Representative Sidney Edgerton

Sidney Edgerton (August 17, 1818 – July 19, 1900) was an American politician, lawyer, judge, teacher, and territorial governor, best known for his service in the United States House of Representatives from Ohio and as the first Territorial Governor of Montana. Born in Cazenovia, Madison County, New York, he was a sickly child who was not expected to survive; burial clothing was even ordered for him. He recovered, however, and in his youth moved west, eventually settling in Ohio. There he read law, was admitted to the bar, and began a legal career that would lead him into state and national politics. His early political affiliations were with the Free Soil Party, reflecting his antislavery convictions, and he later became an active member of the Republican Party as that organization emerged in the 1850s.

Edgerton’s legal and political work in Ohio brought him increasing prominence as an abolitionist. In 1858 he was elected as a Republican to the Thirty-sixth Congress, beginning his House term in 1859. Entering Congress at a time of intense sectional conflict, he regarded his antislavery stance as personally dangerous. When his term began, he purchased a sword for his defense, concealed inside a walking cane that he carried with him. As an ardent anti-slavery member of the House of Representatives, Edgerton delivered numerous speeches calling for the abolition of slavery and aligned himself with the more radical opponents of the institution. During the American Civil War he also served as one of the “Squirrel Hunters,” the civilian volunteers from Ohio who mobilized in 1862 to help defend the state against a threatened Confederate invasion, underscoring his commitment to the Union cause even while he was serving in Congress.

Edgerton’s abolitionism drew him into the aftermath of John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry in 1859. After the raid, Brown’s family invited him to come to Virginia to settle Brown’s affairs. Aware of the danger to a known antislavery congressman in that environment, Edgerton nonetheless agreed to go. He traveled by train and was joined by Congressman Alexander Boteler and Congressman H. G. Blake. While on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, Boteler was advised that the men did not need to proceed further; Boteler and Blake heeded the warning and turned back, but Edgerton refused to do so. Upon his arrival at Charles Town, he met General William Taliaferro, the commander at Harpers Ferry, and explained his request. Taliaferro informed him that Governor Henry A. Wise of Virginia would permit only family members and a minister to visit Brown. That night, Taliaferro arranged for a wagon, a driver, and a guard to return Edgerton to Washington, D.C. During the journey, a group of mounted men rode up to the wagon. Edgerton’s guard leapt out and ran, but the horsemen retrieved him and brought him back. When Edgerton asked why he had fled, the guard replied that he had heard the men say they would kill Edgerton. The riders then tried to persuade Edgerton to leave the wagon, but he refused. He eventually made it safely out of Virginia and later maintained that had he stepped out of the wagon, he would have been killed. This episode left him with a lasting contempt for Southerners generally and reinforced his determination to oppose slavery. Edgerton remained a prominent voice in the antislavery movement in Congress but chose not to run for reelection in 1862.

During the Civil War, while still identified with the Union cause, Edgerton’s career shifted from legislative to judicial and executive responsibilities in the western territories. In 1863 President Abraham Lincoln appointed him the first Chief Justice of the Idaho Territorial Supreme Court. At that time the Idaho Territory encompassed a vast region of the northern Rocky Mountains and Pacific Northwest. Edgerton quickly became involved in debates over the administration and division of this large jurisdiction. He lobbied actively in Washington for the creation of separate territories out of Idaho, arguing that the far-flung settlements required more localized governance. His efforts coincided with the discovery of rich gold fields in what is now Montana, which brought a rapid influx of population and heightened the need for a distinct territorial government.

In 1864 Lincoln appointed Edgerton as the first Territorial Governor of Montana, newly organized from portions of the Idaho Territory. As governor, he faced the challenges of establishing civil authority in a remote mining frontier marked by lawlessness, rapid population growth, and limited federal presence. During his term as Territorial Governor, he was an alleged member of the infamous Montana Vigilantes and was reputedly among its founders. The vigilante movement, which arose in response to rampant crime and the perceived inadequacy of formal legal institutions, conducted extralegal trials and executions of suspected criminals. Although definitive documentation of Edgerton’s direct role is limited, contemporary accounts and later recollections frequently associated him with the organization and tacit support of these vigilante efforts as a means of imposing order in the territory.

After his term as governor ended, Edgerton left Montana and returned to Ohio, resuming the practice of law. He continued to be identified with the Republican Party and with the Union and antislavery causes that had shaped his earlier career, but he did not again seek high public office. Instead, he maintained a successful legal practice in his home state and remained a respected figure in Ohio’s legal and political circles. He lived out his later years there, practicing law until his death on July 19, 1900. His life spanned the transformation of the United States through the sectional crisis, the Civil War, and the settlement of the western territories, and his career reflected both the intense moral conflicts of the antebellum era and the rough improvisations of frontier governance in the postwar West.