Eugene Fitch Ware

Eugene Fitch Ware (May 29, 1841 – July 1, 1911), sometimes publishing pseudonymously as Ironquill, was an American soldier, lawyer, politician, and writer.

Eugene Fitch Ware
BornMay 29, 1841 Edit this on Wikidata
Hartford Edit this on Wikidata
DiedJuly 1, 1911 Edit this on Wikidata (aged 70)
Cascade Edit this on Wikidata
Political partyRepublican Party Edit this on Wikidata
Position heldmember of the State Senate of Kansas (1879–1885) Edit this on Wikidata

Early life

Eugene Fitch Ware was born on May 29, 1841, in Hartford, Connecticut.[1][2] His family moved to Burlington, Iowa, when he was young.[3]

Military career

Ware enlisted in the First Iowa Volunteer Infantry in April 1861 as part of the Union Army in the American Civil War.[3] After completing his term of service with that regiment, re-enlisted in the Fourth Iowa Cavalry. In September 1863, he was commissioned a lieutenant in the 7th Iowa Cavalry Regiment. Ware was with General Patrick Edward Connor on the Powder River Expedition. After the Powder River campaign he was promoted to captain.[1] After coming to the frontier he was detailed for staff duty by General Robert Byington Mitchell. Later, General Connor asked him to serve on his staff, which Ware wanted to do, but General Mitchell objected to his leaving and he was therefore unable to join Connor.[1]

Writing

After the Civil War, Ware moved back to Burlington, Iowa, where he briefly edited the Burlington Hawkeye, a local paper.[3] He moved to Kansas in May 1867,[3] taking up a substantial acreage in Cherokee County.[4] He moved to Fort Scott, Kansas, in September 1870 after receiving a job offer at the Fort Scott Monitor.[4] In 1872, Ware became editor of the Monitor.[1] In 1874, he began publishing poems under the pseudonym "Ironquill". His "The Washerwoman's Song", first published in 1876,[5] was widely popular.[1]

Politics and law

Ware served in the Kansas Senate from 1879 to 1885.[1][6][7] He also worked as a lawyer in Topeka, Kansas.[1] A Republican, Ware was twice selected as a delegate for the Republican National Convention.[2] President Theodore Roosevelt named Ware as United States commissioner of pensions on April 11, 1902.[8] He left the post in 1904.[9]

He died on July 1, 1911, while on vacation in Cascade, Colorado.[10][2]

References
  1. Coutant, Charles G. (1899). The History of Wyoming from the Earliest Known Discoveries. Vol. 1. Chaplin, Spafford & Mathison. p. 538. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  2. "Eugene Ware". Kansapedia. Kansas Historical Society. January 2016. Archived from the original on October 25, 2020. Retrieved May 9, 2021.
  3. Dary 1987, p. 146.
  4. Dary 1987, p. 147.
  5. Dary 1987, p. 148.
  6. A Directory of the Kansas Historical Exhibit in the Kansas State Building at the World's Columbian Exposition, 1893. Kansas Historical Society; E. H. Snow. 1893. p. 21. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  7. "Eugene Fitch Ware Papers". Kansas Historical Society. Archived from the original on December 16, 2019. Retrieved May 9, 2021.
  8. "To Succeed Mr. Evans; Eugene F. Ware, Better Known as "Ironquill," of Kansas Chosen for Pension Commissioner". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved May 10, 2021.
  9. Dary 1987, pp. 151–152.
  10. Dary 1987, p. 153.

Sources

Further reading
  • Malin, James C. (July 1959). "The Burlington, Iowa, Apprenticeship of the Kansas Poet Eugene Fitch Ware, 'Ironquill'". Iowa Journal of History. 57 (3): 193–230.
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