Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 4.djvu/136

 Des Moines the Republican State Convention was in session, and there was a movement inaugurated to nominate him for Governor. But he declined the honor with the remark: “If a soldier is worth anything he cannot be spared from the field; if he is worthless, he will not make a good Governor.” His last active service in the Civil War was with Sherman in the march to the sea, where his health began to fail. Early in the summer he was transferred to a command in New Mexico where it was hoped the climate would be beneficial to him. But he was already stricken with a fatal malady and in June, 1865, he went to Washington where he was prostrated with sickness, but lingered until August 26, when he passed away at the early age of thirty-five. HENRY J. B. CUMMINGS was born at Newton, New Jersey, May 31, 1831. He was educated in the public schools of Pennsylvania and at the age of nineteen became editor of a newspaper in Schuylkill County. He studied law, was admitted to the bar at Williamsport, Pennsylvania; but in 1856 removed to Iowa, locating at Winterset. He was elected Prosecuting Attorney. When the war of the Rebellion began Mr. Cummings helped raise Company F of the Fourth Infantry and was elected captain. In September, 1862, he was appointed by Governor Kirkwood colonel of the Thirty-ninth Volunteer Infantry, serving until 1865. Upon his return home he became the editor of the Winterset Madisonian. In 1876 he was nominated by the Republicans of the Seventh District for Representative in Congress and elected, serving one term. ALBERT B. CUMMINS, seventeenth Governor of Iowa, was born in Greene County, Pennsylvania, February 15, 1850. He acquired a good education, attending Waynesburg College. In 1869 he came to Iowa and secured a position in the recorder's office of Clayton County at Elkader. Later he became a civil engineer and was engaged in the location and construction of the Richmond & Fort Wayne Railroad in Indiana. He studied law and in 1875 was admitted to the bar and began practice in Chicago. In January, 1878, he located at Des Moines, and in 1881 entered into partnership with Judge George G. Wright and his son Thomas S. Wright. Soon after he entered the firm he was placed in charge of the litigation known as the barb wire conflict. The farmers of Iowa had organized the Protective Association to resist the exorbitant demands of the Washburn and Moen syndicate which had purchased many patents and sought to control the manufacture and fix the price of all wire fencing. Mr. Cummins was employed by the Farmers' Protective Association to fight the monopoly in the courts. The contest lasted several years. Mr. Cummins was obliged to meet the ablest patent lawyers in the country and equipped himself by a thorough study of patent law and decisions. To the surprise of the syndicate, its lawyers found the young Des Moines attorney a match for them on every point raised. In the end the monopoly was broken and