{{Short description|American politician (1831–1905)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=October 2011}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Horace Austin | image = Horace Austin Photograph Portrait.jpg | caption = Austin while Governor | order = 6th | office = Governor of Minnesota | term_start = January 9, 1870 | term_end = January 7, 1874 | lieutenant = William H. Yale | predecessor = William Rainey Marshall | successor = Cushman Davis | birth_date = {{birth date|1831|10|15|mf=y}} | birth_place = Canterbury, Connecticut, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|1905|11|2|1831|10|15|mf=y}} | death_place = Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S. | party = Republican | profession = lawyer, judge | spouse = Mary Lena Morill | footnotes = | allegiance = Union Army | branch = United States Army | service_years = October 17, 1862 - November 9, 1863. | rank = Captain | unit = 1st Minnesota Cavalry Regiment | commands = Company B, 1st Minnesota Cavalry Regiment | battles = American Civil War *Sibley's Expedition Against the Sioux **Battle of Big Mound **Battle of Dead Buffalo Lake **Battle of Stony Lake | honorific_prefix = Captain }} '''Horace Austin''' (October 15, 1831{{spaced ndash}}November 2, 1905) was an American politician. He served as the sixth governor of Minnesota, serving two terms, from January 9, 1870, to January 7, 1874. He was a Republican.
thumb|left|upright|Horace Austin and Mary Lena Morill on their wedding day, 1859.
Born in 1831 in Canterbury, Connecticut, the son of a prosperous Connecticut farmer and graduate of a private academy, Austin taught school briefly before studying law. He was 25 when he moved to Minnesota and began practicing law in St. Peter. Six years later he joined the local Frontier Guards at the outbreak of the Dakota War of 1862. During the ensuing campaigns against the Dakota Austin served as the Captain of Company B in the 1st Minnesota Cavalry Regiment.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Minnesota. Board of Commissioners on Publication of History of Minnesota in Civil and Indian Wars |url=https://archive.org/details/minnesotacivil01minnrich |title=Minnesota in the civil and Indian wars 1861-1865 |last2=Flandrau |first2=Charles E. (Charles Eugene) |date=1890–93 |publisher=St. Paul, Minn. : Printed for the state by the Pioneer Press Co |others=University of California Libraries}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Minnesota. Adjutant General's Office |url=http://archive.org/details/annualreport01minn |title=Annual report |date=1862 |publisher=Saint Paul |others=The Library of Congress |pages=640}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Soldier Details - The Civil War (U.S. National Park Service) |url=https://www.nps.gov/subjects/civilwar/search-soldiers-detail.htm |access-date=2025-06-10 |website=www.nps.gov |language=en}}</ref> He later. became a judge for the Sixth Judicial District. He selected future governor Andrew Ryan McGill as his personal secretary.
==Governor== In 1869, Austin ran for Governor. He was nominated for a reputation for objectivity and disdain for contentious party politics. This was to counter his opponent, George L. Otis, who ran a campaign mostly centered on fears of internal corruption should the Republican Party continue its domination of the state's government.<ref>{{cite news|title=Letter of Acceptance from Hon. George L. Otis.|date=September 25, 1869|url=https://www.thecatholicnewsarchive.org/?a=d&d=NWC18691002-01.2.43&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN--------|publisher=The Northwestern Chronicle|access-date=January 3, 2026}}</ref> Austin would easily win the 1869 Minnesota gubernatorial election.
Austin was determined to bring legislative power to bear against the railroad barons. His advocacy of strictly regulated passenger and freight rates and his opposition to the wholesale allocation of state lands to railroad development, promising to "Shake the railroads over hell".<ref>{{cite web|title=March of the Governors|url=https://rchs.com/publishing/march-of-the-governors-podcasts/}}</ref> During his term the Minnesota Board of Health (a precursor to the Minnesota Department of Health) was established.<ref>{{cite web|title=Gov. Horace Austin|url=https://www.nga.org/governor/horace-austin/}}</ref>
Austin would win re-election in 1871, in a landslide against opponent Winthrop Young. Young's campaign collapsed in the week prior to the election due to a scandal, earning Austin a dominating 60.06% of the vote.
In 1873, he would run again, however dropped out during the primary.<ref>{{cite news|title=THE STATE CONVENTION|date=July 17, 1873|url=https://newspaperhub.mnhs.org/?a=d&d=spp18730717.1.4&srpos=5&e=------187-en-20--1--img-txIN-Convention----1873-------}}</ref> Supporters of him also voted for him in the 1875 Republican primary.<ref>{{cite news|title=THE REPUBLICAN CAMPAIGN|date=July 29, 1875|url=https://newspaperhub.mnhs.org/?a=d&d=sppp18750729.1.2&srpos=12&e=------187-en-20--1--img-txIN-Pillsbury----1875-------}}</ref>
==Later life== Remaining in the public sphere after leaving the governor's office, Austin served as third auditor of the U.S. Treasury in Washington, as register of the U.S. Land Office in Fargo, North Dakota, and finally as a railroad commissioner. He devoted his last 16 years to travel and relaxation at his Lake Minnetonka home. He died in 1905 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
==References== {{Reflist}} *[https://web.archive.org/web/20090707044155/http://www.mnhs.org/people/governors/gov/gov_08.htm Biographical information] and his [https://www.mnhs.org/library/findaids/gov020.xml gubernatorial records] are available for research use at the [http://www.mnhs.org Minnesota Historical Society.]
{{s-start}} {{s-ppo}} {{s-bef|before=William Rainey Marshall}} {{s-ttl|title=Republican nominee for Governor of Minnesota|years=1869, 1871}} {{s-aft|after=Cushman Kellogg Davis}} {{s-off}} {{succession box|title=Governor of Minnesota|years=1870–1874|before=William Rainey Marshall|after=Cushman Davis}} {{s-end}}
{{Governors of Minnesota}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Austin, Horace}} Category:1831 births Category:1905 deaths Category:People from Canterbury, Connecticut Category:Republican Party governors of Minnesota Category:People from Mendota, Minnesota Category:North Dakota Republicans Category:Minnesota gubernatorial candidates