Representative David Henry Patton

David Henry Patton (November 26, 1837 – January 17, 1914) was an American physician, Civil War veteran, and Democratic politician who served one term as a U.S. Representative from Indiana from 1891 to 1893. His congressional service took place during a significant period in American history, and as a member of the House of Representatives he participated in the legislative process and represented the interests of his Indiana constituents.

Patton was born on November 26, 1837, in Flemingsburg, Fleming County, Kentucky. In his youth he moved to Indiana, where he pursued his early education. He attended the Collegiate Institute in Waveland, Indiana, an academy that prepared many young men in the region for professional and public careers. This education laid the foundation for both his later medical training and his eventual involvement in public service.

With the outbreak of the Civil War, Patton entered military service in the Union Army. He enlisted in the Thirty-eighth Indiana Regiment in 1861, a unit that saw extensive action in the Western Theater of the war. Over the course of his service he rose through the ranks and was mustered out in July 1865, having attained the rank of colonel. His wartime experience and leadership would later inform his work as a physician and public official, particularly in matters related to veterans and pensions.

After the war, Patton pursued formal medical training. He graduated from the Chicago Medical College in 1867 and subsequently established a medical practice in Remington, Jasper County, Indiana. As a physician in a growing Midwestern community, he became a well-known local figure. His medical expertise and reputation led to his appointment as a pension examiner at Remington, a position he held from 1886 to 1890, in which he evaluated claims and medical conditions of veterans seeking federal pension benefits.

Patton entered national politics as a member of the Democratic Party. He was elected as a Democrat to the Fifty-second Congress and served as a U.S. Representative from Indiana from March 4, 1891, to March 3, 1893. During his single term in the United States Congress, he contributed to the legislative process and participated in the democratic governance of the nation, representing the interests of his Indiana constituents at a time of economic and political transition in the late nineteenth century. He did not seek renomination in 1892, choosing instead to return to other forms of public and professional service. Reflecting his continued engagement with party affairs, he served as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1892 and again in 1900.

Following his congressional service, Patton moved in 1893 to Woodward, in Woodward County, Indian Territory, an area that would later become part of the state of Oklahoma. That same year he was appointed receiver of public lands for Oklahoma, a federal position that involved overseeing the disposition and administration of public lands during a period of rapid settlement and development. After completing this work, he resumed the practice of medicine in Woodward, continuing his long career as a physician.

In addition to his medical practice and federal appointment, Patton remained active in public health and veterans’ affairs in his later years. He served as a member of the district board of health of Woodward, Oklahoma, contributing to the oversight of local health conditions and policies. He was also appointed pension examiner at Woodward, extending his earlier work in Indiana on behalf of veterans and their families into the developing communities of the Southwest.

David Henry Patton died on January 17, 1914, in Otterbein, Indiana. He was interred in Remington Cemetery in Remington, Indiana, returning in death to the community where he had long practiced medicine and first entered public life.