American statesman, born in Harford County, MD, on the 20th of December 1813; received but little education, and was employed as a drug clerk (1827–34); removed to Richland County, OH (1835), and having studied law, was called to the bar in 1843; he practiced his new profession until 1855, when he went to Johnson County, IA. In the next year he served in the Iowa state senate, and in 1859 was elected governor. Re-elected in 1861, he became known as one of the great “War Governors,” and by his energy in raising troops, Iowa was enabled to fill her quota without having recourse to the draft. His prudent management saved his state $500,000 out of the funds appropriated for defense bonds. In 1866 Mr. Kirkwood was elected United States Senator; in 1875 was for a third time governor of Iowa, and in 1876 was re-elected to the Senate. He resigned in 1881 to enter Mr. Garfield’s Cabinet as Secretary of the Interior, which position he held until April 1882. He died in Iowa City on the 1st of September 1894.
