South as a revenue agent he had returned to Iowa every year to vote, and emphasized his service in the Iowa Infantry in the Civil War. In a three-way race, Kirkpatrick was elected, winning by 1,138 votes out of over 30,000 cast. When running for renomination in the Democratic primary two years later, Kirkpatrick was defeated by W.H. Hamilton."Primary Victories," National Democrat, 1914-06-04 at p. 3. Kirkpatrick ran again for his former seat in 1916. This time he won the Democratic nomination, but lost in the general election to incumbent Republican C. William Ramseyer. In all, Kirkpatrick served in Congress from March 4, 1913 to March 3, 1915. He moved to

Greensboro, North Carolina Greensboro (; ) is a city in Guilford County, North Carolina, United States, and its county seat. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 299,035; it was estimated to be 307,381 in 2024. It is the List of municipalitie ...

, in 1916 and engaged in agricultural pursuits. He died in Greensboro on February 13, 1932, two days after his 90th birthday. He was interred in Forest Lawn Cemetery in Greensboro.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kirkpatrick, Sanford 1842 births 1932 deaths Iowa Greenbacks Union army officers People from London, Ohio Politicians from Ottumwa, Iowa Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Iowa People from Wapello County, Iowa Military personnel from Iowa 20th-century members of the United States House of Representatives