{{short description|American politician}} {{for|the Japanese railway company|JR West}} {{Use mdy dates|date=May 2016}} {{Infobox officeholder |name = J. R. West |image = Joseph R. West - cwpbh 03614.jpg |jr/sr = United States Senator |state = [[Louisiana]] |party = [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] |term = March 4, 1871 – March 3, 1877 |preceded = [[John S. Harris]] |succeeded = [[William P. Kellogg]] |office2 = [[List of mayors of Washington, D.C.|3rd President of the Board of Commissioners of Washington, D.C.]] |term_start2 = July 17, 1882 |term_end2 = March 29, 1883 |predecessor2 = [[Josiah Dent]] |successor2 = [[James Barker Edmonds]] |office3 = [[List of mayors of Washington, D.C.|Member of the Board of Commissioners of Washington, D.C.]] |president3 = [[Chester A. Arthur]]<br/>[[Grover Cleveland]] |term_start3 = July 17, 1882 |term_end3 = July 22, 1885 |predecessor3 = [[Josiah Dent]] |successor3 = [[William Benning Webb]] |birth_name = Joseph Rodman West |birth_date = {{birth date|1822|9|19|mf=y}} |birth_place = [[New Orleans]], Louisiana, U.S. |death_date = {{death date and age|1898|10|31|1822|9|19|mf=y}} |death_place = [[Washington, D.C.]], U.S. |resting_place = [[Arlington National Cemetery]] |spouse = Jeanne J. West |alma_mater = [[University of Pennsylvania]] |branch = [[United States Army]]<br />[[Union Army]] |service_years = 1847–1848, 1861–1866 |rank = [[File:Union Army brigadier general rank insignia.svg|35px]] [[Brigadier general (United States)|Brigadier General]]<br />[[File:Union Army major general rank insignia.svg|35px]] [[Brevet (military)|Brevet]] [[Major general (United States)|Major General]] |battles = [[Mexican–American War]]<br />[[American Civil War]] }}
'''Joseph Rodman West''' (September 19, 1822 – October 31, 1898), also known as '''J. Rodman West''', was a [[United States senator]] from [[Louisiana]], a Union general in the [[United States Army]] during and after the [[American Civil War]] and the chief executive of the [[District of Columbia]]. As a commander of militia, he gave the order to torture and murder [[Apache]] chief [[Mangas Coloradas]], who had come to meet with him under a flag of truce to discuss terms of peace.
==Biography== Born in [[New Orleans]], he moved with his parents to [[Philadelphia]] in 1824 and was educated in private schools. He attended the [[University of Pennsylvania]] from 1836 to 1837 and moved to New Orleans in 1841; he was a captain attached to Maryland and District of Columbia Volunteers in the [[Mexican–American War]], 1847–1848. He moved to California in 1849, where he engaged in newspaper work in [[San Francisco]], and was proprietor of the ''San Francisco Price Current''.
During the [[American Civil War|Civil War]] he entered the [[Union Army]] as lieutenant of the [[1st Regiment of California Infantry|First Regiment, California Volunteer Infantry]], in 1861; he was promoted to the rank of colonel and brigadier general. He spent much of his service in the [[New Mexico Territory]] as well as [[Arizona Territory]].
In January 1863, [[Mangas Coloradas]] decided to personally meet with U.S. military leaders at [[Fort McLane]], near present-day [[Hurley, New Mexico|Hurley]] in southwestern New Mexico. Mangas arrived under a white flag of truce to meet with Brigadier General West. Armed soldiers took him into custody, and West is reported to have given an execution order to the sentries. That night Mangas was tortured with heated bayonets, then shot and killed as he was "trying to escape."
In April 1864, West was ordered to [[Arkansas]] to take command of the 2nd Division, VII Corps. He led it through the [[Red River Campaign]]. In the fall of 1864, under Major General [[Frederick Steele]], he was engaged against Confederate Major General [[Sterling Price]]. He next commanded the cavalry in the [[Department of the Gulf]], from May 15 to June 12, 1865.
He commanded the 1st Division of Cavalry in the Military Division of the Southwest, composed of two small brigades (six regiments) of volunteer cavalry exempted from mustering out. Accompanied by cavalry commander Maj-Gen [[Wesley Merritt]], he led the division from [[Shreveport, Louisiana]], to [[San Antonio, Texas]], in July 1865 for Reconstruction duty and as a counter to Imperial Mexican forces along the [[Rio Grande]]. West was mustered out of volunteer service as a brevetted major general in San Antonio on January 4, 1866.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=epbbg1CA4CAC&q=Joseph+Rodman+West Jack D. Welsh, Medical Histories of Union Generals, Kent State University Press, 2005, pg. 365]</ref>
Following the Civil War, West returned to New Orleans and was deputy [[United States marshal]] and [[auditor]] for [[customs]] from 1867 to 1871. West was elected as a [[USRepublican|Republican]] to the U.S. Senate and served from March 4, 1871, to March 3, 1877; he was not a candidate for reelection. While in the Senate he was chairman of the Committee on Railroads (Forty-fourth Congress). He was a member of the board of commissioners of the [[District of Columbia]] from 1882 to 1885, serving as president of the board – the [[List of mayors of Washington, D.C.|equivalent of mayor]] – from 1882 to 1883. He retired from public life in 1885 and died in [[Washington, D.C.]], in 1898; interment was in [[Arlington National Cemetery]].
West Education Campus in Washington, D.C., was previously named in his honor. In 2021, the school was renamed [[John Lewis]] Elementary School, in honor of the late civil rights leader and longtime member of the U. S. House of Representatives.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=2021-11-18 |title=A DC Elementary School Will Be Renamed for Late Congressman John Lewis - Washingtonian |url=https://washingtonian.com/2021/11/18/a-dc-elementary-school-will-be-renamed-for-late-congressman-john-lewis/ |access-date=2024-01-01 |language=en-US}}</ref> In a letter proposing to remove West's name from the school, Mayor Muriel Bowser wrote, "As a commander, he gave the order to torture and murder Apache chief Mangas Coloradas, who had come to meet with him to discuss terms of peace."<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Citation |last=Bowser |first=Muriel |title=Letter to Phil Mendelson, Chairman, Council of the District of Columbia |date=July 21, 2021 |url=https://lims.dccouncil.us/downloads/LIMS/47627/Introduction/B24-0339-Introduction.pdf |access-date=January 1, 2024}}</ref>
==See also== {{Portal|American Civil War}} * [[List of American Civil War generals (Union)]]
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== {{commons category}} * [http://www.militarymuseum.org/west.html The California State Military Museum; Californians and the Military; Major General Joseph Rodman West], photo of Lieutenant Colonel Joseph R. West, circa 1861. {{CongBio|W000303}} Retrieved on 2008-02-10 * [https://web.archive.org/web/20081202103414/http://www.old-picture.com/civil-war/Joseph-Rodman-West.htm Joseph Rodman West] photo as Brigadier General * [https://www.myschooldc.org/schools/profile/122/ John Lewis Elementary School], formerly West Education Campus
{{S-start}} {{s-par|us-sen}} {{U.S. Senator box |state=Louisiana |class=2 |before=[[John S. Harris]] |after=[[William P. Kellogg]] |alongside=[[William P. Kellogg]], [[James B. Eustis]] |years=1871–1877}} {{s-off}} {{succession box | before = [[Josiah Dent]] | title = [[List of mayors of Washington, D.C.|President of the Board of Commissioners of Washington, D.C.]] | years = 1882–1883 | after = [[James Barker Edmonds]]}} {{S-end}}
{{USSenLA}} {{Leaders of the District of Columbia}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:West, J. R.}} [[Category:1822 births]] [[Category:1898 deaths]] [[Category:Law enforcement officials from New Orleans]] [[Category:Politicians from New Orleans]] [[Category:Republican Party United States senators from Louisiana]] [[Category:Washington, D.C., Republicans]] [[Category:19th-century mayors of Washington, D.C.]] [[Category:Members of the Board of Commissioners for the District of Columbia]] [[Category:United States Marshals]] [[Category:University of Pennsylvania alumni]] [[Category:American military personnel of the Mexican–American War]] [[Category:Union army generals]] [[Category:People of California in the American Civil War]] [[Category:Burials at Arlington National Cemetery]] [[Category:19th-century United States senators]]