William Hinson COLE, Congress, MD (1837-1886)

1837-1886

COLE, William Hinson, a Representative from Maryland; born in Baltimore, Md., January 11, 1837; attended a private school; studied medicine, and then studied law; was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Baltimore in 1857; moved to Kansas City, Kans., and continued the practice of law; member of the Territorial house of representatives; graduated from the University of Louisiana in 1860; enlisted in the Confederate Army and was appointed surgeon of Bartow’s Eighth Georgia Regiment; served in the Battle of Gettysburg, then took charge of the wounded in Longstreet’s corps; prisoner in Fort McHenry, Baltimore, for six months; returned South and acted as surgeon on the staff of Gen. Bradley Johnson, of Maryland, until the close of the war; was appointed deputy register of Baltimore in 1870; resigned when elected chief clerk of the first branch of the Baltimore City council; served as a reading clerk of the Maryland State house of delegates 1874-1878; became a reporter on the Baltimore Evening Commercial, and later its proprietor; later connected with the Baltimore Gazette, and afterward with its successor, The Day, continuing with the press until his election to Congress in 1885; elected as a Democrat to the Forty-ninth Congress and served from March 4, 1885, until his death in Washington, D.C., on July 8, 1886; interment in Bonnie Brae Cemetery, Baltimore, Md.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present